Ulladhu Narpadu Anubandham

Supplement to 40 Verses on Reality

Mangalam

That in which all these worlds exist steadily, that of which all these worlds are a possession, that from which all these worlds arise, for which all these exist, by which all these worlds come into existence, and which indeed is all these - That alone is the existing Reality. Let us cherish that Self, which is the Reality in the heart. ^[1]

1. By sat-sanga the association with the objects of the world will be removed. When that association is removed, the attachments of the mind will be destroyed. Those who are not thus deluded by mental attachment, will perish in that which is motionless and will remain as the Self, the motionless Reality and thus attain Jivanmukti. Therefore cherish their association. ^[2]

2. That supreme state of Self which is praised by all the scriptures and which is attained in this very life by atma-vichara which arises in the heart when one gains association with a Sage is impossible to attain by preachers, by the scriptures, by virtuous deeds or by worship, japa or meditation. ^[3]

3. If one gains association with sadhus (that is, with those who know and abide as the Reality), of what use are all these observances(niyamas)? When the excellent cool southern breeze itself is blowing, say, what is the use of a hand-fan?

4. Heat will be removed by the cool moon, poverty by the celestial wish-fulfilling tree (Kalpaka-taru), and sin by the Ganga (the holy river Ganges). (But Know that) all these three beginning with heat ^[4] will be removed by the mere sight (darsanam) of great (and rare) incomparable Sadhus.

5. Tirthas (sacred bathing places), which are composed of water, and Daivas (images of deities), which are (made of substances such as) stone and earth, cannot be comparable to those Great souls (mahatmas). Ah (what a wonder)! They (the Tirthas and Daivas) bestow purity (of mind) after countless days, (whereas such purity is instantly bestowed upon one) as soon as Sadhus see (one) by (their) eyes. Know thus. ^[5]

6. (The disciple asked) “Who is God?” (The Guru replied with the counter-question) “Who knows the mind?” (thereby implying that he who knows the mind is God). (The disciple said) “My mind is known by me, the soul.” (Then the Gurudeclared) “Therefore since the scriptures (srutis) declare that God is one, you are God.”

7. (The Guru asked: ‘What is the light for you?’ The disciple replied: ‘For me, in day-time the sun, and in darkness a lamp’.) (Guru:) ‘What is the light which knows (those) lights?’ (Disciple:) ‘The eye’. (Guru:) ‘What is the light which knows the eye?’ (Disciple:) ‘The light (which knows the eye) is the mind’. (Guru:) ‘What is the light which knows the mind?’ (Disciple:) ‘It is I’. (Guru:) ‘(Therefore) you are the light of lights (that is, you are the light of consciousness which illumines all the lights mentioned above)’. When the Guru declared thus, (the disciple realized) ‘I am only That (the supreme light of consciousness)’. ^[6]

8. In the centre of the cave which is the Heart, the one (non-dual) Brahman alone shines directly in the form of Self as ‘I-I’ (or ‘I am I’). Enter the Heart (by the mind) sinking scrutinizing Self, or by the mind sinking along with the breath, and be one who abides in Self. ^[7]

9. Know that consciousness is shining in the Heart-lotus as the form of the pure and motionless ‘I’. That knowledge which is ‘I’ alone will bestow liberation, by destroying ‘I’. ^[8]

10. The body is insentient like an earthern pot; since the consciousness ‘I’ does not exist for it and since our existence is experienced as ‘I am’ daily in deep sleep, where the body does not exist, it is not ‘I’ (naham). Within the Heart-cave of those who abide as Self, having known ‘Who is this ego-person who rises as ‘I am' in this body’ and where is he?’, Arunagiri-Siva ^[9] will shine forth spontaneously as the sphurana soham. ^[10]

11. Who is born? Know that he alone is (truly) born, who is born in his own source, Brahman, by scrutinizing ‘Where was I born?’; He is eternal; He, the Lord of Sages, is ever new and fresh. ^[11]

12. Give up thinking the wretched body to be ‘I’. Know the (real) Self, which is ever-unending bliss. Trying to know the (real) Self and at the same time cherishing the(unreal and) perishable body, is like taking hold of a crocodile in order to cross a river. ^[12]

13. Know that destroying the feeling 'I am the body’ is charity, asceticism,oblation, righteousness, union, devotion, >heaven and bliss; is death without dying. ^[13]

14. Enquiring to whom are these four defects: karma, vibhakti, viyoga and ajnana?’ is itself karma, bhakti, yoga and jnana. (How?) ^[14]

15. One who seeks to win supernormal powers, not knowing that all are activated by the power of God, is like that cripple who says; 'What effort would it be for me to defeat these foes, if only you would raise me up and place me in the battlefield in front of them?' ^[15]

16. Since peace of mind alone is mukti, which is, in truth, always attained, say, how can those who set their mind upon occult powers , which cannot be attained without activity of the mind, be immersed in the bliss of liberation, which is devoid of all turbulance of mind?

17. When God is bearing the burden of the world, the ego (imagining it is bearing that burden is like the form of a gopuram-tangi. Whose fault is it if someone who is travelling in a train, undergoes suffering by bearing his small burden on his own head instead of placing it on the train?

