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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Ponnolir Pathu 3

27/2/2021

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Sirparaananda vaazhve sivathodun kalandha thaene
Arpudha ananda paagae agandanae ramana unnai
Karpaga thaaruvai naadi kadidhezhun thodi vandhaen
Virpana uruvae kaavai vimalane arut kand andhae

Word menaing
Chirparam / sirparam = God, divine principle; vaazhvu = life; thaen = honey; arpudham = wonderful, miraculous; paagu = sugar syrup; karpaga thaau = wish fulfilling tree; kadidhu = quickly; virpanan/virpannan = master, learned person

Meaning
Ramana, you who are the divine principle that’s omniscient! Honey that’s mingled with Siva, sweet sugar syrup! You who are everywhere and one with everything! I came running to you seeking as the wish fulfilling tree. You are the peak of wisdom. The Ever Pure One. Please protect me with your glance of grace.

SV is comparing Bhagavan with everything sweet such as holy and sugar syrup (paagu), because the grace of God that is Bhagavan is guaranteed to turn our bitterness into sweet bliss. Bitterness and sweetness emanating from our expectations of the pleasant and avoidance of the unpleasant owing to our duality driven view of life is destroyed by the merciful glance of Bhagavan. This helps us transcend the sufferings resulting from our materialistic views based on our separation of us into ego-induced ‘I’ and a world that’s separate from that ‘I’. In the ensuing state there is only the sweetness of bliss. 

Kalpa Taru or Kalpa vriskha is a wish fulfilling tree, which, according to  puranas, came as a result of the churning of the milky ocean along with Kamadenu, the wish fulfilling celestial cow. Bhagavan is depicted as Kalpataru as he fulfils the wishes of his devotees. There are many incidents that prove this, from blessing devotees with the conditions to ripen for self realisation to miracles on the material plane, here are just two incidents:

For instance, when Chagganlal Yogi was wanting to sell his printing press, Bhagavan appeared in his dream, showed him the person who will buy the press and the amount.  

When a mill-hand who had been blinded by a disease came to Bhagavan pleading with him to restore his sight, Bhagavan sat silently as usual. It so happened the two doctors from Chennai had come to visit Bhagavan before the mill-hand’s visit. The doctors who were at the car outside the ashram, for some reason, came back to the hall and offered their services to help the blind man and latermanaged to restore sight to one eye. 
​
Bhagavan said that there were siddhas and suddhas, the former knew they had powers, the latter, on the other hand, had no idea they had powers which worked through them, and in whose presence miracles happened.
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Ponnolir Pathu 2

25/2/2021

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Jodhiye vadivaai nindru soNama sailan thannil
Vedhiye uruvinodu virupaksha gugaiyin mevum
Aadiye anaadhi vaippe amalane ramaNa ennai
Sodhiyai dhaandu koLvai sirpara soruba neeye


Word meaning
Jodhi = Flame; soNama saiam = Aruncahala; aadhi = beginning; vaippu = savings/treasure;

Meaning 
Oh Ramana, the beginning (root) of all, shining as one who knows the Brahman in Virupaksha Cave of the Golden Hill of Light,! Lord who has no beginning, Pure One, please don’t test me any longer and take over me with your grace, Form of wisdom!

Arunachala assumed four different forms in the four different yugas (the 4 yugas or periods of time are, Krita Yuga also Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga). Arunachala  stood as a pillar of fire in Krita Yuga, as a hill of gems in Treta Yuga, as a golden hill in dwapara Yuga and as a stone hill in Kali Yuga. Which is one of the reasons it’s also referred to as Sonagiri meaning golden hill. It’s ‘Jodhi vadivu’ that is ‘Form of Fire’ as it represents the fire element, and it is the Agni sthala (there are five sacred places where Shiva is represented by the five elements). 

Bhagavan, praised as shining as Brahman here, had no idea what it was, as he had not read any of the scriptures when he had the death experience. In his own words to Viswanatha Swami (From ‘Devotees’ book): 
Before I came here I knew nothing and had learned nothing. Some mysterious power took possession of me and effected a thorough transformation. It was only years later that I came across the term ‘Brahman’ when I happened to look into some books on Vedanta which had been brought to me. I was amused and said to myself, ‘Is this [experience or state] known as ‘Brahman’?

