David Godman, longtime archivist and biographer of the sages of Tiruvannamalai, joins Michael Taft to discuss Ramana Maharshi's nondual view and whether renunciation is necessary for awakening. They also turn to Lakshmana Swami, with whom Godman sat in the 1970s and 80s, the role of the guru's physical presence, and Tamil devotional poetry of awakening.
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Host Michael Taft talks with author David Godman about the sage Ramana Maharshi and his nondual view of the world, whether he considered taking sannyasa (renunciation) to be necessary to achieve awakening, the power of the physical presence of the guru, Sri Ramana's seemingly miraculous learning of Sanskrit, an introduction to Lakshmana Swami—a very advanced student of Ramana, with whom David Godman sat in the 1970s and 80s, Tamil poetry of awakening, and—in a surprising reveal—David Godman endorses a new jnani who lives in Tiruvannamalai. David Godman has been living in India since 1976, studying and practising the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. During that period he has met and written extensively about many direct disciples of Sri Ramana, including Lakshmana Swamy, Muruganar, Papaji and Annamalai Swami. David has also been involved in several projects that have translated Ramana Maharshi’s Tamil teachings and made them available in English for the first time. His anthology of dialogues with Sri Ramana, Be As You Are, is, outside India, the most widely-read book on Sri Ramana’s teachings. https://www.davidgodman.org/ You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.