The Mind of Ramana Maharshi - Arthur Osborne - Edition papier – 22 Mar 2000

Arthur Osborne : Paperback: 276 pages Publisher: Jaico Publishing House (22 Mar. 2000) Language: English ISBN-10: 8172242115 ISBN-13: 978-8172242114 Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 1.1 x 17.9 cm
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Arthur Osborne : Arthur Osborne has packed into this small volume all of the essential information relating to the life and teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950). The extraordinary teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi continue to bless the lives of countless seeking souls, and his life fills us with wonder. As a teenager-hardly seventeen-he realized the Self through a spontaneous act of Self-enquiry without conscious effort or special training imparted by a teacher. He left his home (at Madurai) in 1896 and came to Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai), where he lived as an all-renouncing sage in a state of continuous Self-realization for fifty-four years-until his mahanirvana in 1950. The author includes in this volume instructions given by Sri Ramana to early devotees, such as Sivaprakasam Pillai, Frank Humphreys, Kavyakanta, Natesa Mudaliar, and others, as well as the experiences of Paul Brunton and other later devotees. Sri Maharshi's central message is that Self-knowledge is not something to be acquired afresh. It is only becoming aware of one's own natural state of Pure Being, through Self-enquiry. Arthur Osborne (1906-1970) was an ardent devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi and particularly well known as founder-editor of The Mountain Path, the spiritual journal of Sri Ramanasramam. After completing his studies at Oxford, he moved first to Poland, then to Bangkok, where he lectured at Chulalonghorn University and through a friend learnt about French metaphysician René Guénon, whose works dealt comprehensively with Hindu metaphysics, eventually translating into English his Crisis of the Modern World. He later spent four years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese before being united with his family, who were waiting at Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai. He spent the remainder of his life there, writing about Sri Ramana and related subjects. He died in 1970, his body much weakened by the effect of his years in the concentration camp.

Commentaire 1 :
This is a fascinating account of life in an Ashram - like no other account I have read. It is so honest. Usually - and for understandable reasons - accounts of life in an Ashram or life with a Guru are sanitised. This is an amazing account of what it really was like. The good, bad and ugly parts are all there, written in a fascinating way. Even where some accounts are different to the record the author has contained the account but added information about alternative records, in a way that is helpful and adds rather than detracts from the reading.
It is inspiring to read the true life-time account of a great servant and devotee of Ramana as he experienced all the up and downs of Ashram life, and the way that his Guru trained him, sometimes using him to teach others, and sometimes other to teach him. This is not the usual hagiography about how the Guru was wonderful, life was wonderful, they were wonderful. By giving it to us fully, with all the strangeness, oddities, frustrations and conflicts as well as all the wonderful parts we get a true insight into how a close disciple's life with his Guru really was.
This account is a rare treasure for those who want to gain an insight into how it really might have been.

Commentaire 2 :
A lovely book which helps bring us closer to understanding the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. It also gives a good background to his life told by one who knew him. I found this book very helpful on my spiritual quest.

Commentaire 3 :
This book is a moment to not just read, but to capture the essence.A life changing experiencing of who and what we think we are. Highly recommend.

Commentaire 4 :
For me this book was written too much from the perspective of the devotee and lacked the philosophical discussion of an objective viewpoint.

Arthur Osborne