Reading: Rama Maharshi

This was a great reading. It was very deep, and thought provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this Mahashi. It really helped me to understand Hinduism a lot more. The lecture was good, but these sayings really put things in perspective for me. For example, Mahashi says, “All we need to do is give up our habit of regarding as real that which is unreal.” (193) This really brought the whole concept of Maya and the act of avoiding it home. That simple statement took a seemingly complex and confusing concept, and made it so simple it instantly became obvious.

I was on the fence about the sections where he addressed helping others. First he talks about those that try and save the world. “Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world in leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.” (193) It seems like Mahashi is supporting apathy in a way. By saying that rather, than try and fix our surroundings, we should instead steal ourselves personally for the stones and thorns of life. I can agree with this on one hand, but disagree on the other. I can see the need to protect ones self against the trails of life, but isn’t it sometimes better to cover your little section of the world in leather? The other passage that caught my eye was when he talked about what a Master is to do. Mahashi describes a scenario where a man not wanting to wake up from a dream before all the others in his dream do is parallel to someone wanting to inhibit their own progress to enlightenment to see that others make it first. This I can totally agree with. The path to enlightenment is a personal one, and repressing yourself to help others will not help them anymore that if you did nothing. I feel this was communicated by the fact that the other members of your dreams will never wake up as long and you are sleeping.

All and all I liked this reading and I felt it help me to understand the principals of Hinduism a great deal better.