Keywords of Vedanta in the Light of the Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi

John Grimes (1948-2022) received his B.A. in Religion from the University of California,  then studied for his M.A. and Ph.D. in Indian Philosophy at the University of Madras under the tutelage of the renowned scholars T.M.P. Mahadevan, P.K. Sundaram and R. Balasubramanian. He has taught at Universities in India, Canada, Singapore, and the United States.

Among his numerous publications are The Vivekachudamani: Sankara’s Crown Jewel of Discrimination; Ganapati: Song of the Self, The Naiskarmya Siddhi of Suresvara; An Advaita Perspective on Language, The Seven Great Untenables; Sapta Vidha Anupapatti; Sankara and Heidegger: Being, Truth, Freedom; Ramana Maharshi: The Crown Jewel of Advaita and the useful A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. He was a passionate scholar who lived what he believed and this made all the difference.

During his academic retirement in Chennai he wrote (from 2004 to 2019) various articles for The Mountain Path, the official quarterly journal of Sri Ramanasramam, which investigated significant concepts in Advaita in the light of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings. They are incisive and apparently simple as only a master of the subject could write. There was no obscuration n or unnecessary technical complexity to hide a lack of understanding. His command of the subject is evident. Because of his intelligent grasp of the tenets of Advaita his articles are not just orthodox in their authenticity but also accessible to the common reader who with a little effort can easily following the arguments. A compilation of these articles is now published here.