18. Between the two breasts, below the chest, above the stomach, two digits to the right side of the chest, there are six subtle organs one of which, resembling a lily bud, is the heart. ^[16]

19. It is inverted and within it is a tiny orifice which is the seat of the dense darkness of ignorance full of desire. It is the abode of the breath, the mind and the light of consciousness to which all the subtle nerves are connected. ^[17]

20. The Lord who dwells and shines in the Heart-Lotus is worshipped as Guhesa. When by continued effort, the conviction ‘I am that Guhesa’ becomes as firm as the sense of ‘I’ in your body, and you become that Lord, the false notion that one is the body will disappear as darkness in the face of the Sun. ^[18]

21. To Rama, who asked, “Tell me, in which great mirror do all these worlds appear as a reflection, and what is that which is declared to be the Heart of all the beings in this universe?”, the Sage Vasiṣṭha said, “When considered, the Heart of all the beings of this world is of two kinds.” ^[19]

22. Listen to the characteristics of these two, one of which is fit to be accepted and one which is to be rejected. Know that the organ called heart which is situated in a place within the chest of the limited body should be rejected, and the Heart, whose form is the one consciousness, is that which is fit to be accepted. That exists both inside and outside, but is not that which exists only inside or only outside”. ^[20]

23. Vasiṣṭha continued : That real Self, whose form is consciousness alone is the important Heart (mukhyahridayam). In it all these worlds exist. It is the mirror to all objects (ie. is the mirror in which all objects appear in front of us like a reflection, as mentioned in verse 21, It alone is the abode of all wealth. Hence, consciousness alone is declared to be the Heart of all beings. It is not a small portion in a part of the body, which is perishable and insentient like a stone. ^[21]

24. Vasiṣṭha concluded: “Therefore, by the practice (sadhana) of fixing the mind in the pure Heart, which is of the nature of consciousness, the subsidence of prana the breath> along with the tendencies will be accomplished automatically”. ^[22]

25. Destroy all attachments by uninterruptedly meditating with love, on that which exists as the form of consciousness devoid of all adjuncts. ^[23]

26. Vasiṣṭha said to Rama: “O Hero, having enquired into all the states, which are of various kinds, play your role in the world always clinging firmly only to that supreme state devoid of unreality. O Hero, since you have known that Self which exists in the heart as the Reality of all the various appearances, therefore without ever abandoning that outlook, play your role in the world as if you have desire”. ^[24]

27. Vasiṣṭha continued) “O Hero, being one who has seeming mental excitement (or rising) and joy, being one who has seeming mental anxiety and hatred (anger), being one who has seeming effort or initiative but being as one who is (in truth) devoid of (all such) defects, play (your role)in the world. O Hero, being one who has been, released from the many bonds called delusion, being one who is firmly equanimous in all conditions, (yet) outwardly doing actionsappropriate to (your) disguise, play (your role) in the world. ^[25]

28. Proclaim that He who has conquered the senses by knowledge (jnana) and who abides as existence-consciousness, is a knower of Self (atma-vid); (He) is the fire of knowledge (jnanagni); (He is) the wielder of the thunderbolt of knowledge (jnana-vajrayudha); He, the destroyer of time (kala-kala), is the hero who has killed death.

29. Know that luster and power of intellect will automatically increase in those who have known the Reality, like the trees on this earth shining forth with all qualities such as beauty as soon as spring comes. ^[26]

30. Just like one who seemingly listens to a story while his mind has in fact gone far away, the mind of the atma-jnani in which the tendencies have been erased, has not in fact done anything even though it has seemingly done many things. On the other hand, the mind of an ajnani which is saturated with them, has in fact done many things even though it has seemingly done nothing, Just like one who in dream climbs a hill and falls over a precipice, even though his body is in fact lying still in sleep. ^[27]

31. The states of activity, absorption and sleep, which are unknown to the knower of reality, who is wakefully asleep within the fleshy body, which is similar to the cart moving, standing still and being unyoked, which are unknown to one who is asleep in the cart.

32. For those who experience the unreal states of waking, dream and sleep, the one real state of wakeful sleep, which is beyond those, is named turiya. Since that turiya alone truly exists and since the three states do not, know for certain that turiya is atita.

33. Saying that sanchita and agamya will not adhere to a Jnani but that destiny will remain to be experienced by Him, is a reply which is told to the questions of those who are unable to understand that the Jnani is not the body and mind. Know that just as no wife will remain unwidowed when the husband dies, all the three karmas) will vanish when the doer is destroyed by self-knowledge. ^[28]

34. Know that for people of little learning children and wife form the family, Whereas for those who have vast learning there are not one but many families in the form of books.

35. For those who do not intend to destroy the letters of destiny by scrutinizing where they were born who have learnt the letters of the scriptures, what is the use of their having all that learning? They have merely acquired the nature of a sound-recording machine. Say, O Sonagiri the knower of reality, who else are they but mere sound-recording machines?

36. Rather than those who have no humility though learned, the unlearned indeed are saved. They are saved from the demon of pride which possesses those who are learned; they are saved from the disease of countless whirling thoughts; and they are saved from running in search of glory fame or wealth. Therefore know that, that from which they are saved is not just one evil, but many. ^[29]

37. Even though all the worlds are (renounced as mere) straw and even though all the scriptures are in hand (that is, have been thoroughly mastered), for those who have come under the sway of the vicious harlot which is praise, ah; to escape from slavery (to her) is (indeed very) difficult! ^[30]

38. When one always abides unswervingly in one’s own state without knowing (any differences such as) ‘oneself’ and ‘others’, what (does it matter) if who says what about one self? Even if one praises or even if one disparages oneself, what (does it matter)? (Because in that state of Self-abidance) who is there other than oneself? ^[31]

39. O son, always experience non-duality in the heart, but do not at any time apply non-duality in action. Non-duality may be expressed even with the three Gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva in the three worlds, but know that non–duality is not fit to be expressed with the Guru. ^[32]

40. Lord Ramana Guru Himself has lovingly composed Ekatma Panchakam, which was also given through Grace, as Kali venba called Ekanma Vivekam as an aid for devotees to recite.