Final Question 7

Nietzsche would criticize Ramana Maharshi as not much more of an influential thinker then that of our daily blue collar worker. First off Nietzsche believes that there lies no real truth, while Ramana Maharshi’s truth is some what of a monistic thought where truth is found by realizing that everything is rooted to an ultimate truth - the doctrine of Advaita. This doctrine has an entire chapter dedicated to it. By Ramana’s acknowledgement of the existence of truth, and claims of interpreters of him having found the absolute truth makes Nietzsche red flag him. “[...] true knowledge is not ‘knowing’ but ‘seeing’. Realization is nothing but seeing God literally.” Since Nietzsche doesn’t believe in God or truth, he would say that Ramana never really realizes anything. Maharshi couldn’t be a real thinker if he isn’t able to come to any conclusions. Because Maharshi’s true knowledge is seeing God, Nietzsche would say that Maharshi will never see true knowledge. And since he couldn’t come to any conclusions, he wasn’t really a philosopher at all. His own book says that “his teaching was not ‘philosophy’ in the usual sense of the term may be seen from the fact that he did not instruct his devotees to think out problems but to eliminate thought” (83). Another way Nietzsche would criticize Maharshi is that Ramana believes in the existence of god, and not only of his existence but takes on a pantheistic view where he believes “God is everything, and everything is God” (104). Nietzsche does not believe in the existence of god so he would definitely not acknowledge that god is everything and everything is god. Nietzsche and Maharshi seem to be on exact opposite standpoints on the ethical system of thought; Nietzsche would not even acknowledge Maharshi as a philosopher, as Maharshi is not. Maharshi rarely challenges problems, instead he teaches his followers to deny the question ever existed. Nietzsche would criticize every view, thought, and aspect of life and truth that Ramana Maharshi believes to have found.