Thursday, August 9, 2012

Part 2 Sri Ramana Maharish

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi when he was about 60 years old
BornVenkataraman Iyer
30 December 1879Tiruchuzhi
Died14 April 1950 (aged 70)Sri Ramana Ashram in Arunachala
PhilosophyAdvaita Vedanta
QuotationOf all the thoughts that rise in the mind, the thought 'I' is the first thought.

Teachings

Sri Ramana's teachings about self-enquiry, the practice he is most widely associated with, have been classified as the Path of Knowledge (Jnana marga) among the Indian schools of thought. Though his teaching is consistent with and generally associated with Hinduism, the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta, there are some differences with the traditional Advaitic school, and Sri Ramana gave his approval to a variety of paths and practices from various religions.[4]
His earliest teachings are documented in the book Nan Yar?(Who am I?), first written in Tamil. The original book was published by Sri Pillai,[36] although the essay version of the book (Sri Ramana Nutrirattu) prepared by Sri Ramana is considered definitive as unlike the original it had the benefit of his revision and review. A careful translation with notes is available in English as 'The Path of Sri Ramana, Part One' by Sri Sadhu Om, one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramana. Selections from this definitive version follow[37]:
  • As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone there is observed supreme love for one's self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love, in order to gain that happiness which is one's nature and which is experienced in the state of deep sleep where there is no mind, one should know one's self. For that, the path of knowledge, the inquiry of the form "Who am I?", is the principal means.
  • Knowledge itself is 'I'. The nature of (this) knowledge is existence-consciousness-bliss.
  • What is called mind is a wondrous power existing in Self. It projects all thoughts. If we set aside all thoughts and see, there will be no such thing as mind remaining separate; therefore, thought itself is the form of the mind. Other than thoughts, there is no such thing as the mind.
  • Of all the thoughts that rise in the mind, the thought 'I' is the first thought.
  • That which rises in this body as 'I' is the mind. If one enquires 'In which place in the body does the thought 'I' rise first?', it will be known to be in the heart [spiritual heart is 'two digits to the right from the centre of the chest']. Even if one incessantly thinks 'I', 'I', it will lead to that place (Self)'
  • The mind will subside only by means of the enquiry 'Who am I?'. The thought 'Who am I?', destroying all other thoughts, will itself finally be destroyed like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre.
  • If other thoughts rise, one should, without attempting to complete them, enquire, 'To whom did they arise?', it will be known 'To me'. If one then enquires 'Who am I?', the mind (power of attention) will turn back to its source. By repeatedly practising thus, the power of the mind to abide in its source increases.
  • The place where even the slightest trace of the 'I' does not exist, alone is Self.
  • Self itself is God[citation needed]
Sri Ramana warned against considering self-enquiry as an intellectual exercise. Properly done, it involves fixing the attention firmly and intensely on the feeling of 'I', without thinking. It is perhaps more helpful to see it as 'Self-attention' or 'Self-abiding' (cf. Sri Sadhu Om - The Path of Sri Ramana Part I). The clue to this is in Sri Ramana's own death experience when he was 16. After raising the question 'Who am I?' he "turned his attention very keenly towards himself" (cf. description above). Attention must be fixed on the 'I' until the feeling of duality disappears.
Although he advocated self-enquiry as the fastest means to realization, he also recommended the path of bhaktiand self-surrender (to one's Deity or Guru) either concurrently or as an adequate alternative, which would ultimately converge with the path of self-enquiry.[38]

