Einstein and Ramana Maharshi: Reality, Morality, God and Religion

Do you think there is a force behind the order and laws of Nature and everything in the universe? Do you feel with utter conviction that you are aware of a vastly superior intelligence? Einstein and Ramana Maharshi felt both of these things with certainty. Einstein had a sceptic’s curiosity which was transformed into awe when he perceived the unfathomable vastly superior intelligent force behind Nature’s laws. He also believed in predeterminism in that “We all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” Ramana Maharshi, who Carl Jung described as ‘the whitest spot in a white space,’ also experienced both with certainty. He lived for 54 years in silence and stillness on a mountain and described how to transcend the personal ‘I’ to become aware of the oneness of the eternal ‘I-I’. Einstein’s understanding of the connections and laws of Nature, though incomplete, left him in ‘awe’ of the superior intelligence behind them. Ramana Maharshi’s realisation of the ‘Self’ left him permanently in a state of blissful stillness. What follows is not intended to be a detailed scholarly account of Albert Einstein’s and Ramana Maharshi’s lives or of the contributions they made to their fields of knowledge. The aim is to show their understanding and experiences of Reality, morality, God, and religion so that the reader can compare and contrast them with their own understanding and experiences.