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Sadhanai Saram
- Introduction
- The editing and arrangement of Sadhanai Saram
- The contents of the first and second Tamil editions
- The contents of the English translation
- Printed edition of the English translation
- E-book copy of the English translation
Introduction
சாதனை சாரம் (Sadhanai Saram), the ‘Essence of Spiritual Practice’, is
a collection of several hundred Tamil verses composed by Sri Sadhu Om on the practice of
atma-vichara (self-investigation) and atma-samarpana (self-surrender).
சாதனை (sadhanai) is a Tamil form of the Sanskrit word sadhana,
which in a spiritual context means ‘spiritual practice’ but which more generally
means an ‘expedient’ or ‘means to an end’, that is, any means that
is adopted to accomplish a particular aim or goal (being derived from the
verbal root sadh,
which means to ‘go [or lead] straight to a goal’, ‘achieve’, ‘accomplish’,
‘effect’, ‘bring about’ or ‘produce’), and சாரம் (saram) is a Tamil form of the Sanskrit word sara,
which means ‘substance’, ‘essence’ or ‘inner core’, or in a literary context a
‘summary’ or ‘epitome’, or the ‘gist’, ‘main point’ or ‘real meaning’ of a
subject.
Since people have many different aims — even in a spiritual context (since they
espouse many different concepts about the goal or purpose of spiritual or
religious endeavour) — they adopt many different practices or sadhanas to
achieve whatever goal they are seeking. Therefore in the name of sadhana
people do many different forms of meditation, yoga, prayer, worship and other such
actions of mind, speech or body.
Each of these actions done in the name of sadhana or ‘spiritual practice’
will no doubt produce some result, but whatever that result may be, is it the
real spiritual goal that we should all be seeking? What actually is the real
spiritual goal?
One thing that is common to all the many goals or results that
we each seek to achieve by all our various spiritual and worldly endeavours is
that we regard them as a means to happiness. Ultimately the one goal that we all
seek to achieve is to be happy, so the real spiritual goal is happiness —
unlimited, unalloyed and everlasting happiness — and only when we achieve such
happiness will all our endeavours or sadhanas be fulfilled and finally
come to an end.
What is real happiness, and how are we to achieve it? As Bhagavan Sri Ramana has
taught us, infinite happiness is our true nature — our own
essential self — and our present seeming lack or deficiency of happiness is
caused only by our self-ignorance — our lack of clear and certain knowledge about who or
what we really are. Therefore he taught us that the one real goal of all
spiritual endeavour is only the experience of clear self-knowledge, because only when we
know ourself as we really are will we experience the true happiness that we all
seek.
Since self-ignorance is the ultimate cause of all forms of unhappiness, a sadhana
or ‘means’ can enable us to achieve unalloyed and infinite happiness only if it
is able to remove our fundamental self-ignorance. Therefore Sri
Ramana taught us that the only true sadhana or ‘spiritual practice’ is
atma-vichara — the practice of self-investigation, self-scrutiny or
self-attentiveness.
That is, in order to destroy our self-ignorance we must experience ourself as we
really are, and we cannot know ourself as we really are without attending to
ourself — that is, without keenly and carefully examining or scrutinising
ourself with true and all-consuming love to know ‘who am I?’. Only when we
withdraw our attention from everything else — from all thoughts, from all
objects and from everything that is other than ‘I’ — and focus it keenly and
exclusively upon our fundamental self-consciousness, ‘I am’, will we be able to
experience ourself without the superimposition of any of the adjuncts that we
now mistake to be ourself, such as our body and our thinking mind.
We now mistake ourself to be this body and mind only because we have never tried
(or have not yet succeeded in our effort) to know our essential self exclusively
— free from even the least consciousness anything other than ‘I’. This self-negligence or
habit of ignoring or overlooking our essential self is called pramada
(‘negligence’ or ‘carelessness’), and the only means or sadhana by which
we can overcome it is vigilant self-attentiveness or self-remembrance, which is
the practice of
atma-vichara or self-investigation.
This practice of
atma-vichara is also called atma-samarpana or self-surrender,
because when we investigate and know our real self we will automatically give up
or ‘surrender’ our false self, which is our mind or ego, the spurious form of
consciousness that experiences itself as ‘I am this body, a person called
so-and-so’.
Every religion teaches us that we should deny ourself or surrender ourself to
God, but how can we truly surrender or deny ourself when we do not even know
what we really are? Until we know ourself as we really are, we cannot know what
the ‘self’ is that we should deny or surrender to God.
We can never truly deny or surrender our real self — that which we really are —
so the ‘self’ that we are to surrender or efface can only be our false self —
that which we are not but merely appear to be. However, we cannot surrender or
separate ourself from this false self, our mind or ego, so long as we experience
it as ourself. Therefore we can surrender our false self only by experiencing
ourself as our real self.
That is, though we may be able to surrender (not completely but at least to a
limited extent) the desires and attachments of our false self without knowing
our real self, we cannot surrender our false self itself until we experience
ourself as we really are. Therefore our self-surrender or self-denial will be
complete only when we investigate ‘who am I?’ and thereby know what we really
are.
Thus atma-vichara or self-investigation is the only truly effective means or sadhana
by which we can surrender ourself to God, and this is why Sri Ramana says in the
thirteenth paragraph
of Nan Yar? (Who am I?):
Being completely absorbed in atma-nishtha [self-abidance], not giving even the
slightest room to the rising of any other chintana [thought] except
atma-chintana [self-contemplation or self-attentiveness], alone is giving
ourself to God. ...
Our mind or false self rises and sustains itself by thinking — that is, by attending to
anything other than itself — so when we focus our entire ‘thought’ or attention
upon ourself (our essential self-consciousness, ‘I am’) and thereby exclude all
other thoughts, our mind will automatically subside and dissolve into our real
self, ‘I am’, which is the ‘ground’ or fundamental consciousness of being that
underlies and support its false appearance.
