Among the distinguished scholars who came under Bhagavan’s influence was Professor T.M.P. Mahadevan, one of India’s foremost exponents of Advaita Vedanta. An internationally renowned philosopher and author of some fifty-five books, Mahadevan devoted his life to the study of non-duality. Yet for all his extraordinary learning, whenever he came into Bhagavan’s presence, he preferred to remain silent. Looking back upon those precious years, he recalled that simply sitting before the Maharshi was itself a profound spiritual education.
Telliyavaram Mahadevan Ponnambalam Mahadevan was born in Chennai on 24th August 1911. His early childhood was marked by considerable hardship. His mother died when he was five, and around the same time his father left to establish another family. TMP was then raised by his maternal aunt, a deeply pious woman who frequently attended religious discourses, visited temples and sought the company of holy people.
She often took the child with her, introducing him to such spiritual figures as Sri Karapatra Sivaprakasa Swami and Virasekhara Subbiah Swamigal. Among those he met was Swami Rajeswarananda, a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, who was to become an important influence in TMP’s life.[1]
Spiritual Formation
Recognising the boy’s promise, Swami Rajeswarananda helped secure him a place at the Sri Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home in Chennai in 1922. Mahadevan spent seven formative years there, benefiting from an atmosphere of discipline, spiritual study and close association with the monks of the Ramakrishna Order.
Through Swami Rajeswarananda, he also received initiation from Swami Sivananda, affectionately known as Mahapurush Maharaj, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Recalling the occasion many years later, TMP spoke of the saintly presence of the aged monk and the profound impression made upon him when he received his mantra in the shrine of Sri Ramakrishna.[2]
Yet another momentous encounter awaited him. In 1929, when TMP was eighteen years old, Swami Rajeswarananda took him to Tiruvannamalai for his first darshan of Bhagavan Sri Ramana.
Mahadevan had first heard about Bhagavan in Chennai in 1919, at the age of eight. A decade later, he was able to meet the Sage.
First Darshan
TMP spent three days in Bhagavan’s presence during his first visit. The experience left an indelible impression upon him.
Looking back upon the occasion, he considered himself extraordinarily fortunate to have been granted the opportunity of meeting Sri Bhagavan. He regarded the encounter as the fruit of accumulated spiritual merit.
Young Mahadevan was especially struck by the extraordinary stillness that prevailed in Bhagavan’s presence. Sitting before the Master brought a quietening of the mind and a sense of inward elevation that he would remember throughout his life.[3]
In subsequent years, Swami Rajeswarananda accompanied him on further visits to Sri Ramanasramam. Although TMP seldom spoke publicly about his personal encounters with spiritual teachers, his later reminiscences reveal how deeply Bhagavan’s presence had affected him.
In an interview published in January 1982 in the magazine Arunachala Ramana, he narrates:
As I recall the days when I spent basking in the sunshine of Sri Ramana’s glorious presence I have no words to express the benefit I derived from that experience. To sit before him was itself a deep spiritual education. To look at him was to have one’s mind stilled. To fall within the sphere of his beatific vision was to be inwardly elevated.[4]
Education of Silence
For a philosopher whose professional life was devoted to investigating subtle philosophical questions, Mahadevan’s conduct in the hall was remarkable. He came not to debate, question or seek clarification, but simply to sit quietly before Bhagavan.
When asked what questions he had put to Sri Bhagavan, Mahadevan replied that he had never asked him a single question. His habit was simply to remain silent.[5]
Here was a scholar thoroughly versed in the Upanishads, Sankara, Gaudapada and the great tradition of Advaita Vedanta, yet in the presence of the living sage he found no need for philosophical discussion.
TMP regarded Bhagavan’s silence as a form of instruction that transcended the limitations of conceptual thought. Bhagavan’s presence was the teaching.
The distinction between intellectual understanding and direct experience was central to TMP’s appreciation of Bhagavan. He was particularly struck by the fact that the Maharshi had realised the truth of Advaita without first undertaking a systematic study of it.
As he later explained, Bhagavan became acquainted with the traditional concepts, arguments and illustrations of Advaita only after his own direct experience of non-duality. He discussed teachings principally when questions from (scholarly) visitors required clarification.[6]
For TMP, this reversal of the usual academic procedure was significant. Whereas the philosopher ordinarily proceeds from study and analysis towards understanding, Bhagavan’s teaching arose from direct realisation.
Bhagavan’s Affection
Although silence characterised their relationship, TMP remembered Bhagavan’s personal warmth and affectionate concern.
He described their relationship as both human and spiritual.[7] He had accepted Bhagavan as his spiritual guide, and whenever he came for darshan, Bhagavan would enquire after his welfare.
These simple enquiries revealed an affection that accompanied Bhagavan’s silent influence. Yet TMP was careful not to imagine himself uniquely favoured, recognising that other devotees experienced the same loving attention.
