Eth thisaiyarum anbarum idhiyae
Aththan aththan ena thozhu dhaethuvar
Muththan aananda moana ramaNanai
Saththu chithena thaavi thozhivarae

Word meaning
eth thisaiyarum = people from all directions (thisai, dhisai = direction); aththan = lord;  thozhudhal = worshipping; mutthan = one has attained mukti; aanandan = blissful one; moanam = silence, stillness; saththu = truth; thaavi = leaping;

Devotees and disciples from every corner of the the world come and worship  and praise Ramana saying, ‘You are our God’. They worship him as the one who is established in Silence, one who has attained moksha while living in the physical body, who knows no birth or death.

Reading the many experiences of devotees, we can see  how Bhagavan’s unmoving presence in his Arunachala attracted people from as far as Peru and Japan to Israel, UK and the US, and other countries in between. As Bhagavan said, Self has no time or space. 

It is said that Lord Shiva took an avatar as Adi Shankara and travelled the length and breadth of Bharata, re-established the then weakening Sanatana Dharma through convincing debates with those belonging to other sects. In his short 32 years, he composed innumerable works and treatises, not to mention slokas, for generations to look up to as an authoritative source and for daily practice. Centuries later, the same lord took avatar as Bhagavan Ramana and decided to stay rooted to one place and make the world come to him and taught them through silence. In the introductory verse to Dakshinamurthy Sthothira, Bhagavan clearly states in the last line  ‘… sonna van sankaran thunnu mennuLLe’ meaning ‘Shankara from inside me is saying these verses’, demonstrating there is they are one and the same.

Swami Vivekananda, a monk with a mission, went around the world preaching the necessities of following Sanatana Dharma and its inclusive greatness. Coincidentally, it was on the 1st of September 1896 that he delivered the rousing speech at the Parliament of Religions, the very same day Bhagavan set foot in Arunachala from where he never moved, even for a day!

Here’s an interesting experience of a couple-devotee from Peru (At the feet of Bhagavan):

MR. and Mrs S. were visitors from Peru to the Ashram. They had heard of the Maharshi and His greatness, of how He was accepted by Arunachala, and how He and Arunachala are one. To the couple, Sri Maharshi’s presence on earth seemed the second coming of the Christ Himself, so they had longed for years to meet this God-Man once in their lives. They were too poor to find the money for their passage to India. But in their burning desire to see the God-Man in flesh and blood, they laid by each week a few coins out of their small wages, and in a few years they had enough money to become deck-passengers without
the pleasant luxury of the higher classes on the ship. So they sailed for several months, and at last reached India and Tiruvannamalai. The couple narrated all their story to Bhagavan, all the privations they had undergone to have a look at Sri Maharshi. Bhagavan was all kindness to them. He heard their story with great concern, and then remarked: “You need not have taken all this trouble. You could well have thought of me from where you were, and so could have had all the consolation of a personal visit.” This remark ofSri Bhagavan they could not easily understand, nor did it give them any consolation as they sat at His feet like Mary. Sri Maharshi did not want to disturb their pleasure in being In His immediate vicinity, and so He left them at that. Later in the evening Sri Maharshi was enquiring about
their day-to-day life, and incidentally their talk turned to Peru. The couple began picturing the landscape of Peru and were describing the sea-coast and the beach of their own town. Just then Maharshi remarked: “Is not the beach of your town paved with marble slabs, and are not coconut palms planted in between? Are there not marble benches in rows facing the sea there and did you not often sit on the fifth of those with your wife?” This remark of Sri Maharshi created great astonishment in the couple. How could Sri Bhagavan, who had never gone out of Tiruvannamalai, know so intimately such minute details about their own place? Sri Maharshi only smiled and remarked: “It does not matter how I can tell. Enough if you know that in the Self there is no Space-Time.” This confirmed in the minds of the couple Sri  Maharshi’s original statement that they could well have thought of Him even at their own home and so obtained His blessings.

