Bhagavān Ramaṇa Maharṣi Jayantī honours the birth of the sage of Aruṇācala. It is kept on Punarvasu in the Tamil solar month of Mārgaḻi, as at Sri Ramanasramam in Tiruvaṇṇāmalai. At the ashram the day is marked with Vedic chanting and with silence in the old hall. Devotees far away keep it by reading his Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu or by sitting quietly at the same dawn. How the day is fixed: The pañcāṅga takes the day on which Punarvasu nakṣatra prevails while the Sun is in the Tamil solar month Mārgaḻi, that is Dhanu. No lunar tithi is used. Keep in mind: This is a solar month and nakṣatra rule, not a North Indian lunar tithi, so a tithi calendar will not show it. The hours of Punarvasu shift with local sunrise, and the civil date can move by a day from city to city. This year: The 2027 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Chanting and silence at the ashram: Sri Ramanasramam marks the day with Vedic chanting, and devotees sit in silence in the old hall. Keeping the day at home: Households far from Tiruvaṇṇāmalai often read Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu or sit quietly at the same civil dawn. Worth remembering: His ārādhanā, the day of his mahānirvāṇa, falls on Caitra Kṛṣṇa Trayodaśī and is a separate observance. Ārudrā Darśanam, on Tiruvātirai in the same month of Mārgaḻi, is also a different festival. Devotees of Bhagavān keep the day in many ways, some travelling to the ashram and others marking it quietly where they live. Families who have long followed the ashram's calendar keep its date and its simple manner of chanting and silence. As with every such day, the way the elders of one's own house have kept it is the surest guide.
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