Ramana Nool Thirattu Urai - Guru's writing

akshara mana malai 28

29/9/2020

saappadunnai saarndhuNavayan
Saanthamai povan Arunachala

Meaning
Arunachala, to satisfy my insatiable hunger I came to you, instead I ended up being eaten by you! Once I am completely digested by you, I will be at peace.
Explanation
Saappadu means food, experience. sa+antham = saantham where antham is end. Saantham is peace, tranquility. Ego that has an end becomes food for Arunachala who is Atma swaroopam (I-I), and is thus swallowed and becomes one with the Lord. This results in a state of peace. This offering of ‘me, I’ to God is called ‘losing the “I”ness’ and surrender by shastras.

aksharamana malai 27

26/9/2020

sagalamum vizhungum kadhiroLiyinamana
Salasamalarthidu Arunchala
Meaning
Arunachala, You, as the bright, resplendent sun, swallow all the dualities that seem real to the deluded jiva (soul). Shine brightly so that the lotus in my heart (that is in the bud state still) can blossom to its fullest by your grace.

Explanation
The darkness of ignorance of the deluded jiva creates sense-based illusory world and then takes it to be real and suffers in it (and from it). With the grace for guru that darkness gets dispelled. This is what Bhagavan means when he says ‘sagalamum vizhungum’ by ‘that which swallows everything’. Just as the darkness enveloping the earth disappears immediately on sunrise, Bhagavan asks tArunachala (Lord of light. Arunachala appeared as pillar of light according to Puranas ) to remove the ignorance surrounding the lotus of his heart.
My note: ‘salasam’ in Tamil is ‘jalajam’ (lotus) in Sanskrit as Tamil doesn’t have certain sounds and letters such as ‘ja’ although such sounds have been integrated in common parlance for a long time.

akshara mana malai 26

24/9/2020

gowdhamar potrum karuNai maa malaiye
kadaikaNithaaLvai Arunachala

Meaning
Arunachala! Gowthama, one of the most venerable sages, has sung your praise and worshipped you! Oh embodiment of grace, drench me with your grace from your sidelong glance!

Explanation
Gowthama (also spelt Gautama) muni has a special place in Arunachala. It was he who suggested to Parvati who was doing penance here, to take the left side of the Lord Arunahaleswara.
Just like you accepted his praise and showered your grace, please accept my prayers and make sure I become fit for your grace and protection, says Bhagavan. Since Arunachala dispels the darkness of ignorance of devotees who seek his feet and bestow the light of grace, Bhagavan calls it ‘maa malai’ meaning great hill.
Coincidentally, the rishi of thiruchizhi where Bhagavan was born is also Gowthama! There are quite a few interesting parallels between Bhagavan’s birth place and where he found his ‘permanent home’.

About Gautama
https://richardarunachala.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/kumbabishekam-for-gowthama-maharishi-temple-on-tiruvannamalais-girivalam-road/

aksharamana malai 25

17/9/2020

kobamil guNaththoi kuriyai enaikoLak
Kuraiyen seidhen Arunachala
Meaning
Arunachala! You are totally devoid of anger and full of peace (shantha guNam). You chose me of all your devotees for your grace, what acts of virtue (punya, opposite of papa which means sin) and tapas (penance) did I do to deserve this?

Explanation
Arunachala, neither I am qualified for your grace and nor do I deserve it. That I became a vessel for your abundant grace is a testament to your nature says Bhagavan (as Arunachala took over Bhagavan completely when, as a young boy, he heard the word Arunachala). Scholars often refer to Bhagavan as ‘the one who became Brahman without knowing what Brahman was’.

This verse can also be meant as follows: Why did I become a target of your anger when you are peace personified? Because your anger is aimed at my false identity so even your anger is a sign of grace says Bhagavan.

