I’ll admit, I didn’t know who the heck this guy was 2 days ago. But the first video below was brought to me by the YouTube algorithm, and what a gem it was.
I don’t know much about Hinduism, or the Advaita Vedanta philosophy save for the occasional mention in an Alan Watts lecture. This documentary taught me not just about the life of Sri Ramana Maharshi, but gave some insight into some of the philosophies of Advaita Vedanta as well.
Sri Ramana Maharshi first became aware of the nature of reality during a near death experience at age 16. It is very hard to put words to what he experienced, especially without leaning on vocab words like Brahman and Atman that many people in my world have never heard of. If I could make a crude attempt at a description it would be this:
There is a current/spirit/consciousness that underlies all things, and that is your true “self.” The body, mind, our three dimensional reality – everything transient that exists – are all just illusions, and reality is just a non-dual state of everything all at once that is impossible to describe in words and can only be understood if experienced firsthand. This is where a term like Brahman comes in, to hint at this underlying energy or consciousness that causes and underlies all that exists. The philosophy here seems to be that you, yourself, your spirit, whatever you think You are is actually That. This points to the spiritual connectedness of all things as well.
^Note – this is literally my first run at comprehending some of these ideas. I am not expert so if I got this completely wrong, feel free to blow me up in the comments, so long as we all learn something.
Sri Ramana Maharshi was a kind of oddball who spent a large portion of his time completely immersed in a state of oneness and understanding of the ultimate reality. Though we are not likely to spend our days immersed in the oneness of ultimate reality (wouldn’t that be nice!) – we can use some of his teachings to point our understanding in that direction as well.
That is where the second gift of the YouTube algorithm comes in. Below is a short instructional video that provides the right questions to ask to sort of peel back layers of the illusory nature of the world and your mind.
I like things that can be applied by an amateur like me immediately, and this video, which is apparently an audiobook written by Sri Ramana Maharshi, does just that. It provides a method of inquiry that looks into the nature of your own self. Constantly asking, “who am I?” “who or what is it that is having these thoughts?” can start to peel away at layers of your idea of yourself and perhaps provide a glimpse into that ultimate reality Sri Ramana Maharshi was so absorbed in.
Dude on the Path Book Reviews 