‘Adi’ and ‘anadi’ mean beginning and without a beginning. It refers to a state of eternal being or Brahman (also represented by OM, the primordial sound reverberating through the creation). It could also mean Arunachala himself as he has no beginning or end, since Bhagavan and Arunachala are one and the same, it applies to both.

‘Vaippu’ means savings, wealth. SV calls Bhagavan as wealth that’s eternal. It is a wealth that does not diminish no matter how many draw from it, much like the Upanishadic sloka: 
Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate |
Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate ||
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih || Meaning: Om, That is Wholeness, This Wholeness From Wholeness comes Wholeness
Though this Wholeness is taken from that Wholness
This Wholeness remains Whole
Om Peace, peace, peace

Further, SV pleads with Bhagavan not to test him (and the devotees reading the song) any longer and to come and take over/rule him. A sentiment reflected in Aksharamanamalai verse 32:
soodhu seidhennai soadhiyadhini yun
sodhi urukkaattu Arunachala


Meaning 
Arunachala! Please do not deceive and cheat and test me by making mega through various forms of sorrow  like you have done all this while, and reveal your natural form (swaroopam) to me.
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Ponnolir Pathu 1

23/2/2021

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PonnoLir vadivinaane poorana vadhanthane
Thannarun chuvanu bhuthi tharai elam maNakka yaezhai
Unnarum pugazhai kaettiv ulagelan thedi vandhaen
Ennaru Liraiye gnana Ramanane jothi kundre

Word meaning
Pon = gold, golden; vadivu = shape, form; pooranam = fullness; vadhanam = face; anubhuthi = realisation, experience of it; tharai = ground, earth; pugazh = fame; jothi = light, flame.

Meaning
Oh Ramana, with the golden-hued form, and a beautiful face like that of the full moon, the earth is fragrant from  the perfume of your self- realised experience. I came (after) searching for you in every corner of the world, oh Ramana, my lord full of grace, the form of wisdom and flame.

Here Sathyamangalam Venkatramana Iyer, again compares Bhagavan to Arunachala which is clear from the epithet ‘jothi kundre’. The holy hill is the pillar of light mentioned in the Puranas, and SV, like in the previous songs, sees no difference between Bhagavan and Arunachala. 

PonnaOlir vadivinan means he with a golden-hued body. Every description of Bhagavan by those have seen him for the first time tend to liken his appearance to burnished gold.  

Viswanatha Swami describes it thus: 
“When I first saw Bhagavan, he was standing in the open space in front of the ashram building. The very sight of him thrilled me. Something in that body, shone forth, without limitation, engulfing everything else.”

C.R.Rajamani says on seeing Bhagavan for the first time: Sri Bhagavan, his body luminous like burnished gold …”
(http://the-wanderling.com/collection03.html)

P.L.N. Sharma, a Gandhian, met Sri Ramana in 1932, says:
“In the subdued light of the hall Bhagavan’s body shone like burnished gold and his eyes were luminous … “

Poorana vadhanam refers to poorna Chandran, full moon [It is a simile used to describe Devi as well in Lalita Sahasranamam. It is not only a metaphor for beauty it also means fullness or wholeness - From The Glory of Alchemy].

As for the third line extolling how Bhagavan is spreading the fragrance of his experience, we find a curious parallel in Paul Brunton’s narrative of his first meeting: “Does this man, the Maharshi, emanate the perfume of spiritual peace as the flower emanates fragrance from its petals?”,  he wonders. 

SV ends the verse with how he came to Bhagavan after looking in every corner of the world, which is reflected by Bhagavan’s saying, “Everyone finally has to come to Arunachala”.  Annamalai Swami mirrors this sentiment in his Final Talks when replying to a lady wanting to go to other holy places, “If you’re attached to places, stay here in Tiruvannamalai for some time, the best place to discover the Self is here at Arunachala.” [Similarly, among Vaishnavaites there’s a saying, ‘engum paarthu Ranganai paar, Ranganai paarthu engum paaradhe’ meaning look everywhere and then look at Ranga (Lord Ranganatha in Sri Rangam), but once you’ve seen Ranga, don’t look anywhere else’.]
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 10

20/2/2021

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Ramanan en sat guru ramananen bodhagan
Ramanan en naayagan magi vittaan;
Nama vendravan padha naadi vizhundhu naam
Naatiya maaduvom gnana pengaL.

