Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Ramana Mahrashi - Quotes

There are only two ways to conquer destiny or be independent of it. One is to enquire for whom is this destiny, and discover that only the ego is bound by destiny and not the Self, and that the ego is non-existent.

The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, by realising one's helplessness and saying all the time, 'Not I, but Thou Oh Lord' and giving up all sense of 'I' and 'mine, and leaving it to the Lord to do what he likes with you. 

Complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-enquiry or Bhakti Marga (Path of Devotion). 

-- Gems from Bhagavan

Aksharamanamalai - Text

 


This hymn should be chanted every day with unfailing regularity, with a one-pointed, inward-turned mind, and with the heart deeply absorbed in contemplation [of the Self, Arunachala Siva]

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Aksharamanamalai - Invocation




O Ganapati, the bestower of grace, protect me by giving Your helping hands so that I may make and offer a Bridal Garland of Letters worthy of the bridegroom,
Arunachala


karuṇā ākara kaṇapatiyē – Ganapati, Ocean of compassion! 
karam aruḷi – Graciously bestowing your hand, 
kāppāyē – may you protect [me], 
akṣara maṇa mālai cāṟṟa – to speak (i.e. that I may speak) the Marital Garland of Letters, 
aruṇācala varaṟku ēṟṟa – such that it is fitting for the Great One / the Bridegroom Aruṇācala! 

--

Paraphrase

Ganesha , Ocean of Compassion, extend your helping hand and protect me, that I may offer to, and adorn as befits Him, my Lord Arunachala, my beloved, the best among all bridegrooms, with this Marital Garland of Letters.

Commentary 

Poetic licence has here been employed to change the word cāttal – to adorn to cāṟṟal – to speak, tell, so as to create a pun upon the two meanings to adorn and to compose a text. 

varaṉ [can mean] great one or husband, bridegroom. mālai cāṟṟa [means] to relate a work in the form of a garland. 

karuṇākaram [can also mean] hand of compassion, hand of grace; further karam [can mean] ray, consciousness. 

Split as aruṇācala araṉ [the meaning is] Arunachala Siva. araṉ [Sanskrit hara – the Destroyer] is a derivative, causal name for Siva, as destroying the suffering of his devotees. ‘The Lord who, as the Destroyer [of suffering], bestows grace upon the devotees who follow Him, when suffering follows on their heels and assails them.’ (Appar, Tēvāram, [5:51, v. 8]). 

It was Ganapati [Lord Ganesha] who facilitated the marriage between Valli and [his younger brother] Skanda [Murugan]; note therefore that this Invocation possesses this special significance, in addition to the general one of facilitating the marriage between devotees and his father, Arunachala.

Friday, July 7, 2023

Nectar Drops - Diary of Annamalai Swami

Sri Annamalai Swamigal asked Sri Bhagavan, 

"How should one act without forgetting God at all times?" 

Bhagavan did not reply. After some time, a few children came to Sri Bhagavan and played a Kummi song. 

They sang, "Let us churn the curd, without forgetting Sri Krishna!

Sri Bhagavan looked at the disciple and asked with a benign smile on his face, "Have you understood now?"

--

What is the use of trying to meditate assuming that there is a mind (which in fact is non-existent) and that one should control it? 

If we do our assigned duties with this determined resolve - "I am not this body and mind, the ever-present Self am I," then meditation will come searching for us.

--

"You have been bitten by the deadly black cobra of ego, O son, drink the nectar of faith "I am not doer" and attain bliss!" - Ashtavakra Gita

--

Friday, June 30, 2023

A conversation between Sri Rama and Hanuman

Sri Rama asked Hanuman, “O Hanuman! How do you look upon me?”

Hanuman answered, 

“O Rama, when I have body consciousness, you are my master and I am your servant; when I am conscious of myself as a soul, then you are the whole, and I am a part; when I have the knowledge of Atman, then I am you, and you are I. This is my definite and firm opinion.”

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Aksharamanamalai - Prefatory Verse


taruṇā ruṇamaṇi kiraṇā valinikar
taruma kṣaramaṇa makiḻmālai
teruṇā ṭiyatiru vaṭiyār terumaral
teḷiyap paravutal poruḷākak
karuṇā karamuṉi ramaṇā riyaṉuva
kaiyiṉāṟ coliyatu katiyāka
varuṇā calameṉa vakamē yaṟivoṭu
māḻvār civaṉula kāḷvārē.


