Did Ramana Maharshi made an self-enquiry breakthrough?

[MarkusSweden]

Humans have known about their deepest existential nature since thousands and thousands of years.

They know everything about the nature of existence long before Buddha came along. He only happened to gain popularity and recognition. 

We are naive if we don't believe that people already 30.000 years ago known about enlightenment and spiritual truths. True understanding doesn't require any technology after all. 

However, it feels like Ramana Maharshi discovered a few things for the first time in human history. That's why his life is so interesting to read about.

I'm thinking of all these effective self-enquiry questions he invented for his adepts like the "Who am I?"-question and number of other variants.

He also told his more advanced adepts that "silence is the highest teaching" (This one also seem to be invented by Ramana Maharshi)

Was Ramana Maharshi first with these types of enquire methods?

Shouldn't these types of enquiry-questions arise natural as soon as spirituality becomes a subject of curiosity?

They seem so trivial and simple. But great discoveries/inventions might have simplicity to them, guess that's why it feels like they have been around forever as soon as you become familiar with them.

All thanks to the genius of RM and the direct approach he used when he invented these?

When do you think humans contemplated these phrases in a sincere spiritual context together for the first time? 100.000 years ago, or during RM's lifetime, or anything in between? 

What is your guess, let me know? 

Namaste.  

 

Edited March 3, 2018 by MarkusSweden

[egoless]

@MarkusSweden In the case of Ramana maharshi Enlightenment was sudden and random.

Watch this video - Rupert Spira tells the story of Ramana Maharshi's Enlightenment experience.

 

[Monkey-man]

(his self-inquiry method is great)

Did RM discover something? What are those discoveries?

 

[Joseph Maynor]

In self-inquiry yes.  But he doesn't really teach you the final bit.  You gotta go back to Shankara and Nagarjuna and the Upanishads.  The Samkhya, Yoga, etc.  Maybe that's just the way he's interpreted by people.  But I don't see Ramana telling people that reality is a Dream.  He leaves that part out, right?  You gotta go back to the Upanishads to see how they distinguished Atman, Brahman, and Maya.  Those guys were on to a lot of really good stuff.  Unfortunately our culture just didn't carry it.  It doesn't support the Ego-Paradigm.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Preetom]

6 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

 But I don't see Ramana telling people that reality is a Dream.  He leaves that part out, right?  You gotta go back to the Upanishads to see how they distinguished Atman, Brahman, and Maya.  Those guys were on to a lot of really good stuff.  Unfortunately our culture just didn't carry it.  It doesn't support the Ego-Paradigm.

Read 'who am I?' article by Ramana Maharshi. One of the primary elements of self inquiry is to see the dreamlike, insubstantial nature of what we call world.

RM clearly states that as long as the world is taken as something solid and 'real', self-realization won't be triggered. He uses the classic rope and snake example. As long as the false knowledge of the illusory snake(aka world) doesn't disappear, the true knowledge of the rope(the self) won't appear.

@MarkusSweden

RM didn't invent any TOTALLY new concept/method. Teachers like RM, Nisargadatta etc revolutionized the ancient vedantic teachings and techniques in a very direct manner which caters/attracts secular,rational minds. Like you said, there have been enlightened people thousand years back in time. What RM did was cutting through the magnanimous religious literature and boiled everything down to its core