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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 Book Trust 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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