The following is from the Wikipedia article on Ramana Maharshi:
Quote:
Ramana Maharshi maintained that the purest form of his teachings was the powerful silence which radiated from his presence and quieted the minds of those attuned to it. He gave verbal teachings for the benefit of those who could not understand his silence. His verbal teachings were said to flow from his direct experience of Atman as the only existing reality. When asked for advice, he recommended self-enquiry as the fastest path to liberation. Though his primary teaching is associated with Non-dualism, Advaita Vedanta, and Jnana yoga, he recommended Bhakti to those he saw were fit for it, and gave his approval to a variety of paths and practices.
I heard from other sources too that somehow without his saying a word people would be transformed when they came near to Ramana Maharshi, as if he radiated some type of psychic field where some people became more enlightened just by being near to him. Yeah I know it sounds like BS, but apparently quite a few people experienced this for whatever reason. Maybe it really happened, maybe not. I do not know.
One thing to keep in mind about spiritual teachings is that they, like everything, cannot truly be communicated using language alone. Direct experience cannot be transmitted in words. The same word has different shades of meaning to everyone who hears it, but more importantly: the map is not the territory, the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. Alan Watts told of how some, when presented with the finger pointing at the moon, instead of following the hint would instead suck the finger for comfort.
What I think is cool about Hinduism is that they recognize not everyone is at the same level of awareness or has the same talents or interests as anyone else. So they recognize that there are different paths for different people (instead of saying there is only ONE way and it is the SAME way for everyone as some other religions claim). So for those who could receive his teachings of silence, that was enough. For others, Ramana would speak but he would address each questioner
at the level of their understanding. This sometimes resulted in what seem to be contradictory statements from Ramana, where what he said to one person seems to contradict what he said to another. However, when you realize that he was talking to each person
at their level the apparent contradictions disappear.
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"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008
02 Nov 2012, 9:25 pm