He recalled Bhagavan’s extraordinary kindness towards animals:
Every moment of his earthly existence was filled with kindness to all beings. To him the so-called animals were as much human as humans. They conversed with him and he understood their language and moods.[8]
Asked about Bhagavan’s sense of humour, TMP observed that Bhagavan regarded the entire world as humorous. For TMP, Bhagavan’s silence, kindness, simplicity and sense of joy were not separate attributes but expressions of a life established in the non-dual Self.
A Lecture Before Bhagavan
TMP’s intellectual gifts soon brought him national and international recognition. After graduating with first-class honours in philosophy from the University of Madras in 1933, he pursued doctoral research under Professor S. S. Suryanarayana Sastri.[9]
TMP’s thesis, devoted to Advaita Vedanta with special reference to Bharatitirtha-Vidyaranya, was subsequently published in London in 1938, with a foreword by the distinguished thinker Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.[10]
After teaching at Raja’s College, Pudukkottai, and Pachaiyappa’s College, Madras, TMP joined the University of Madras, where he became Head of the Department of Philosophy.
During 1948–49, he travelled to the USA as a visiting professor at Cornell University and delivered lectures on Indian philosophy and Sri Bhagavan’s teachings.
Following his return to India, an unusual opportunity arose. With the permission of Chinnaswami, the Ashram Sarvadhikari, Mahadevan was allowed to deliver one of his lectures in Bhagavan’s presence.[11]
The occasion was particularly significant. Having spent years silently under Bhagavan’s influence, TMP now spoke publicly on the philosophy he had studied throughout his life, seated before the very sage whose living example had deepened his understanding of Advaita.
A later recollection maintains that Bhagavan listened without offering any correction. The significance of his silence is not explained in the surviving account, but the occasion remains a memorable episode in TMP’s long association with the Ashram.
The Living Tradition
TMP regarded Bhagavan’s teaching as an expression of the timeless wisdom of the Upanishads. When asked about the relationship between Bhagavan’s realisation and that of Adi Sankara, TMP replied:
In my opinion there is no difference. The path of vichara was simplified by Bhagavan so that everyone in the modern world can practise it.[12]
What distinguished the Maharshi, for TMP, was the directness and accessibility with which he taught Self-enquiry.
For TMP, Bhagavan had not founded a new philosophical school or religious sect. He had made the ageless truth of Vedanta accessible through direct investigation of the sense of “I”. When asked if there was any sign for us to conclude that Bhagavan was really Bhagavan, i.e. God Himself, the professor responded succintly and to the point:
When Bhagavan was jnana itself, where is the need of showing any sign at any particular time? [13]
TMP himself expressed this understanding in his writings on the Maharshi. Bhagavan, he observed, was a sage of extraordinary purity whose realisation testified to eternal Vedantic truths.
The appearance of such a luminary was a blessing not merely to individual devotees but to humanity as a whole.[14] As for Bhagavan’s written compositions, TMP said:
Bhagavan did not write any book. His revelations are all equal. What we call his compositions were inspired utterances like the Upanishads. Naturally, I am attracted to all of them. If a single piece is to be selected as the quintessence of Vedanta, I would say it is Upadesa Saram.[15]
TMP also rejected any discrepency between knowledge, devotion and grace. In his understanding, liberation was not something newly bestowed upon an individual but the recognition of the eternal non-dual Self:
Bhagavan did not claim to be a Guru. His experience is valid for all times and for all climes… Moksha is not what is given. It is the realisation of the non-dual Self which is eternal. Grace and vichara are [thus] not contradictory.[16]
The Philosopher
TMP’s lifelong dedication to Advaita was not confined to scholarship. Despite his many academic accomplishments, he increasingly emphasised that non-duality could not be reduced to philosophical theory.
Students who studied under Prof. Mahadevan at the University of Madras recall an illuminating incident.
One day, several students from Vivekananda College came to invite him to speak at an upcoming function.[17] Mahadevan politely declined, explaining that after a lifetime spent speaking about Advaita, he wished now to devote himself more completely to seeking its direct realisation.[18]
The incident reveals something of TMP’s spiritual orientation. Even after decades of scholastic achievement, he remained mindful of the distinction between knowing about non-duality and realising it.
In the postscript to his autobiography, just a year before his death, TMP summed up his life’s work:
Advaita, to the exposition of which I have dedicated my entire life, is not a school of philosophy, nor can it be limited by what we now-a-days call ‘philosophy’. Advaita is a symbolic name for the principle of non-duality… To the understanding and exposition of this experience which is the culmination of all enquiry and research, I have offered all my attention, be it academic, human or spiritual. It is that which sustains me.[19]
TMP regarded both Bhagavan and Sri Chandra-sekharendra Saraswati, the Sage of Kanchi, as contemporary witnesses to that truth.
TMP’s reverence for the Sage of Kanchi was another important feature of his spiritual life. He first saw the Acharya during a visit to Madras in 1932 and met him personally in 1953. Thereafter, he frequently sought his darshan and introduced others to him. Yet his devotion to Bhagavan remained undiminished. For TMP, both sages bore witness to the same non-dual truth.
