A Conversation with David Godman

About this episode

Michael Taft interviews David Godman about Ramana Maharshi and his teachings, exploring various aspects of nonduality and awakening.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Michael Taft

Guest: David Godman

Topics covered

• Ramana Maharshi
• nonduality
• sannyasa
• guru presence
• Tamil poetry
• awakening

Keywords

• sannyasa
• Lakshmana Swami
• Tamil teachings
• jnani

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Be As You Are

Books & works: A Conversation with David Godman, Be As You Are

Places: Tiruvannamalai, India, California

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