Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon and the Direct Path
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IN THE LAST COLUMN I SPOKE about how I came to find my feet on Atmananda’s Direct Path. I took a large leap, however, in assuming that my readers know of him. A year ago I’d never paid any attention to him myself. I remember seeing his photo from time to time, and I’d heard the name, but I’d never looked into him. Now, in one of the strange twists that Nonduality often takes, I find that he, or at least his teaching, is the star around which I orbit. Let’s take a look at him now.
SRI ATMANANDA IS THE BEST KEPT open secret in spirituality. He was born in southern India in 1883, just four years after the birth of Sri Ramana Maharshi. The two of them, along with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, would become the holy trinity of Twentieth Century Advaita Vedanta. Their impact is not only carrying over to this century, it is growing almost exponentially. Much of today’s interest in Advaita and Nonduality as a whole is the result of what these three men left us. “Men” seems too small of a word. Regardless, given that I had been studying different streams of the Nondual river for a long, long time, and was well versed in the other two legs of the stool, why had I never looked into Atmananda?
THE ANSWER IS BOOKS, or the lack thereof. In contrast to Ramana and Nisargadatta, whose teachings are a cottage industry in publishing, Shri Atmananda’s books are either all out of print, or very difficult to acquire, and thus effectively out of print. This is not from a lack of interest. His books fetch high prices in the used and antiquarian book trade. I’m a bookseller; I know. I’m a consumer, however, not a seller of these titles, and all I can say is ouch! What I’m told, by an expert, is that essentially the folks with the copyrights don’t feel that the books can be truly understood without the physical presence of either Atmananda or his eldest son, Shri Adwayananda. Since both of them are dead (1959, 2001), it’s rather difficult to sign up with them. And thus we are denied direct access to the Direct Path. Ironic, is it not?
A THREE-VOLUME SERIES, Notes of Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda, Taken by Nitya Tripta, are now made available by the combined efforts of Nonduality Press and the Stillness Speaks website. It’s a wonderful resource and it’s inexpensive. One link of interest is the Amazon page where the first of these books can be bought. My review is also there if you’d like to read it at: http://tinyurl.com/7ql8ert. One more link is to a page that’ll allow you to save a PDF of a selection from his most famous books. They not the complete books, but they’re nonetheless helpful. You want to right click on the link and then “Save link as”: http://tinyurl.com/88unyug
THE PRIME FOCUS OF ATMANANDA’S TEACHING, the reason it’s called the Direct Path, is that we start from the I-principle, from the position of our already being Awareness. One doesn’t need to set out to discover yourself if you’re always already here. To bring this home, Atmananda has us rigorously investigate everything. From numii.net:
According to Sri Atmananda, it is absolutely necessary to know what you are and what your standpoint is, if you want to arrive at the right knowing, or to put it another way, to see the right perspective. It is not enough to only investigate the waking state for that purpose, because your experience extends also into the dream and into deep (dreamless) sleep states. Let us then initiate an investigation into these three states. You will discover that the I-principle (the true unchanging Self) is continuously present in each of the three states. The body, the senses and the mind are present in one state, but they are not there in the others. From that it follows that the I-principle is unjustly coupled with the body, the senses and the mind and that in reality it is independent of these three. That can be seen in the deep (dreamless) sleep, where it shines in all its bliss. You can see there that the pure Consciousness is a deep Peace. When you awaken out of the deep sleep you then say that you were happy (that you slept deeply and peacefully).
ONE OF THE REALLY SALIENT POINTS about Atmananda is that he spoke English, which is now very nearly a global language. It is impossible to downplay the significance of this direct connection. Neither Ramana nor Nisargadatta spoke English. How important is this? If you have read different translations of, say, the Tao Te Ching, the Dhammapada, or the Bhagavad Gita, you understand the inherent imperfections within the art of translation. We get the gist of what was said and meant, and it may be “enough”, but by the same token, in spiritual teachings, a miss can be a mile. You don’t need to be a Sanskrit scholar to get the full benefit of Krishna Menon, nor dependent on the understanding and translation talents of another; you can simply read his own words, straight from his mouth to your mind. Beyond this invaluable difference, the method of the Direct Path, because it begins at the end and works backward, so to speak, can be effective where nothing else has been.
SOME OF THE CURRENT TEACHERS who are true authorities on the Direct Path teachings are Francis Lucille and Rupert Spira. Both of them are excellent writers and convey the message extremely well. The Direct Path might be worth your looking into. Namaste.
Some of you will notice that I did not, in fact, continue here from the last column with my own experience of the Direct Path, and that I dropped “Part I” from that post’s title. After some reflection, it did not seem prudent to go into any detail about my understanding or perspective of that just now.
A note on language: Whether written as “shri” or “sri”, the word is an Indian honorific denoting a great guru. Because I always use “sri” for Ramana and Nisargadatta, I’ve chosen that form here for Atmananda as well. Either would be correct. “Krishna Menon” can also be written “Krishnamenon.” Again, either is correct; I’ve used the more common form.
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February 12, 2018 @ 1:26 pm
Thank you ❤️❤️
February 18, 2018 @ 1:20 pm
Hello Fred thanks again
February 18, 2018 @ 2:00 pm
😉
September 2, 2018 @ 8:25 pm
Thank you. I was fortunate enough to attend Sri Krishna Menon’s son’s talks (Then called as Guru Dev) in the mid 70s. I also meet some of his father`s students and attended meetings with some of them as well as other seekers. At the time, I was impressed by the Direct Path but I was following another guru and having two two was confusing. The teachings of Krishnamurti also interested me and I listened to him speak at Brockwood in 1984 and 1985. This was not long before he died. I have more recently listened to Francis Lucille on YouTube. Thanks your your post and links.
September 3, 2018 @ 12:21 am
I studied and practiced Direct Path for a good while myself. I think of this as No-Path path. 😉
September 3, 2018 @ 12:21 am
I studied and practiced Direct Path for a good while myself. I think of this as No-Path path. 😉
September 28, 2018 @ 1:19 pm
Hi, Fred! I recently came across a site where someone photographed and made a pdf of Atma Darshan and Atma Vritti….I was wondering if you were aware?…Thanks!… -marcus
September 28, 2018 @ 2:09 pm
Hi, Marcus! I used to have links to those books posted on my website, but Atmananda’s family forced me to take them down. I would love, however, to have them again, because I like to send them to students when they feel ripe. Would you please forward them? They are both terrific!
All love,
fred
February 3, 2019 @ 9:50 pm
I was looking everywhere to find information on Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon. I was interested to find out more about him, because Francis and Rupert mentioned him and of course Jean Klein said he was his teacher. Thank you for putting up this information.
Kind regards
Suzanne
April 16, 2019 @ 12:14 pm
There is a new book under publication. The name is Atmananda Krishna Menon
Direct path to realisation- ‘ I ‘- principle
By N Narayana Pillai on India
April 16, 2019 @ 6:53 pm
Great! Let us know when it comes out. I might do a post on it.
April 18, 2019 @ 3:32 am
The book is ready, but has not been launched. it will be published soon. I shall let you know
April 18, 2019 @ 12:04 pm
Thank you!
September 8, 2021 @ 5:52 pm
I wonder if we could talk sometime? I have a few questions.
September 8, 2021 @ 6:56 pm
Here’s how to reach Fred. https://awakeningclaritynow.com/