[Advaita-l] Ramana's method

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
 
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But nowadays we hardly see this rigidity in practicality of advaita saMpradAya
 
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I don't what you mean by rigidity and sampradAya.  Do you mean that the sampradAya
only means hardcore, compartmentalized structure of shravaNa, manana ?
 
If pratibandhakAs are removed in mumukSu, what remains is the Self only and there
are various techniques to remove the pratibandhaka.
 
In vEdAnta panchadasi, Sri vidyAraNya muni says:
 
atItEvApi mahiSennEhEna pratibandhataH
bhikSustattvaM na vEdEti gAthA lOkE pratIyatE
 
anusrutya gurusnEhaM mahiSyAM tattvamuktavAn
tatO yathAva dvEdaiSa pratibandhasya  saMkSayAt
 
The meaning is:
 
A certain grihastha used to love his pet buffalo and became too much
attached to it. Later on, he took sanyAsa.  Even after taking sanyAsa,
while meditating, he used to get disturbed owing to his attachment with
the buffalo in his pUrvAshrama. 
 
Then his guru sensing his *pratibandhaka*, advised him to meditate on the
form of buffalo and contemplate it to be the brahman. 
 
Thus, in due course of time, the pratibandhaka was removed and 
he attained Atma sAkSAtkAra.
 
So, what *traditional approach* was followed here and what *saMpradAyika teaching* 
was imparted to this student?
 
The 3 options are occuring to me here:
 
1) He might have undergone shravaNa in previous birth;
2) Might have born as yOga bhraSTa in the current janma owing to some 
    pUrva janama vAsana;
3) The guru's anugraha might have worked in the current birth which transformed him
    like a philosopher's stone.
 
What could be the possible answer?
 
 
regs,
sriram