It was on this day in 1879 that Venkataraman Iyer was born in what is now Tiruchuli in Tamil Nadu state, India. At the age of sixteen he had a transformative experience that led him on a spiritual path.
Eventually he would come to be known as the sage Ramana Maharshi of Arunachala.
In 1911 a Westerner living in India named Frank Humphreys wrote about him. Then in 1931 an Indian national B. V. Narasimha wrote a biography. And finally, well not finally, but for the purposes of focusing the eyes of the West on this remarkable man and his teachings, he was visited by Paul Brunton who wrote the best selling book A Search in Secret India. This led to a number of visitors including the Hindu missionary to the West Paramahansa Yoganada, the novelist Somerset Maugham, who would pattern the guru in the Razor’s Edge after the sage, and, critically Arthur Osborne, who would become a central interpreter of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings to the West.
Ramana Maharshi was among the first major neo-Advaita teachers whose teachings were available to Westerners.
Me, I’ve had a long if mild interest in Advaita Vedanta teachings as they arise out of dialogue with and in dispute with Buddhism. In some ways it might be fair to describe Advaita as Hinduism’s counter reformation to Buddhism’s reformation of Hinduism. At least if you don’t hold that image too tightly. What I find so important is how the traditions challenge each other, sometimes complement each other, and for me, point beyond the limitations of each tradition.
Steve Bodian writes a nice overview of this mutual encounter between Advaita and Buddhism in an essay Remove the Seeker, Remove the Sought. And the Zen teacher David Loy provides some more insights through his review of Leesa Davis’ book Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism: Deconstructive Modes of Spiritual Inquiry. This review so moved me I’ve just ordered the book. Which, considering the price is saying a lot. (For such things I always go to the great used book dealer collective, Abe Books.)
For a nice biographical sketch of the sage himself and his teachings, this is a nice video.
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