SRI MAHARSHI’S WAY

ktu›ra}ya àaPyte )lm! ,km› ik< pr< km› tJjfm! . 1 .

kartur äjïayä präpyate phalam karma kià paraà karma tajjaòam

By the will of the Creator, action bears fruit. Is action, then, supreme? No, it is inert, unconscious.

This is the fundamental answer to the ultimate question. We cannot perform actions and expect those actions to result in the desired fruits. The Creator, Isvara or Siva, is the Lord of Action and determines what fruits and what subsequent actions will be forthcoming. We not only cannot control the fruits of our behaviour, we cannot even choose the actions themselves since these are influenced by an endless series of past actions. So action is, in itself, inert, unconscious. It and its fruits are Isvara’s. Do we choose our dream actions? For the Maharshi, waking and dream have the same degree of reality.¹

In the Yoga Vasishtha the crow-yogin, Bhusunda, was asked why he had survived for so many ages. He replied, “Who will be able to overstep the strict ordinances of Siva (Isvara)? His will was that I should act thus and other yogins should act in the way that they did. As every pre-ordained event should work out its results, such events will inevitably come to pass. Such is the nature of the law.”²

The Sanskrit jada is translated ‘inert’. Referring to this opening verse, the Maharshi says, “There is no truth in the insentient (jada). One whole Consciousness prevails over all alone.”³ And, “Karta means Isvara. He is the one who distributes the fruits of action to each person according to his karma. That means that he is the manifest Brahman. The real Brahman is unmanifest and without motion. It is only the manifest Brahman that is named as Isvara.”⁴

II

k&itmhaedxaE ptnkar[m! ,)lmzañt< gitinraexkm! . 2 .

krti-maho-dadhau patana-käraëam phalam-açäçvataà gati-nirodhakam

The fruits of action are not everlasting and they cause one to fall into the great ocean of karma, blocking spiritual progress.

Our actions, good or bad, obviously bring results which cause us to experience pleasure and pain. Such are transient but they leave seeds of desire or fear in our minds, causing us to repeat or avoid the previous actions. These seeds or vasa-nas involve us in an endless series of commitments and events which bind us to the outer world and prevent us from turning inward and discovering our true nature. Therefore, no salvation or freedom from rebirth is to be found in activities, no matter how important or virtuous they may seem.

III

$ñraip›t< neCDya k&tm! ,icÄzaexk< mui´saxkm! . 3 .

éçvar-ärpitaà necchayä kåtam citta-çodhakaà mukti-sädhakam

That action which is done without personal desire and whose fruits are surrendered to the Lord, purifies the mind and leads to Liberation.

Actions in themselves, together with their fruits, serve to bind the individual. This verse shows, nevertheless, how action may lead indirectly to salvation. If one acts in a detached and selfless manner, with no intention of obtaining personal benefit, this is a form of devotion to the Lord, benefitting His creation and freeing the mind from craving and restlessness.

The Maharshi, however, would sometimes point out the pitfalls of ‘unselfish action’: It is so easy to think of oneself as a generous and kind person, helping someone who is beneath him, that the ego becomes inflated and the fruits of praise, recognition, and self-satisfaction are accepted and expected, leading not to detachment but to greater bondage.

What is described in this verse is what the Gita calls sattvic action: “An action which is free from attachment, which is done without love or hatred by one not desirous of the fruit, that action is declared to be sattvic.”¹ A person is said to be a sattvic agent when he is “free from attachment, not given to egotism, endued with firmness and vigour, unaffected in success and failure.”²

IV

kayva'!mn>kay›muÄmm! ,pUjn< jpiíNtn< ³mat! . 4 .

kaya-väìg-manaù käryam-uttamam püjanaà japaç-cintanaà kramat

Ritual worship, repetition of sacred names, and meditation are done with the body, the speech, and the mind, and they progress in excellence in that order.

