[Advaita-l] Ramana's method

[Sanjay Srivastava]

> I think Ramana Maharshi recommended  the  texts such as Yoga-Visishtha Ramayana, Tripura-Rahsya and Ashtavakra Gita to supplement  the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas. The main stream Advaitins on the other hand would fist think of  the Sankarabhashyas, Naishkarmya siddhi, Advaitasiddhi, Siddhantalesasamgraha, Jivanmuktiviveka and Vivekachudamani etc. What I mean to say is that while ultimately it is advaita that both the camps aim at, yet pedagogically the approach is probably quite different. Kindly correct me if I am wrong. >

Bhagwan Ramana gave minimal emphasis on any text.

Only when a questioner insisted for a text, Bhagwan would recommend
something as per the background of the questioner; but it was not
important. In Sri Bhagwan's scheme, shravaNa and manana were almost
dispensable. All efforts were to be focused towards nididhyAsana only
and that too in a very specific manner.

There is enormous literature on Sri Bhagwan's method of nididhyAsana
that is enough to confuse anyone for several lifetimes. In my
understanding, Chapter 8 of Sri Sadhu Om's "Path of Sri Ramana - Part
1" and Chapter 10 of Sri Michael James' "Happiness and the Art of
Being" contain all that anyone really needs to understand Sri
Bhagwan's method in entirety. pdf versions of both the books are
available on line. It is not to say that there aren't any other good
books on Sri Bhagwan's method. But once you have grasped the
essentials, all others will be found repetitive.

I have found Sri Bhagwan's method nothing but vedanta though with very
different emphasis on shravaNa, manana and nididhyAsana components.
Among contemporary vedanta teachers with whom I have had any contact
(esp. English speaking teachers), the emphasis is almost entirely on
shravaNa. Sri Bhagwan would have disagreed with this approach. In his
view shravaNa of even one text was more than enough. Any more efforts
on shravaNa would have been considered shAstra vAsana.

praNAm