[Advaita-l] Sri Ramana Maharshi also says...

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Namaste
These topics have come up many times in the past.

Sri Ramana's criticism was not about studying vedAnta (and that obviously
includes traditional texts) under a Guru. He in fact directed his own
nephew Sri Vishwanath Swami who remained a naiShThika brahmachAri  and was
an outstanding young sAdhaka when he met him, to study shAstra under a
shrotriya viz., Sri kAvyakanTha gaNapati muni. Sri Ramana's criticism was
only towards poring over scholarly tomes without assimilating the
essentials and without having the necessary preparedness of mind.


Sri Ramana Maharshi's own words on shravaNam etc. in his introduction to
his translation of the vedantic text vivekachudamani - "In order to learn
this method of enquiry, says Sri Shankara, one should seek the Grace of a
Guru; and he then proceeds to describe the qualities of the Guru and his
disciple and how the latter should approach and serve his master. He
further emphasises that in order to realise the bliss of liberation one's
own individual effort is an essential factor. Mere book learning never
yields this bliss; it can be realised only through *Self-enquiry or
vichara, which consists of sravana or devoted attention to the precepts of
the Guru*, manana or deep contemplation and nidhidhyasana or the
cultivation of equanimity in the Self."





On Thu 30 Aug, 2018, 1:40 PM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula, <
raghavkumar00 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sri Ramana Maharshi explains the importance of the prerequisites to study
> vedAnta granthas from a Guru (shravaNam). So we gave to be careful not to
> quote Sri Ramana Maharshi without proper context.  When a particular person
> studies and teaches vedAnta without himself assimilating the truth of the
> words he is quoting or teaching, only then it is meaningful to rhetorically
> ask "what is the use of studying vedAnta and parrot the words etc?" Such a
> idea is reckless if quoted out of context.
>
> d - Devotee
> M - Maharshi Ramana
>
>
> D: What are the sadhanas or requisites for this process?
>
> *M.: The knowers say that the sadhanas consist of an ability to discern
> the real from the unreal, no desire for pleasures here or hereafter,
> cessation of activities (karma) and a keen desire to be liberated. Not
> qualified with all these four qualities, however hard one may try, one
> cannot succeed in enquiry. Therefore this fourfold sadhana is the sine qua
> non for enquiry.*
>
> *Discernment (viveka) can arise only in a purified mind. Its nature is the
> conviction gained by the help of sacred teachings that only Brahman is real
> and all else false.* Always to remember this truth is its effect. Its end
> (avadhi) is to be settled unwavering in the truth that only Brahman is and
> all else is unreal. Desirelessness (vairagya) is the result of the outlook
> that the world is essentially faulty. *Its nature is to renounce the
> world and have no desire for anything in it. Its effect is to turn away in
> disgust from all enjoyments as from vomit.* It ends (avadhi) in treatment
> with contempt of all pleasures, earthly or heavenly, as if they were vomit
> or burning fire or hell.
>
> *Desire to be liberated (mumukshutva) begins with the association with
> realised sages. Its nature is the yearning for liberation. Its effect is to
> stay with one master. It ends (avadhi) in giving up all study of shastras
> and performance of religious rites.*
>
> D.: How is it that even scholars in Vedanta have not succeeded in the
> pursuit of enquiry?
>
>
> M.: Though they always study Vedanta and give lessons to others *yet in
> the absence of desirelessness* they do not practise what they have learnt.
>
> D.: And what do they do otherwise?
>
> *M.: Like a parrot they reproduce the Vedantic jargon but do not put the
> teachings into practice.*
>
> D.: What does Vedanta teach?
>
>
> *M.: The Vedanta teaches a man to know that all but the non-dual Brahman
> is laden with misery, therefore to leave off all desires for enjoyment, to
> be free from love or hate, thoroughly to cut the knot of the ego and to
> remain fixed in the perfect knowledge of the equality of all and making no
> distinction of any kind, never to be aware of anything but Brahman, and
> always to be experiencing the Bliss of the nondual Self.*
>
> *Though Vedanta is read and well understood, if dispassion is not
> practised, the desire for pleasures will not fade away. However well read
> one may be, unless the teachings are put into practice, one is not really
> learned. Only like a parrot the man will be repeating that Brahman alone is
> real and all else is false.*
>