Thangum inbam thadhumbidu paadalan
Sangai indri jagath oLir gnaniyaan
Gangai thangu kadavuL uruvunaan
Ingu thangum iraivan ramaNanae

Word meaning
Thangum = staying; indium = pleasure, happiness; thadhumbu = overflow; sangai = doubt; jagath = world; olin = shine, shining; Gangai thangu kadavuL = Lord Shiva; ingu = here (in Arunachala). 

Meaning
Ramana, my lord, is praised by numerous songs that the devotees find pleasing. Without a doubt he is pervades everywhere shining as a wisdom-sun. He is the form of the one who has river Ganga in his matted locks. He is the lord who lives in Annamalai. 
When Ganga flowed down the heavens as a result of great penance done by Bhagiratha who practised severe austerities for a thousand years to help his ancestors escape the curse of sage Kapila, and reach the abode of gods, she came down in a ferocious torrent (even today when a task needs super human effort, it is referred to as requiring Bhagirtha Prayathna, meaning efforts of Bhagiratha’s proportions). 

So he prayed to Lord Shiva who held her in his matted locks and let her down as seven different rivers. Hence he is knows as Gangadhara, the one with Ganga on his head. 

SV asserts in this verse that Ramana Bhagavan, residing here in Arunachala, is none other than Lord Shiva who has river Ganga in is locks.

SV declares that without a doubt, Bhagavan, through numerous  sweet songs composed in his praise by devotees,  pervades every space shining as the sun of wisdom, much like in an earlier verse where likened Bhagavan to the ‘unsetting sun’ (sadhodhaya saurian), guiding us to truth.

Vaarum vaarum ramaNa maga muni
Thaarum thaarum maruLena thaazhndhida
Aarum korum varamadh aLippavan
KaaruLoori kasindhidu maariyaan
Word meaning
Vaarum = do come; magamuni (maha muni) = great sage; thaarum = (please) give; aruL = grace;  aarum = all, everybody; korum = request, seek; varam = boon; maari = rain;
Ramana! Great sage of Arunachala! Please do come, do come! Please do give (bestow) your grace to those who seek it. Ramana gives all the boons the devotees ask for, his grace drenched everyone like refreshing rain from dark clouds.

This verse appeals to Bhagavan to come quickly and bestow what the devotees need, like rain clouds showering much needed rain on parched land. While there are many instances of material needs of devotees satisfied by praying to Bhagavan, it is said that god will take care of your needs once you surrender completely. 

Saint Manickavasagar:
‘Vaendathakkadhu arivoi nee
Vaenda muzhudhum tharuvoi nee
Vaendum ayan maal ku ariyoi nee
Vaendi nee ennui paNi kondai
Vaendi nee yaadhu aruL seiydhai
Yaanum adhere vaendinan allal
Vaendum praise ondru undu enil
Adhuvum un than viriupaandrae

The saint says that, ‘Lord you know what I want, and you give all that I want, you are beyond the reach of Brhama and Vishnu, you took over me, you showered your grace on me, you tell me what I should pray for, I. will do that, if you say pray for something on your own, if there is something I can pray for, isn’t that also your intention (desire)?’ 

In Siva Puranam, he says, ‘avan aruLale avan thaï vanangi’ meaning by His grace worshipping his feet’. 

Bhagavan himself reflects a similar sentiment in Day by Day:

On another occasion:
There is no need to remind God about his business which is to always keep an eye on our welfare.
Again, there is no need to let him know your needs. He knows them Himself and will look after them.

As for prayers being answered or desires being met by Bhagavan, he illustrates it clearly in a conversation with a once-atheist Narayana Iyer:
Narayana Iyer: Then, what is the fate of all of us who pray to you to have grace on us and save us? Will we not be benefited or saved by sitting in front of you or coming to you? What use is there then for family men like me to gain by coming here to you?’
Bhagavan: A jnani has no sankalpa but his sannidhi [presence] is the most powerful force. He need not have sankalpa but his presiding presence, the most powerful force, can do wonders, save souls, give peace of mind, even liberation to ripe souls. Your prayers are not answered by him but absorbed by his presence. His presence saves you, wards off the karma and gives you the boons as the case may be, involuntarily. The jnani does save the devotees, but not by sankalpa, which is non-existent in him, only through his presiding presence, sannidhi.’