Word meaning
Sat guru = Real guru; bodhagan = preacher; naayagan = leader, chief, head; padham = feet; vizhundhu = fall.

Ramana is my satguru, he is my preacher, he is my  chief, Oh wise girls, let’s seek his holy feet and worship them and dance in bliss.

This is the last stanza in the Kummi Paattu where the song calls for all the girls participating the dance to come together and worship the holy feet of Ramana Sat Guru. 

In this world, there have always been fake gurus alongside the genuine sat gurus. Even Adi Shankara’s Bhaja Govindam mentions (this stanza is attributed to Totakacharya):

jaTilo muNDii luJNchhitakeshaH
kaashhaayaambarabahukRitaveshhaH .
pashyannapi cana pashyati muuDhaH
udaranimittaM bahukRitaveshhaH 

Meaning: There are many who go with matted locks, many who have clean shaven heads, many whose hairs have been plucked out; some are clothed in saffron, yet others in various colors --- all just for a livelihood. Seeing truth revealed before them, still the foolish ones see it not. 

When someone asked Bhagavan : If the guru is incompetent, what is the fate of the disciple? Bhagavan says, “Each according to his merit”. Kanchi Mahan says for the disciple to completely surrender to the guru even if he is not fit, as the very act of surrender will lead the disciple on the right path to the correct teacher. 

In this verse, SV completes the song by declaring that Ramana is the leader, he is the sat guru, he is the teacher. There is no more seeking for anything, all search has ceased, so let us rejoice and dance in total bliss and worship the holy feet of Bhagavan Ramana for drawing us to him.
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Pattu 9

19/2/2021

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VeeNil vaayai vaLarpadhina lenna
Venkata ramana vedhiyanae;
KaaNini kaathciyen drodhi araindhanae
KaN vizhiyal en kannathilae.

Word meaning
Even = waste of time, energy, pointless, unnecessary; vaay = mouth; vaay vaLarpadhu = talk unnecessarily, prattle; kaatchi = sight, scene; araindhan = (he) slapped; kannam = cheek;

Meaning 

Why keep talking unnecessarily, said Ramana Guru, the essence of Vedas, and slapped my cheek with his eye to make me see (the truth).

‘Vedhiyan’ is someone who knows the Vedas, who knows Brahman. In Thevaram, Saint Appar refers to Shiva as ‘SottruNai vedhiyan sodhi vaanavan …’ meaning Lord Shiva is the equivalent to the words of the Vedas (his utterances are Vedas themselves), He is the unending flame (of knowledge), lives in the indestructible abode …’

‘Summa Iru’ (Be Still) is Bhagavan’s upadesa.  Considered to be an incarnation of Dakshinamurthy who taught through silence to the four sons of Brahma, it is not surprising that Bhagavan taught also though silence. ‘All talk must end in silence only” he has said. On those occasion when he did speak in reply to questioners, he asked them to look inward and find out who was it that was asking all these questions, that had all these doubts, and whether they existed in deep sleep. He once told one of his devotees, ‘Just keep quiet. Bhagavan will do the rest.’ (From: https://bit.ly/37mJvYb)

The power of His gaze have uprooted many an ego and stilled many a questioning, restless mind. Many devotees have described his penetrating gaze in various ways:
“Dark and wide, cool and bright, melting with mercy and kindness, those heavenly orbs seemed to expand and fill the room and all space, engulfing me. Looking back, I understand that this was his nayana diksha” says one devotee (Sarojini Krishnan, from Maryce Frydman). 

‘Cool moon beams,’  says S.S. Cohen.

Once a devotee (Sundaresa Iyer) of Maha Periyava and also of Ramana, went to visit Bhagavan. After breakfast when sitting in the hall, Bhagavan’s gaze fell on his eyes, and he lost sense of everything for as long as Bhagavan was holding his gaze. Once he looked away, devotee slowly came back to being aware of his surroundings. Later when he went to Periyava and narrated this experience, He asked, ‘Oh so did you feel you could be in that state forever?’ To which the devotee said yes. Periyava continued, “Ramana Bhagavan took your mind away from you, and gave you a drop of bliss, do go to Tiruvannamalai have darshan of Ramana”.