In other words, thought or objective attention is the air that our mind must
constantly breathe in order to survive. Therefore, by thinking of (or attending
to) anything other than ourself, we are feeding and nourishing our mind, whereas
by thinking of (or attending to) ourself alone, we are starving or stifling it,
thereby causing it to subside or surrender itself to its underlying reality, our
pristine non-dual self-consciousness, ‘I am’.
Therefore, as Sri Ramana teaches in this important passage of Nan Yar?,
we can surrender ourself effectively and entirely only by being vigilantly self-attentive and
thereby excluding not only all other thoughts but even our thinking mind itself.
Conversely, we can be truly self-attentive — that is, firmly
established in the non-dual practice of atma-vichara or atma-nishtha
— only to the extent that we surrender or deny ourself by refraining from rising as
this thinking
mind, which is our false self. Therefore self-investigation and self-surrender are truly one and inseparable, like the two sides of a single
piece of paper.
The reason why the one true sadhana or means by which we can know ourself as
we really are is sometimes described as
atma-vichara or self-investigation and sometimes as atma-samarpana
or self-surrender is that the former emphasises its jnana or ‘knowing’
aspect while the latter emphasises its bhakti
or ‘love’ aspect. We cannot know ourself as we really are and thereby
surrender all that we are not unless we have intense and all-consuming love to experience
ourself thus, and our love to experience ourself thus will grow and increase to
the extent to which we gain true clarity of self-consciousness by constantly practising
self-attentiveness.
Therefore the single sadhana or practice of self-investigation and
self-surrender is not only the true jnana yoga or ‘path of knowing’ but
is also the pinnacle or culmination of bhakti yoga or the ‘path of devotion’.
Since God is our own essential self, we can surrender our false self and merge
in him only by investigating and knowing who we really are.
Though there are many different forms of sadhana or spiritual practice,
among all of them there is ultimately only one true and essential form, and that is this
non-dual
practice of atma-vichara or self-investigation, because it is the only sadhana
by which we can directly and immediately experience ourself as we really are.
As Sri Ramana once said, though various paths may help to purify our mind and
thereby lead us close to the citadel of true self-knowledge, in order to
actually enter that citadel we must pass through the only gateway, which is the
practice of atma-vichara or self-investigation, because we cannot know
ourself as we really are unless we keenly scrutinise ourself with an intense
love to discover ‘who am I?’.
That is, though other forms of sadhana may purify our mind and thereby give it the clarity to
understand that the only true sadhana or means to self-knowledge is
vigilant and keenly penetrating self-attentiveness (as Sri Ramana teaches us in
verse 3 of Upadesa Undiyar), no other sadhana can
enable us to experience self-knowledge directly, because we cannot know ourself
as we really are unless we closely and carefully attend to ourself. Attention,
which is our ability to direct our consciousness towards something (or rather,
our ability to bring something within the centre of our consciousness), is the
only means by which we can know anything, so we can know our essential self only
by attending to it — that is, by attending to our fundamental
self-consciousness, the consciousness that we always experience as ‘I am’.
Whereas every other
form of sadhana is a karma or action, since it involves some form
of objective attention — that is, attention to something other than our
essential self — the practice of atma-vichara is not an action or ‘doing’
but is only a state of just ‘being’, since it is an absolutely non-objective
attention — that is, an attention to nothing other than our essential self, ‘I am’. Since
our goal is not any state of action or karma but only the pristine state of absolutely
action-free being, we cannot attain it by any kind or any amount of action, but
only by refraining completely from all forms of action, which we can do only
by our focusing our entire attention upon our essential self, thereby
withdrawing it from everything else and causing our mind to subside without
action in our natural state of pure self-conscious being.
Therefore this sadhana or practice of self-investigation and
self-surrender that Sri Ramana has taught us is truly sadhana sara — the
essence, core or cream of all forms of spiritual practice — and hence this
collection of verses composed by Sri Sadhu Om on this essential form of spiritual
practice is called Sadhanai Saram, the ‘Essence of Spiritual Practice’.
The editing and arrangement of Sadhanai Saram
Sadhanai Saram consists of many individual verses and groups of verses
that Sri Sadhu Om composed at various times (mostly
during the last thirty years or so of his bodily lifetime) and under various
circumstances, but most of them were
written as replies to questions that he was asked specifically about the
practice of self-investigation or self-surrender.
For many years these verses existed only in manuscript form, either in notebooks
or on loose sheets of paper, but some of them were included in appropriate
places in Part One of Sri Ramana Vazhi (the Tamil original of
The Path of Sri Ramana),
which was first published in 1967, so people who read Sri Ramana Vazhi
often asked Sri Sadhu Om when the whole of Sadhanai Saram would be
published. However, since no money was available at that time
to publish it, it was not printed until 1983, when some friends of Sri Sadhu
Om offer to finance its publication.
When the decision to publish it was made, Sri Sadhu Om began to arrange the
verses in order, and at that time some other friends and I asked him to compose and
include in it some verses on several subjects that we had heard him discussing (such as renunciation,
analysis of our experience in our three states, effort made intermittently,
superimposition of the qualities of self upon the ego, sat-sanga, fear of
death and the analogy of shop rent), so he composed many new verses at that time.
In our enthusiasm we also asked him to include in
Sadhanai Saram many of his songs and other verses that he had not
intended to include in it but that contained useful clues or advice, so at the
last minute he incorporated such songs and verses at appropriate places in the
text. Even while the printing was in progress (using the old-fashioned
letterpress technology, which meant that each section of sixteen pages had to be
typeset, proofread, corrected and printed before the typesetting of the next
section could begin), the selection and inclusion of other such songs and verses
continued, so some of the verses that should have been included earlier in the
text were included at the last minute in later portions of it.