Bhagavan’s Mahanirvana
TMP was not present at the Ashram on the evening of 14th April when Bhagavan attained Mahanirvana.
In the 1982 interview, he recalled that he arrived at the Ashram the following morning and remained there throughout the day. He was present that evening when Bhagavan’s mortal remains were interred.[20]
The passing of Bhagavan marked the end of those precious years in which Mahadevan could sit before the Master in the Old Hall. Yet Bhagavan’s influence continued to shape his life.
In subsequent decades, TMP became one of India’s most respected interpreters of Advaita. His numerous publications included important studies of Sankara, Suresvara and the Upanishads, as well as works devoted specifically to Bhagavan, notably Ramana Maharshi and His Philosophy of Existence and Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of Arunachala.
When the University of Madras established its Centre of Advanced Study in Philosophy in 1964, TMP became its first Director. His scholarship earned numerous honours, including the Padma Bhushan in 1967.
He later established Sankara Vihar in Madras, conducting classes on Advaita. His international academic commitments took him to universities and conferences across Europe, Asia and North America.
Yet those who knew him remembered not only his intellectual accomplishments but also his simplicity, discipline and quiet dignity.
Students recall that TMP spoke softly and precisely, avoided idle conversation and maintained a life of personal restraint. He remained unmarried, living a life of inward and outward renunciation without taking the robes of a sannyasin.[21]
His scholarly abilities were formidable, not only did he have an extraordinary command of Sanskrit and Tamil philosophical literature, but a profound familiarity with Western philosophy and poetry. Yet beneath this vast learning was an abiding commitment to the direct realisation of the truth he taught.
Bhagavan Himself Was the Teaching
Another revealing testimony to TMP’s spiritual understanding is found in the simple answers he gave when recalling Bhagavan.
Asked what was special about Bhagavan’s teaching, he replied:
What is special in Bhagavan’s teaching is that he does not intend to be special.
And when asked to name Bhagavan’s greatest poem, TMP answered:
Bhagavan himself is the greatest poem.[22]
For TMP, Bhagavan’s teaching was not confined to philosophical statements, written compositions or spoken instructions. It was embodied in Bhagavan’s very being—in his silence, simplicity, compassion, humour and spontaneous affection for all beings.
Professor TMP Mahadevan passed away on 5th November 1983, leaving behind a distinguished body of philosophical scholarship and a life devoted to the understanding of Advaita. Yet among his many achievements, his recollections of Bhagavan remain especially precious.
The scholar who spent a lifetime explaining the subtleties of non-duality had discovered, in the Old Hall at Ramanasramam, a form of instruction that required no words. For him, the highest teaching was not something to be mastered through argument or conceptual analysis. It was something to be received in stillness, in the presence of one who was its living expression. —
[1] “T.M.P. Mahadevan,” The Mountain Path, Deepam 2007, pp. 95–96. Grimes records the death of Mahadevan’s mother, his upbringing by his aunt and the formative influence of Sw. Rajeswarananda.
[2] Ibid., pp. 97–98; A Philosopher Looks Back, pp. 18–22, as cited by Grimes. And “Sri T.M.P. Mahadevan (1922–1929),” Sri Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home Centenary Volume, 1905–2005.
[3] Grimes, “T.M.P. Mahadevan,” p. 96; Mahadevan, A Philosopher Looks Back, p. 29, as cited by Grimes. This is the source for the 1929 first visit and Mahadevan’s recollections of his three days with Bhagavan.
[4] “Dr. T.M.P. Mahadevan Talks to Arunachala Ramana,” Arunachala Ramana, Jan 1982; reproduced by David Godman, 12 Sept 2008.
[5] Ibid.
[6] T.M.P. Mahadevan, Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of Arunachala, p. 151, as cited in Grimes, “T.M.P. Mahadevan,” p. 97.
[7] The 1982 interview.
[8] Ibid.
[9] See also Talks, §451
[10] See Talks, §16, §399, and §433.
[11] Introductory commentary to “T.M.P. Mahadevan,” 12 September 2008, David Godman. The exact date of the lecture and any contemporary record of Bhagavan’s response remain to be established
[12] “Dr. T.M.P. Mahadevan, Talks to Arunachala Ramana,” Jan 1982.
[13] 1982 interview.
[14] T.M.P. Mahadevan, Ramana Maharshi and His Philosophy of Existence, p. 3; cited in Grimes, “T.M.P. Mahadevan,” p. 92.
[15] 1982 interview.
[16] Ibid.
[17] See Grimes
[18] Grimes, “T.M.P. Mahadevan,” p. 94. John Grimes recounts the incident from his own experience as a postgraduate student at the University of Madras.
[19] A Philosopher Looks Back (1982).
[20] “Dr. T.M.P. Mahadevan Talks to Arunachala Ramana,” Jan 1982.
[21] See John Grimes.
[22] Interview. Both remarks occur in Mahadevan’s responses to questions about Bhagavan’s distinctive teaching and greatest poem.