There are countless examples of Bhagavan’s deep, penetrating gaze and how it had stilled the minds of the fortunate ones. 

This nayana diksha  (or being slapped in the cheek by Bhagavan’s gaze) and the teaching of silence makes words unnecessary, as words can only point at the truth. Robert Adams, a devotee of Bhagavan, says “Silence is eloquence. Words are just words, they fly away, they mean absolutely nothing sometimes”.

And Bhagavan himself has said: “I am where there are no words”. “Prayers and praises will not take one very far. It is the merciful look of the guru that bestows true wisdom”
.
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 8

17/2/2021

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Jivath uyirayum parath uyirayum 
Saerth iruga pidithu ondraakki;
Paavathin indru thanai marandhe para
Maagi pazhuthu thanithu vittaan.


Word meaning
Jiva = individua soul; para = universal soul/ being; uyir = life force (also called jiva as the force animates us); ondraakki = make as one; pazhuthu = become ripe.

Meaning
Ramana, our guru, grabbed hold of jiva uyir (the individual soul) and the para uyir (the Universal Being) tightly, crushed them together so as to make them into One being. He transcended the individual nature and the accompanying sins and became established in his true Self as a fully ripe gnani.

In Tamil there is no difference between ‘pa, ‘pha’ ‘ba’ and ‘bha’ as in Sanskrit and its derivative languages. Here although SV says ‘Paavathinindru thanai marandhe’ (which literally means,' from sins, forgetting himself’), it could also mean ‘bhavam’, which has quite a few meanings:

1) Bhava or Bhavam means ‘nature’ as in ‘sva-bhavam’ is one’s individual nature, Krishna bhavam is Krishna nature. 

2) It means existence or material nature, the world we live in with all the trials and tribulations, pain and pleasure etc. 

3)Saint Sivananda notes 5 bhavas, ie, mental attitudes in the bhakti path, namely, Santa bhava, Madura bhava, Vatsalya Bhava, Dasya Bhava and Sakhya Bhava.
​

4) In Bharata Nattiyam it is a means of conveying an emotion through facial expressions and hand gestures.

Bhagavan transcended all the ‘bhavas’ and stood established in the Self, shining as That Pureness.

There is an interesting parallel between gnana and ripe fruit. 

In a puranic story it is stated that Narada, the wandering saint once went to Kailasa, the abode of Siva and Parvathi and the children, carrying a ripe mango, called ‘gnana pazham’ (wisdom fruit). He said to Lord Ganapathy and Murugan that whoever goes around the world three times the fastest will win the fruit. Hearing this, Murugan, the younger one, immediately climbed on his mount, the peacock and went around the world. Since Ganapathy was big, he went around his parents three times. When asked why, he replied, ‘You two are the world to me and you are also the Loka mata and pita so I circumambulated you two, so I have gone round the world three times’. Impressed by this answer, Shiva gave the fruit to Ganapathy who was eating it when Muruga came back from his trip but got angry to see that he didn’t get the fruit. He left his home, renouncing everything, wore only a ‘koupeena’ (loin cloth)  and went to a hill. Later, Shiva and Parvathi went and pacified him saying, ‘you are the  (gnana) fruit itself (pazham nee)’ which later became the name of the hill Pazhani.

MahaPeriyava also explains renunciation using the ripeness of a fruit while talking about the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra (Aum Trayambakam Yajaamahe sungandhim pushtivardhanam urvaarukamive bandhanaat. mrityormukshiya maamritaat) where it seeks liberation ‘like a ripe cucumber leaving the stalk’. 
Periyava says that this is very important because, an unripe fruit, if plucked from the tree, will have secretions (in the form white liquid) on its stalk, the same will be at the point on the tree where it was plucked  from. So neither is ready for separation. But once the natural process is gone through various stages of life, then the fruit drops off by itself, with no pain or sign of separation. He says the significance of the cucumber is to be noted as, unlike other fruits, it does not fall from a tree, rather it merely slips off the stalk smoothly. 
This happened to Bhagavan when he was only 16, a young, ripe fruit of wisdom.
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 7

15/2/2021

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Pinnum vinayadhuvun kaanaNdi pirai
Yongu thanichivam aanaNdi;
Innunm seeva uyir aanaNdi ini
Dhaaga para uyir aanaNdi.

