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

[Sujal Upadhyay]

praNAms,

I completely agree with Sri Venkatraghavan ji and Sri Raghav ji,

No one is saying that Sri Ramana Maharshi was a traditional vedAntin. We
believe that his teachings are in line with that of shruti. Meaning that it
is practically possible to apply his teachings staying within the advaita
sAdhanA as prescribed by traditional AchArya-s.

Again, we do not need to imitate his life. Ramana Maharshi never said that
one should live like he did and follow his example. Bhagavan Swaminarayan
in his shikshApatrI has said that if a saint's conduct is not as per
dharma, then his conduct may be rejected, meaning we must not copy his life
style.

In case of Sri Ramana Maharshi, he was very dispassionate, but Kripa ji is
comparing the activities of Ashrama to judge what he taught. As I have
said, Sri Ramana Maharshi didnt made any disciples, then of what concern
are his ashram's activites make one to judge Ramana Maharshi. No matter
what Ramanashram says, their words are not superior to Ramana Maharshi's.

Ignoring teachings altogether and just focsing on activities of Ashram and
concluding something - does it sound wise.

If you have objections to his teachings, you can post them here.

Regarding reincarnation, here is the teaching from Raman Gita, chapter 7,
verse 10

RG 7.10 The one who is purified by the strength of upAsanA etc in this life
or as a result of merits of karma in past life, is considered to be fit to
qualify for AtmavichAra. Whose mind sees (experiences) body and vishaya-s
to be faulty (doshavat), the one whose mind is completely dispassionate
eventhough after remaining engaged in vishaya-s and whose intellect accepts
the anityatA (impermanent), such a person is considered fit to do Atma
vidchAra.

So here Sri Ramana Maharshi is accepting the past life, karma and it's
fruits lead to chitta shuddhi, which lead one to the path of GYAna and Sri
Ramana Maharshi also accepts that Atma vichAra is not for everybody. It is
only for highly purified souls.

Here, the chitta shuddhi can be done in a traditional way.

However, if you have made a conclusion and are firm on it, then how can
there be a discussion?

Hari OM



On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 7:01 PM, Raghav Kumar via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> >
> > > Namaste Raghav
> > >
> > > Yes, I agree with Rajiv Malhotra.
> > >
> > > The question of adhikara bedha does not arise here, in my opinion. It
> is
> > plain and simple adhyaropa apavada. We do not teach two different things
> > for dull and the bright ones.
> > > ‎
> > > ‎In order to negate something, we must acknowledge that something
> > exists, even for uttamottama adhikaris. How can we negate something which
> > never existed? Not only Ramana, most neo Advaitins say that there is
> > nothing like reincarnation and karma.
> > >
> > > Regards
> > > Kripa ‎
> > >
>