THE PURE NON-DUAL ESSENCE
Sri Ramana Maharshi and Arunachala Mountain
EMBRACING TRANSCENDENCE IN SOUTH INDIA
15-28 January 2010
AMIT GOSWAMI, PH.D.
Quantum Physicist
and
UMA KRISHNAMURTHY, M.D.
Yoga Psychologist
Pilgrimage Information Click Here
DURING OUR SPIRITUAL SOJOURN into the warmth and beauty of Southern India with Drs. Amit Goswami and Uma Krishnamurthy one of our destinations will be Arunachala : “The Spiritual Center of the World” where we will enter the gateway of silent initiation.
This is a good deal more than a tour of Southern India, this is an emersion into devotional paths and initiations. Goswami and Krishnamurthy are distinguished and highly held throughout the world. They began their lives in Southern India and became a renowned scholar and a healer who hold tirelessly to their paths of creating a changed humanity through bridging science and spirituality.
Each of the spiritual centers of India has its own character and its own line of tradition; and among them all it is Tiruvannamalai (Arunachala) that represents the most direct, the most formless and the least ritualistic of paths, the path of Self-enquiry, whose gateway is silent initiation. This is expressed in the old Tamil saying: “To see Chidambaram, to be born at Tiruvarur, to die at Banaras or even to think of Arunachala is to be assured of Liberation.” “Even to think of” because in the case of the direct path physical contact is not necessary. Hence, it was no accident that Sri. Ramana Maharshi made Tiruvannamalai and its sacred Arunachala Mountain his home.
The Spiritual Center of the World www.sriramanamaharshi.org/arunachala.html
Pilgrimage Information Click Here
He was but a young man in his early twenties, yet Sri Ramana Maharshi had already the serene countenance and radiant eyes of a Sage. He lived in a cave on the sacred mountain, Arunachala, beside the town of Tiruvannamalai in Madras State. He sought solitude and maintained silence to discourage visitors. Nevertheless, disciples gathered round. He was already known as ‘Maharshi’, the ‘Great Sage’; devotees addressed him in the third person as ‘Bhagavan’ (Lord).
Ramana was a silent Teacher, if there was one. It would be more appropriate to call him the Silent One, for teaching denotes duality, the teacher and taught, while Ramana was, as a devotee wrote, “the Pure Non-dual Essence.” His most direct and profound teaching was transmitted in silence.
However, how many were there that could immediately hear or experience the unspoken, the unwritten word? Devotees and visitors asked questions and out of his boundless compassion Bhagavan answered them in his own inimitable way.
Maharshi Comments:
–The intricate maze of philosophy of different schools is said to clarify matters and reveal the Truth. But in fact, they create confusion where no confusion need exist. Why should confusion be created and then explained away? To understand anything there must be the Self. The Self is obvious. Why not remain as the Self? What need to explain the non-self?
–The word “Yoga” means simply “to join” the small personal self with the greater Self in order to achieve liberation from the limiting world of phenomenal existence. There are many Yoga systems or techniques for controlling body, breath, and mind. All are helpful aids, but no more than aids. One must eventually dive inward by self-questioning, self-searching to achieve realization of the Self.
But Self-Realization is not something new to be gained. For whatever may be gained may be lost. The Self, eternal and ever-present, is already in each of us; we are the Self. We have only to dispel the ignorance imposed by the Ego to realize it.
The cosmology flowing from India has strongly impacted our understanding of God, consciousness, and existence. Of significant influence are the evolved ideas of South India mystics Sri Aurobindo, J. Krishnamurti, Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Ramana Maharshi. On our pilgrimage to South India we will visit their ashrams and centres, journey to shrines and through sacred landscapes, expand our hearts, enliven our senses, and renew our sense of self and purpose.
Guiding this journey is quantum physicist Amit Goswami, a practitioner of spirituality and transformation who was featured in the film “What The Bleep Do We Know?!”; and renown yoga psychologist and child psychiatrist Uma Krishnamurthy whose spiritual roots stem from being born into a family of Indian Theosophists. In addition to discussions and dialogues, Dr. Goswami will initiate us in quantum activism, a new integral (karma) yoga for re-establishing spirituality in our society. Dr. Krishnamurthy will lead experiential sessions using yogic tools such as hatha yoga practices, chanting of mantras, meditation, and classical Indian dance, allowing us to explore the realms of superconscious states. No prior experience is necessary and these sessions are optional.
Amit Goswami – The Quantum Activist
Scientists in various fields are leaving the established materialistic paradigm and moving toward a new science based on the primacy of consciousness. One of these is Amit Goswami, a quantum physicist, author and engaging speaker. Dr. Goswami explores the broad picture—where we’ve come from, where we’re going, and why. His knowledge of quantum science, along with his simple, clear communication and quirky sense of humor, create a mind-changing and eye-opening experience.
His presentation touches upon his Hindu background and personal journey of discovery, the scientific evidence for the existence of God, religious explanations of downward causation, quantum physics and the teachings of the mystics, the physics of the soul and the subtle body, experiments in quantum non-locality, free will and surrender, supramental consciousness and the disappearance of dualism, the understanding that Consciousness is all there is and who we really are, and what he calls quantum activism: using this new information to change ourselves and the world.
ADDITIONAL WRITINGS…
The World is Preparing for a Big Change. Will You Help?” —Sri Auorbindo
The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World
Amit Goswami—A Pioneer of the New Paradigm
J. Krishnamurti – The Core of the Teachings
Spirituality with Splendor in South India a welcome letter from Uma and Amit with an overview of our journey
