How I was brought to Ramana

A friend asked me recently to write about how I came to Ramana. I was brought to him by a chain of events that started with my father’s death and culminated in a visit to Meenakshi Amman Temple in southern India. I’ve written about some of those events on this blog in individual posts but […]

Read More

John Grimes

I seldom read spiritual books anymore but a few days ago I ran across a mention of John Grimes and for some reason, I can’t remember why, decided to read his book on Ramana. All I knew was that he is a retired professor of philosophy who specialized in Advaita Vedanta. The book turned out […]

Read More

My new way of talking about Ramana’s method

From now on, for a while at least, I’m going to refer to Ramana’s method as Ramana’s method. I’m going to avoid saying “vichara” or “self-investigation” (Michael James’s favorite way to translate “vichara”) and “self-attention” (Michael’s second-favorite way). And I’ll avoid the commonest names, “Self-enquiry” and “Who Am I?”, because those names are the most […]

Read More

Why most people get nowhere with Ramana’s method They look for an object

A friend wrote to me yesterday: More and more Ramana’s words come to mind, and I say, “Okay, but who or what is having those experiences?” As I go into that, nothing is there, and I find experience just is. How about that? My friend is finding nothing because he’s looking for an object (mental […]

Read More

More about Ramana’s transmissions

A few days ago I wrote about Ramana giving initiation or transmission by looking into people’s eyes. Here’s another quote that makes the point even more clearly and concisely than the ones I already posted. The speaker is Sankarammal, a woman who worked in the ashram kitchen. V. Ganesan, who recorded her words, says she […]

Read More

Ramana’s glance of grace Initiation by look

I wonder how many people know today that Ramana Maharshi was famous during his lifetime for giving initiation or transmission to visitors by looking into their eyes. He often did this for almost an hour at a time. His devotees at the ashram sometimes called this his “glance of grace.” The effect was often strong […]

Read More

A childhood with Ramana

These two videos with Kitty Osborne, who spent her childhood in Ramana’s ashram, are extraordinary. I thought I knew a lot about Ramana from reading a bazillion books about him but wow, was I missing some major parts of the picture. I cried the whole time I watched these, but there is plenty of food […]

Read More

Tether and magnet: the method of dwelling on the ‘I’ sense

Note from Freddie: The author of this guest post is the friend who I quoted in an earlier article a few days ago. Here’s his answer to the first question that readers asked. Welcome to all who read this. I should like firstly to thank Freddie for giving me the opportunity to speak to you […]

Read More

Find the Source, Nisargadatta-style

People who read Ramana and Nisargadatta are sometimes surprised by the extent of the differences. But are the differences really so great or are they mostly a matter of vocabulary? Ramana’s method is basically: Find the source of the I-thought and stay there until the I-thought dissolves. That source is your real identity. Doesn’t this […]

Read More

Did Ramana practice Self-enquiry for four years or a few minutes?

How did Ramana Maharshi get Self-realized? The standard description goes something like this: One day when Ramana was 16 years old, for no apparent reason, he suddenly thought he was about to die. Instead of shouting for help or running to a doctor, he lay on the floor and pretended he was already dead. He […]

Read More