The Silences of Ramana Maharshi: Self-enquiry and Liberation in Sāṁkhya Yoga and Advaita Vedānta
Issue: Vol 9 No. 2 (2015)
Journal: Religions of South Asia
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies
Abstract:
Both Sāṁkhya–Yoga and Advaita Vedānta grapple with a conceptual tension which informs their understandings of spiritual practice – that while embodied selves seek liberation from the structures of worldly suffering, they are essentially the immutable reality which is never subject to any empirical ills. Though the metaphysical visions of these systems sharply diverge, Advaitins such as Śaṁkara were able to appropriate from Sāṁkhya–Yoga certain practices geared toward the yogic purification of the mind while rejecting its ontological scheme outlining a dualism between puruṣa and prakṛti. By highlighting the complex relationship between Sāṁkhya–Yoga and Śaṁkara, we examine how it was creatively re-imagined by Ramana Maharshi who developed certain distinctive pedagogical styles centred around the liberating value of silence.
Author: Ankur Barua
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