[edit]Sri Ramana's teachings and Advaita

Sri Ramana's teachings and the traditional Advaitic school of thought pioneered by Sri Adi Shankara have many things in common. Sri Ramana often mentioned and is known to have encouraged study of the following classical works: Ashtavakra Gita, Ribhu Gita and Essence of Ribhu Gita, Yoga Vasista Sara,[39] Tripura Rahasya[[40]], Kaivalya Navaneetam,[41] Advaita Bodha Deepika,[42] and Ellam Ondre.[43] However, there are some practical differences with the traditional Advaitic school, which recommends a negationist neti, neti(Sanskrit, "not this", "not this") path, or mental affirmations that the Self was the only reality, such as "I am Brahman" or "I am He", while Sri Ramana advocates the enquiry "Nan Yar" (Tamil, "Who am I"). Furthermore, unlike the traditional Advaitic school, Sri Ramana strongly discouraged most who came to him from adopting a renunciate lifestyle.
To elaborate:
  • The traditional Advaitic (non-dualistic) school advocates "elimination of all that is non-self (the five sheaths) until only the Self remains".[44] The five kosas, or sheaths, that hide the true Self are: Material, Vital, Mental, Knowledge, and Blissful.
  • Sri Ramana says "enquiry in the form 'Who am I' alone is the principal means. To make the mind subside, there is no adequate means other than self-enquiry. If controlled by other means, mind will remain as if subsided, but will rise again"[45]

[edit]Teachers in his tradition

He considered his own guru to be the Self, in the form of the sacred mountain Arunachala. Sri Ramana did not publicize himself as a guru, never claimed to have disciples, and never appointed any successors. While a few who came to see him are said to have become enlightened through association, and there are accounts of private acknowledgements, he did not publicly acknowledge any living person as liberated other than his mother at death. Sri Ramana declared himself an atiasrama[46](beyond all caste and religious restrictions, not attached to anything in life), and did not belong to or promote any lineage. Despite his non-affiliations,[47] there are numerous contemporary teachers who publicly associate themselves with Sri Ramana, and some who assert being in his lineage.
His method of teaching was characterized by the following:
  1. He urged people who came to him to practice self-enquiry;
  2. He directed people to look inward rather than seeking outside themselves for Realization. ("The true Bhagavan resides in your Heart as your true Self. This is who I truly am.");
  3. He viewed all who came to him as the Self rather than as lesser beings. ("The jnani sees no one as an ajnani. All are only jnanis in his sight.");
  4. He charged no money, and was adamant that no one ever ask for money (or anything else) in his name;
  5. He never promoted or called attention to himself. Instead, Sri Ramana remained in one place for 54 years, offering spiritual guidance to anyone of any background who came to him, and asking nothing in return;
  6. He considered humility to be the highest quality;
  7. He said the deep sense of peace one felt around a jnani was the surest indicator of their spiritual state, that equality towards all was a true sign of liberation, and that what a true jnani did was always for others, not themselves.

