Ramana Maharshi: Interpretations of his Enlightenment

Ramana Maharshi’s experience of enlightenment was not as simple as his devotees have assumed. Ramana’s own interpretations of his experience were influenced by non-traditional Hindu ideas of living liberation (jivanmukti), as well as by Western sources like Madame Blavatsky’s theosophy, and even by Christian sources. Some of these influences came from his disciple Ganapati Muni, as well his early the biographers Frank H. Humphreys, B.V. Narasimha Iyer and Paul Brunton. All of these people later sought other gurus. Brunton later admitted that he used Ramana as a “peg” for his own previous ideas. In view of this information, how should we view Ramana today?