Kanchan maalum kadidhezhundh odiyum
Minji nindru miLirum poruppidai
Konji nindru kulavuva dhandriyum
NenjinuuLLum ramaNa niraindhanan

Word meaning
Kanchan = Brahma; maal = Vishnu; kadidhu = quickly; thedu = search; minji = beyond; milLirum = sparkling, bright; konji = cuddle; kulavi = in a friendly manner;

Arunachala stood beyond the reach and search of Brahma and Vishnu. He stands cuddling and snuggling up the effulgent, shining Annamalai for us to see. That RamaNa fills my entire heart.

The first line refers to the puranic story where Brahma and Vishnu tried to find the head and feet of Shiva who stood as a pillar of light but couldn’t. Such a god who was beyond the reach of celestial beings is standing before as Ramana says SV. 

Words ‘konji kulavidhal’ don’t have a proper English equivalent. ‘konjudhal’ is what a mother, her heart brimming with unconditional love and affection, would do with her child and  how the child, completely dependent on her and not knowing anyone else in the world, would reciprocate. It is also the type of interaction between lovers. 

‘kulavu’ or ‘kulaavudhal' refers to the act of being very close and friendly in one’s interaction. Both are relevant examples as Bhagavan composed Aksharamana malai from a woman longing for her beloved. 

And also as a child as evidenced in this incident when, during Karthigai festival, the ashram people brought the ‘vibhuthi’ from Annamalayar on his street visit came to the ashram entrance. Bhagavan said, ‘Why all this? The son is included in the Father’. This is a reference to a verse from Saint Manickavasagar’s Tiruvembavai which was composed in Tiruvannamalai, a poem that is sung during the month of Margazhi (December). The poet says ‘un kayil piLLai unakke adaikalam’ meaning ‘the child in your hand is your own refuge’. 

Many incidents in Bhagavan’s life during his early days when many women devotees came from various places to make sure he was fed well, and on more than one occasion goddess Parvati herself. Below are two incidents that confirm this from Devotees’ experiences, this is from Shantammal’s recollections:

Sometime during this period I had a dream. A resplendent lady with a luminous face was seated by Bhagavan’s side on the sofa, and Bhagavan was adorning her with meticulous care. Another lady, just as beautiful and full of light and splendour, was moving about the ashram, doing all kinds of service. I asked Bhagavan how it was that he was giving so much attention to one and none to the other, but I woke up before I received an answer. When I told my dream to Muruganar, he told me that it was true that an invisible being was always near Bhagavan. She was the Goddess of Salvation and Muruganar had composed several songs about her.

‘When I was living on the hill, a woman who used to bring me food would serve a second plate by my side. When I asked whom it was for, she would answer, “For the Mother”. She had also had a similar vision.’

One day Appu Sastri’s wife came with a big pot of excellent coffee,
but Bhagavan refused to have any.  ‘Don’t you know that I don’t like coffee?’ he asked. She fought back by asking, ‘What am I to do? I had a dream last night in which I saw a very stately lady at the gate of the temple. I knew at once that she was Parvati herself. She told me, “My son is not taking coffee. Please prepare some  good coffee and make him drink.” There you are, Swami. It’s your mother’s orders!’ Bhagavan got indignant. ‘She [Parvati] is always like this, interfering with my ways of living and frustrating my tapas. She did the same when I was living on the hill!’

AruNai vaazhum azhagan amudhan en
KaruNai vaazhum kadavuLan kaathciyaan
Tharuna gnana sadhodhaya sooriyan
PoruNalam tharum pooraNa bodhagan

Word meaning
AruNai = Arunachala; vaazhum = living; azhagan = beautiful person; amudhan = sweet like nectar; karuNai = compassion; kadavuL = god; kaatchi = sight, object seen; tharuNa = youthful; poruL = material things; poorana = full, wholesome; bodhagan = teacher;

Meaning
My Ramana living in Arunachala is sweet like nectar to me. He is the form of compassion and gnana who shines like the sun that never sets. He is god that bestows material wealth and other boons his seekers need.

