[Advaita-l] Ramana's method

[V Subrahmanian]

On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Sanjay Srivastava <sksrivastava68 at gmail.com
> wrote:

>
> 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
>

In fact Dr.Mani Dravid SastrigaL who is perhaps unmatched in scholarship
had this to say:  It is enough for a mumukshu to take up just one text,
even a prakaraNa grantha like 'aparokshanubhuti' or 'Atmabodha' and
sincerely practice what has been taught there.  There is no need for
delving into countless texts, bhashyams, etc. Of course, our tradition
itself holds : 'mAnDUkyam ekam eva alam mumukShUNAm vimuktaye'.

Again, all this is not just a categorical edict; adhikAri bheda plays the
primary role in what, how much, from whom, how many, is shravaNam to be
done.  There is a traditional statement: 'bahubhiH shravaNam kuryAt' which
means: one has to 'hear' from many (texts / teachers).

I would also like to add that in the tradition of Vedanta, the study of the
prasthAna traya along with prakaraNa texts, is a norm which aims at : 1.
producing aparoksha jnanam for the mumukshu and 2. make him capable of
being a teacher/guide too.  That is the basis of the Upanishadic
characterization of a 'shrotriya-brahmaniShTha'.

In traditional Advaita too there is ample space for an 'uttamAdhikAri' to
not give any or give little importance for shravana of a  number of texts.
Just an upadesha from a realized Guru might trigger the latent strong Atma
vAsana of this special adhikari and catapult him to the heights of
self-realization with a heavy dose of nididhyasana. There have been such
special cases in contemporary history.  Bhagavan Ramana himself did not
require any formal shravanam to get enlightened.  Only when texts like the
Kaivalya Navaneetham were read before him when he was in Tiruvannamalai did
he know that the experience that was described in those texts was what
actually he had had already.

In fact Bhagavan Ramana himself has penned a number of works and translated
a number of standard texts of Advaita too.

Regards
subrahmanian.v


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