Ramana Stuthi Pacnahakam - Guru's writing

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 10

20/2/2021

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.

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Pattu 9

19/2/2021

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”
.

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 8

17/2/2021

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.

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 7

15/2/2021

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.

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 6

14/2/2021

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/]

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 6

12/2/2021

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/]

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Pattu 5

10/2/2021

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

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 4

8/2/2021

Engum niraindha parabaramai oLi
Thangumidam adhondru illamalae;
Kangul pagalara nindra vidam adhai
Kandu kaLithanan thaanagi

Word meaning
Parabaram = Supreme god; oLi = light; kangul = night; pagan = daytime/morning;

Meaning
Ramana, as the Supreme Lord, filled the universe (everywhere) as Light, without any specific place to call his own, and took residence in the cave of heart that knows no day or night, and stayed there in complete bliss. (Parabaram meaning the supreme being is used by Saint Thayumanavar in Parabara KaNNi)

Bhagavan, the Supreme Light is not localised, he doesn’t belong to one place or certain period in time. He is everywhere, in all directions, at all times, shining in our hearts.

Whenever devotees, distraught at leaving him and his presence at the Ramanasram told him they didn’t want to leave him ,or pleaded with him as to how can they leave his presence, Bhagavan always replied, “Where are you going? Can you go away from Bhagavan? Bhagavan is always with you, is in you, in fact, you are Bhagavan.

On another occasion he said laughing, “Look, he says he is going where I am not”. To others expressing similar sentiments on leaving him, Bhagavan said, “The guru is always timeless. To talk of the guru in time, you bring death, birth, living, all this. There is only the guru principle win is the Heart of every one of us. And, “Guru is not the physical form. So the contact will remain even after the physical form of the guru vanishes.”

To another devotee, he said, “A living guru does not mean somebody living I a body at a historical time and in a given geographical space. This was evidenced just before Bhagavan berthed his last, saying, “They say I’m dying but I am not going away. Where could I go? I’m always here”.

The reference to a place beyond the reach of day and night finds mention in Aksharamana malai verse 91 also:

raapagalilla veru veLi veetil
Ramithiduvom vaa Arunachala

Meaning:
The space where there is only ‘I’ and nothing else, Bhagavan calls as ‘ ‘veru veLi’ (veru is empty and veLi is space/outside). Since there is no mind, the space does not have any of the accompanying (five) elements or the resulting combinations of those elements such as the world and the universe. The stage where attachments of ego and sensations such as I and mine is called ‘Veedu’ (which actually means home in regular parlance, and moksha in spiritual context). Let us be happy together in this non dual space, says Bhagavan to Arunachala.

Thayumanavar in Parabarak KaNNi also refers to the supreme lord being not limited to one particular point in space-time:

Ethikkum thaanagi ennidhayathe oori
Thithikkum anadhath thieve parabarame

Meaning, Supreme Lord, you are in every direction, soaked in my heart you taste sweet, oh blissful lord!

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 3

8/2/2021

SoNa giri thannir sodhi vadivadhaai
Thoandridum eesan aruLale;
Aanava kaamiya maayai arutherindhu
Aanma sugathir kaLithaduvaan.

Word meaning
SoNa Giri = Golden hill, Arunachala; sodhi vadivu = light/flame form; eesan = Iswara, Lord; aruL = grace; anava, kamiya, mayai = three ‘malas’ or impurities

Meaning
Ramana Bhagavan, by the grace of the Arunachala who appeared as a pillar of light, destroys the three malas or impurities, namely, anava, kamiya and Maya, and blesses his devotees in pure bliss.

Aanava (not to be confused with its meaning in Tamil, which is ‘egoistic/ arrogance’), Kamiya and Maya are three ‘malas’ or impurities. Anava indicates a sense of lack. It is said that we are all divine beings who have forgotten our true nature. It is divinity that descended from the limitless to the limited (which we are), and it is this lacuna that we crave to fill to feel complete again, so we can go back to the completeness or purna state. Everything we do, invest in, buy, read is to fill this gap, this sense of lack. The word anava stems from ‘Anu’ meaning atom, the smallest particle, an insignificant entity, which makes us feel small and is also behind the superiority complex and the feeling of ‘I’m-beter-than-someone-else’.