My note: kurai usually means complaint, shortcoming, lacking something but here Bhagavan uses it as ‘benefit accruing from past tapas and acts of virtue and merit, punya’

akshara mana malai 24

16/9/2020

kodiyit adiyarai kollunaik katti
kondengan vaazhvaen Arunachala

Meaning
Arunachala! How do I live with you when you (carrying a flag) are so intent on killing (the ego consciousness or I am the body idea of) your devotees?
Explanation
Destroying the ‘I am the body’ idea (jiva bodham) is referred to here as killing the devotees. Because of this act of grace, jiva bodham is destroyed and siva bodham is attained ( that is Siva consciousness). Those who come in the grip of Arunachala’s grace are akin to prey in a tiger’s mouth and sugarcane in the mouth of an elephant says Bhagavan as they will be totally destroyed (of their false identification with the body). Then how do I live as separate from you when you are killing your devotees who approach you to live? asks Bhagavan

My Note: Kodi ittu means carrying a flag like a warrior, since this is an act of destruction Bhagavan compares Arunachala to a warrior king with his flag flying high intent on destruction of ego. The flag reference comes up in Ramana Stuti Panchakam Verse 20, where dwajam means flag:
bhakti yōḍu paṇindu ninḍṛiḍu bhakta kōḍiyar taṅgaḷai;
mukti meik-karai kāṭṭi mūdaṛi uṭṭṛida dhvajam iṭṭavan.
For devotees bowing down in devotion, he grants the Knowledge that reveals the shore of Liberation; the one who hoists the flag announcing it is Ramana Sat-Guru!
Source: https://archive.arunachala.org/docs/ramana-satguru).

aksharamana malai post 23

7/9/2020

kai inir kani un mey rasangkondu
uvagai veri koLavaruL Arunachala

Meaning
Arunachala! I received the juice/essence of your natural Form (sorooba rasam or swarupa rasam = form essence/juice literally) in my hand, let me drink that and become crazed and lose myself in that state (veri means fanaticism, crazed state).

Explanation
Inbam (pleasure or state of bliss) is divided into ‘paerinbam’, that is great bliss’ and ‘sitrinbam’ that is small pleasure (usually refers to worldly pleasures such as physical union). Many gnanis have equated the paerinbam or the blissful state of non duality to the drunk state of a bee who has had his fill of the nectar from the flowers. Here Bhagavan refers to his experience as ‘fruit in hand (kayinil kini where kayinil is in hand, kani is fruit).

Even though God is in our hand, we need his grace to be lost in his essence. Elders say ‘without guru’s grace oneness with divinity (sivabhogam) is not possible’. Saint Manickavasagar alludes to this state also (I don’t know who I am, or whether its day or night, I’m beyond the vasanas of mind in state of drunken craziness’).

aksharamana malai post 22

6/9/2020

keLadhaLikkumun kedilpugazhai
Kedu seyyadharuL Arunchala

Meaning
Arunachala! You are known for bestowing what your devotees need without them asking you for it (or even before they ask you). So don’t let that reputation be tarnished, and shower your grace on me.

Explanation
Bhagavan says that the reputation Arunachala has for generously giving what his devotees need even before they spell it out will be tarnished like the stain on the moon. He is asking the Lord not to bring damage to His reputation as a munificent bestower of boon because only He knows what the devotees want and hence is able to give them without them asking for it.

Donors are of four types. He who gives without being asked is ‘kodaiyaLan’. He who gives on being asked is ‘dharmavan’. He who does not give even when he is asked is ‘adhamaadhan’. He who stops others from giving is ‘adhaman’. Bhagavan is warning Arunachala not to bring disrepute to His name.