Word meaning
Vinai = action, karma; pirai = crescent moon; seeva = jiva, soul; inidhaga = sweetly; uyir = life force that animates our every action and thought; para = Supreme Being, Self.

Meaning
Ramana crushed karmas (from before and after), and he became Siva on his own with the crescent moon. And he became all the jivas (souls) and also the sweet para (Supreme Self).

In Tirumandiram, Tirumoolar (one of the greatest Savaite saints in the Siddha tradition) says in verse 2611:
"தன்னை யறிந்திடும் தத்துவ ஞானிகள்
முன்னை வினையின் முடிச்சை யவிழ்ப்பர்கள்
பின்னை வினையைப் பிடித்துப் பிசைவர்கள்
சென்னியில் வைத்த சிவனரு ளாலன்றே" 
(Thannai arindhidum thattuva gnanigaL
Munnai vinaiyin mudich avizhpargaL
Pinnai vinaiyai pidithu pisaivargaL
Chenniyil vaitha Sivan aruLale)

Meaning, those gnanis who know themselves, will cut the knot of karma from previous lives, hold and crush the karmas that come later in their lives, because of the grace of Siva on their heads.

Since Bhagavan is a Self Realised being and hence is Siva himself, SV says Bhagavan is beyond all karmas.  (There are three types of karmas, broadly: Sanchita, which is accumulated karma from the past, Prarabdha which is what we are working out now due to part of the Sanchita karma which is bearing fruit, and Agama, which is karma waiting for us in the future due to what we are doing now.)

Another meaning is, since He is Siva with the crescent moon, he is not tainted by karmas that mere mortals are subject to, hence he will crush the karmas of the devotees who surrender to his feet. Bhagavan himself has assured us that when he said:

“Ramana will bear, as it is his fate to do, all the burdens of those who come and take refuge at his feet, and therefore they need have no fear of any sort, whatever conditions may surround them or in whatever danger they find themselves.”

Bhagavan as Lord Siva finds mention in a conversation between, Rangan, Bhagavan’s former classmate and devotee, and mother Alagammal  (in The Guiding Presence book) who says to Rangan: “… as I was looking at Bhagavan, his body disappeared gradually into a Lingam like the one at Tiruchuzhi temple. The Lingam was lustrous. First, I could not believe my eyes,, I rubbed my eyes and looked again, it was the same sight still. I became frightened that he was leaving us. But again, gradually his body appeared in place of the Lingam.”  [Rangan continues:] On hearing this I looked at Bhagavan, he smiled at me … I gathered from the above vision of Bhagavan that He was God Himself, and the vision was vouchsafed to mother to impress on her that she was no longer to think of him as her son but as God Supreme.”

Not only did he become Sivam, since he is That, he is also all the souls and the  Supreme Being (Para), the one belong all attributes, which again was said by Bhagavan

Q: How are we supposed to treat others?
Bhagavan” There are no others.


Because to a gnani like Bhagavan, there is nothing or no one beyond the Self. Everything is the Self and is in the Self. 

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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 6

14/2/2021

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Moondru sareeramum thaan marandhaan Avan 
Moondru avasthaigaLum than ozhithaan;
Moondru gunangaLum thaandivittan avan
Moondru padham kadandheri vitaan.

Word meaning
Moondru = three; sareeram = body; avasthai = stage; ozhithan = destroyed/wiped out; guna = three gunas;  padham = stages of liberation; thaandu = cross over, jump; kadandhu = cross, transcend

Meaning
Ramana has transcended the three bodies (namely, the gross ‘sthula’ body, the subtle ‘sukshuma’ body and the causal ‘karana’ body), three avasthai (ie, stages or states, namely waking, sleeping and dreaming),  the three gunas (namely sativa, rajas and tamas) and three states of liberation (salokya, samipa and sarupya) and is established in the Self.