Clearly, in this verse, the Maharshi advises that the less physically active and exteriorised religious disciplines are, the more effective they become. He has said, “We project ourselves into idols and worship them because we do not understand true inward worship.”¹

But when asked if such practices as bathing, prayer, chanting, and pilgrimage to sacred places were useful to spiritual aspirants or merely a waste of time, Sri Bhagavan replied, “All of them advance the purification of neophytes whose worldly propensities have just begun to lose force. Virtuous thoughts, words and deeds nullify their contraries in the past.”²

The Maharshi thus assigns a limited and preliminary value to rituals, but does not go as far as Vasistha in dismissing them: “The vain waste their time, like brutes, in the fruitless illusions of tapas (austerities), yajna (sacrifices), holy waters, visiting sacred shrines, the worship of gods, gifts etc. But you should abandon all these as tending to rebirth.”³

Karma, or ‘action’, in some contexts refers to religious ritual and, in this fourth verse, the Maharshi continues discussing the path of Action/Devotion. In this case, the path is that of the karmakanda, that portion of the Vedas which prescribes obligatory ritual and other activities.

V

jgt $zxIyu´sevnm! ,AòmUit›É&ÎevpUjnm! . 5 .

jagata éçadhé yukta sevanaà añöa-mürti bhåd deva-püjanam

To serve the world, looked upon as the manifestation of the Lord, is to offer worship to the Lord of the Eight Forms.

The ‘Lord of the Eight Forms’ is identified by the poet,

Kalidasa, in the prologue to his famous play, Shakuntala: Eight forms has Shiva, lord of all and king: And these are Water, first created thing; And Fire, which speeds the sacrifice begun; The Priest; and time’s dividers, Moon and Sun; The all-embracing Ether, path of sound; The Earth, wherein all seeds of life are found; And Air, the breath of life. May He draw near, Revealed in these, and bless those gathered here.¹

To perform our ordained part in life, remembering always that in doing so we are serving the Lord’s own creation, is to worship Siva effectively.

Having described the path of action in previous verses, the Maharshi, in this and the next five, discusses the path of devotion and shows its relation to action and to meditative practices.

VI

%ÄmStvaʽmNdt> ,icÄj< jpXyanmuÄmm! . 6 .

uttama-staväd-ucca-mandataù cittajaà japa dhyänam uttamam

Silent meditation, in the mind, is higher than the best devotional praise, or the uttering of sacred names, loudly or softly.

We see here, as in the fourth verse, a scale of excellence. Again, the Maharshi’s theme is that the quieter and more internal the devotional practice, the more effective it is.

The Maharshi is not rejecting the singing of hymns or the recitation of devotional poetry. His devotees sang His verses while begging food in Sri Ramanasramam or walking with Him round the sacred Arunachala Hill.

VII

AaJyxarya öaetsa smm! ,srlicNtn< ivrlt> prm! . 7 .

ajya-dhärayä srotasä samam sarala cintanaà viralataù param

Like an unbroken flow of oil or a stream of water, continuous meditation is better than that which is interrupted.

The potential power of meditation is to be achieved only when attention is prolonged. The power is dissipated when the mind turns to exterior matters. The Maharshi has at times commented that fixed programs of meditation at certain hours are of limited value. One should endeavour at all times to hold on to the ‘I’ thought. He advised that meditation depends on strength of mind and must be unceasing, even when one is engaged in work. Special hours may be helpful but are meant for novices.

VIII

ÉedÉavnaTsae=himTysaE ,Éavna=iÉda pavnI mta . 8 .

bheda-bhävanät so’hamityasau bhavana’bhidä pävané matä

Meditation on the identity of the individual and the Lord, “I am He”, is more purifying than meditation which assumes a difference between them.

