8 September 2011

Spiritual Questions


Twelve questions were asked of sixteen different Indian spiritual teachers (the majority of whom are still alive) that cover the main issues that arise on a spiritual seeker’s journey to awakening. A sample of videos of the questions and answers of these teachers are available at this link here.

Many of the spiritual teachers come from the tradition of Vedanta, a metaphysical Indian philosophy derived from the Upanishads, and from Advaita Vedanta, a non-dual school of Vedanta philosophy, whose chief spokesman was Adi Shankara, teaching the Oneness of God, soul and the universe.

Most of the teachers are connected with Arunachala, either spending time here or in fact having Ashrams as this place; and the dialogues are based on the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

To sample one of these taped dialogues watch the now deceased Sri Satchiananda respond to the question:

“It has been suggested that the mind must be destroyed for liberation to occur. Do you have a mind? How to destroy the mind?” go to this link here.

In 1985 I was fortunate enough to be able to spend two months at Anandashram, Kanhangad, Kerala. Many devotees of Arunachala know of this beautiful ashram and of its long, loving links with the Hill. During my stay there I spent time with Mother Krishnabai and Swami Satchidananda and thereafter over the years occasionally wrote to Swamiji with spiritual questions. Even though he probably didn’t remember me, he always wrote lovingly and at length in response to my queries. Because of the link with Anandashram and Swami Ramdas, it was Swami Satchidananda who inaugurated the ashram of Yogi Ramsuratkumar at Tiruvannamalai.

To read an earlier posting about Swami Satchidananda go to my earlier posting at this link here.



2 comments:

Frank G. (Australia) said...

Well I looked at the links you provided and am surprised by some of the Teacher inclusions. However there are some like Sri Nannagaru, Swami Satchitananda that are brilliant.

Meenakshi Ammal said...

Yes, I also would have done a quick delete from the list of the 16 spiritual teachers.