After declaring the Bhagavan transcended different sets of five elements, tanmatras etc in the previous verse, VS explains how Bhagavan is beyond the  grip of different sets of triads. 

The three bodies are sthula sarira, which is gross body, suskhuma sarira, the subtle body and karana sarira, the causal body. The first is sustained by food, the second is composed of subtle energies and intellect, and the third is made of vasanas or samskaras (impressions from previous lives that cause this body to be born). With the death experience when he was a young boy, Bhagavan transcended all these limitations of bodies.  

Bhagavan was beyond the grasp of the three gunas that bind us.  In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains the three gunas thus:

Sattva or goodness, Rajas or activity, and Tamas or inertia; 
These three Gunas of mind bind 
The imperishable soul to the body, O Arjuna.

Of these, Sattva, being calm, 
Is illuminating and ethical.
It fetters the embodied being, 
The Jeevaatma or Purusha, by attachment
To happiness and knowledge, O Arjuna.

O Arjuna, know that Rajas 
Is characterized by intense And is born of desire and attachment.
It binds the Jeeva by attachment 
To the fruits of work.

Know, O Arjuna, that Tamas, the deluder of Jeeva, 
Is born of inertia. It binds by ignorance, laziness, and sleep
[https://www.santosha.com/philosophy/gita-chapter14.html]

And he was beyond the grasp of the three avasthais  (another meaning of avasthai is suffering) which are the three states of being, namely wakefulness, sleep and dream. In Ramana MaNam a book compiled by Ra Ganapathy, he observes that nobody ever saw Bhagavan sleep! While he was seen reclining in the sofa, no one ever saw Bhagavan close his eyes and rest. 

According to Sivapuranam and the Bhagavad Puranam there are five different  types of liberation or moksha, SV mentions only three here which are: Salokya means living on the same planet as God as when departed souls go to the land of their gods such as Vaikunta, whereas samipya is being near to God, a personal associate of God, and sarupya is having the same bodily features as God. Sayujya is deemed to be the highest where one merges with the Self.

Bhagavan is also beyond all the prescribed asramas or stages of life mentioned in the Shastras, with are: brahmacharya (student), grihasta (householder), vanaprastha (retired) and sannyasa (renunciate). This has been confirmed by none other than Kanchi Maha Periyava also in a conversation with Sundaresa Iyer.

Interestingly, Bhagavan himself has confirmed that he was beyond all asramas  in reply to question by a lawyer in a court case filed by one of his former devotees.

Question: To which asrama does Bhagavan belong?
Bhagavan: Atiasrama.
Q: What is it?
B: It is beyond the four commonly known asramas.
Q: Is it sastraic?
B: Yes, it is mentioned in the sastras. (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 281)

[From https://www.davidgodman.org/bhagavan-the-atiasrami/]
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 6

12/2/2021

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Moondru sareeramum thaan marandhaan Avan 
Moondru avasthaigaLum than ozhithaan;
Moondru gunangaLum thaandivittan avan
Moondru padham kadandheri vitaan.
Word meaning
Moondru = three; sareeram = body; avasthai = stage; ozhithan = destroyed/wiped out; guna = three gunas;  padham = stages of liberation; thaandu = cross over, jump; kadandhu = cross, transcend

Meaning
Ramana has transcended the three bodies (namely, the gross ‘sthula’ body, the subtle ‘sukshuma’ body and the causal ‘karana’ body), three avasthai (ie, stages or states, namely waking, sleeping and dreaming),  the three gunas (namely sativa, rajas and tamas) and three states of liberation (salokya, samipa and sarupya) and is established in the Self.

After declaring the Bhagavan transcended different sets of five elements, tanmatras etc in the previous verse, VS explains how Bhagavan is beyond the  grip of different sets of triads. 

The three bodies are sthula sarira, which is gross body, suskhuma sarira, the subtle body and karana sarira, the causal body. The first is sustained by food, the second is composed of subtle energies and intellect, and the third is made of vasanas or samskaras (impressions from previous lives that cause this body to be born). With the death experience when he was a young boy, Bhagavan transcended all these limitations of bodies.  