Though Sri Sadhu Om agreed to include all the songs and verses that we
suggested, he said that some of them were not really appropriate, because though
they were instructive they were not actually about spiritual practice (sadhana),
so he placed them at the end in a separate section entitled தனிப்பாடல்கள் (tani-p-padalkal)
or ‘Separate Songs’. However, some of the poems that were included in this
section at the last minute should actually have been included in the main
section, which by that time had already been printed. Thus when it was first published
Sadhanai Saram contained a total of 523 verses divided into 86 chapters,
but the order in which the chapters and verses were arranged was not as it would have been
if Sri Sadhu Om had had sufficient time to edit and organise it completely before the
printing had begun.
Shortly before it was printed, one of Sri Sadhu Om’s friends had
asked him to dictate a pozhippurai or explanatory paraphrase in Tamil
prose for each verse, so after each verse the pozhippurai for it was also printed.
Soon after this first Tamil edition of Sadhanai Saram was published, the editors of
The Mountain Path
asked Sri Sadhu Om and me to translate it into English so that they could
serialise our translation, so we began to translate it, and though the
serialisation in
The Mountain Path
was for some reason never completed, we managed to complete our translation.
A total of 166 verses were published in five issues of
The Mountain Path
from April 1984 to April 1985, and a copy of each of these five instalments is
now available on the following pages of the
Bhagavan Ramana website:
-
Sadhanai Saram verses 1-30
(The Mountain Path, April 1984, pages 80-3)
-
Sadhanai Saram verses 31-66
(The Mountain Path, July 1984, pages 172-6)
-
Sadhanai Saram verses 77, 88-101 & 110-27
(The Mountain Path, October 1984, pages 234-8)
-
Sadhanai Saram verses 164-73 & 179-204
(The Mountain Path, January 1985, pages 30-5)
-
Sadhanai Saram verses 205-16, 226-32, 239-49 & 324
(The Mountain Path, April 1985, pages 109-14)
The numbering and sequence of these verses published in
The Mountain Path
are the same as the numbering and sequence in the first Tamil edition, but while we were
translating them Sri Sadhu Om and I agreed that the arrangement and presentation
of the verses should be reorganised. He said that only about 300 of the 523
verses should actually be included in Sadhanai Saram, and that the other
verses could be given as appendices.
The reason why he wanted to remove so many verses from the main text of Sadhanai Saram
was because some of them were independent works that were complete in themselves
(such as Atma-Vichara Patikam and Turavu Narpadu), and others were
not suitable to include in the main text either because of their meaning, which
was not about actually about spiritual practice (sadhana), or because of
their literary style, since they were musical songs.
Therefore out of the 523 verses in the first Tamil edition, he selected only 287 to
include in the main text of Sadhanai Saram (two of which [namely verses
481 and 482] were to be merged together, leaving only 286 verses), and he said that the other
236 verses could be arranged into six appendices. The first appendix would be Atma-Vichara Patikam,
the ‘Eleven Verses on Self-Investigation’ (which he said is a summary of the
essential import of the entire Sadhanai Saram); the second would be Turavu Narpadu,
the ‘Forty Verses on Renunciation’; the third would be a collection of
instructive verses that are not suitable to include in the main text (because
they are not actually about sadhana or spiritual practice); the
fourth would be a collection of verses about the greatness of some of Sri
Ramana’s works; the fifth would be a collection of instructive songs; and the
sixth would be Dhyana Pattu, the ‘Song on Meditation’.
Sri Sadhu Om rearranged not only the sequence of the chapters but also the
sequence of the verses within some of
the chapters, and he also decided to include in the main text a few more verses
that were not in the first Tamil edition. According to the new arrangement that
he planned, the main text of Sadhanai Saram was to consist of 291
verses (of which five were newly selected verses that were not in the
first Tamil edition, and one [verse 87] was a verse composed by Sri Muruganar
while the other 290 were verses composed by Sri Sadhu Om) divided into 52 chapters.
The first Tamil edition of Sadhanai Saram was published as Part Three of Sri Ramana Vazhi (the Tamil original of
The Path of Sri Ramana),
but Sri Sadhu Om later told me that it should really be considered to be a separate
book, and that Parts One and Two of Sri Ramana Vazhi are a complete book
that does not require any further parts appended to it. Since we also wanted to
publish a collection of all the short essays, articles, letters and other
miscellaneous prose writings of Sri Sadhu Om, some friends suggested that they
could be published along with Sadhanai Saram under some other title such
as Sri Ramana Bodha Vilakkam (A Lamp Lit by the Wisdom of Sri Ramana), and
that Sadhanai Saram and other instructive verses and songs could form
Part One of such a book, while the essays and other prose writings could form
Part Two.
However, though at first Sri Sadhu Om seemed to accept this suggestion, he later
told me that it would be best to publish Sadhanai Saram as a separate
book with the other instructive verses and songs included as appendices, and that
there was no need to give such a book any title other than சாதனை சாரம் (Sadhanai Saram). He also said that the essays and other
prose writings could be published as a separate book under some other suitable
title. (However, it appears that some of his friends did not know that he had
said this, so in 1999 the second Tamil edition of Sadhanai Saram was published
again as Part Three of Sri Ramana Vazhi, and in 2001 the essays and other
prose writings were published as Part Four of Sri Ramana Vazhi.)
Except for the verses that I typed for
The Mountain Path,
I did not make a typed copy of our English translation of Sadhanai Saram, but in the late 1980’s or early
1990’s some
friends from AHAM asked me if they could
make a photocopy of the notebooks in which I had written our translation so that
they could take it to America and make a typed copy of it. They told me that
they would like to publish it, and asked my permission to do so, which I readily
gave, so I explained to them that Sri Sadhu Om had rearranged the verses in a
new order, and gave them a copy of my notes about the new arrangement,
suggesting that they have them typed in that order.
AHAM eventually published our translation
in 2002 under the title A Light on the Teaching of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi (with a note saying that this was the title chosen by Sri Sadhu Om,
presumably because they had heard that a similar title had once been suggested).
In this book they included all the 291 verses that Sri Sadhu Om had selected to
include in the final form of Sadhanai Saram in the new order in which he
had arranged them (but by mistake they also included two other verses, which
they numbered 50b and 50c, but which should actually have been included in the
third appendix). They also included the first two appendices, Atma-Vichara Patikam and Turavu Narpadu,
but omitted the other four appendices, which should contain 182 verses from the
first Tamil edition (along with some other verses and songs that are to be
added).