[edit]Notable followers

Over the course of Sri Ramana's lifetime, people from a wide variety of backgrounds, religions, and countries were drawn to him. Some stayed for the rest of their lives (or his) and served him with great devotion, and others came for a single darshan and left, deeply affected by the peace he radiated.
Quite a number of followers wrote books conveying Sri Ramana's teachings. Sri Muruganar (1893–1973), one of Sri Ramana's foremost devotees who lived as Sri Ramana's shadow for 26 years,[48] recorded the most comprehensive collection of Sri Ramana's sayings in a work called Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru's Sayings).[49] Sri Ramana carefully reviewed this work with Sri Muruganar, modifying many verses to most accurately reflect his teaching, and adding in additional verses. Sri Muruganar was also instrumental in Sri Ramana's writing of Upadesa Saram (The Essence of Instruction)[50] and Ulladu Narpadu (Forty Verses on Reality).[51] Sri Sadhu Om (1922–1985)[52] spent five years with Sri Ramana and about 28 years with Sri Muruganar. His deep understanding of Sri Ramana's teachings on self-enquiry are explained in his book The Path of Sri Ramana – Part One.[53] Suri Nagamma wrote a series of letters to her brother in Telugu, describing Sri Ramana's conversations with devotees over a five year period. Each letter was corrected by Sri Ramana before it was sent. Attendants of Sri Ramana included Palaniswami (from 1897), Kunju Swami (from 1920), Madhava Swami, Ramanatha Brahmachari, Krishnaswami, Rangaswamy, Sivananda, Krishna Bhikshu and Annamalai Swami (from 1928). The devoted ladies who cooked for Bhagavan and his devotees in the ashram kitchen includes, Shantamma, Sampurnamma, Subbalakshmi Ammal, Lokamma, Gowri Ammal and few others.
Paul Brunton's writings about Sri Ramana brought considerable attention to him in the West. Other Westerners who wrote about Sri Ramana include Arthur Osborne (the first editor of the ashram journal, The Mountain Path), Major Chadwick (who ran the Veda Patasala during Ramana's time), Ethel Merston, and S.S. Cohen. More recently, David Godman, a former librarian at the ashram, has written about Sri Ramana's teaching, as well as a series of books (The Power of the Presence) vividly portraying the lives of a number of lesser-known attendants and devotees of Sri Ramana. Swami Ramdas visited Ramana Maharshi while on pilgrimage in 1922, and after darshan, spent the next 21 days meditating in solitude in a cave on Arunachala. Thereafter, he attained the direct realization that "All was Rama, nothing but Rama".[54]
Maurice Frydman (a.k.a. Swami Bharatananda), a Polish Jew who later translated Nisargadatta Maharaj's work "I Am That" from Marathi to English, was also deeply influenced by Sri Ramana's teachings.
William Somerset Maugham, the English author, wrote a chapter entitled "The Saint" in his last book "Points of View." This chapter is devoted to Ramana Maharshi, whom Maugham had at one time visited before Indian independence. John Mclaughlin, the English jazz fusion guitarist, has said that he was deeply influenced by Ramana Maharshi's ideas.
Indian National Congress politician and freedom-fighter, O. P. Ramaswamy Reddiyar, who served as the Premier of Madras from 1947 to 1949, was also a devoted follower of Ramana Maharshi. Ramaswami Pillai, Balarama Reddy, Ramani Ammal, Kanakammal, Meenakshi Ammal, Perumalswami and Rayar are some of the other long standing devotees who came into the Sannadhi of Bhagavan during his life at Sri Ramanasramam.
Another famous follower of Sri Ramana Maharshi is Jinnuru Nannagaru (born Bhupathiraju Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha Raju),who has taken upon himself the task of taking people to a ‘sorrowless’, and ‘tension-free’ state.

[edit]Aksharamanamalai

Many of Ramana Maharshi's followers asked for a hymn to sing while on their rounds for alms. They felt this would help distinguish them from other hermits. After much persuasion, Sri Ramana Maharshi composed Sri Arunachala Aksharamanamalai (The Marital Garland of Letters) in praise of Lord Shiva, manifest as the mountain Arunachala. The hymn consists of 108 stanzas composed in poetic Tamil, praising the formless Shiva as Arunachala and the different aspects of life and salvation that it symbolizes. A rendering of this hymn by the Ramananjali Bhajan Mandali as part of their album, Ramana Amudham is available at [55]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7SKi-9HrJE

[edit]Books

[edit]Teachings

[edit]Biographies

[edit]Documentary

[edit]Reminiscences

[edit]For Children

  • Sri Ramana, Friend of Animals: Hobbler and the Monkeys of Arunachala (ISBN 81-8288-047-5)
  • Sri Ramana, Friend of Animals: The Life of Lakshmi the Cow
  • Ramana Thatha (Grand Father Ramana), by Kumari Sarada (ISBN 81-85378-03-7)
  • Ramana Maharshi (Amar Chitra Katha: The Glorious Heritage of India series) (ISBN 81-7508-048-5)
  • The Boy Sage, by Geeta Bhatt (author), S.K. Maithreyi (Illustrator) (ISBN 978-8182881129)