Bhagavan was beyond the grasp of the three gunas that bind us.  In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains the three gunas thus:

Sattva or goodness, Rajas or activity, and Tamas or inertia; 
These three Gunas of mind bind 
The imperishable soul to the body, O Arjuna.
Of these, Sattva, being calm, 
Is illuminating and ethical.
It fetters the embodied being, 
The Jeevaatma or Purusha, by attachment
To happiness and knowledge, O Arjuna.

O Arjuna, know that Rajas 
Is characterized by intense And is born of desire and attachment.
It binds the Jeeva by attachment 
To the fruits of work.

Know, O Arjuna, that Tamas, the deluder of Jeeva, 
Is born of inertia. It binds by ignorance, laziness, and sleep
[https://www.santosha.com/philosophy/gita-chapter14.html]

And he was beyond the grasp of the three avasthais  (another meaning of avasthai is suffering) which are the three states of being, namely wakefulness, sleep and dream. In Ramana MaNam a book compiled by Ra Ganapathy, he observes that nobody ever saw Bhagavan sleep! While he was seen reclining in the sofa, no one ever saw Bhagavan close his eyes and rest. 
According to Sivapuranam and the Bhagavad Puranam there are five different  types of liberation or moksha, SV mentions only three here which are: Salokya means living on the same planet as God as when departed souls go to the land of their gods such as Vaikunta, whereas samipya is being near to God, a personal associate of God, and sarupya is having the same bodily features as God. Sayujya is deemed to be the highest where one merges with the Self.

Bhagavan is also beyond all the prescribed asramas or stages of life mentioned in the Shastras, with are: brahmacharya (student), grihasta (householder), vanaprastha (retired) and sannyasa (renunciate).

Interestingly, Bhagavan himself has confirmed that he was beyond all asramas  in reply to question by a lawyer in a court case filed by one of his former devotees.
Question: To which asrama does Bhagavan belong?
Bhagavan: Atiasrama.
Q: What is it?
B: It is beyond the four commonly known asramas.
Q: Is it sastraic?
B: Yes, it is mentioned in the sastras. (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 281)​

[From https://www.davidgodman.org/bhagavan-the-atiasrami/]
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Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Pattu 5

10/2/2021

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Pancha bhoothangaLil thaanirundhaan avan
Pancha kosanagaLai thaan aruththan;
Pancha thanmaathirai thaan kudithaan avan
Pancha vindhiyathai than jeyithaan. 
(Refrain: ramana guru padham)

Word meaning
Pancha = five; boothangaL = elements; aruthaan = (he) cut; kosangaL (koshas) = sheaths; tanmatras = subtle elements, like touch; jeyithan = won over

Meaning 
Ramana, who is in the form of the five elements, is present everywhere (like the elements). But he has cut the five sheaths covering the body. He has swallowed the five subtle elements called tanmatras, and has won over the five sense organs.

Bhagavan’s death experience as a young boy in his uncle’s home in Madurai made him transcend all the human afflictions that we suffer from owning to the play of the three gunas and the five sense organs and the five elements. Which is why SV declares Bhagavan has not only won over the senses, but has swallowed the tanmatras and cut through teh five sheaths that bind us mortals. 
The five elements are Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space. 
The human body, according to scriptures and Ayurveda, is covered by five sheaths called koshas, from the grossest to the subtest, namely, Annamaya  kosha, Pranamaya kosha, Manaomaya kosha, Vijnanamaya kosha and Anandamaya kosha.  Annamaya kosha corresponds to the gross physical body.  Anna means food, since the body s sustained by food, it is called annamaya kosha. Next is Pranamaya kosha. Prana is the subtle energy or life-force that drives all our actions without which there is no life. Manaomaya is about manas, that is the thinking mind. Next comes Vijnanamaya which is the sheath of discernment or Buddhi. Finally we come to Anandamaya which is bliss sheath.

The Pancha tanmatras are sound vibration, texture, form, flavour and smell, each corresponding to the five sensory organs of perception.

Panchednriyas are the five senses, namely, sight, sound, touch, smell and taste corres
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    An attempt at translating Ramana Stuthi Panchakam into English for the benefit of Bhagavan Ramana's devotees who are not familiar with Tamil.

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