The translation of some verses in this English version, A Light on the Teaching of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, are not exactly as Sri Sadhu Om and I wrote them, because they
appear to have been modified by the publishers. However, the modifications that
they made are mostly quite minor, since they are just alternative spellings
(such as ‘inquiry’ instead of ‘enquiry’) or choices of words, and the
replacement of Tamil and Sanskrit words with English equivalents. The publishers
also added a glossary, in which they attempted to translate or explain the
meaning of most of the Sanskrit and Tamil words used in the translation.
I hope that sometime in future this English version of Sadhanai Saram
will be published again together with all the appendices that Sri Sadhu Om
intended to append to it, and that before it is republished I will find time to
revise and improve the translation.
The contents of the first and second Tamil editions
As I explained above, the first Tamil edition of Sadhanai Saram contained
a total of 523 verses divided into 86 chapters, but Sri Sadhu Om later
rearranged the order of these chapters and verses and decided that some other
verses and songs should be added both to the main text and to the proposed
appendices.
However, when the second Tamil edition was published in 1999, the chapters and
verses were printed in the same order (and with the same numbering) as in the
first edition, and the five verses that were added in the English translation
(namely verses 3, 87-8, 204 and 245 of the latter) were not included in it, but
twelve other new verses (namely verses 109a, 324a-c, 382a, 450a-e, 484a and
484b) were added, thus forming six new chapters (namely chapters 27a, 58a, 67a,
72a, 80a and 80b).
The following table lists all the chapters in the first and second Tamil
editions, with the chapter numbers in the first column, the chapter titles (in
Tamil and Latin script with its meaning in English) in the second column, the
verse numbers in the third column, and the equivalent verse numbers in the
English translation (or a dash [followed in square brackets by a note indicating
in which appendix Sri Sadhu Om intended them to be included] wherever a verse or series of verses is not
included in the English translation) in the fourth column:
|
| 1. |
காப்பு (Kappu)
Invocation |
1-2 |
1-2 |
| 2. |
இப் பிறவிச் சிறப்பு (I-p Piravi-c Cirappu)
The Greatness of this Birth |
3 |
4 |
| 3. |
தேகமும் யோகமும் (Dehamum Yogamum)
The Body and Yoga |
4-7 |
134-7 |
| 4. |
உழைப்பும் பயனும் (Uzhaippum Payanum)
Endeavour and Result |
8 |
20 |
| 5. |
குறிக்கோள் (Kurikkol)
The Goal |
9-10 |
21-2 |
| 6. |
எது பெரிது? (Edu Peridu?)
What is Great? |
11-3 |
— [Appendix 5, song
2] |
| 7. |
கற்க வேண்டிய கல்வி (Kalka
Vendiya Kalvi)
The Learning That Should Be Learnt |
14-9 |
189-90, 192, 194,
193 & 191 |
| 8. |
அருளும் முயற்சியும் (Arulum
Muyarciyum)
Grace and Effort |
20-2 |
15-7 |
| 9. |
ஸ்ரீ ரமண கருணை (Sri Ramana
Karunai)
The Grace of Sri Ramana |
23-7 |
6-9 & 12 |
| 10. |
குரு பகவான்
ரக்ஷிப்பது நிச்சயம் (Guru Bhagavan Rakshippadu Niscayam)
Guru
Bhagavan’s
Protection is Certain |
28-9 |
10-1 |
| 11. |
ரமணச் செல்வம் (Ramana-c Celvam)
The Wealth
of Sri Ramana |
30 |
5 |
| 12. |
விஞ்ஞானமும்
மெய்ஞ்ஞானமும் (Vijnanamum Meyjnanamum)
Science and True Knowlwdge |
31 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 13. |
ஞானி அருள் (Jnani
Arul)
The
Grace of a Sage |
32 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 14. |
வேண்டத் தக்கது எது? (Venda-t Takkadu Edu?)
What is Worthy to be Desired? |
33 |
102-109 |
| 15. |
ஞானத் துயில் (Jnana-t
Tuyil)
The Sleep of Jnana |
34-43 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 13] |
| 16. |
எது உன்னிஷ்டம்? (Edu Un-n-ishtam)
Which is
Your Wish? |
44-5 |
23-4 |
| 17. |
கடை வாடகை (Kadai Vadakai)
The Shop Rent |
46-7 |
138-9 |
| 18. |
நற்குணங்களை யடையும் வழி (Nal Gunangalai y-Adaiyum
Vazhi)
The Way to Attain Good Qualities |
48-53 |
47-50c [50b & 50c should be in Appendix 3] |
| 19. |
மாற்றாரை யொறுத்தல் (Matrarai
y-Oruttal)
Punishing Enemies |
54 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 20. |
தன் குறை காணல் (Tan
Kurai Kanal)
Seeing One’s
Own Defects |
55 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 21. |
அகநோக்கும்
புறநோக்கும் [அல்லது வைராக்கியமும் பக்தியும்] (Aha-Nokkum Pura-Nokkum
[alladu Vairagyamum Bhaktiyum])
Introversion and Extroversion [or
Desirelessness and Devotion] |
56 |
201 |
| 22. |
தீவிரம் வேண்டும் (Tiviram Vendum)
Intense
Earnestness is Required |
57-66 |
205-14 |
| 23. |
மரண பயம் (Marana Bhayam)
Fear of Death |
67-76 |
140-9 |
| 24. |
ஐம்புல வின்பம் வீண் (Aim-Pula v-Inbam Vin)
The Five Sense Pleasures are Worthless |
77 |
19 |
| 25. |
இறைவனைக் கண்டிட
எண்ணினால்
(Iraivanai-k Kandida Enninal)
If You Want to See God |
78-87 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 1] |
| 26. |
ஆசையின் இயல்பு (Asaiyin Iyalbu)
The Nature
of Desire |
88-101 |
25-38 |
| 27. |
மூவாசை [அல்லது ஏஷணாத்திரயம்]
(Mu-v-Asai [alladu Eshana-t-Tirayam])
The Three Desires |
102-9 |
39-43, 45-6 & 44 |
| 27a. |
பஞ்சமாபாதகங்கள் (Panca-Ma-Patakam)
The Five Great Sins |
109a |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 28. |
பக்தி யுதித்தல் (Bhakti
y-Udittal)
The Arising of Devotion |
110-1 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 29. |
பக்தியும் ஞானமும் (Bhaktiyum Jnanamum)
Bhakti and Jnana |
112-9 |
79-86 |
| 30. |
ஆன்ம சமர்ப்பணமும் ஆன்ம விசாரமும்
(Anma-Vicharamum
Anma-Samarppanamum)
Self-Surrender and Self-Investigation |
120-3 |
89-92 |
| 31. |
அவனிடம் விடு (Avan-idam Vidu)
Leave it to
Him |
124 |
14 |
| 32. |
அவன் செய்வதெல்லாம் எனக்கின்பமே
(Avan Ceyvad(u)-Ellam Enakk(u)-Inbame)
All That He Does is Happiness for Me |
125 |
13 |
| 33. |
நினைவு ஏனோ? (Ninaivu Eno?)
