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

[H S Chandramouli]

Sri Sujal Ji observed  concerning Sri Ramana Maharshi



<< What Bhaskar ji says is true. He didnt belong to any traditional
sampradAya. >>,



In the “familiar” ( I am intentionally using the word instead of
“traditional” the reasons for which would be clear later in this post)
advaita sampradAya, the attainment of jnana takes place in the same body in
which the sAdhanAs are undertaken. Hence terms like shrOtriya, guru-shishya
parampara etc could be relevant and they could be linked to the jnAni.
However this is only one aspect of the advaita sampradAya concerning
fruition of knowledge vis-à-vis sAdhanas. There is another aspect of the
advaita sampradAya which is broughtout by Sri BhagavatpAda in BSB 3-4-52.
Relevant portion is reproduved below.



<< एतदुक्तं भवति — यदा प्रक्रान्तस्य विद्यासाधनस्य कश्चित्प्रतिबन्धो न
क्रियते उपस्थितविपाकेन कर्मान्तरेण, तदा इहैव विद्या उत्पद्यते ; यदा तु खलु
तत्प्रतिबन्धः क्रियते तदा अमुत्रेति । >>



<< etaduktaM bhavati — yadA prakrAntasya vidyAsAdhanasya
kashchitpratibandho na kriyate upasthitavipAkena karmAntareNa, tadA ihaiva
vidyA utpadyate ; yadA tu khalu tatpratibandhaH kriyate tadA amutreti | >>




Translation by Swami Gambhirananda  << This being the case, our answer is ;
“The generation of knowledge takes place even in this life if there is no
obstruction to the means adopted”. The idea amplied is this : Knowledge is
possible even in this life, provided the means adopted for enlightenment
are not obstructed in any way by some other result of past work that
fructifies just then. Should it, however , be obstructed, the fruition
comes in a subsequent birth. >>



 In such cases, quite clearly, terms like shrotriya, guru-shishya parampara
etc cannot obviously be linked to the jnAni in the current body. They are
not relevant either. Since Sri Bhagavatpada himself has admitted such
possibility, surely such a  jnAni is not to be considered as being outside  the
purview of “traditional” or “bonafide” advaita sampradAya.. Sri Ramana
maharshi comes under this category for those of us who consider him to be a
jnani. He does come under the purview of  “traditional” advaita sampradAya
as much as the others coming under the  “familiar” advaita sampradAya and
in whose case terms like shrOtriya, guru-shishya parampara etc are
relevant.



Regards