Adi Da:

Adi Da often speaks with a great deal of respect towards Ramana Maharshi and the practice of direct self-inquiry. The following comments suggest at least one area where they differ.

(Editor's Note: There is always the hazard of quoting someone out of context and misrepresenting the message. While we try to include as much of the context as possible in forums such as this, we highly recommend those who are interested in pursuing these matters to seek out the source itself.)

"Ramana Maharshi advised seekers to find out the who it is that asks the question, thinks the thought, whatever. The "who" is not an entity. When Maharshi spoke, he used the symbology and language of Advaita Vedanta, the classic monistic or "only One Reality" school of Hindu philosophy. The imagery of this way of describing the process of Truth deals in statics, things in space. So there is the ego, the objectified, solidified self. But I speak more in terms of process or movement. I speak in terms of concepts of experience with which the modern mind is more familiar and which is more appropriate in this time and place. I do not speak of "the ego" as an object within a conceptual universe of objects, because we think in terms of process, energy. Therefore, the concept of the static ego is not terribly useful. It doesn't communicate our actual experience. To say seek the "I," find out who the "I" is, is not terribly meaningful, because we don't approach the Conscious Nature from the mental structure assumed by that question. But we all are dealing with activity, with process, movement. Therefore, what is called "the ego" in the traditions is more appropriately and conclusively re-cognized by us to be an activity. And understanding is that re-cognition, that direct seeing of the fundamental and always present activity that is our suffering, ignorance, distraction, motivation and dilemma. When this activity is thus known again, there is spontaneous and unqualified enjoyment of what it excludes, that which is always already the case, always already there.

The process I describe as understanding is ultimately the same that Maharshi was describing. The same state or enjoyment is being communicated and served. It is the same Force of Truth. It is all absolutely the same. The thing is that, since we are all presently existing, we cannot simply and naively embrace the fixtures that we have inherited. There must be conscious re-cognitiion of our present condition. Therefore, the old concepts and methods are simply not useful, even though they may be pleasant and consoling. There must be an absolute penetration of the form of life. Thus, it must be approached within the living, present structure in which it is suffered and entertained."
- from The Method of the Siddhas, (20-21)

 

Editor's Note: It is worth noting to a degree that Ramana Maharhi himself did not "become enlightened" through practicing self-inquiry.