A compendium of Sanskrit texts and verses with translation and English verses that express the union of devotion and nondual knowledge, in which God and the Self are realized as One. Includes verses and texts pertaining to Siva, Nataraja, Dakshinamurti, Ardhanarisvara, the Lingodbhava, the Guru, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Arunachala, Ganesha, Skanda, and others, from the Vedas and other scriptures, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Adi Sankara, Nome, Dr. H. Ramamoorthy, and Ganesh Sadasivan. Includes detailed explanations of the murtis found at the SAT temple. A truely unique book.
This volume is two books in one. It contains the Sanskrit text and transliteration of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Saddarsanam (Truth Revealed) with Nome’s English translation, and it contains Nome’s detailed spoken commentary on the Maharshi’s text, which is derived from the combination of the transcripts of two Truth Revealed retreats held at the SAT temple. The translation includes numerous alternative interpretations. The “Inquiry into the Revelation of Truth and Oneself” explains the profound, nondual meaning, phrase by phrase, and includes dialogues answering a plethora of spiritual questions pertaining to Self-inquiry and Self-Knowledge.
These writings, by Nome, are an offering to Lord Siva, to Sadguru Ramana, and to all sages of the lineage of Advaita Vedanta. Upon reading this little book, the reader immediately will recognize that he or she is reading writings of both a devotional nature and writings expressive of jnana—Knowledge. This is Parabhakti—supreme devotion. The first part of this book is in seven chapters. The reader will note subtle differences among the chapters. The first and second chapters describe bhakti (devotion), while the third chapter describes the experience of the bhakta (devotee). The fourth chapter takes the bhakta deeper into jnana through the relationship with the Guru, while the fifth chapter speaks of continuous, absorbing devotion to God and Guru. The sixth describes the practice of the bhakta and the spiritual activities and attitudes with which a bhakta infuses his or her life, and the seventh describes absorption, through bhakti, in jnana. The second part of this book is in six chapters consisting of a collection of poetry: Chapter I, Namah Sivaya, presents short verses praising Lord Siva, while simultaneously expressing Knowledge of the Lord.Chapter II, In Praise of the One Like Space, is a poem that is descriptive of Absolute Being and praising that Absolute.Chapter III, Realize the One Like Space, is composed of verses that pose questions that, if asked, guide the bhakta to realize the One like space.Chapter IV, Space of Grace, is a set of verses descriptive of the One like space—a description of Grace.Chapter V, Within the One Like Space, features verses describing the experience of the space that is the One Absolute.Chapter VI, Gracious Inquiry, appears as both a solicitation for Grace and also Knowledge of the ever-presence of Grace through inquiry. If a person practices pure, ego-less jnana, bhakti is unavoidable. On the other hand, if a person practices pure, ego-less bhakti, jnana is surely inevitable. The glorious, lofty heights of devotion and Knowledge are expressed here in this little book, and the sages assure us that the identical experience is available to all. It is sincerely hoped that the reader experiences the vastness of parabhakti while deeply meditating on these writings and remains absorbed therein. To abide unmoving, without giving rise to illusion, free of attachment to the transient unreality, desireless and fearless, absorbed by the power of devotion that gives birth to Knowledge, in That, as That, is bhakti. ~ from the book Parabhakti
The Upadesa Sarah (Upadesa Saram) by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Translated with Commentary by Nome. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, abiding in the eternal Silence of the Self, composed The Essence of Spiritual Instruction for the supreme good of all in response to the supplications of the devoted Muruganar. The poet-devotee was writing in Tamil the story of the wayward rishis who dwelled in the Daruka forest and practiced rites for the attainment of powers that they desired. Their egos humbled by Siva and perceiving the error of their approach, they humbly sought spiritual instruction from Siva. Siva graciously bestowed the instruction, and it is these teachings that Muruganar requested Sri Bhagavan, Siva himself, to reveal in verse form. So, the Maharshi composed thirty verses in Tamil. Later, Sri Bhagavan translated them into Sanskrit. The Tamil version is entitled Upadesa Undiyar, and the Sanskrit version is entitled Upadesa Sarah and is also referred to as Upadesa Saram. This work is the English translation of the Sanskrit Upadesa Sarah. With each verse there is a ten-point commentary emphasizing the profound significance of the verse for those practicing Self-inquiry in the quest of nondual Self-Knowledge. An appendix that contains just the Sanskrit text with transliteration is included for ease of recitation and similar purposes.