To assume that there is an ultimate distinction between the Lord and the meditator is to deny His total presence and to limit His Being and Power and Knowledge. It involves the person in all the contradictions of dualism, causing one to wrestle with imagined problems of identity and behaviour which only strengthen the ego. Nevertheless, at a certain level of devotional meditation, the Maharshi accepted a dualist approach as helpful. He Himself wrote poems of great beauty and deep devotion to Arunachala. Sankara too wrote devotional hymns, seemingly dualist in tone but ultimately moving the devotee toward a sense of oneness with the Lord. In any case, the final necessity for the meditator is to turn his attention inward to the Self rather than outward toward any image or concept, no matter how sacred.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (I, 4, 10) this same theme is found: “He who worships the Lord, thinking ‘He is one and I am another’ does not know.” And again, (IV, 4, 19) “He goes from death to death who sees difference, as it were, in Brahman.”

IX

ÉavzUNysÑavsuiSwit> ,ÉavnablaÑi´éÄma . 9 .

bhäva çünyasad bhäva susthitiù bhävanä-baläd bhaktir-uttamä

By the power of meditation, devoid of thoughts, one is established in true Being, and this is supreme devotion.

When asked by visitors for spiritual instruction, the Maharshi sometimes referred them to Upadesa Saram and gave its central message as, “stilling the mind and remaining free from thoughts.” The ending of thought is true bhakti and is the beginning of Wisdom and Bliss. It is supreme devotion because the Self and the Lord are identical. “Often he has told us that only a true bhakta can be a true jnani and only a true jnani can be a true bhakta.”¹ Total attention to the Self, unclouded by extraneous thoughts, is the same as surrender to the Lord – there being no activity of the ego.

This inactivity of the ego occurs when the meditator turns his attention away from all ‘other’ matters and focuses attention solely upon the ‘I’. Paradoxically, the ego is thereby destroyed, being deprived of the support it requires from otherness.

X

ùTSwle mn> SvSwta i³ya ,Éi´yaegbaexaí iniítm! . 10 .

håtsthale manaù svasthatä kriyä

bhakti yoga bodhaçca niçcitam

The practice of fixing the mind in its own source in the Heart is, without doubt, true bhakti, yoga, and understanding.

Whatever path is used by the aspirant for Self-Realization, and whatever may be emphasised, whether action or devotion or breath control or knowledge, it all amounts in the end to the necessity of absorbing the mind and thereby freeing the jiva from the tyranny of thought. The ‘heart’ referred to here is not the physical heart on the left side of the body but the ‘spiritual’ heart on the right.

Yet this must not be taken too literally. When a devotee remarked that the Maharshi “specified a particular place in the body, that it is in the chest, two digits to the right from the median”, He replied, “Yes, that is the centre of spiritual experience according to the testimony of sages .... Truly speaking pure Consciousness is indivisible .... There is no ‘right’ or ‘left’ for it .... It is by coming down to the level of ordinary understanding that a place is assigned to the Heart in the physical body .... Since, during the bodiless experience of the Heart as pure Consciousness, the Sage is not at all aware of the body, that absolute experience is localised by

him within the limits of the physical body by a sort of recollection made while he is with bodily awareness.”¹

When Maharshi was asked specifically about this verse by Devaraja Mudaliar, “What is the heart referred to...?”

Maharshi replied, “That which is the source of all, that in which all live, and that into which all finally merge, is the heart referred to.” Mudaliar continued, “How can we conceive such a heart?” Maharshi again, “Why should you conceive of anything? You have only to see from where the ‘I’ springs.”²

XI

vayuraexna‘Iyte mn> ,jalpi]vÔaexsaxnm! . 11 .

vayu-rodhanäl léyate manaù jäla-pakñivat rodha-sädhanam

The mind may be subdued by regulating the breath, just as a bird is restrained when caught in a net. This practice controls the mind.