SV considers Bhagavan as God himself, as he has done throughout this work where he makes no distinction between Arunachaleswara and Bhagavan. Mortals like us, limited by our five senses and our ignorance, have not seen god. The closest we can come to seeing God are great souls like Bhagavan who, for the sake of devotees, take the human form to bestow on us what we need and serve as a staunch guide to help us escape from samsara.

Kanchi Sage, Paramacharya, says this about guru and god:
“Guru is Iswara in human form, but who is, however free from the triple functions of creation, preservation and destruction which pertain only to Iswara. If we have absolute faith in him, the Guru will shower us with all for which we go to God. In fact, God is needed only we cannot find a Guru. Guru bhakti is even higher than and more efficacious than Deiva bhakti. Sri Vedanta Desikar has declared that he does not consider God higher than the Guru. According to a verse, when God is angry, the Guru protects you but when the Guru himself is angry, there is no protector in the world. If we surrender ourselves absolutely without any reservations to the Guru, he will save us from all sorrows and show us the way to salvation. It is due to lack of Guru bhakti that Iswara bhakti is waning in the hearts of men."
SV sees Bhagavan as a youthful guru, taruna gnana sadhodhaya sooriyan meaning ‘youthful wisdom un-setting sun’. This finds a parallel in Adi Shanakra’s Sri Dakshinamurthy Stotra where the lord who is youthful is sitting under a banyan tree teaching his older disciples through silence. On more than one occasion, people have drawn comparisons between Bhagavan and Dakshinamurthy.

Sloka
Mouna Vyakhya prakatitha, para,
Brahma thathwam yuvanam,
Varshishtha anthevasad rishiganai,
Ravrutham brahma nishtai,
Acharyendram kara kalihtha chin,
Mudram ananda roopam,
Swathmaramam mudhitha vadanam,
Dakshinamurthim eede.

Meaning
I praise and salute that Dakshinamrthy,
Who faces the south,
Who explains the true nature of the supreme Brahman,
Through his state of silence,
Who is young in looks,
Who is surrounded by disciples who are old Sages,
Whose minds are fixed on Brahman,
Who is the greatest of teachers,
Who shows the Chinmudhra by his hand,
Who is personification of happiness,
Who is in the state of extreme joy within himself,
And who has a smiling face. 
(from Hindupdia, http://www.hindupedia.com/en/Sri_Dakshinamurthy_Stotram

MaNNu neerum vaLarndhezhu theyuvum
ViNNum kaalum nuzhaindhu viLangidum
ENNum sangayum ellayum indriya
KaNNuk kaavi RamNan en kaadhalan
​
Word meaning
maNN = earth; neer = water; theyu = fire; viNN = sky; kale = wind; eNNum = thought (too); nuzhaindhu = enter; sangai = doubt; ellai = boundary.

Ramana pervades the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind and space (sky). He is beyond all doubts and thoughts, he is dearest to me, he is my love.

Life form is composed of the five elements, and when it ends, the form goes back and dissolves into the elements. What was created on earth goes back to the earth completing the cycle. Bhagavan, who is both form and formless, is all the elements and at the same time transcends them all. Once when a devotee asked about god and his forms, Bhagavan said ‘First find out if you have form’. As we saw earlier, Yogi Ramaiah had darshan of Rama in Bhagavan and also as formlessness. 

To those who surrender to the feet of Bhagavan, he is the Truth untainted by earth-bound ideas such as thoughts and doubts. Because thoughts and doubts occur to the mind-body consciousness, not to the Self. As Bhagavan said once, ‘I am where there are words’. Words stem from thoughts and thoughts from ‘I am the mind-body’ idea. In the pure space beyond these limitations set by ignorance, is Bhagavan, full of love and grace.

