Peter: Tutt== Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Enquiry Ramana Maharshi was, some say, the greatest sage of our century This brief and at his life and teaching outlines the essence of his celebrated method of self-enquiry. yamana, Maharshi is widely re Res 3 one of the foremost Spitaa teachers of thes, cn tury His fe and teachings outing & sig nd ret th "Sua En sectarian boundaries He's therclore fevered net only by adherents 0 the hindu-vopcwadiion, but ako by those Influenced by’ other meta: physical and eligouy path Venkataraman ayy ater known as Ramana Mahorsh was. born In Becember’ 879 the vile of Tre: ‘hush, Tart Nadu, South dla ater the death of hsfather an ungualfed tural lawyer, Venkataraman was sent Bthe age of twee to stay with ns Uncle inthe nearby it of ladura there he attended schol Tewasiahicceventeenthyear.inthe riddle of 1850 tht an event took Place that was to change his whole Fes“ tollowing passage sub stantially ‘his deschption of what happened, —___ Great change ——__ it was about sit weeks before Heft Madural or’ good that the “great change in my life took place was Suite sudden. twas siting alone n'a fom on the iat floor ofy Uncle's howe Taeldombad ary sickness ond fm that day there mas nothing wong sth my health but a sudden violent fearof death overtook me. lust elt "Lam going to die’ and at once set about thinking whst (should do Iie not care fo consult doctors o elders Steven Mende elt hadtosove the problem myselt then and there The shock of fear of death drove ‘my mind inwards and V sid to myset ‘mental witht actualy ming the words, ‘Now death hat comme wht ‘does je mean? What ie that ding? This body dies" And |at once dre Used the occurence of ost Is seth my lin satched ou tt though rigor montis had set in ond Intated corpee so aso ge greater fealty tothe enquiry Theld my breath land kept my mouth closed. pressing the lips righty together so that no ‘Sound might escape. 30 that either the word tno any other word cou ‘beuttered."Weilthen Tssidtomyset This body is dead: hill be caved stil tothe burning ground and there burnt and reduced to ashes, But with the death ofthis body am I dead? Ie the body 1? rs sllen and ine but feel the tll force sf ry personality and even the voice ofthe Fwithin me, ‘So. am Spit transcending the bod The body dies but the Spit that transcends cannot be touched by death. That mesne tam the deat less ‘Sprit All tis wae not dull thought tasked through me vv Ss'lving truth which perceved de reat almost without thought-pro ess" ‘ae something vey fea he ‘nly reat thing about my present State ‘and ll the conscious activity connected with my body was centred fon that "From that moment on Wards the or Sell locuned atten tion on self by 3 poweral fase _—— Beginning on the Path Some months before this happened, Venkataraman had heard relate mention the sacred hilo! runachais andthe nearby town ol Travan Famalal about one hundred. and Sevent.tve miles fom. Nadural it wos iter at he decided to travel nd ‘here. in various locations he ‘tas toremain unt he left the body Wes For quite some time after he a rwved in Trwanmamal he sat amos Imei sbsoed in the Sl mat speaking, scarceh eating and uterly neglecting the Body Me no. longer feeded “this was preyed "opon by[ee Ramana Maharshi ~eontinued ants and vermin unt it was covered With open sores Gradually however, Uiscples eahered around him and tn ‘order fe snsner the questions they pressed upon him helesentalyre- {med to's more outwardly nota tie ‘fst Ramana spoke ver tle. in- stead ting down replies 10 Guestons. put to him. in time, Ke Began to anawer verbally his replies sen being recorded by his diecpies Formary though fission influence Sn the power ol he presence was Stil the most important psn of hs teachings "aking speech aneces Sry" Wien he did answer questions there was nothing hem or Donia about the way he did 30 He spoke ireely and Nsreplicswereoten gen sith aughter and Romy 18 the Rear of Ramana’ teachings 1s the practice of Sel Enquiy iArs Micha the method of det exper ial ivestigtion nt the nature of She's real identi centted on the {eston "who am f However Ram Sha explained that nitsighest form Bhakti the pat of devotion and ur fender as well se Scirenguy can Teed to uberaion ve aso described fd endorsed the use of oer prac ces tor example pranayama, ape karma yoes ad seiflesssenice ete Path of selenquiry Which, method of mediation i suitable “depends on the tempera: tment ofthe inaiidual. Everyman is Bom sit samskaraelehaacrenisies fr Tendencies) tom his past Ives There can be no general rule" Mest. {avon ofall nds con help mae the find) more one-polnted ‘and. wil Gventualy prepare the aspirant Tat {he path of SeltEnquiry. Thus there twos no need forsomeone to suddenly Stop practising a particular path Bud ‘hits and. Christian, for example ould continue practising Sudhism Sind christianity Sets be pues by Ramanas teachings, There was no ex Sena contaditton ‘Almost everything. that Ramana sald or wrote asin expose tothe Speclic needs of some indMidual ‘uestoner so that he never included the whole spectrum his teachings in Sany"one ‘conversation. Normally therelore. these. are presented. In took form with a wide vancy of {uostons and answers enteredunder ‘SSparate subject headings, enabling the reader to select those. replies most appropriate to Ps or her oun Tecds"Ths hor ale space fto0 Fimted todo ths so on atempt has been made to selects limited num Serot quotations normaly sansa from: the tami) that Mustate Ramona esta eathings on Sele Enquiy. and’ to place these" ins Taek sequence o hess ond prc tes, Th interested reader however, tdvned torelertothe books tsted brine endothe anicle mordertoget SToroaderiew Income cores pas of Basses hane een ome to re face repetition. but his has Been done without changing the meaning Essential Teaching ‘very ning thing longs always tobe appr, untainted by sorrow man thinks is happiness i due to extemal causes and posses Sone it ie reasonable (0 conclude that is happiness mast increase with the inreose of postessions. and iminish in proportion te thet ‘diminution. Taeretore Ihe devo St possessions his happiness shosld beni What Is the real experience of Nan? Opes it conirm a this view? In deep dreamless sleep the man isdevoid el posessionsingudinghs wn body stead of being unhappy he's quite happy ~ evenone desires {0 sleep soundly. The conclsion i= thathappiness it inherentn Mon and rot due to external causes But one should not therefore de sire to be sys in sleep Inthe fst Bloce ts mpossibie fort neces SSniyaiternate wth the other sates Moreover the deep sleep stste nat ‘eeogmised tobe ane of awareness) people but the sage sahuays ware vas ndiated. happiness herent, thoush deep sleep isan un Satsfactn source of such Rappiness it's reasonable to took wihin our elves lind source thats satsac tony Aa han slready been seen nthe deep seep sae Riscommonexper fence that though “You admit your ‘iistence in deep sleep. You were fot aware of ry goss Bo" and ao that "there massno mind im deep Sleep," thus, Wwe ent in deep deep ‘bur do not experience the mind and the body inte tte mind ano body ‘ature $0 who are we Teal)?