As the nation celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, here is an interesting story about the meeting between Gandhiji and Ramana Maharshi that never took place. It must be noted that though both Gandhi and Ramana Maharshi lived in the same era, they had never met each other despite several attempts.

It is said that Gandhiji had in fact unsuccessfully attempted to meet the saint thrice during his visit to Tamil Nadu. The first attempt was made when Gandhi was supposed to pass by the Ramanashrama in Thiruvannamalai during his journey to attend a meeting. However, C Rajagopalachari, who accompanied Gandhi, did not express interest in meeting Ramana Maharshi as the latter kept himself away from the freedom struggle. Thus Gandhiji was forced to change his plan.

However, it is learnt that Gandhiji often used to send his disciples to meet Ramana Maharshi. Once Sarojini Naidu said, "There are two Mahatmas in India. One is Gandhi and one is Ramana Maharshi." Ramana Maharshi heard the news of Gandhiji's death while he was returning from Arunachalam. On that day, he sang Gandhiji's favourite bhajan 'Vaishnava Jana To' in remembrance to Gandhi.

When quizzed about their meeting that never took place, Ramana Maharshi used to say, "Though I haven't seen him, I always used to know everything about him."