Breath restraint (vayurodhana) is effected in rather violent ways by hatha yogis, resulting in complete stoppage or kumbhaka. The Maharshi did not recommend such extremes and used the word ‘kumbhaka’ in the sense of ‘regulation’, to be accomplished by watching the intake and outflow of breath. This causes the rate of respiration to slow down and in turn tends to quiet the mind, which is then able to keep its attention on the ‘I’ or Self. In any case, the Maharshi did not give breath control a high priority. He said, “One need not attempt breath control; mind control is enough. Breath control is recommended for the man who cannot control his mind straight away .... It may do as an aid but can never lead to the goal itself .... A more advanced man will naturally go direct to control of mind without wasting his time in practising control of breath.”¹

XII

icÄvayviíiT³yayuta> ,zaoyaeÖ›yI zi´mUlka . 12 .

citta-väyavaç cit-kriyäyutäù çäkhayor-dvayi çakti-mülakä

Mind and breath, manifesting in thought and action, branch out from a common source, the Sakti.

Since breathing and thinking are rooted in the same life-force, the control of one amounts to control of the other. One might oversimplify by saying, “Each time an individual breathes, the mind cerebrates. No breath, no thought, no thought, no breath.” In the story of the goblin, Vetala, Vasishta tells Rama, “Both are one only, like the flower and its fragrance or sesame seed and the oil in it. Prana [breath] and mind stand to one another in the relationship of the supporter and the supported. If either of them is slain, then the other will also cease to exist. The destruction of both will confer moksha on all.”¹

The greatness of Upadesa Saram, lies not so much in the content of each verse as in the way that the poem ties together all the major margas, or paths of spiritual discipline. In this verse, for instance, there is nothing new. In the earliest of all his writings, Who Am I?, Maharshi says, “The source of the mind, on the one hand, and of breath and vital forces on the other, is one and the same.”²

XIII

lyivnazne %Éyraexne ,lygt< punÉ›vit nae m&tm! . 13 .

laya vinaçane ubhaya-rodhane laya-gataà punar bhavati no måtam

Absorption, or laya, and destruction, or nasa, are the two kinds of mind control. When merely absorbed, it emerges again, but not when it is destroyed.

When the jiva is able to bring about the temporary absorption of the mind by pranayama he experiences in that state a form of samadhi or experience of Reality in which the ego ceases to intrude and intense happiness is enjoyed. But as soon as breath control ceases, the “I am the body” sense resumes and the jiva returns to his ‘normal’ active state of bondage, with its pains and pleasures. Sri Maharshi describes it this way: “The involution of the mind in the Self, but without its destruction, is kevala nirvikalpa samadhi .... Even though one practises it for years together, if one has not rooted out the vasanas he will not attain salvation.”¹

Again, referring to this verse, “Breath control can only produce manolayana, temporary suspension of mind. One-pointed meditation alone can lead to destruction of the mind.”²

XIV

àa[bNxna‘Inmansm! ,@kicNtnaÚazmeTyd> . 14 .

präëa-bandhanät léna-mänasam eka-cintanät näçametyadaù

When the mind has been suspended by breath restraint, it may then be annihilated by single-minded attention to the Self.

Once the mind has been calmed by the regulation of the breath, one should hold one’s attention on the Self, seeking the identity of the ‘I’. If this practice persists, eventually all other mental activity will dry up and the stream of thoughts will disappear. Then, in the absence of the sense of separateness from the Lord and from the world — a sense which thought has sustained — one arrives at the knowledge that there is only one Consciousness, and the individual is only That.

XV

nòmansaeTk&òyaeign> ,
k&TymiSt ik< SviSwit< yt> . 15 .

nañta-manasot-kåñöa yoginaù kåtyam asti kià svasthitià yataù

What action remains to be done by that great yogi whose mind has been extinguished, and who rests in his own true and transcendent state of Being?

