[Advaita-l] (no subject)

[Sanjay Srivastava]

Complete book for free download in pdf form is available here:

http://www.happinessofbeing.com/happiness_art_being.html

However considering the bulk of the book, you may prefer to read it on
paper.

This book is an excellent and exhaustive resource on Sri Bhagwan's
teachings. The only minus point I can think of is that there is lot of
repetition in the book. On second thoughts, even that may not be a bad
thing considering the subtle nature of the subject.

praNAm

On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 6:18 AM, Sivakumar,Kollam <sivanr8010 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Sadara praNAm,
> would you please provide details about the title  "Happiness and the Art of
> Being".
> Namaste
> Prof.Sivakumar
>
> On Sat, Oct 27, 2012 at 9:27 AM, Sanjay Srivastava <
> sksrivastava68 at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
> > > According to the narration, Bhagvan Ramana did not have good knowledge
> of
> > > upanishads etc. in moolam to begin with. When he started expanding his
> > > "who-am-I?' process in easier terms,
> > > traditional vedantins -   read, advaitins - challenged him to provide
> > > scriptural proof.  Bhagavan then conferred with some close scholars (
> my
> > > guess, like Sri vashishta ganapathi muni)
> > > and was able to provide ample proof of congruency between what he was
> > > saying and what was in the major upanishads in essence.
> >
> > Sri Bhagwan's realization is unique in the sense that it did not
> > precede the usual course of shravaNa, manana, nididhyAsana. Rather in
> > his case understanding came spontaneously. It was only later when
> > scriptures were read to him that he could correlate and verbalize his
> > understanding.
> >
> > > The question I was asked was about documentation of this or anything
> in a
> > > similar vein in the early writings of the devotees of Bhagavan either
> in
> > > tamizh or english.
> >
> > The earliest recorded conversation is considered to be "Nan Yar".
> > However when it was shown to Sri Bhagwan before publication he
> > underlined several passages that were not his words, but Sri
> > Sivaprakash Pillai's understanding. However out of the respect for Sri
> > Pillai, Bhagwan did not delete those parts but instructed to publish
> > them in italics. I believe in many later versions this distinction is
> > not maintained.
> >
> > Extensive research has been done on every single word spoken by Sri
> > Bhagwan. Sri Michael James, who himself is a Tamil and Sanskrit
> > scholar has given an exhaustive list of resources in the bibliography
> > section of his excellent book "Happiness and the Art of Being".
> >
> > > The context was, I believe,
> > > to answer the question, 'can advaitic jnaana be obtained independent of
> > > knowledge of upanishads and brahma sutra'.
> >
> > Sri Bhagwan maintained that there are already enough pointers
> > available about basic advaita principles in popular culture and
> > literature so that anyone with an average education has already been
> > exposed to the teachings. Therefore what is lacking in sAdhanA is
> > reflection and contemplation on the teaching, not the exposure. Thus
> > Sri Bhagwan did not give much importance to the formal study of
> > Upanishads and Brahma Sutras or any other text rather emphasized on
> > uninterrupted self attentiveness as means of realization.
> >
> > It may however be of interest to note that even as per traditional
> > vedAnta, study of Upanishads and Brahma Sutras is not essential for
> > self realization. One can gain knowledge from prakaraNa grantha-s as
> > well. Sri Bhagwan's own writings are almost invariably in the nature
> > of prakaraNa grantha-s and many of his devotees - Indians and
> > Westerners alike - have produced brilliant vArtikA-s on them. Whether
> > Sri Bhagwan's devotees admit it or not they are actually doing shAstra
> > vichAra on Sri Bhagwan's writings with same zest and vigour that a
> > traditional vedAntin might do on a traditional prakaraNa grantha.
> >
> > praNAm
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> *sivakumarr*
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