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‘Realisation of the ever-present Self is the greatest attainment [siddhi],’ you clearly told me. Praise be to you!

‘That is the true attainment, that is liberation and that is jnana,’ you declared. Praise be to you!

~  Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 119-122

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 18         (edited set)

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25. Knowing oneself having given up [one’s own] adjuncts [ upadhis ], is itself knowing God, because He shines as oneself [ as one’s own reality, ‘I am’ ].

Note:

Since that which exists and shines in one as ‘I am’ is the true nature of God, and since it is only one’s own adjunct-knowledge (upadhi-unarvu) that veils one’s knowledge of this ‘I am’, knowing this ‘I am’, which is one’s own real Self, without adjuncts (upadhis) is itself knowing God. 

Compare here verse 20 of Ulladu Narpadu, in which Sri Bhagavan says, 

‘… He who sees the [real] Self, the source of the [individual] self, alone is He who has seen God, because the [real] Self – [which shines forth] after the base, the [individual] self, has perished – is not other than God’.

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

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ॐ Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachalaramanaya  ॐ

Praise be to you who declared: ‘Cling firmly to That which clings to nothing, so that a firm attachment to That ensues.’  ~ Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 67-68

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 13           (edited set)

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20.   In the place where ‘I’ [the mind or ego] merges, the one [existence-consciousness] appears spontaneously as ‘I-I’ [or ‘I am I’]. That itself is the Whole [purna].

Note:

When the mind or ego, the feeling ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’, thus subsides and merges in its source, the real Self, the one true existence-consciousness shines forth spontaneously as ‘I-I’ or ‘I am I’, devoid of all superimposed adjuncts such as ‘this’ or ‘that’. This adjunctless ‘I-I’ is Self, the absolute reality, the Whole.

The words nan nan (in the original, in Tamil), which are usually translated as ‘I-I’, may also be taken to mean ‘I am I’, since in a Tamil sentence such as ‘I am this’ (nan idu irukkiren) the word ‘am’ (irukkiren) is generally dropped.

The ideas expressed in verse 19 and in this verse 20 are also expressed by Sri Bhagavan in verse 30 of Ulladu Narpadu.

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

You declared: ‘Consciousness of reality and consciousness of the things around us do not exist apart from that reality.’ Praise be to you!‘ ~  Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 83-84

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 16         (edited set)

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In the remaining eight verses of this work, Sri Bhagavan reveals more conclusions which will be useful in helping us to put Self-enquiry into practice, but which can be realized through direct experience only when we actually attend to ‘I’ and thereby realize its true nature.      

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23.   Because of the non-existence of another consciousness to know that which exists, that which exists, the Reality or sat, is consciousness or chit. That consciousness itself is ‘we’, the real Self.

Note:

That which truly exists is only ‘we’, the real Self or ‘I’ which shines forth spontaneously when the mind dies.

Since this ‘we’ is the only true existence or reality, there cannot exist any consciousness other than it to know it, and hence it is itself the consciousness which knows itself. 

Therefore ‘we’, the reality (sat), are also consciousness (chit). In other words, our existence and the knowledge of our existence are not two different things, but are one and the same reality.

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

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ॐ  Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachalaramanaya  ॐ

Glory to you who revealed clearly that true attainment [of jnana] as my own Self, the indivisible light!  ~ Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 166

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 21           (edited set)

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28.   If one knows what one’s own nature is, then what will remain and shine is only the beginningless, endless and unbroken existence-consciousness-bliss [anadi ananta akhanda sat-chit-ananda].

Note: 

This verse may also be interpreted to mean, 

‘If one knows what one’s own nature is, then it will be found to be the beginningless, endless and unbroken existence-consciousness-bliss’.