Here the question refers to the state of the jivanmukta, or realized man. When asked about this, the Maharshi explained that, “The jnani is fully aware that his true state of Being remains fixed and stationary and all actions go on around him There may be no difference between a jnani and an ajnani in their conduct. The difference lies in their angles of vision. The ignorant man identifies himself with the ego and mistakes its activities for those of the Self, whereas the ego of the jnani has been lost.”¹

The liberated state is described by Sankara in his Atma Bodha: “I am attributeless, functionless, eternal, doubtless, stainless, changeless, formless, free and unconditioned.”²

XVI

†Zyvairt< icÄmaTmn> ,icÅvdz›n< tTvdz›nm! . 16 .

dåçya-väritaà citta-mätmanaù citva-darçanaà tattva darçanam

If one’s attention is turned away from external objects of sense and focused on the light of the Self, that is the true vision of Reality.

To realize the Self, it is necessary to give one’s attention solely to the ‘I’, the first person. This is possible only if one turns his attention away from otherness, from other things and other persons that make up the objective world — and away from images and ideas that relate to the world. This process is what the Maharshi has termed atma-vichara or self-enquiry. “If one leaves aside vichara, the most efficacious sadhana, there are no other adequate means whatsoever to make the mind subside. If made to subside by other means, it will remain as if subsided but will rise again.”¹

On ‘external’ and ‘internal’ the Maharshi has said, “Because your outlook is externally directed, you speak of a ‘without’. In that state you are advised to look within. In fact, the Self is neither within nor without.”²

XVII

mans< tu ik< mag›[e k&te ,nEv mans< mag› Aaj›vat! . 17 .

mänasaà tu kià märgaëe kåte

naiva mänasaà märge ärjavät

Again, if one persists in asking, “What is this mind of mine?” it will be found that there is really no such thing as ‘mind’. This is the Direct Path.

What the individual all along has thought was his ‘mind’ turns out to be nothing other than his Self. The mind has no existence of its own and ceases to function once its nature is revealed. To keep one’s attention on the Self is the direct way to know the mind. This is the jnana marga or vichara.

Sankara, also, insisted on the necessity for this path. “Compared with all other means, jnana, knowledge, is the only direct means to liberation as cooking is impossible without fire so is liberation impossible without knowledge.”¹

While knowledge is thus eventually essential to Realization, it is not always advisable for everyone regardless of the stage of understanding or spiritual development. When asked, “Can the path of inquiry be followed by all aspirants?” the Maharshi replied, “This is suitable only for the ripe souls. The rest should follow different methods according to the state of their minds.’’²

XVIII

v&ÄySTvh< v&iÄmaiïta> ,v&Äyae mnae ivÏ(h< mn> . 18 .

våttayastvahaà våtti-maçritaù våttayo mano viddhayahaà manaù

What one has thought of as his mind is merely a bundle of thoughts. All these thoughts depend upon the one thought of “I”, the ego. Therefore, the so-called mind is the “I” thought.

The power of the ‘I-thought’ is limitless. In Yoga Vasishtha, Siva informs Vasistha that, “This idea of ‘I’ brings in its train the ideas of time, space and other potencies.”¹ The mind is the I-am-the-body illusion. The Maharshi says specifically, “The mind is only identity of the Self with the body.”²

Clearly, the core of the Maharshi’s teaching involves an understanding of the nature of the mind and its relation to human bondage and freedom. In the preceding verses the control or annihilation of the mind has been discussed. Now we are advised that the mind is simply a bundle of thoughts wrapped about a feeling of ‘I’ wrongly associated with the body.

XIX

Ahmy< kutae Évit icNvt> ,
Aiy ptTyh< injivcar[m! . 19 .

ahamayaà kuto bhavati cinvataù ayi patatyahaà nijavicäraëam

If one asks himself, “Where does this I come from?” it will vanish. This is Self-enquiry, or atma-vichara.