Paraphrase

The meaning of ‘Aksharamanamalai,’ is the praise and worship of Lord Arunachala. (Out of the joy which arose in him on their behalf ), our master Ramana wrote it to dispel the mental confusion of true devotees who steadfastly sought true realisation (to which that mental confusion was an impediment). Those who trust in it as their salvation, (thinking) ‘Arunachala’ (in their minds) and subside into the Heart with full awareness, will, through divine grace, come to rule in the realm of Sivam. - Robert Butler

Those who sink into the Heart with the thought ‘Arunachala' - taking as a means this joyful Akshara - mana - malai (the bridal garland of letters), which is like a series of golden rays of the rising sun and which was sungin divine ecstasy by our Guru, Muni Ramana, the Embodiment of Grace, as a refuge, as a prayer to dispel the ignorance of good devotees who seek enlightenment - will rule Siva-Loka (that is, they will become one with Lord Siva Himself).  - Michael James and Sadhu Om

Commentary

taruṇa aruṇa maṇi… makiḻmālai – ‘a fragrant garland decorated with makil flowers in the form of letters, which emits a radiance like that of the clusters of rays from the jewel-like disc of the young sun.’

taruṇa aruṇan – ‘the morning sun.’

maṇi [‘jewel’] (used figuratively for ‘the disc of the sun’ by ākupeyar – metonymy) [means] ‘the sun as the jewel of the heavens, a flawless, unpierced gem.’

kiraṇa āvali – ‘clusters of rays.’

nikar tarum – ‘which shines’; (‘nikar’ [means] ‘brightness, splendour.’) ‘As soon as she said, 

“Why don’t you go and pick some bright (nikar) flowers?”’ – Maṇimēkalai, [3:15]; 

if the word ‘nikar’ is taken in its usual sense of ‘likeness, comparison,’ there is no great difference in the meaning. The ‘[Tamil] letters’ are compared to the rays of the sun and the ‘garland’ made out of them is compared to the clusters of the sun’s rays.

Further, akṣara maṇa makiḻ mālai [means] ‘a garland woven with letters as its flowers’ and ‘garlands symbolically exchanged by the bride and bridegroom in the marriage ceremony (ref); also there is the meaning ‘garland which affords delight (makizh) to them mind,’ ‘fullness of the heart’; these meanings are all intentional double-meanings (iraṭṭura moḻital); here ‘joy’ [means] ‘the union as one with the form of Arunachala.’

Note by Muruganar (ref): It is clear from [v. 108], ‘Giving me your garland, Arunachala Ramana, grant your grace by wearing my garland,’ that Bhagavan himself intended the words ‘maṇamālai’ to be understood in this sense.

teruḷ [means] ‘true understanding’; he says, ‘teruḷ nāṭiya tiru aṭiyār’ in the sense that it is those who seek true understanding who possess the quality of holiness; it is as if to say that they are devotees possessed of a fortunate destiny.

nāṭal [‘seeking’] [means] ‘yearning for with intense desire.’

terumaral [is] the mental delusion which obscures the truth of the supreme reality, the ground of our being, so that it cannot be perceived as it really is. This occurs through the inner and outer attachments that arise as the ideas of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ in the body and the world, which consist of a multitude of imaginary names and forms, appearing in an illusory manner, like a conjuring trick, and then disappearing again.

paravutal [is] ‘praising,’ ‘worshipping.’

poruḷ [means] ‘fruit, benefit, meaning.’

karuṇā ākara(ṉ) – ‘the one which exists as the ocean of grace, the dwelling place of grace.’

muni – ‘one practised in the discipline of reflection.’

āriyan – ‘one worthy of being worshipped by those who are virtuous and holy.’

uvakaiyināl coliyatu can also mean, ‘that which he said out of the transports of overpowering bliss, which flooded into his heart, welled up and overflowed through the grace of Arunachala.’ The words ‘joy[-giving] fragrant garland of letters’ should be taken with [i.e. in apposition to] the words, ‘that which was spoken out of joy by the venerable Ramana,’ [i.e. ‘the fragrant garland which is that which Ramana spoke’]. It is declared that that garland is the way for those who are desirous of liberation to subside into the Heart with an awareness which is of the form of meditation upon Arunachala.

kati [means] ‘guide, leader, fellow traveller.’ No one can become free of their delusion and attain true realisation unless they worship within their hearts Arunachala, who is the fiery mass of the light of consciousness which through its very nature completely destroys the darkness of ignorance which has overspread the heart. Thus meditation on Arunachala is indispensable for the blessed devotees who seek clear understanding. According to Arunachala Mahatmyam it is ruṇa (the veiling ignorance [which gives rise to] the bondage of karma) that binds all living beings in the delusion of worldly existence, and that through the sight of which it will come to an end is only Aruṇāchala.


Because through their very nature they bind [the beings in] all the worlds, ruinous deeds are ruṇa (bondage). This indeed is the radiant Arunachala, through the mere sight of which all those deeds, which are the dwelling place of that bondage, will cease to exist
 
Bhagavan also gives ‘the concentrated essence (ghana) of being-consciousness-bliss,’ ‘the union of god and soul,’ and ‘that which is of the form of radiant golden light’ (svarṇa tejomaya) as meanings for the word ‘Arunachala.’