Karma is neither good or bad. It is the sum total of all our previous actions and thoughts that determine our future.

Maya is the mistaken sense of identity. It is like the actor in a play mistaking the character he is playing in it for his true self.

And Bhagavan, since he is beyond all three afflictions, will cut away our three malas, says SV.

Arunachala Hill is also known by other names such as Annamalai, SoNa giri, SoNachalam. SonNa is gold, since the Holy Hill appears golden from the west side, it is known as SoNa Giri, giri meaning hill.

Annamalai emanates from the mythological story where Brahama and Vishnu felt each was superior to the other, and Shiva appeared as a pillar of light and said whoever finds the bottom or top of the column light will be the superior one. Both failed. Since He was not reachable he is called ‘Anna malai’ where ‘anna’ means that which cannot be reached (not to be confused with the common meaning, elder brother), and ‘malai’ is hill. Thiru is a word of respect. Hence Thiruvannamalai.

Among the pancha bootha (five elements) stahalas, Arunachala represents the Fire element. There are five Shiva temples that represent the five elements,: Kanchipuram is Earth, Thiruvanaikaval is Water, Chidambaram represents the Space element, KaLahasthi is Air, and Arunachala of course is Light manifest or Sodhi vadivam. Jyothi in Sanskrit and Hindi becomes ‘Sodhi’ as there is no ‘ja’ sound in Tamil.

Ramana Stuthi Panchakam Kummi Paattu 2

7/2/2021

Virumbi vandhidum anbargaLai
Virupaksha gugayil thaanirindhu
Karumbu pol rusi kaati kalithida
Kaatchi handhaan aruL paarvayudan

Word meaning
anbargaL = devotees, dear ones; karumbu = sugar cane; rusi = taste, tasty; kaatchi = darshan, sight.

Meaning
To the devotees who came from all corners of the world gripped with the desire to have Bhagavan’s darshan, Bhagavan, sitting in Virupaksha cave, showered his nectar like sight that’s sweet as sugarcane juice, to the satisfaction of the dear devotees so they can soak in that joy.

There are three forms of ‘diksha’ or initiation mentioned in the scriptures, namely through touch, thought and sight (we covered this in AKshara mana malai verse ‘thottarut kai’).
Bhagavan was known for killing the mind of the devotees with just a glance (side long glance or kadaikaNN paarvai as it’s sung by saints when they fervently seek the blessings of their favourite gods, be it Devi or Siva or Vishnu, as that lone is enough for self realisation). As narrated by an old devotee (Padma Venkataraman) recalling Muruganar’s verse, Bhagavan ‘kollamal kolluvan,sollamal solluvan’ meaning, he kills without killing, and says without saying.
It’s a sentiment reflected by Bhagavan himself in Akshara Mana Malai verse ‘soladhu sole nee sol Ara nillendru summa irundha Arunachala’. This also occurs in Dakshinamurthy sloka’ by Paranjyothi Munivar:

Kallalin pudai amarndhuNaan marai
Aarangam mudhal katra keLvi
VallargaL naalvarkum vaakirandha
PooraNamai maraikku appaalai
Ellamai alladhumai irundhadhanai
Irundhapadi kaati
Sollamal sonnavanai Ninaiyamal ninaindhu
Pava thodakkaivelvaam’

Meaning:
Sitting under the banyan tree (aal),
To the four (of Brahma’s sons) who were well versed in the Vedas (marai), and its auxiliary sciences,
He who is word-dead (silence) complete (vaaku is speech/word, irandha is dead, pooranam is fullness)
Who is beyond the Vedas
Who is all and nothing,
Who showed it as it is, by being as it is,
Who said without saying (and thus revealed the truth),
Him we will think of without thinking
And conquer our sins.

Author

An attempt at translating Ramana Stuthi Panchakam into English for the benefit of Bhagavan Ramana's devotees who are not familiar with Tamil.

You can buy PDF translations of Aksharamana Malai and all the songs from Ramana Stuthi Panchakam by clicking the images below. They are prices at 99 cents, but you can pay more if you feel like it.

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