Why to Think? |
126-7 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 3] |
| 34. |
சரணாகதி (Saranagati)
Taking Refuge |
128-37 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 12] |
| 35. |
வருந்தாதே நெஞ்சே (Varundate
Nenje)
Be Not Heart-Broken, O Mind |
138-42 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 4] |
| 36. |
பாப்பாவுக்குப்
பரிந்துரை (Pappavuku-p Parindurai)
Affectionate Words [of Advice]
to a Child |
143-63 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 16] |
| 37. |
சற்சங்கம் (Satsangam)
Sat-Sanga
(Clinging to Being) |
164-73 |
51-6 & 59-62 |
| 38. |
ஸ்வாசீர்வாதம் (Svasirvadam)
Blessing Oneself |
174-8 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 23] |
| 39. |
எழுச்சி யறல் (Ezhucci y-Aral)
The
Destruction of Rising |
179-80 |
195 & 197 |
| 40. |
பக்குவம் (Pakkuvam)
Maturity (pakva) |
181-6 |
199, 198, 196, 200
& 202-3 |
| 41. |
அகந்தையை மறுத்தல் (Ahantaiyai Maruttal)
Denying the Ego |
187-8 |
169-70 |
| 42. |
ஈசன் கருவி (Isan
Karuvi)
[Being an] Instrument of God |
189 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 43. |
ஆன்மாவில் ஏகாக்கிர முறல்
(Anmavil Ekaggiram Ural)
Gaining One-Pointedness in Self |
190-204 |
246-60 |
| 44. |
ஏன் சாதனை சிரம
மாகிறது?
(En Sadhanai Sramam Akiradu?)
Why is Sadhana
Hard Work? |
205-7 |
242-5 |
| 45. |
பிரமாதம் (Pramadam)
Self-Negligence (pramada) |
208 |
156 |
| 46. |
விருத்தி ஓய என் செய்வது?
(Vritti Oya En Ceyvadu)
What to Do to Make Thoughts Subside? |
209-13 |
218-22 |
| 47. |
தியான காலத்திற் றோன்றும் எண்ணங்கள்
(Dhyana
Kalattil Tondum Ennangal)
Thoughts that Arise During Meditation |
214-6 |
215-7 |
| 48. |
அன்னியத் தோற்றம் அசத்தியமே
(Anniya-t Totram
Asattiyame)
The
Appearance of Otherness is Unreal |
217-25 |
159, 158, 160-1,
157 & 162-5 |
| 49. |
விசாரத்திற் கவனிக்க (Vicharattil Kavanikka)
To Heed During Enquiry |
226-32 |
261-7 |
| 50. |
இடைவிட்டு முயலுதல் (Idaivittu Muyaludal)
Making Effort Intermittently |
233-8 |
223-8 |
| 51. |
ஆன்ம விசாரப் பதிகம் (Anma-Vichara-p
Patikam)
Eleven Verses on Self-Investigation |
239-49 |
Appendix 1 |
| 52. |
அவஸ்தாத்திரய ஆய்வு (Avasta-Traya Ayvu)
Investigation of the Three States |
250-82 |
93-102, 104, 106-8,
103, 110, 109, 118, 111-7, 119-20, 105 & 121-5 |
| 53. |
ஆன்மாவோ டந்தை யத்தியாசம்
(Anma-v-od(u) Ahantai
y-Adhyasam)
Superimposition of Ego on Self |
283-90 |
127-33 & 126 |
| 54. |
சந்தேகி யாரென்று சந்தேகி
(Sandehi Yar-endru
Sandehi)
Doubt Who
is the Doubter |
291-301 |
178-88 |
| 55. |
எது ஞானம்? (Edu
Jnanam?)