SV calls Bhagavan ‘my love’ (kaadhalan means male lover, kaadhali is female lover). It is quite common for poets to think of their beloved gods as their lovers. Bhagavan himself became a love-lorn lady in his akshsramana malai, beseeching her lover, Arunachala to merge with ‘her’ through 108 verses of pure bhakti and longing. Bharathiar, a 19th century poet, in his collection ‘KaNNan Paatu (Krishna song) has imagined Lord Krishna as his lover (both female and male forms), friend, father, mothering, disciple, servant, baby, playmate and sadguru. In another variation, KaNNa becomes KaNNamma, a female version of the lord. By bringing the Absolute on to his own mortal level, the poet takes the liberty to treat his object of admiration and love  as he would a regular mortal in a display of mortal love and affection and other human emotions.

Pancha bhoodhath adangida paavanan
Manjurung gugai maa virupaakshiyir
Panju thangu padhathudan naNNinan
Senjol inba ramNa mai desikan


Word meaning
Pancha bootham = five elements; adangida = not contained by; paavanam = purifier, purify; manju = clouds, mist, snow, dew; gugai = cave; panju = cotton; padhathinan = feet like (cotton); desikan = one who knows the area, direction, guide.


Meaning
Ramana, he is the pure one that couldn’t be contained by the five elements. He reached, on his cotton-soft feet, the cave surrounded by pleasant, dew-laden clouds. Ramana, the one who knows the way, the form of the Truth, causes perfect bliss (in me).


SV describes Bhagavan as ‘the pure one not contained by the elements’. He also touches on a similar sentiment in ‘kummi paattu’ verse 5 and 6 where he expresses Bhagavan’s nature as one that has transcended the limitations set for mere mortals even though He is pervasive in all the elements.  This description finds a parallel in Saint Manickavasagar’s  Sivapuranam, where he extols Shiva as ‘viNN niraindhum maNN niraindhum mikkai …’ where ‘viNN’ is space or sky and ‘maNN’ is literally soil or sand but refers to the earth, ‘mikkaai’ is pervading.  Grant Duff, had a similar experience when he first saw Bhagavan, “There it did not take me long to see that I was in direct contact with one who has passed beyond the boundaries of the senses and was indeed already merged in the Absolute of his true Self”


‘Paavanan’ is someone who purifier, usually of sins. Lord Rama is worshipped as ‘patita pavana’ patita meaning ‘the fallen’ usually refers to those who fallen from their dharma. 


SV presents a beautiful picture of Virupaksha Cave in the morning, with dew-laden pleasant clouds hovering over Arunachala, reminiscent of the Kailasha peak. In fact, ‘manju’ meaning ‘mist’ (pani in Tamil), is one of the names of Parvati, daughter of Parvati Raja (King of Mountains). Bhagavan’s feet are described as ‘soft like cotton’ in this verse. Bhagavan never wore any kind of footwear (sanyasis are allowed to wear wooden sandals while walking), even in the searing heat of the summer months in Tiruvannamalai. He would walk in his usual, slow pace while advising those who walked with him to find a shaded spot. We mentioned how Bhagavan’s feet became soft in an earlier verse in an incident with his school mate Rangan.


‘Senjol’ is split as ‘sen chol’ which expands ro ‘semmayana sol’. ‘semmai’ can mean to improve or perfect (something). Words from Bhagavan (which, devotees say, can be counted on the fingers of one’s hand in a day), have the power to make us perfect. Hence it is called ‘sen chol’. 


‘Desikan’ : while it has become a family name or surname over time, means someone who knows the territory or direction. Kanchi Mahan in Deivathin Kural Part 6 explains in detail the meaning of the word desikan which has its roots in the Sanskrit sound ‘dich’ from which came ‘disha’ meaning direction and desikan meaning one who knows the direction in an area. Since Truth is a land we mortal have no familiarity with, we seek the help of those who have gone there before to guide us, and who better than Bhagavan to lead us from this samsara?