Vaazhndhidu mulaginoadu vadivuru nama mellam
Thaazhndhida gnana paarvai thazhaladhai thanakkuL vaithoi
Aazhndhidum yoga gnana ramaNane azhagin mikkoi
Soozhndhidun chudare soNa malai vaLar punidha devae
Word meaning
Vaazhndhium = living; ulaginodu = with the world; vadivu = shape, form; namam = name; gnanam = wisdom; paarvai = look (from a person, here Bhagavan); thazhal = ember; aazhndhidum = deepening; soozhndhidum = surrounding, enveloping, chudar/sudar = flame;
Ramana! You burnt (removed) this world I live in, with its names and forms, from my mind with the fire of your gnana and grace emanating from your eyes. You, the yogi who have become one with the Self, wise Ramana, (you are the) beauty of all that’s beautiful, you are the omnipresent flame of wisdom, my pure and holy lord who lives in Arunachala!
Everyone who met Bhagavan’s eyes for the first time felt the uprooting effect of His penetrating glance reaching into the bottom of their beings like a fire that burns everything except what is essential, which is the Self.
It is what Arunachala does, in Bhagavan’s words from aksharamana malai, ‘Arunachala ena agamae ninappavar agathai vaer aruppai Arunachala!’, meaning the mere thought of the holy hill wipes out the ego of the one who is thus thinking of Arunachala. Bhagavan’s glance, his mere presence had that effect on those who have were blessed to be the recipients.
In the process of receiving his benediction through his graceful glance, all that we hold onto, the world with its names and forms, affections and afflictions, joys and sorrows, everything is burnt without a trace. SV says ‘gnana thazhal’, where gnana is wisdom and thazhal is glowing embers (of a burning coal).
N.R.Krishnamurthi says this about Bhagavan’s gaze:
There was a fierce glow in Bhagavan’s eyes that held my own eyes in a tight grip. Then a radiant smile of victory spread over his divine face. I lost awareness of both the body and the world as the insignificant ‘I’ was swallowed up in the pure Awareness Being in which all names, forms, time, space and action are utterly lost. It was a state of utter silence without beginning or end, aglow with the self-effulgent ‘I am’.
We can see a similarity again in aksharamana malai:
55 Ninneri yerithenai neeraakidumun
ninnaruL mazhai pozhi Arunachala
Unless the heart is cooled sufficiently by the grace of divine power and ripened, it cannot stand the intensity of the flames (of initiation), and it will burn one down.
His presence cools us down while his glance burns the samskaras. By saying ’Soozhndhidun chudare’ SV comforts us with the understanding that Bhagavan’s grace is ever present and his grace surrounds us always, a reflection of what Bhagavan said on shedding his mortal coil, ‘They say I am going, where can I go? I am always here.’
Thaazhndhida gnana paarvai thazhaladhai thanakkuL vaithoi
Aazhndhidum yoga gnana ramaNane azhagin mikkoi
Soozhndhidun chudare soNa malai vaLar punidha devae
Word meaning
Vaazhndhium = living; ulaginodu = with the world; vadivu = shape, form; namam = name; gnanam = wisdom; paarvai = look (from a person, here Bhagavan); thazhal = ember; aazhndhidum = deepening; soozhndhidum = surrounding, enveloping, chudar/sudar = flame;
Ramana! You burnt (removed) this world I live in, with its names and forms, from my mind with the fire of your gnana and grace emanating from your eyes. You, the yogi who have become one with the Self, wise Ramana, (you are the) beauty of all that’s beautiful, you are the omnipresent flame of wisdom, my pure and holy lord who lives in Arunachala!
Everyone who met Bhagavan’s eyes for the first time felt the uprooting effect of His penetrating glance reaching into the bottom of their beings like a fire that burns everything except what is essential, which is the Self.
It is what Arunachala does, in Bhagavan’s words from aksharamana malai, ‘Arunachala ena agamae ninappavar agathai vaer aruppai Arunachala!’, meaning the mere thought of the holy hill wipes out the ego of the one who is thus thinking of Arunachala. Bhagavan’s glance, his mere presence had that effect on those who have were blessed to be the recipients.
In the process of receiving his benediction through his graceful glance, all that we hold onto, the world with its names and forms, affections and afflictions, joys and sorrows, everything is burnt without a trace. SV says ‘gnana thazhal’, where gnana is wisdom and thazhal is glowing embers (of a burning coal).
N.R.Krishnamurthi says this about Bhagavan’s gaze:
There was a fierce glow in Bhagavan’s eyes that held my own eyes in a tight grip. Then a radiant smile of victory spread over his divine face. I lost awareness of both the body and the world as the insignificant ‘I’ was swallowed up in the pure Awareness Being in which all names, forms, time, space and action are utterly lost. It was a state of utter silence without beginning or end, aglow with the self-effulgent ‘I am’.
We can see a similarity again in aksharamana malai:
55 Ninneri yerithenai neeraakidumun
ninnaruL mazhai pozhi Arunachala
Unless the heart is cooled sufficiently by the grace of divine power and ripened, it cannot stand the intensity of the flames (of initiation), and it will burn one down.
His presence cools us down while his glance burns the samskaras. By saying ’Soozhndhidun chudare’ SV comforts us with the understanding that Bhagavan’s grace is ever present and his grace surrounds us always, a reflection of what Bhagavan said on shedding his mortal coil, ‘They say I am going, where can I go? I am always here.’
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