Advaita Vision

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Advaita for the 21st Century

Sri Ramana Maharshi

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The main organisation related to Ramana Maharshi is Sri Ramanasramam, the ashram at the foot of Mount Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai in India, where he lived for practically the whole of his life. The mountain is believed by his followers to be the oldest and holiest place on earth, itself capable of bringing about self-realisation to one who stays there.

Sri Ramanashramam

There is information relating to Ramana Maharshi and his teaching and a few of his works may be downloaded for study offline. There is extensive information about the ashram itself.

"In a state of deep sleep we lay down our ego, our thoughts and our desires. If we could only do all this while we are conscious, we would realise the Self."

The site that previously hosted the Sri Ramanasramam material was dissolved in early 2007 when the Ashram formed its own website above. ramana-maharshi.org was split into two new sites:

The first website is dedicated to Arunachala, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi and to helping devotees in whatever way it is possible to do so. It also has a forum for use by devotees.

The second site provides a live video feed of Arunachala.

The Society of Abidance in Truth (SAT) is in Santa Cruz, California. The resident Sage is Master Nome. There are events, lectures, retreats etc. based on the teaching of Ramana Maharshi.

Ramana Maharshi Foundation UK was affiliated to Sri Ramanashramam but is now independent. There are members throughout the world but meetings are principally held at Hampstead in London on the afternoon of the second Saturday of each month. There are short readings on a particular theme, interspersed with periods of silence and followed, in the second half, by an open, moderated discussion. Topics alternate between bhakti and jnana emphasis.

The organisation publishes an informal A4 newsletter two or three times per year containing general information about the group and lists of forthcoming talks and residential retreats with Sages.

"To become aware of anything is to disconnect the mind from the Self and that is unhappiness."

Ramana Maharshi

The Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning at Bangalore publishes a monthly magazine, 'The Ramana Way', as well as a number of other books and pamphlets on the teachings of Ramana, principally by A. R. Natarajan.

Arunachala Ashrama has centers in New York and Nova Scotia. As well as information about the ashrams with their events and satsangs, there are details of Ramana's life and teachings and about Sri Ramanasramam. Books, audio, video and photos may be purchased via Paypal.

The advaita section of luthar.com has masses of articles relating to Ramana.

A weekend seminar on Ramana Maharshi's 'Upadesa Sara' was given by Dr. K. Sadananda at the Washington Chinmaya Mission during Summer 2003 and a tape recording of the lecture, consisting of 8 tapes, may be purchased from them. These are excellent but some Sanskrit background would be beneficial since Sri Sadananda is fond of quotations from the Gita and other sources! The contact is S. Balan, the secretary. The cost is $20 for anyone local but postage will vary for other locations.

David Godman is the author of possibly the best book relating to Ramana Maharshi - 'Be As You Are'. This site contains interviews, a biography of Ramana and details of David's books amongst other things.

Happiness of Being contains essays and translations etc. on Self-knowledge, exploring in depth the philosophy and practice of the spiritual teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana. These include a complete book, which may be downloaded in PDF format, entitled 'Happiness and the Art of Being'. The author, Michael James, has lived in Tiruvannamalai for over 20 years and studied with Sri Sadhu Om for the last 8 1/2 years of the latter's life, assisting in the translation of Guru Vachaka Kovai. There is also a blog discussing the philosophy and practice of Sri Ramana's teachings.

There are a number of pages covering Ramana's biography and extracts from his teaching at the 'Gnostic and Mystical Philosophy' site.

Ramana Maharshi and Us has articles about Ramana, personal stories and a free lending library.

Arunachala Samudra has all the information you could ever want about Mt. Arunacahala - history, tourism, associated kings and sages, poems and prayers - and there are some wonderful photographs.

Finally, here is a very useful page of links to Ramana related sites and Egroups, etc.

For even more sites, see the Open Directory listings.

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Page last updated: 10-Jul-2012