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Advaita for the 21st Century

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Free Books by Recent Sages

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Atmananda Krishna Menon

   

Notes on Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda, taken by Nitya Tripta. This is a lively and substantial record, made by a close disciple, with Shri Atmananda's approval. Long unavailable, because a weighty tome originally published only in small numbers, the copyright has now been transferred and the new holder wishes to make this wonderful document available to all seekers, as easily as possible. It consists of 1,450 notes of varying length, covering a wide range of subjects in his unique pithy and logical style. There is also a detailed biography. This version is still a little provisional, with some technicalities of proofing and scholarly checking remaining to be done. The file has been zipped for minimum size (1.7Mb), 509 pages including a comprehensive index with hyperlinked page numbers.

Download Notes on Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda. (Right-click mouse and select 'Save As'.) Alternatively, an abridged version with a selection of notes arranged by subject is available. Readers are requested to feed back any errors or comments on the document. Some quotations from these discourses may be read here.

Greg also has a page on Sri Atmananda, which discusses the fundamentals of the direct path, such as how it starts by bringing the universal under the individual, how it establishes the witness, how the witness stabilizes, and how it finally dissolves into pure consciousness. There is also an audio interview with Greg on the direct path and a link to download a free copy of Atmananda's NOTES FROM SPIRITUAL DISCOURSES.

"You will never succeed in bringing in light, if you insist upon removing all the darkness from your room before you do so. Therefore simply ignore the ego and try to understand, and the understanding itself will remove the ego."

 

 

The Nature of Man According to Vedanta, by John Levy. This is a book by one of Sri Atmananda's direct disciples and presents his teachings in the style of western philosophy. A quick look at the section on 'Time' suggests that this book is very good indeed.

 

 

Ramana Maharshi
   

Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. This is the classic book of conversations recorded by Sri Munagala S. Venkataramiah over the period 1935 - 9. Very readable, yet full of wisdom. It has a comprehensive index and glossary. It is downloadable as a ‘zipped’ file.

   

Maha Yoga by “Who” is essentially a book about Advaita as taught by Ramana Maharshi who, to my mind, bridges the gap between traditional and direct path methods. The author, only identified as “Who” on the title page, was Sri K. Laksmana Sarma, who studied for over twenty years with Ramana. He defines Maha Yoga as “the Direct Method of finding the Truth of Ourselves.” The key topics addressed are happiness, ignorance, world, soul, god, the nature of the Self and the means for realizing this, and the role of the Sage and devotion. Some difficult concepts are explained with transparent clarity and the entire book is readable and authoritative yet written with obvious humility. Highly recommended.

   

Other classic collections of material by or about Ramana Maharshi are available from the same site - including The Collected Works, edited by Arthur Osborne and Day by Day with Bhagavan.

 

 

A short sketch of the life of Ramana is provided by Sri Ramana, The Sage of Arunagiri by Subbaramayya (Aksharajna).

 

 

Osho

 

All of Osho's English language Ebooks are available to read on-line or download in PDF format from the Message From the Masters website. These are categorized into 15 different sections. The complete set may also be purchased on CD for only Rs.549.

   
Ranjit Maharaj
   

The Way of the Bird : Commentaries on the Teachings of Sri Ranjit Maharaj by Andrew Vernon. Ranjit Maharaj was the less well-known disciple of Siddharameshwar Maharaj, along with the famous Nisargadatta Maharaj. This book consists of his terse words on a wide range of topics but, fortunately, these are elaborated and explained by Andrew Vernon in an exceptionally lucid manner making the whole book a mine of valuable knowledge.

Read several extracts from the book.

   
Miscellaneous  
 

Free Spiritual Books, as the name indicates, aims to review and point the reader to slelected sites where free books by spiritual teachers may be downloaded. There are several pages relevant to Advaita, with Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj each having their own entry.

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Page last updated: 24-Sep-2012