Since the feeling, “I-am-the-body” is illusory, it cannot continue the masquerade under sustained scrutiny. The Maharshi has taught, “The thought ‘I am this body of flesh and blood’ is the one thread on which are strung the various other thoughts. Therefore if we turn inwards, [enquiring] ‘Where is this I?’ all thoughts [including the ‘I-thought’] will come to an end and Self-knowledge will then spontaneously shine forth within the cave (the heart) as ‘I-I’ ....’’¹

XX

Ahim nazÉaJyhmh<tya ,
S)urit ùTSvy< prmpU[›st! . 20 .

ahami näça-bhajy ahama-hantaya sphurati håt-svayaà parama-pürëa-sat

Where this ‘I’ vanished and merged in its Source there appears spontaneously and continuously an “I-I”. This is the Heart, the infinite Supreme Being.

Devotees sometimes had difficulty understanding Sri Maharshi’s use of the term ‘I’, though in this and other statements, he makes his meaning clear. In the ultimate sense, ‘I’ is God’s name or the name of our own real selves. In reference to the limited, ignorant individual, ‘I’ refers to the ego or the “I-am-the-body” illusion. This illusory ‘I’ is discontinuous, broken in waking and dream, absent in deep sleep. The Maharshi refers to the true ‘I’ as “I-I” to indicate its continuous nature. Actually, there is no way that this infinite “I-I” can be grasped intellectually by anyone. The true ‘I’ appears, or is experienced, only when the mind is dead, either temporarily in deep sleep or permanently in case of the jnani.

Again, in the ultimate sense, “there is neither I [the ego] nor any other thing. Only Brahman exists always, full of bliss everywhere.”¹

XXI

#dmh<pdaiÉOymNvhm! ,Ahim lInke=PylysÄya . 21 .

idamaham padä’bhikhya-manvaham aham-ilénake’pyalaya sattyä

And this uninterrupted “I-I” is the true meaning of the term “I” because when the waking ‘ego I’ daily disappears in deep sleep, the real ‘I’ remains.

Each day, the jiva undergoes the equivalent of death when overtaken by sleep. Yet, as in the physical death of the body, his true identity remains. Therefore, the jnani has no more fear of death than of sleep, knowing that his pure Being and Consciousness are unaffected thereby. The same survival is true of all jivas, yet the ignorant know it not and live in a state of fear and desire — desire for a state of peace, security and happiness, which is already their true nature.

XXII

iv¢heiNÔyàa[xItm> ,nahmeksľf< ýst! . 22 .

vigrah-endriya präëa-dhétamaù nähameka-sat tajjaòam hyasat

This true ‘I’, the one Reality, is not the body, or the senses, or mind, or breath, or ignorance. These are all inert and insentient.

To discover this truth is the real purpose of human life. Pleasure, happiness, and satisfaction are certainly to be found in this world of sensual experience, but they are, sadly, only temporary conditions, bound by time and place – inevitably followed by frustration and pain.

In the Manusamhita, the student is advised, “Desire is never extinguished by the enjoyment of desired objects. It only grows stronger like a fire fed with clarified butter. If one man should obtain all those sensual enjoyments and another should renounce them all, that renunciation of all pleasures is far better than the attainment of them.’’¹

This verse of Upadesa Saram explains why this is so. The senses and body are not one’s true ‘I’ or Self. Any attempt to use them for enjoyment is bound to end in futility. However, until Liberation, we feel compelled to repeat each attempt again and again.

One must stress in this verse the sense: “in themselves.” When asked why Upadesa Saram speaks of the body etc. as jada, or insentient, Maharshi replied, “[They are insentient] in as much as you say they are apart from the Self. But when the Self is found, this body etc. are also found to be in the Self. Afterwards, no one will ask the question and no one will say they are insentient.”²

The verse concerns specifically the five sheaths which envelop the individual and prevent him from realizing his true nature. Tamas (tamah), ‘darkness’ or ‘ignorance’ refers to the anandamayakosa, or blissful sheath, which covers one during deep sleep.

XXIII

sÅvÉaiska icTKvvetra ,sÄya ih ici½Äyaýhm! . 23 .

sattva-bhäsika citkva vetarä sattyä hi cit cittayä hyaham

There is only one Being that can know Reality. That one-only Being is itself Reality and is itself Consciousness.

