--N Hariharan, Prabuddha Bharata (Journal of the Ramakrishna Order), November 2016
On the Upanishadic tree of the wisdom of non-duality blossomed, among others, three fascinating flowers: the spiritual teachings of Sage Ribhu, which he imbibed from Lord Shiva, to his disciple, the lofty message of Acharya Gaudapada as embodied in his Mandukya Karika, and the profound spiritual lore embedded in the massive corpus of Vedantic literature of Acharya Shankara.The colourful flowers evolved into a luscious fruit. The name of the fruit is the discipline of self-inquiry taught by Ramana Maharishi. The fruit is full of the nectarine juice of Advaita. Of the many experts skilled in extracting the perennial and immortalising ambrosia of the fruit, Nome is one of the foremost. Nome's flair for distilling the juicy essence of the fruit of Ramana Maharishi's gospel of self-inquiry and concocting out of it, multiple brews of inebriating flavour suitable to different palates is amazing. The brews may be variegated but the one basic ingredient that forms the staple material of all of them is Advaita. The book under review is a rich collection of Nome's letters to spiritual aspirants seeking counsel and clarifications on their practice of the time-tested discipline of self-inquiry upheld by Ramana Maharishi.
A specimen of Nome's enlightening letters would show how forcefully and clearly he drives home Ramana Maharishi's message of self-inquiry as a panacea for the turmoil of temporal existence and a gateway to the joy and quietude of abidance in the Self. An extract from his letter is as follows:
The Self which is indivisible Being is devoid of individuality or the ego. It is not a thought and no thought is required to know it, just as the present knowledge of your own existence is not thought dependent. It is to be realized by non-objective knowledge. Inquire to know, at the same depth that you know that you exist, the Self as it truly is free of any misidentification. The Realization of the Self cannot be approached as if it were a topic of study but is revealed by an inquiry into yourself. So, when thinking of the 'impure I', inquire for whom such appears. If the existence is assumed to be individualized, such is due to imagination which is the delusive superimposition of the 'I' notion upon the real Being of the Self. If an inquiry is made into the individualized existence,only the undivided Existence will be found to exist, completely devoid of that 'I' notion or assumption of individuality.
The present moment in the waking state is as unreal as the present moment in a dream. Make your vision non-objective if you wish to realize the Self (119).
Elsewhere, Nome observes: 'Self-realization is not an event and does not "happen". The Realization is of the very nature of the Self that is realized.The Self is not an event. What happens ceases.What comes goes. What should occur for whom?The Self is only Being. Know yourself ' (356).
This excellent book, bearing unmistakably the marks of the advanced and sophisticated book production technology of the US, is a precious guide to the practitioners of the discipline of self-inquiry as taught by Ramana Maharishi. This book has a very useful index.
