[Advaita-l] Ramana Maharshi - Advaitin or Neo Advaitin?

[V Subrahmanian]

'Jnanam alone is; there is no Jnani'. I think this statement of Ramana is
an unsurpassable depiction of Vedanta as taught by Gaudapada and Shankara.

Regards
vs
On Sep 19, 2016 4:47 PM, "Kripa Shankar via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> Namaste,
>
> Please forgive me for my ignorance. I had this long standing doubt about
> Ramana. I believed that Ramana taught Advaita all along thanks to the
> popular opinion. However I later realized that he was unacquainted with the
> scriptures. Further, he apparently learnt from the hill which he considered
> as Shiva. Isn't this dogma‎tic and a deviation from the tradition?
>
> I am copy-pasting the below text from Wikipedia :
> ‎
> ‎Via his devotees Ramana Maharshi became acquainted with classic texts on
> Yoga and Vedanta.[62][10] Ramana himself did not call his insights advaita,
> but said that dvaita and advaita are relative terms, based on a sense of
> duality, while the Self or Being is all there is.[117]
> Although Ramana's teaching is consistent with and generally associated
> with Hinduism, theUpanishads and Advaita Vedanta, there are some
> differences with the traditional Advaitic school. Advaita recommends a
> negationist neti, neti (Sanskrit, "not this", "not this") path, or mental
> affirmations that the Self is the only reality, such as "I am Brahman" or
> "I am He", while Ramana advocated Self-enquiry "Nan Yar". In contrast with
> traditional Advaita Vedanta, Ramana Maharshi strongly discouraged devotees
> from adopting a renunciate lifestyle and renouncing their responsibilities.
> To one devotee who felt he should abandon his family, whom he described as
> "samsara" (illusion), to intensify his spiritual practice, Sri Ramana
> replied:
>
> Oh! Is that so? What really is meant by samsara? Is it within or without?
> Wife, children and others. Is that all the samsara? What have they done?
> Please find out first what really is meant by samsara. Afterwards we shall
> consider the question of abandoning them.[118]
>
> Acquaintance with Hindu scriptures
>
> During his lifetime, through contact with educated devotees like Ganapata
> Muni,[108] Ramana Maharshi became acquainted with works on Shaivism and
> Advaita Vedanta, and used them to explain his insights:[119]
>
> People wonder how I speak ofBhagavad Gita, etc. It is due to hearsay. I
> have not read the Gita nor waded through commentaries for its meaning. When
> I hear a sloka (verse), I think its meaning is clear and I say it. That is
> all and nothing more.[120]‎
>
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