Month: April 2021
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The Only Answer Is Trust
To those spiritual aspirants who couldn’t simply realize their true nature by dint of purely being in his silent presence, Sri Ramana Maharshi would say, “You are the supreme consciousness.” And if this too proved ineffectual, as it often did, he moved down one more level to meet seekers where they were. And in many…
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All Religions ‘According to the Viewpoint of the Seeker’
“The religions,” declares Sri Ramana Maharshi, “are according to the view-point of the seeker” (Be as You Are, p. 206). If the mind of a young child carries around ideas about boogiemen, then a religion could form, stating that no such being exists. Were that to happen, then perhaps it would go on to suggest…
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Atma-vichara Vs. Other Sadhanas
Ramana Maharshi is making some bold yet also reasonable claims. The first is that Self-inquiry (atma-vichara) is the most direct means to Self-realization. The second is that, unlike other spiritual practices (sadhanas), it provides us with “the only raft” (Be As You Are, p. 55, my italics). Let’s see whether we can make sense of…
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When All Samskaras Have Been Given Up…
In Be as You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ramana Maharshi states, “[W]e have simply to throw out all the age-long samskaras [innate tendencies] which are inside us. When all of them have been given up, the Self will shine alone” (p. 15). A samskara is an ego-self tendency. Any form of reactivity (for instance, anger or…
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Theism And Panentheism
A couple of days ago, I went to my book shelf to see what I might like to read next. I grabbed The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as well as an unassuming book entitled The English Mystical Tradition by David Knowles, a Benedictine monk, Catholic priest, and historian until his death in 1974. I remember…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 