Shaivism/Tantra/Nath New movements Kashmir Shaivism Gaudapada Adi Shankara Advaita-Yoga Nath Kashmir Shaivism Neo-Vedanta Inchegeri Sampradaya Contemporary Shaivism/Tantra/Nath Neo-Advaita Hinduism Buddhism Modern Advaita Vedanta Neo-Vedanta Traditional Ramana Maharshi (Sanskrit pronunciation: [ˈɾɐ.mɐ.ɳɐ mɐˈɦɐɾ.ʂi], in tamil: இரமண மகரிசி, Iramaṇa Makarici; 30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) was an Indian Hindu sage[1] and jivanmukta (liberated being).

[web 1][note 3] Six weeks later he left his uncle's home in Madurai, and journeyed to the holy mountain Arunachala, in Tiruvannamalai, where he took on the role of a sannyasin (though not formally initiated), and remained for the rest of his life.

[9] Ramana Maharshi approved a number of paths and practices,[3] but recommended self-enquiry as the principal means to remove ignorance and abide in self-awareness,[web 2][10] together with bhakti (devotion) or surrender to the Self.

[web 2] Ramana Maharshi was born Venkataraman Iyer on 30 December 1879 in the village Tiruchuzhi near Aruppukkottai, Virudhunagar District in Tamil Nadu, India.

Sri Ramana Vijayam, the Tamil biography that first appeared in the 1920s, describes a period a few years before the death-experience in Madurai: Some incomplete practice from a past birth was clinging to me.

[21] During this time he also read Sekkizhar's Periyapuranam, a book that describes the lives of the 63 Nayanmars, which "made a great impression" on him,[22][web 3] and revealed to him that "Divine Union" is possible.

[web 3][11][note 8] Knowing his family would not permit him to become a sanyassin and leave home, Venkataraman slipped away, telling his brother he needed to attend a special class at school.

[35] Gradually, despite Ramana Maharshi's desire for privacy, he attracted attention from visitors who admired his silence and austerities, bringing offerings and singing praises.

[42] In 1902, a government official named Sivaprakasam Pillai, with writing slate in hand, visited the young Swami in the hope of obtaining answers to questions about "How to know one's true identity".

The fourteen questions he asked the young Swami and his answers formed Ramana Maharshi's first teachings on Self-enquiry, the method for which he became widely known, and were eventually published as Nan Yar?, or in English, Who am I?.

Kavyakantha Sri Ganapati Sastri,[note 9] a Vedic scholar of repute in his age, with a deep knowledge of the Srutis, Sastras, Tantras, Yoga, and Agama systems, but lacking the personal darshan of Shiva,[44] came to visit Ramana Maharshi in 1907.

[44] In 1911, the first westerner, Frank Humphreys, then a police officer stationed in India, discovered Ramana Maharshi and wrote articles about him, which were first published in The International Psychic Gazette in 1913.

[49] In 1916, his mother Alagammal and younger brother Nagasundaram joined Ramana Maharshi at Tiruvannamalai and followed him when he moved to the larger Skandashram Cave, where Bhagavan lived until the end of 1922.

However, according to David Godman, who has written extensively about Ramana Maharshi, the popular image of him as a person who spent most of his time doing nothing except sitting silently in samadhi is highly inaccurate.

[55] Brunton calls Ramana Maharshi "one of the last of India's spiritual supermen",[56] and describes his affection toward Ramana Maharshi: I like him greatly because he is so simple and modest, when an atmosphere of authentic greatness lies so palpably around him; because he makes no claims to occult powers and hierophantic knowledge to impress the mystery loving nature of his countrymen; and because he is so totally without any traces of pretension that he strongly resists every effort to canonize him during his lifetime.

[53] Resulting visitors included Paramahansa Yogananda, Somerset Maugham (whose 1944 novel The Razor's Edge models its spiritual guru after Ramana Maharshi),[web 8] Mercedes de Acosta and Arthur Osborne, the last of whom was the first editor of Mountain Path in 1964, the magazine published by Ramanasramam.

[65][66] According to Flood, in Indian religions the guru is akin to the image or statue of a deity in the temple, and both possess power and a sacred energy.

[90]Ramana Maharshi's main means of instruction to his devotees, in order to remove ignorance and abide in Self-awareness, was through silently sitting together with his visitors,[web 12][91] using words only sparingly.

[94]Ankur Barua argues that Ramana Maharshi's method of teaching resembled Socratic questioning, guiding seekers to reflect on the source of their own inquiries, which was often aided by silence.

Ramana Maharshi frequently recommended it as the most efficient and direct way of realizing Self-awareness, in response to questions on self-liberation and the classic texts on Yoga and Vedanta.

[109][note 23] According to Zimmer and Jung, Ramana Maharshi's appearance as a mauni, a silent saint absorbed in samadhi, fitted into pre-existing Indian notions of holiness.

[111][109][note 24] According to Alan Edwards, the popular image of Ramana Maharshi as a timeless saint also served the construction of an Indian identity as inner-oriented and spiritual, in opposition to the oppressive, outer-oriented, materialistic culture of the British colonial rulers:[113] Hindus from all over India could look to the purely spiritual Maharshi as a symbol that inspired them to preserve their distinctive national culture and identity, which of course entailed forcing the British to quit India.

During his lifetime, through contact with educated devotees like Ganapata Muni,[117] Ramana Maharshi became acquainted with works on Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta, and used them to explain his insights:[126] People wonder how I speak of Bhagavad Gita, etc.

Ramana Maharshi gave his approval to a variety of paths and practices from various religions,[3] with his own upadesa (instruction or guidance given to a disciple by his Guru)[web 24] always pointing to the true Self of the devotees.

[138] Although Ramana Maharshi's teaching is consistent with and generally associated with Hinduism, the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta, there are differences with the traditional Advaitic school.

To one devotee who felt he should abandon his family, whom he described as "samsara" ("illusion"), to intensify his spiritual practice, Sri Ramana Maharshi replied: Oh!

[139]The scholar of religion Lola Williamson has described Indian gurus such as Ramana Maharshi, Meher Baba, Sri Aurobindo and Swami Satchidananda Saraswati as having developed "Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements", also called neo-Vedanta and modernist Hinduism.

[143] With regard to the Sri Ramana Ashram, in 1938 Maharshi made a legal will bequeathing all the Ramanashram properties to his younger brother Niranjanananda and his descendants.

Ramanashram is legally recognised as a public religious trust whose aim is to maintain it in a way that is consistent with Sri Ramana Maharshi's declared wishes.

[156] The scholar Philip Goldberg has listed Western religious thinkers influenced by Ramana Maharshi as including Francis X. Clooney, Georg Feuerstein, Bede Griffiths, Andrew Harvey, Thomas Merton, Henri Le Saux (Swami Abhishiktananada), Eckhart Tolle, and Ken Wilber.