Continuing our series on Ramana Maharshi, the greatest Indian sage of the 20th century, here is an extract from my book, The Nirvaneans:

That there is “nothing but the Self” is the central premise from which Advaita Vedanta takes its source. All else flows from this austere statement. Vedanta”s greatest modern exponent, the Nirvanean, Ramana Maharshi, (1879 - 1950) continually emphasised the point to visitors at his ashram in Southern India.

“That silent Self alone is God; Self alone is the individual soul. Self alone is this ancient world.”

The “mind” is only a collection of thoughts, a pale reflection of the universal Self; and the mind distorts the light of the Self into the appearance of the world. It is as if a piece of ornamental glass, irregular and multi-coloured, had been inserted between us and the pure, white light of the Self. The kaleidoscopic dazzle of hues refracted through it make up our world, which distracts us from the original truth of what we are. The glass is the mind and ego which gives rise to it, and is fundamentally illusory.

It is the role of religion, at its best, to convince us of this reality and direct our efforts along the simplest path for achieving our own experience of it. The admittance of other matters or complications, for example, rituals, multiple deities, institutional hierarchies or the working of wonders, is the result of ego activity and leads us away from the goal not towards it. By this definition of religion: non-dual, simple and direct, Sri Ramana’s life is exemplary.

Despite the exalted reputation built up during his lifetime, some learned Hindus found Ramana’s teachings hard to follow. Although he had a deep knowledge of the scriptures and often quoted the Bible, he preached an extraordinarily pure distillation of the highest truth free from jargon and philosophical embellishment.

Sage Without a Guru

It is true that some visiting pandits and intellectual Brahmins found this more than disconcerting. Moreover, he never sought disciples or even expressed his views unless specifically asked to do so. Since he had not needed a guru for his own enlightenment, he refused to grant his followers initiation in the time-honoured Indian tradition. In many ways, though undoubtedly Indian in outlook, his central teachings reflect a universal spirituality which transcend nation and culture.

As if in proof of this, a steady stream of Westerners, empirically-minded and influenced by modern psychology, came to appreciate his informal and straightforward approach. Notwithstanding this affinity with the West, the sage never left his chosen spot on the Arunachala Hill at Tiruvannamalai, and departed from this world as poor in material goods as when he entered it. His ashram, which still thrives, is concerned today with the spread of Ramana Maharshi’s simple, yet profound, non-sectarian message which, without controversy, could still turn conventional religious thinking on its head.