What is Jnana? |
302-4 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 56. |
தன்னறிவு [அல்லது ஆத்ம ஞானம்]
(Tan-n-arivu [alladu
Atma Jnanam])
Self-Knowledge |
305-13 |
269-77 |
| 57. |
கொஞ்சம் பொறு (Konjam
Poru)
Wait a Little |
314-23 |
—[Appendix 5, song 21] |
| 58. |
ஞானோதய விதம் (Jnanodaya Vidham)
The Manner
of the Arising of Knowlwdge |
324 |
268 |
| 58a. |
குரு வார்த்தை [உபதேசம்]
(Guru
Varttai [Upadesam])
Intense Earnestness is Required |
324a-c |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 59. |
ரமண தாஸ லக்ஷணம் (Ramana
Dasa Lakshanam)
The Definition of a Devotee of Sri Ramana |
325-9 |
— [Appendix 5, song 22] |
| 60. |
அகத்தினி லிவ்வா
றடிக்கடி யெண்ணுக
(Ahattinil Ivvar(u) Adikkadi y-Ennuka)
Think
Repeatedly in this Manner in [Your] Heart |
330-6 |
— [Appendix 5, song 18] |
| 61. |
ஆன்மீகர்களின் வீர
நடைப் பாட்டு
(Anmikargalin Vira Nadai-p Pattu)
The March Song
of Heroic Spiritual Aspirants |
337-9 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 19] |
| 62. |
யார் ஞானி? (Yar Jnani)
Who is a Jnani? |
340-50 |
280-90 |
| 63. |
மாயை (Mayai)
[Self-]Delusion (maya) |
351-7 |
171-7 |
| 64. |
ஆன்ம வதீதம் (Anma v-Atitam)
The Transcendent
Nature of Self |
358-60 |
153-5 |
| 65. |
ஞானியும்
பிராரப்தமும்
(Jnaniyum
Prarabdhamum)
The
Jnani and Destiny (prarabdha) |
361 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 66. |
குரு சொற்
பரிந்துகொள்ளாக் கூட்டம்
(Guru Col Purindu-kollak Kuttam)
The
Crowd Who Do Not Understand the Guru’s Words |
362-6 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 14] |
| 67. |
மதங்கடந்த ஸ்ரீ ரமணர்
(Matam-Kadanda
Sri Ramana)
Religion-Transcending Sri Ramana |
367-82 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 15] |
| 67a. |
ஸ்ரீ ரமண அவதார உண்மை
(Sri
Ramana Avatara Unmai)
The Truth of the Avatara [‘descent’,
appearance or incarnation] of Sri Ramana |
382a |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 68. |
சுவாசத்தைக் கவனித்தல் (Svasattai-k Kavanittal)
Watching the Breath |
383-95 |
229-30, 237-41, 236
& 231-5 |
| 69. |
ஜெபம் (Jepam)
Japa (Repetition) |
396-403 |
71-8 |
| 70. |
துறவு நாற்பது (Turavu Narpadu)
Forty Verses
on Renunciation |
404-46 |
Appendix 2
(invocation 1-2, verses 1-16, 28-34, 38, 18-20, 17, 21-4, 27, 25-6, 36-7,
35, 39-40 & concluding verse) |
| 71. |
சாதனோத்தர ரகசியம் (Sadhanottara
Rahasyam)
The Ultimate Secret of Sadhana |
447 |
291 |
| 72. |
மனம் எப்போது சாந்தி
யடையும்?
(Manam Eppodu Santi y-Adaiyum?)
When Will the Mind
Attain Peace? |
448-50 |
—
[Appendix 5, song 11] |
| 72a. |
கவலையை ஒழி (Kavalaiyai
Ozhi)
Terminate Worry [or Anxiety] |
450a-e |
— [Appendix 5, song 10] |
|
|
தனிப்பாடல்கள் (Tani-p-padalkal) - Separate Songs
|
| 73. |
ஸ்ரீ அருணாசலப் பிரதக்ஷிண மாண்பு
(Sri Arunachala
Pradakshina Manbu)
The Greatness of Circumambulating Arunachala |
451-60 |
64, 57-8, 63 & 65-70 |
| 74. |
அருணாசல ஸ்துதி பஞ்சக மாண்பு
(Arunachala Stuti
Panchaka Manbu)
The Greatness of
Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam |
461 |
—
[Appendix 4] |
| 75. |
அறிவுத் துறை (Ramana)
The Harbour of Knowledge |
462-76 |
— [Appendix 5, song 17] |
| 76. |
பாடிப் பய னென்ன? (Padi-p
Payan Enna?)
What is the Fruit of Composing [Poetry]? |
477 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 77. |
போதிக்கும் வழி (Bodhikkum
Vazhi)
The Way to Teach |
478 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 78. |
தூற்றுவார்க்கு நன்றி (Tutruvarkku
Nandri)
Gratitude to Those who Slander [Me] |
479 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 79. |
எது பெரிய ஆச்சரியம்? (Edu
Periya Ascaryam?)
What is the Greatest Wonder? |
480 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 80. |
பிறவாமை இறவாமை
என்பது என்ன? (Ramana)
What is Birthlessness and Deathlessness? |
481-4 |
150-2 |
| 80a. |
என் வாழ்வு எப்படி? (En
Vazhvu Eppadi?)
How is My Life? |
484a |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 80b. |
நமதியல் (Namad[u]
Iyal)
Our Nature |
484b |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 81. |
தீபாவளி (Deepavali)
Deepavali (A Hindu festival of light) |
485-7 |
—
[Appendix 3] |
| 82. |
பிரளயம் (Pralayam)
Universal Dissolution |
488-90 |
166-8 |
| 83. |
அஸ்பரிச யோகம் (Asparsa
Yoga)
Untouching Union |
491-2 |
278-9 |
| 84. |
தாய்மை (Taymai)
Motherness |
493 |
— |
| 85. |
இதயத் தேரில் எம்
பெருமான் (Ramana)
Our Lord in the Chariot of [My] Heart |
494-510 |
— [Appendix 5, song 14] |
| 86. |
தியானப் பாட்டு (Dhyana-p
Pattu)
The Song on Meditation |
511-23 |
—
[Appendix 6] |
|
|
The contents of the English translation
As I explained above, the English translation in A Light on the Teachings of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi contains a total of 291 (plus 2) verses divided
into 52 chapters in the main section, and the 11 verses of Atma-Vichara
Patikam in the first appendix and the 43 verses of Turavu Narpadu in
the second appendix.
