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The Essential Teachings of Ramana Maharshi: A Visual Journey

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This editor has done a masterful job of compiling brief quotes from Ramana Maharshi, the great master of the spiritual teaching called Advaita. The truth of Advaita is simple, and, as in Zen Buddhism, the apprehension of that truth is mind-stilling and profound. Each page of this book contains a quote that performs the mind-stilling function quite admirably. The illustrations - photographs of Ramana Maharshi, his ashram, and the mountain Arunachala - are very beautiful. However, it is the enormous silence behind the words on each page that give this book its power. I couldn't recommend any book more highly.

This book has become one of my favorites. It is filled with clear black and white photographs of Ramana Maharshi. Inserted on the pictures are GEMS of Ramana's teachings. The quotes are distilled and arranged in such a way to make them tremendously potent. I read a few pages at a time as I look at the pictures. I start feeling enlightenment. The words are dripping with profound simple insight into our apparent condition. The phantom self begins to drop away, peace begins to bring it's light, there is no need to seek. There is nowhere we need to go, it's all center, nobody's going anywhere. Time and space are but an illusion. Reading the words in this book. It's so simple and clear. All seeking, even religious seeking assume a separation from the infinite but the infinite is always here and now. Seeking objectifies and distances the infinite from us. It can even strenghthen the ego, now one has become a super holier than thou ego. There might be a certain readiness needed for this teaching. Some methods use seeking and a distance from God. Sometimes one needs to keep seeking because of all the commotion going on in one's soul. A tempest is blasting in one's soul and sometimes we are too in a hurry to be in the present. We've got things to do and places to go, you know. If you've begun to see the futility of seeking then you are ready for this book. You'll experience quiet, peace and stillness and an ordinary contentment with what is. What you feel after this depends on how much you contemplate and meditate upon these words and finally go beyond them into your REAL SELF. There is the phantom self and your REAL SELF. This book can help you find your REAL SELF that has been here all along, remember...?

This beautiful book is a treat for anyone interested in spiritual insight. Ramana Maharshi was a wise man and more: he knew himself to be identical with the One Self of all. The photos are beautiful, the text, though brief, is sublime. Ramana insists we are o k just as we are. We fail to realize it because we fail to know ourselves as we really are; infinite and divine, the one true Self. To read this book is to partake in a visual and philosophical feast. Its brevity demands attention. Its truths have the power to enlighten. Enjoy this book as a meditation which will help you see and know your own true Self.

This is one of the most useful and impactful books on Ramana Maharshi. Having read "all" of his works, when Matthew Greenblatt first presented this book, it really changed the standard on how to access Ramana. So much of Ramana's teachings are visual, or in silence, that, more than virtually any other teacher, this is a uniquely powerful way to convey his messages. If you buy no other book on Ramana, buy this one - everything is there. Among many "hard core" Ramana Maharshi folk, this has rapidly become the great favorite. Buy it - it can change your life.

As one with academic training in philosophy, I reluctantly concede...yes, truth can be found in, um, a picture book. What's more, you may not need to go farther than that.

On page 109:

"There is no use removing doubts. If we clear one doubt, another arises, and there will be no end of doubts. All doubts will cease only when the doubter and his source have been found. Seek for the source of the doubter, and you find he is really nonexistent. Doubter ceasing, doubts will cease."

And looking at the pictures of Ramana in this book, doubts cease.

Ramana Maharshi was really the great inspiration behind the modern 'Advaita' movement. The simple, direct, nature of his words will inspire for centuries, one can be sure. When he says, for instance: "Realization consists of getting rid of the false idea that one is not realized", suddenly a door that was locked becomes open. When he says: "You are the Self. You are already and eternally That", who is going to argue with him? This is what everyone wants to hear ... and this is the truth for every man and woman. With such simple and direct guidance, why seek out complicated intellectual ramblings? Staying with the simple, clear words of Ramana Maharshi are in themselves enough. The book is highly recommended, not only for the beautiful, inspiring words, but also for the large number of photos of Ramana in many different situations.
Roy Whenary (author of 'The Texture Of Being')

I would recommend this book to every spiritual seeker of truth. The truth already IS,there is nothing to add, and Ramana Maharishi's teachings help you to discard all that is not the truth of your being. All you need do is remember who you really are. And then your Beautiful Self stands revealed. I would also Recommend The wisdom teachings of Nisargardatta Maharaj, and also all materials by David R Hawkins(Power VS Force, Eye of I and (I)This will help you to avoid the pitfalls and spiritual trapps that can delay true spiritual attainment. And finally waking from the trance by Stephen Wolinsky. Once you truly grasp these materials, you can stop searching.

Blessings to you.

This Book cannot be rated .Its simply spectacular and incredible ....Hats off to the Editors and Matthew Green Blatt for doing such an awesome job. This book may be the only friend , guide and philosopher you might need in your journey ... to understand that you are the one whom you have been searching for.. " I was Lost and now I am found " ......Makes you go inside the depths of your being ...Above all photos over 50 yrs have been given life and once you tune yourself you see the Master pulling and pushing from within and without. Be Blessed with this Little Book !

If I could choose only one book to take to a deserted island, this would be it.

Takes you immediately across. There's a power in the images and words together which I have not come across in any other work of this type. I treasure it. I open the covers randomly again and again and am each time astonished, and filled with the experience of the Self.
Highly recommended.