Note: ‘Kaedu is a tricky word. It usually means, shortcoming when used in ‘unakku Anna kaedu?’ As in what’s your shortcoming or what do you lack in (that you cannot do such and such), or disaster as in ‘kaedu kaalam’, meaning bad times or disastrous times. But at the same time, kaedu ketta manidhan where ketta means damaged or ruined still means something negative where it should logically translate to some in whom kaedu is ruined’.

aksharamana malai post 21

4/9/2020

kenjiyum vanjiyai konjamum irangilai
anjalendre aruL Arunachala

Meaning
Arunachala! My beseeching prayers will melt even a hard rock, but no matter how much I beg, you, like a hard-hearted cruel person, don’t show any mercy. At least now shower me with your grace and compassion and protect me by saying ‘ Do not fear’.
Explanation

Arunachala, if you, who by nature, are compassion-incarnate, ignore me, who will hear my pleas? To act as if you don’t hear the pleas of those who are supplicating you and not bestowing your grace is unlike you.
The mind, contemplating divinity over and over till its impurities (chittha malam) are whittled down, becomes ripe and fit for divine grace. Until then it might seem like Lord is cruel and is oblivious to the devotee’s pleas. But this too is part of His plan to elevate the seeker.
Manickavasagar the great Saivite poet says, ‘sendru sendru aNu aNuvai theyndhu theyndhu ondram thiruperundhurai urai sivane’ -
Note: It literally means, ‘going going, worn out worn out to an atom, become one with Siva in Thiruperundhiurai.’ Roughly translates to ‘I kept going till I was whittled down the size of an atom and merged with you Siva in Tiruperundurai’.

aksharamana malai post 20

3/9/2020

koorvaat kaNNiyar kodumayir padaadharuL
Koorndhenai serndharuL Arunachala

Meaning
Arunachala! Shower me with your grace and merge with me in such a way that I don’t fall prey to the cunning plans and schemes laid out by those whose eyes are sharp as swords.

Explanation
Note: In Tamil, ‘kaNNi’ is a feminine and kaNNan is a male, both mean ‘ -eyed’, as in, Tamarai KaNNan means lotus eyed (Thaamarai is lotus and kaNNan is eyed, [kaNNan also means Lord Krishna]), and Angayar kAnni means beautiful fish eyed goddess where Am is beauty, Kaylal is fish and kaNNi is eyed.

Koor vaaL kaNNiyar - koor vaaL literally is sharp sword. Here it refers to those with a cunning, scheming mind. KaNNi also means net/trap laid out by a hunter to capture animals. Just the way deer walk into traps set by sword-eyed hunters, may you shower your grace and merge with me so I don’t fall prey to the deceitful schemes of the crafty, sly people who are intent on trapping the unsuspecting in their snare with their sweet talk.

This is a fitting description of the fake gurus who draw guileless, naive seekers and entrap them for their own selfish gains.

aksharamana malai post 19

1/9/2020

kutramutraruth enai guNamai paNithaaL
Guruvuruvai oLir Arunachala

Meaning
Arunachala! Root out all my defects along with (the main reason for the defects), the ego, and make me fit to be at your holy feet and take me over completely.
(Note: guNam is different from the three gunas, namely, sativa, rajas and tamas. In Tamil guNam roughly refers to character, nargunam means good character and dhur gunam means bad qualities. A guNavan is someone with noble, good characteristics. Kutram has a couple of meanings. A criminal is kutravaLi here it means crime. Other meaning is defect or fault as in ‘yaar kutram? = whose fault.)

Explanation
The basic cause of all the miseries and troubles is the identification with the false sense of ‘I’, the ego. If you destroy this one fundamental cause of misery I will become a guNavan (someone with noble qualities). Then I will be fit for service at your divine feet. Do me this great favour and manifest as my Guru and dominate me, prays Bhagavan.

All the faults/defects are subsumed in the triad of lust, anger, delusion. These three cities (muppuram) are burnt when the ego which is their substratum, is destroyed. Just as the ego is the state where all the defects/faults lie, the egoless state is where all the good/noble qualities reside. It is only he who has no ego who becomes fit for divine grace, hence Bhagvan prays to Arunachala to manifest as his guru. Bhagavan had no guru in human form. Arunachala was his only guru. Here Bhagavan states how Arunachala became his guru.

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