Sri Ramana's Inquiry, Adi Sankara's Reasoning, Ribhu's Knowledge, Dakshinamurti's Silence, The Advaita Experience: The Quintessence of True Being This new SAT Publication embodies the sum total of Advaita Vedanta as expressed by Sri Adi Sankaracarya in “The Rows of Garlands of Brahman Knowledge (Brahma-jnanavali-mala),” Verse 20, line 1: Brahman is the Truth, the universe is false, The jiva (individual self) is Brahman, indeed, not another. The quintessence of the teachings regarding the Realization of Truth as revealed in Advaita Vedanta is concisely expressed in this half verse. Nome has taken up this half verse in this small 60-page booklet igniting its core essence, kindling the flame of Knowledge in the heart of the those endowed with deep inquiry, discrimination, nonattachment, an ardent desire for Realization, and divine love for all beings.
Covering a time span of 40 years, Ever Yours in Truth is a spiritual treasure in the form of personal correspondence between Nome and other sages and seekers sharing their experience. With few exceptions, almost all of the correspondence presented was written in response to letters written to Nome. Included with the early correspondence are a few verses composed at the time, but for whom they were written and in what context cannot now be ascertained. The correspondence has been generally presented as written by the various writers to better retain the feeling of the original with only some minor editing to delete comments pertaining to some practical matters and to render some of the messages received more intelligible. Some of the correspondence is a sharing of and reveling in Brahman-Knowledge, while some is correspondence with Nome in which seekers pose various questions regarding their practice of Self-Inquiry and how to apply this practice to their lives.
This book develops a model to examine the language of humour, which is multimodal and accounts for the possibility of transmutation of humour as it is performed through editorial cartoons. By transmutation is meant the transition in the language of humour when it crosses its own boundaries to provoke unprecedented reactions resulting in offensiveness, disappointment or hurt sentiment. The transmutability about the language of humour points to its inherently diabolical nature which manifests in the performance of controversial cartoons. The model is built by borrowing theoretical cues from Roman Jakobson, Roland Barthes, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. The integrated model, then, is developed to examine the cartoons which were recommended for deletion by the Thorat Committee, following a cartoon controversy in India. Through the cartoon analysis, the model discerns the significance of context and temporality in determining the impact of humour. It also examines how the ethics of humour; the blurred lines of political correctness and incorrectness are dictated by the political atmosphere and the power dynamics.
The interweaving of knowledge and philosophy up to the modern era goes back to Thales of Miletus, regarded as one of the seven sages of Greek civilization (624 BC – 543 BC). “Know Thyself” is an aphorism of knowledge attributed to the times of Thales. This Greek Maxim etched in stone at the gate leading to the temple of Apollo in Delphi has become a philosophical question studied to this day. Another sage in the exposition of total knowledge, a Vedic master of Indian philosophy, was Adi Shankara (509 – 497 BC); his teachings of Advaita, the Nondual reality of life, provided an in-depth study of knowing the true nature of Self and fulfilling on a practical level to his society what the Greeks knew as the highest teaching. This book explores the Nonduality, Oneness philosophy—modern spiritual teachings from ancient times. My discussions about Oneness have the flavor of the Advaita tradition, a revived and current view from Vedic Science, and the contemporary study and thinking about Nonduality. —Shivada Amrita Website: advaitaspeaks.com
Some postcolonial theorists argue that the idea of a single system of belief known as "Hinduism" is a creation of nineteenth-century British imperialists. Andrew J. Nicholson introduces another perspective: although a unified Hindu identity is not as ancient as some Hindus claim, it has its roots in innovations within South Asian philosophy from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. During this time, thinkers treated the philosophies of Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga, along with the worshippers of Visnu, Siva, and Sakti, as belonging to a single system of belief and practice. Instead of seeing such groups as separate and contradictory, they re-envisioned them as separate rivers leading to the ocean of Brahman, the ultimate reality. Drawing on the writings of philosophers from late medieval and early modern traditions, including Vijnanabhiksu, Madhava, and Madhusudana Sarasvati, Nicholson shows how influential thinkers portrayed Vedanta philosophy as the ultimate unifier of diverse belief systems. This project paved the way for the work of later Hindu reformers, such as Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, and Gandhi, whose teachings promoted the notion that all world religions belong to a single spiritual unity. In his study, Nicholson also critiques the way in which Eurocentric concepts--like monism and dualism, idealism and realism, theism and atheism, and orthodoxy and heterodoxy--have come to dominate modern discourses on Indian philosophy.