The following table lists all the chapters in this English translation, with the chapter numbers in the first column, the chapter titles in the second column, the
verse numbers in the third column, and the equivalent verse numbers from the
first Tamil edition (or a dash wherever a verse or series of verses was not in the
first Tamil edition) in the fourth column:
|
| 1. |
Invocation |
1-2 |
1-2 |
| 2. |
The Greatness of this Birth |
3-4 |
— & 3 |
| 3. |
The Wealth of Sri Ramana |
5 |
30 |
| 4. |
The Grace of Sri Ramana |
6-12 |
23-6, 28-9 & 27 |
| 5. |
All That He Does is Happiness for Me |
13 |
125 |
| 6. |
Leave it to Him |
14 |
124 |
| 7. |
Grace Alone is of Prime Importance |
15-7 |
20-2 |
| 8. |
What is Worthy to be Desired |
18 |
33 |
| 9. |
Sense Pleasures are Worthless |
19 |
77 |
| 10. |
Endeavour and Result |
20 |
8 |
| 11. |
The Goal |
21-2 |
9-10 |
| 12. |
Which do You Like? |
23-4 |
44-5 |
| 13. |
The Nature of Desire |
25-38 |
88-101 |
| 14. |
The Three Desires |
39-46 |
102-9 |
| 15. |
The Way to Attain Good Qualities |
47-50c |
48-53 |
| 16. |
Sat-Sanga |
51-62 |
164-9, 452-3 & 170-3 |
| 17. |
Sri Arunachala Pradakshina Manbu |
63-70 |
454, 451, 455-60 |
| 18. |
Japa |
71-8 |
396-403 |
| 19. |
Bhakti and
Jnana |
79-86 |
112-9 |
| 20. |
Enquiry Becoming Easy due to Devotion |
87-8 |
— |
| 21. |
Self-Surrender and Self-Enquiry |
89-92 |
120-3 |
| 22. |
A Scrutiny of the Three States |
93-126 |
250-82 & 290 |
| 23. |
Superimposition of Ego on Self |
127-33 |
283-9 |
| 24. |
The Body and Yoga |
134-7 |
4-7 |
| 25. |
The Shop Rent |
138-9 |
46-7 |
| 26. |
The Fear of Death |
140-9 |
67-76 |
| 27. |
Birthlessness and Deathlessness |
150-2 |
481-4 |
| 28. |
The Transcendent Nature of Self |
153-5 |
359-60 |
| 29. |
Pramada |
156 |
208 |
| 30. |
The Disappearance of Otherness |
157-65 |
221, 218, 217, 219-20 & 222-5 |
| 31. |
Pralaya |
166-8 |
488-90 |
| 32. |
Denying the Ego |
169-70 |
187-8 |
| 33. |
Maya |
171-7 |
351-7 |
| 34. |
Doubt Who is the Doubter |
178-88 |
291-301 |
| 35. |
The Learning That Should Be Learnt |
189-94 |
14-15, 19, 16, 18 & 17 |
| 36. |
The Destruction of Our Rising |
195-7 |
179, 183 & 180 |
| 37. |
Pakva |
198-203 |
182, 181, 184, 56, 185-6 |
| 38. |
Intense Earnestness is Required |
204-14 |
— & 57-66 |
| 39. |
The Thoughts that Arise During Meditation |
215-7 |
214-6 |
| 40. |
How to Make Thoughts Subside |
218-22 |
209-13 |
| 41. |
Intermittent Attempts |
223-8 |
233-8 |
| 42. |
Watching the Breath |
229-35 |
383-4 & 391-5 |
| 43. |
Self-Enquiry and Other
Sadhanas |
236-41 |
390 & 385-9 |
| 44. |
Why is Sadhana Difficult? |
242-4 |
205-7 |
| 45. |
Love for the State of Self |
245 |
— |
| 46. |
Gaining One-Pointedness in Self |
246-60 |
190-204 |
| 47. |
To Heed While in Enquiry |
261-7 |
226-32 |
| 48. |
Jnanodaya Vidham |
268 |
324 |
| 49. |
Self-Knowledge |
269-77 |
305-13 |
| 50. |
Asparsa Yoga |
278-9 |
491-2 |
| 51. |
Who is a Jnani? |
280-90 |
340-50 |
| 52. |
Sadhanottara Rahasya |
291 |
447 |
|
|
In addition to these fifty-two chapters, which form the main text of Sadhanai Saram,
the English book A Light on the Teachings of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi contains the following two appendices:
-
ஆன்ம விசாரப் பதிகம் (Anma-Vichara Patikam), the ‘Eleven Verses on
Self-Investigation’, which was chapter 51 (verses 239-49) in the first Tamil edition.
-
துறவு நாற்பது (Turavu Narpadu), the ‘Forty Verses on Renunciation’,
which was chapter 70 (verses 404-46) in the first Tamil edition, but in this
appendix the verses are arranged in the new order in which Sri Sadhu Om
reorganised them when translating them into English. In this new order, the
location of the two verses of the Payiram or ‘Invocation’ (verses 404-5)
and the Mudivurai or ‘Concluding Verse’ (verses 446) remains unchanged,
but the forty verses of the Nul or ‘Text’ (verses 406-45) are arranged in
the following sequence: verses 1-16 are 406-21; 17 is 433; 18-20 are 430-2; 21-4
are 434-7; 25-6 are 439-40; 27 is 438; 28-34 are 422-8; 35 is 443; 36-7 are
441-2; 38 is 429; and 39-40 are 444-5.
Among the 291 verses that are now included in the main text of Sadhanai Saram
(as presented in this English version), verses 3, 87-88, 204 and 245 were not included
in the first Tamil edition. The Tamil originals of these five verses are respectively as follows:
எண்ணரிய சென்மத்து ளிப்பிறவி போலொன்று
நண்ணரிய தம்மா ரமணபிரான் — மண்ணிற்
றிருமேனி தாங்கவச் சேவடிக்கா ளாக
வருமா றடைந்தோம் வரம்.
3. Among countless births, one like this birth [of ours] is very rare to
achieve. Ah! When Lord Ramana has assumed a sacred body on earth, we have
attained the [blessed] boon of becoming [a devoted] slave to his holy feet.
_________
New Chapter 20: பக்தியால் விசாரம் எளிதாதல்
அழுதழுது நீள வருட்பதத்தை யுள்ளித்
தொழுதெழுநெஞ் சங்கரைந்து தூய்தாய்ப் — பழுதறுஞா
னான்ம விசார மடைந்துசொரூ பானுபவந்
தான்மருவும் மிக்கெளிதிற் றான்.
