Was Sri Ramana Maharshi a Shaivite?

[srivijaya]

Was Sri Ramana Maharshi a Shaivite?
I seem to recall once reading this somewhere but is it correct?

[devotee]

Namaste Srivijaya,


Was Sri Ramana Maharshi a Shaivite?
I seem to recall once reading this somewhere but is it correct?

Ramana Maharishi's spiritual journey started with reading Periya PurANam which is a book of NayanAr bhaktas who are Shaivties. He was so much influenced by this book that he became an ardent Shiva Bhakta as he wanted to like one of the Shiva Bhaktas mentioned in the book. However, in the same year when he did all this, he had Self-realisation while trying to act as a corpse and indulging in self-enquiry.

So, he started as a Shiva Bhakta i.e. a Shaivite and ended up as an Advaitin.

OM

[Amrut]

Namaste,

As mentioned by Devotee, Sri Ramana Maharshi was influenced by Nayanar saints, but his own meditation was based on Self Enquiry which is Advaita meditation. Sri Ramana's works like 40 verses on reality, who am I, updesha saram, etc are all of Advaita nature, though he has also written hymm on Holy Arunachala - Shri Arunachala panch ratna.

When Sri Ramana Maharshi entered a temple, he was given instruction that his own self with be his guide. Sri Ramana did not had any physical Guru, but he has high respect for Holy Arunachala mount, which you can say was his Guru.

Aum
Indiaspirituality

[srivijaya]

Hi Indiaspirituality & devotee,
Thank you for clearing that up for me. I have been unable to find references to Shaivism in Ramana's teachings but they do remind me of the non-dual Kashmiri Shaivism, especially the teachings on Spanda.

I know Advaita has a different background to Kashmiri Shaivism but with the "Shiva connection" I wasn't sure which of the two schools had influenced him the most.

Namaste

[Amrut]

Hi Indiaspirituality & devotee,
Thank you for clearing that up for me. I have been unable to find references to Shaivism in Ramana's teachings but they do remind me of the non-dual Kashmiri Shaivism, especially the teachings on Spanda.

I know Advaita has a different background to Kashmiri Shaivism but with the "Shiva connection" I wasn't sure which of the two schools had influenced him the most.

Namaste

Hi Srivijaya,

If you believe that Sri Ramana Maharshi was an avatar of Skanda / Murugan / Kartikeyan, then he is a Shiva Putra. This is said in Sri Ramana Gita. Other than that I do not know any connection with Shiva.

63 Nayanar Saints (http://www.dlshq.org/download/nayanar.htm) were very popular and young Ramana Maharshi used to vist temples. The teachings of these saints might be very popular in his living place and so he may have got influenced by them. In the above link Sambandhar is on number 28

Again, very popular saint Jnan SAmbamdhar is said to be in previous incarnation.

So Skanda Bhagavan had 3 avatars according to Sri Ramana Gita.

1. Kumaril Bhatt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kum%C4%81rila_Bha%E1%B9%AD%E1%B9%ADa) - Karma Kand (Ritualist)
2. Jnan (Gyan) Sambamdhar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambandar) - Bhakti (shaiva bhakti)
3. Ramana Maharshi (http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/) - Jnan (Advaita) - Last avatars.

Other website of Sri Ramana Maharshi (http://bhagavan-ramana.org/)

63 nayanar saints (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayanars)

I do not know if he has mentioned any shaiva scriptures. He stressed on Jnana marg an d liked Ribhu Gita. He also picked up some verses, which are the essence of Bhagavad Gita. The collection is called Maharshi Gita (http://www.ocoy.org/dharma-for-christians/sacred-texts/maharshi-gita/)

It is an arrangement of verses of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sri Ramana Maharshi that gives an overview of the essential message of the Gita.

Aum
Indiaspirituality

[srivijaya]

Many thanks for the reply Indiaspirituality. The links look interesting. I shall explore.