This simple revelation sums up the whole of the jnani’s experience and the whole metaphysics of advaita. The reference here is to the impossibility of the eye ‘seeing’ itself. The Self (Reality) cannot see itself for there are not two Selves, permitting one to see the other. The Self can only be itself. It ‘Sees’ itself only as a reflection in the cosmos, just as the eye requires a mirror to see its own form.

Sri Maharshi comments on this and the previous verse as to where sentience, or consciousness, lies. “In the former (verse XXII), the body, senses, breath, mind and nescience are described as asat (unreal) and jadam (insentient), while the ‘I’ is eka sat (the one Reality). Then the question remains: Is the ‘I’ chit (sentient) or jadam (insentient)? To this, the reply is given in verse XXIII. Sat (Reality) is chit (sentient).”¹

Speaking to a young girl, five year old Indira, who had picked out some Sanskrit letters of Upadesa Saram, (verse XXII and XXIII), the Maharshi explained that they meant, “I am not the body. Who am I? I am He.” (deham naham koham soham). The Maharshi asked her to make them her mantra, saying it was the essence of wisdom. Indira continued to recite these words for the rest of her brief life.²

XXIV

$zjIvyaeveR;xIiÉda ,sTSvÉavtae vStu kevlm! . 24 .

éça-jévayor veña-dhi-bhida sat-svabhävato vastu kevalam

Both Creator and creature are essentially one and the same Reality. Their apparent differences are due only to differences in form and levels of knowledge.

The key to this and the following verse is vesa or ‘attributes’. Vastu kevalam, or Absolute Brahman is Nirguna Brahman, without any limiting attributes whatsoever. Saguna Brahman is the Ultimate Reality which appears to take on attributes in manifestation. God, the Creator, or Isa, has the attributes, ‘all knowing’ and ‘all powerful’. The individual, or jiva, is ignorant and weak. Yet, basically, Isa and jiva are the same substance.

So long as one thinks he is the body he shall be bound by attributes. When by the enquiry, “Who am I?”, he discovers he is not the body, he also discovers that he is, in reality, attributeless, like Brahman.

Referring to the triad common to all religious systems, the Individual, the World, and God, Sri Bhagavan says that these are all the illusions of the outgoing mind. When, however, they are viewed from the standpoint of Ultimate Reality they are seen as one. The Sanskrit text, isajivayo (between Isvara and the individual) identifies two persons, the Creator and created, and the verse concludes that they are both the same in essence (the Absolute Brahman),

differing only in their attributes of power and knowledge.¹

XXV

ve;hant> SvaTmdz›nm! ,$zdz›n< Sva Tmêpt> . 25 .

veña-hänataù svätma-darçanam éça-darçanaà svätma-rüpataù

When the creature abandons its illusory individual form and recognises itself as without attributes, it sees the Creator as its own true Self.

The solution to the ignorance and weakness of the individual is here revealed. It lies in the elimination of attributes (vesa), by recognising that one is truly not the body or the mind which are the vehicles of limitation. Such recognition is possible only after the ego is dead and one has surrendered himself to the Creator. Then both are known to be the same attributeless Reality or Self.

Ironically, our efforts to improve our own image and achieve fame and wealth and power serve actually to increase our limitations.

XXVI

AaTms<iSwit> SvaTmdz›nm! ,AaTminÖ›yadaTminóta . 26 .

ätma-saàsthitiù svätma-darçanam ätma-nirdvayäd ätma-niñöhatä

Being the Self is knowing the Self, because there is only one Self, and not two. This Being and knowing the Self is abiding in the Reality.

The same imperative is given in the Maharshi’s Forty Verses on Reality. “Other than turning the mind within, and lodging it in the Self, how is it possible to think of the Self with the mind?”¹

And elsewhere, “Can knowledge be other than Being? Being is the core, the Heart. How then is the Supreme Being to be contemplated and glorified? Only by remaining the Pure Self ....”²

Therefore, it is futile to attempt to understand the Self by reasoning or intellectual arguments. Thought is an obstacle to ‘Self-Realization’, which in the end can be attained only when the ego has been destroyed and all conceptualising abandoned.