87. Weeping and weeping [with intense yearning] for a long time, thinking
incessantly of the gracious feet [of God] [or the state of grace] and adoring
[them], the rising mind will melt [or dissolve] and become pure, [whereupon]
jnanatma-vichara [self-investigation] will settle [join, happen or become
established in our heart] and svarupanubhava [self-experience] itself
will arise very easily indeed.
Note: This verse was composed by Sri Muruganar and is included in volume
7 of ஸ்ரீ ரமண ஞான போதம் (Sri Ramana Jnana Bodham) as verse 1286.
கண்மூடி நிட்டைசெயக் கண்டறியோ மெவ்விதநீ
ருண்மோன முற்ற துரைமினென்பீர் — கண்மூடி
காத்திருந்துங் காணாக் கடவு ளிரகசிய
மோர்த்திடுக மேற்பா வுணர்ந்து.
88. O you who ask, ‘We have not seen and known [you] to close [your] eyes and do
nishtha [self-abidance], [so] tell [us] how you attained inner silence (mauna)’,
consider the above verse and [thereby] know the secret of [the means to
experience] God, who cannot be seen [by us] even though [we] wait [for a long
time] closing [our] eyes [in meditation, hoping to see him thereby].
_________
கல்லை யிடையிலே கட்டிக்கொண் டாழ்ந்துகடன்
னல்லமுத்தெ டுக்கின்ற ஞாயன்போற் — றொல்லான்ம
முத்தெடுக்கத் தன்னுள்ளே மூழ்குகவை ராக்கியக்கல்
லத்தை மனத்தோ டணைத்து.
204. Just as [we would] tie a stone to [our] waist, dive and take hold of a
pearl [that is lying in the depth of the] ocean, to take hold of the pearl of
self let us sink [dive or enter deep] within ourself, having fastened upon [our]
mind the stone-weighted girdle of desirelessness (vairagya).
Note: This verse paraphrases a teaching that Sri Ramana gave us in the
eleventh paragraph of
Nan Yar? (Who am I?), and that Sri Muruganar recorded
in verse 1067 of
Guru Vachaka Kovai.
_________
New Chapter 45: ஆன்மநிலையின்மேல் ஆவல்
நாலாவ தாவலாநா
மேலாக வேகலாமே
காலாதி யேதிலாகா
மாலாய தாயலாமா.
245. By intense love for the ‘fourth’,
we can go upwards. By [other] means, such as [restraining our] breath, it will not happen.
Is it proper to investigate that which is an illusion?
Note: The first two lines of this verse, ‘By intense love for the fourth,
we can go upwards’, imply that we can ‘go upwards’ — transcending our three false states of
consciousness, waking, dream and sleep — only by cultivating intense love for our
natural state of pure thought-free self-conscious being, which is called turiya,
the ‘fourth’ state. Such love can be cultivated most effectively only by means of atma-vichara,
the practice of vigilant self-attentiveness.
The second line, ‘By means (hetu) beginning with breath[-restraint], it
will not happen’, implies that we cannot thus ‘go upwards’ by any other means such as pranayama, the practice of
restraining our breath.
The final line, ‘Is it proper to investigate that which is an illusion?’, implies
that it would not be appropriate for us to attempt to experience the true state
of self by breath-restraint or any other means that involves paying attention to
anything that is other than ourself, since all such things are merely illusory
apparitions created by maya or self-delusion.
This verse is composed in such a way that each line reads the same whether it is
read forwards or backwards.
Verse 150 (in this reorganised version of Sadhanai Saram) is a combined version of verses 481 and 482 (in the first Tamil edition),
because these two verses are actually just variants of one verse,
and the meaning of them is almost identical. This combined version of these
two verses is as follows:
பிறவாமை *தேக(ம்) நினையாமை நானென்
றிறவாமை தன்னுணர்வை யென்றும் — மறவாமை
நின்றி(ந்)நிலை †யென்று(ம்) நினைப்பு மறப்பற்றோ
ரென்று பிறந்திறப்பா ரேன்?
_________
* ‘யென்ன னினையாமை பின்னு(ம்)’ எனவும் பாடம்.
† ‘நானென்’ எனவும் பாடம்.
150. Birthlessness is not thinking of the body as ‘I’. Deathlessness is not
forgetting self-consciousness [‘I am’]. When and why will those who, abiding
[firmly] in this state, are always devoid of thinking and forgetting [ever
again] be born or die?
In addition to the 291 verses that Sri Sadhu Om selected to include in the main
text of Sadhanai Saram, two other verses were included by the
publishers in the English book A Light on the Teachings of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, and are numbered 50b and 50c. In the first
Tamil edition these were verses 52 and 53, but Sri Sadhu Om decided that they
should be included in the third appendix (which he intended to be a collection
of instructive verses that are not actually about sadhana).
Printed edition of the English translation
The English translation of Sadhanai Saram published by AHAM, which is entitled A Light on the Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana
Maharshi – The Essence of Spiritual Practice, is available on their website from the
page
Books by or about Ramana Maharshi (A-G).
In India it can be obtained from Sri Ramanasramam Book Stall,
Sri
Arunachalaramana Nilayam or the The Essence of Spiritual Practice (Sadhanai Saram) page of
David Godman’s website, as explained
in more detail in the How to buy books by Sri Sadhu Om and Michael James section
of the Books
page of this website.
E-book copy of the English translation
A Light on the Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi – The Essence of Spiritual Practice
is also available here for free download as a PDF e-book. In order to download
this PDF version, you can either left-click on the following link to open
it in your web browser, after which you can save a copy of it, or you can
right-click on this link and select ‘Save Target As…’ from the pop-up menu:
Sadhanai Saram – e-book
I would like to express my gratitude to AHAM for providing me with this PDF copy of the printed book
and for giving me permission to make it available here for free download.
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