[Advaita-l] Sri Ramana Maharshi - A revolutionary?

[Praveen R. Bhat]

(clubbing together replies to Bhaskarji, Karthikji and Sriramji)...

On Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

>
> I was the one of those who think that ramaNa's teachings mainly &
> exclusively focus on our own essential being through the method of self
> enquiry like who am I, who is doing that, who is asking this etc. etc.  I
> may be wrong in my assessment.  Kindly give relevant quotes...
>

Hari Om, Bhaskarji,

What use is searching for whether Bhagavan gave advice other than the
"direct" method when he himself says that "*They differ according to the
temperaments of the individuals and according to the spiritual ripeness of
their minds.*" If what you say is true, then I'll argue that "maybe" only
uttama adhikAris went to Maharshi for advice! It doesn't resolve the
question at hand, does it? :) In any case, I remember that one lady had
mentioned to Bhagavan that she had absolutely no time left to practice
self-inquiry after having attended to her husband and children, and asked
if she could instead do Ramana nAma japA and Bhagavan said okay. That's
just one example I remember and there may be more.


On Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 12:28 PM, Karthik Subramanian <
karthikvathula at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> I somehow felt that several Ramana followers felt his teachings to be more
> easier to follow, probably because of the fact that the traditional
> teaching (i.e. sampradaya marga) laid foremost emphasis on karmakanda
> before jignasa and they felt they could circumvent it.
>
>
Hari Om, Karthikji,

Its a matter of anubhava for many of us, if not most, that even if
saMpradAya's highest teaching is that of jIva-brahma-aikya, yet our
tendencies block inquiry into it. We get carried away the way the mind
goes, instead of the other way around. Its very likely that Bhagavan would
direct you to ask who is it that gets carried away in such cases, but that
very inquiry is an after-thought of being carried away, which means that it
will keep on happening. The only way such alertness is possible is by
complete focus on it, which comes only to a paripakka mumukshu, which in
turns comes via the saMpradAya way. To me, thats what Bhagavan's reply to
Yogananda means, hence no single formula applies to all, else that was the
perfect place for Bhagavan to recommend self-inquiry.



On Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 2:57 PM, sriram nagaraj <sriram_photon at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> I think for serious devotees of Sri Bhagavan, such questions do not arise.
>
>
>
Hari Om, Sriram ji,

Questions arise not owing to lack of seriousness but due to it! They are
based on individual tendencies and so one answer doesn't necessarily fit
the other. Even in saMpradAya, there are various branches each suiting the
particular questions that trouble a group of sAdhakAs. If such questions
are not answered by the saMpradAya, individuals would get blocked in
sAdhana and not reach the highest question at all. What you talk of as
serious devotees are bhaktAs, not ones who follow self-inquiry, but those
who would feel blissful just by looking at Bhagavan Ramana's photo. Else,
questions would surely arise; they may be different from ones you seem to
mind, but questions, nonetheless.

ramaNArpaNamastu,
--Praveen R. Bhat
/* Through what should one know That owing to which all this is known!
[Br.Up. 4.5.15] */