XXVII

}anvij›ta=}anhInict! ,}anmiSt ik< }atumNtrm! . 27 .

jïana-varjit-ajïanhina cit jïänam-asti kià jïätum-antaram

True knowledge is beyond what we think of as ‘knowledge’ or ‘ignorance’ because in the State of Non-differentiation what other thing is to be known?

The jnani is aware of everything as the Self. He does not ‘see’ objects as existing in themselves as objects, but only as reflections of the one universal Brahman. Hence, while the jnani is not ignorant, he does not have ‘knowledge’ of objects, since, unlike the jiva, he knows nothing as ‘other’ than the Self.

Sankara has insisted on this as the essence of advaita. “All modifications of clay, such as a jar, etc., which are always accepted by the mind as real, are in reality nothing but clay. Similarly, this entire universe, which is produced from the real Brahman, is Brahman Itself and nothing but That.”¹ And again, “All that is perceived, all that is heard, is Brahman, and nothing else. Attaining the knowledge of Reality, one sees the universe as the non-dual Brahman: Being, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute.”²

XXVIII

ik< SvêpimTyaTmdz›ne ,AVyyaÉvapU[›icTsuom! . 28 .

kià svarüpam-ityätma darçane avyayäbhavä” pürëa-cit sukham

If one’s true Self is known, then there is neither birth nor death, but eternal Being, Consciousness, Bliss.

The Maharshi often asked those who came to him with questions to find out if they had ever been born. Once they had been able to answer this fundamental question, he said, they would have no others. This verse puts the matter in a different order: When, by the sadhana prescribed in the preceding verses, one knows his Self, then he will discover that he was never born.

All earthly existence is experienced by an apparent entity which believes itself to have been born and to have enjoyed and suffered – an entity which will finally die. It is only as real as the subjects in a dream.

XXIX

bNxmuKTytIt< pr< suom! ,ivNdtIh jIvStu dEivk> . 29 .

bandha muktyatétaà paraà sukham vindatéha jévastu daivikaù

The jiva who attains the state of Supreme Bliss, beyond any thoughts of bondage or freedom is truly devoted to the Lord.

This verse is the Maharshi’s conclusion as to the relationship between the bhakti and jnana margas, first mentioned in verse V. Abiding in the state of Supreme Bliss is true ‘service’ or ‘worship’ of the Lord because the divine jiva is not separate from Brahman and realizes his identity. Whatever he may ‘do’ is itself divine.

Devotion is not truly bhakti so long as the worshipper believes himself to be a separate reality, usurping thereby something of the universality of the Lord’s Being and Consciousness. Only the utter surrender of one’s individuality can be true bhakti, which is also true jnana.

XXX

Ahmpetk< injivÉankm! ,mhidd< tpae rm[vaigym! . 30 .

aham-apetakaà nija-vibhänakam

mahadidaà tapo ramaëa vägiyam

When the individual ‘I’ has disappeared and the real “I-I” has been found, that is excellent tapas. Ramana says this.

This final verse places the whole of Upadesa Saram in the setting of the story of the Daruka forest ascetics as used by Muruganar. The ascetics had practised austerities (tapas) for false purposes. The Maharshi affirms here that atma vichara is itself the “excellent tapas” that they should make use of for true happiness. Muruganar wrote the original Tamil version of this verse, stating Ramana Maharshi to be THE SELF. Sri Ramana did not himself say that he was ‘enlightened’, except by implication, and did not carry Muruganar’s statement over into the Sanskrit version of this verse. Nevertheless, it is as Lord Ramana, the Self, that He speaks in these Thirty Verses. And for those who understand and follow and are freed by this advice, it is He alone who teaches and guides and frees.