The meaning of [the name] ‘a-ru-ṇa’ is ‘being-consciousness-bliss,’ and also, ‘That art thou,’ which signifies the union of the soul and the Supreme (jiva and Siva). ‘achala’ signifies perfection. So meditate on Arunachala, shining with the lustre of ruddy gold, the very thought of whom bestows liberation.
– Aruṇācala Navamaṇimālai, v. 2.


akam, [Tamil] ‘uḷḷam’ – ‘the heart’ [is] the birthplace of the mind. Also, taking the ‘ē’ of ‘akamē’ and appending it to ‘aruṇācalam’, we get the meaning, ‘Arunchala indeed am I.’

Not seeing him as other, but knowing I am He,

to contemplate, and not differentiate, fly unthii fly,

is, of all these, the highest state, fly unthii fly.

– Upadesha Unthiyar, v. 8.

 

What is being referred to here is ‘the surrender of the self’ (ātma samarpaṇa), ‘the loss of one’s self,’ – taking refuge in the Supreme – which is the total renunciation of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, and which arises from the absence of awareness in oneself of anything that is other than the pure, non-dual Self. In this state, that which flashes forth and shines within the Heart is the experience of Brahman, the realisation of the pure Self, Atma Swarupa. The following verse from Nammalvar’s Tiruvāymoḻi (II-209) should be taken as an indication of the meaning being expressed here:


Not being able to know my [true] Self,
I was caught up in thoughts of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. 
Our radiant Lord, worshipped by the celestials, 
I am only you, and what is mine is yours alone.


Further, arivoṭum āltal – ‘subsiding yet with full awareness’ refers to the cessation of the states of sleep and waking, xxiii [that is to say] the state in which the mind has subsided (laya), and the state in which it projects the world (vikṣepa). In this state, which is the state intervening between the two aforementioned states, and in which the mind is as sharp as the tip of a sword, self-enquiry arises in the spiritually mature mind through the Lord’s grace; it is this which entirely destroys the suffering caused by the primordial veiling which is the substratum of all that [occurs in those two states]. Then, as these obstacles fall away, the jiva, through the destruction of the antagonistic ego, ‘I’, whose form is delusion, sinks and lies peacefully merged in the nature of Arunachala-Brahman, which is not only the Heart of the jiva itself, but of all that is. This occurs through the experience of the Self, in which it is known, ‘Brahmaivaham’ (‘Brahman indeed am I’) or ‘That supreme Reality of the form of pure consciousness is I’. This state of waking sleep (jagrat suṣupti) is called the state of turiya (the fourth state).

civan ulaku āḷvār – ‘they will rule in the realm of Siva’ is as if to say, ‘they will succeed in attaining the unsurpassed bliss of liberation, eternal and absolute.

Note by Muruganar (xxiii): Sleep (laya) masks the truth of the Self, whose nature is pure consciousness, preventing it from shining out, and the waking state (vikṣepa) projects the imaginary differentiated phenomena, consisting of the triads (seer, seeing, thing seen etc.), like a moving picture show, upon the changeless screen that is the ground of all that is, thus entirely concealing it, so that to the reflected consciousness [of the jiva], they are perceived as real. Thus sleep and waking (laya and vikṣepa) are the obstacles to the experience of the Self whose nature is undifferentiated consciousness and unsurpassed bliss. Whilst in sleep the mind subsides in the Heart in darkness, and in laya it subsides in light, there being no other difference between them, in that both of them mask that which is their own supreme Reality, the pure being-consciousness of the Self, so that it is not known to consciousness. When it appears as the phenomenal world, the Self never shines alone as it really is, as the pure ‘I’, as undivided, non-dual, absolute being-consciousness. Rather does it appear always in the form of duality along with the brilliant imaginary display created by the mind, as ‘I’ (the seer) and ‘this’ (the world), the two being inseparably bound together. Therefore the consciousness (caitanya) that appears in the waking state is reflected consciousness (cidābāsa caitanya) and the associated knowledge of multiplicity is a false appearance of knowledge. [That is to say] the consciousness of the waking state is an unreal consciousness, the imaginary creation of maya. ‘If the mind falls asleep, awaken it. Then if it starts to wander, make it subside. If you attain the state where there is neither sleep nor movement of the mind, remain unmovingly in that state.’ (Devi Kālottara, v. 39, in The Collected Works of Sri Ramana Maharshi.) Know through such teachings as this, communicated by the great sages to spiritual aspirants, that it is necessary, through assiduous practice, to establish the mind in the state that is intermediate between those two states.

Arunagiri Vibhu – The all-pervading Arunagiri

The aham sphurāṇa – ‘I [am] I’

Since the body, being an inert entity like a clay pot, does not possess the light of consciousness, which says, ‘I’, and since, in our nature (which is of the form of awareness), it is our daily experience that the body does not exist in deep sleep, the body is not ‘I’. 

What is it then that arises as ‘I’? 

Within the cave of the Heart of those who have understood its nature, and who have themselves become that very Reality, the supreme Arunachala-Siva, whose form shines as ‘I [am] I’ will shine with his own radiance.