[edit]References

  1. ^ Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi the Atiasrami, p.1
  2. ^ Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
  3. ^ Be As You Are Introduction
  4. ^ a b and concentration.html Sri Ramana's approval of other practices
  5. ^ Arthur Osborne, Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge
  6. ^ a b Interview on Sri Ramana Maharshi's life and teachings, p.1
  7. ^ Sri Ramana Leela, Krishna Bikshu
  8. ^ Krishna Bikshu, Sri Ramana Leela
  9. ^ a b c Timeless in Time, Sri Ramana Maharshi, A. R. Natarajan
  10. ^ Path of Self-Knowledge:1
    EARLY YEARS
  11. ^ Sri Ramana Maharshi's Life
  12. ^ a b Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, Arthur Osborne
  13. ^ a b c Bhagavan Ramana, the complete book on the website dedicated to Arunachala and Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
  14. ^ Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, A Pictorial Biography
  15. ^ Bhagavan Sri Ramana, A Pictorial Biography
  16. ^ Bhagavan Sri Ramana, A Pictorial Biography, Joan and Matthew Greenblatt
  17. ^ Palaniswami
  18. ^ The Path of Sri Ramana (Part One), Sri Sadhu Om
  19. ^ Bhagavan Sri Ramana, A Pictorial Biography. page 34
  20. ^ Timeless in Time, Sri Ramana Maharshi, A.R. Natarajan, pages 27-29
  21. ^ Who Am I? - Nan Yar
  22. ^ The path of Sri Ramana, Part One by Sri Sadhu Om. Fifth Ed. page 15
  23. ^ Account of Frank Humphreys, First Western Disciple
  24. ^ Sri Ramana Maharshi and Somerset Maugham
  25. ^ Sri Ramana Maharshi's Response to Criticism
  26. ^ Introduction to Sri Ramana's Hymns to Arunachala
  27. ^ Sri Ramana Maharshi's Mother
  28. ^ Krishnamurti Aiyer in David Godman's "The Power of the Presence - Part One" (2000) p.140
  29. ^ Living by the Words of Bhagavan, David Godman
  30. ^ Sri Ramana Leela, Ch 40
  31. ^ [1]
  32. ^ Lakshmi
  33. ^ Interview on Sri Ramana Maharshi's life and teachings, p.3
  34. ^ Memoirs and Notes, S. S. Cohen
  35. ^ PAGE TWO: Here Lies the Heart
  36. ^ http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/downloads/who_am_I_english.zip
  37. ^ Who Am I? (Nan Yar?)
  38. ^ Path of Sri Ramana - Part Two, by Sri Sadhu Om
  39. ^ Yoga Vasista Sara
  40. ^ TRIPURA RAHASYA. Chapters I - XV of XXII
  41. ^ Kaivalya Navaneetam
  42. ^ Advaita Bodha Deepika
  43. ^ Ellam Ondre
  44. ^ Vivekachudamani, Verse 210, Sri Sankaracharya
  45. ^ "Nan Yar" by Sri Ramana as reproduced in Path of Sri Ramana, Part One, Fifth Edition. Page 149, :152. Note that "Nan Yar" was documented by his disciple M. Sivaprakasam Pillai, who was already heavily influenced by traditional Advaita, and so had added notes about the traditional Advaitic negation method for his own clarification; these additional notes were later removed by Sri Ramana (ibid: Page 147)
  46. ^ Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi the Atiasrami, p.1
  47. ^ lineage
  48. ^ [2] The Mountain Path, Vol. 1 - October 1964 - No. 4
  49. ^ Guru Vachaka Kovai
  50. ^ Upadesa Saram
  51. ^ Ulladu Narpadu
  52. ^ Sadhu Om
  53. ^ The Path of Sri Ramana - Part One
  54. ^ [3] The Mountain Path, January 1965
  55. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7SKi-9HrJE
  56. ^ PDF available athttp://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/downloads/talks_full.zip
  57. ^ PDF available athttp://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/downloads/reflections.zip
  58. ^ PDF available athttp://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/downloads/own_words.zip
  59. ^ PDF available athttp://www.happinessofbeing.com/guru_vachaka_kovai.html
  60. ^ PDF available athttp://www.tamilnation.org/sathyam/east/ramana/maha_yoga.pdf
  61. ^ PDF available athttp://www.happinessofbeing.com/path_ramana.html
  62. ^ PDF available athttp://www.happinessofbeing.com/path_ramana.html
  63. ^ PDF available athttp://www.happinessofbeing.com/happiness_art_being.html
  64. ^ PDF available athttp://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/downloads/ramana_leela.zip(Telegu Original)
  65. ^ Available at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7390375386934930566
  66. ^ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6865032740128202927

[edit]External links

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