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

You declared: ‘Since those who have [truly] seen see nothing other than their own Self, thinking [of something other than the Self] is inconsistent [with that state].’ Praise be to you!  ~  Sri Muruganar  - ‘Upadesa Tiruvahaval’, 87-88

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 15           (edited set)

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22.   Since the body, mind, intellect, breath and the darkness [of ignorance which remains in sleep] are all insentient [jada] and unreal [asat], they are not ‘I’, which is the reality [sat].

Note:

The word pori used in the Tamil version of this verse and the word indriya used in the Sanskrit version, both of which literally mean ‘senses’, are used here to denote the mind, because that which functions through the senses is only the mind.

All the five sheaths or panchakosas – namely the physical body (annamaya-kosa), the breath or the life-force (pranamaya-kosa), the mind (manomaya-kosa), the intellect (vijnanamaya-kosa) and the darkness of ignorance (anandamaya-kosa) which is experienced in sleep due to the disappearance of the other four sheaths – are insentient and unreal, because they do not possess any inherent consciousness or existence of their own. Hence they cannot be ‘I’ the reality which is both self-existing and self-shining.

By means of the sequence of the ideas presented in verses 16 to 22, Sri Bhagavan reveals to us the true and practical import of the scriptural teaching known as neti-neti (not this, not this). This teaching is generally misunderstood to mean that an aspirant should try to negate the five sheaths by meditating, ‘I am not this, I am not this’. However, in the above seven verses Sri Bhagavan reveals that neti-neti is not intended to denote a method of practice, but only indicates the final state of experience. That is, in verses 16 to 19 Sri Bhagavan teaches us the method of practicing Self-enquiry; in verse 20 He teaches us that as a result of such practice the reality will shine forth spontaneously as ‘I-I’ or ‘I am I; in verse 21 He declares that the reality which thus shines forth as ‘I-I’ is always the true import of the word ‘I’; and finally in verse 22 He concludes by saying that since the five sheaths are insentient and unreal, they cannot be ‘I’, the reality whose nature is existence-consciousness. In other words, the true knowledge that the five sheaths are not ‘I’ is an experience which can be attained only by knowing the real nature of ‘I’ through the practice of Self-enquiry.

The reason why the scriptures begin by teaching that the five sheaths are not ‘I’, is that in order to practise Self-enquiry it is useful for an aspirant to understand intellectually that the ‘I’ which is to be attended to is not the body or any of the other adjuncts which are now felt by him to be mixed with the feeling ‘I’. But since Sri Bhagavan does not want us to fall a prey to the misunderstanding that pondering intellectually over the truth that the five sheaths are not ‘I’ is itself the method of negating the five sheaths, in this work He has carefully taught us the method of practising Self-enquiry before revealing to us the conclusion that the five sheaths are not ‘I’.

In the remaining eight verses of this work, Sri Bhagavan reveals more conclusions which will be useful in helping us to put Self-enquiry into practice, but which can be realized through direct experience only when we actually attend to ‘I’ and thereby realize its true nature.

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf

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Photo by Bernd Kalidas Flory - The Shrine of Sri Ramana’s Samadhi

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachalaramanaya

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UPADESA UNDIYAR (Tamil) or UPADESA SARAM (Sanskrit)

THE ESSENCE OF TEACHINGS - PART 4              (edited set)

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In verses 4 to 7 Sri Bhagavan teaches the various forms of desireless action or nishkamya karma, namely puja (worship of God), japa (repetition of a mantra or a name of God) and dhyana (meditation upon a name or form of God), which are done respectively by the body, speech and mind, and each succeeding one of which is more efficacious than the preceding one.

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4. This is certain, puja, japa and dhyana are actions of the body, speech and mind [respectively]; rather than [each preceding] one, [the succeeding] one is superior.

Note: Puja means ritual worship, japa means repetition of a mantra or a name of God, and dhyana means meditation.

In verse 2 of this work Sri Bhagavan teaches that kamya-karmas (actions performed for the fulfillment of desires) will only throw one into an ocean of more and more action and hence cannot lead to liberation, and in verse 3 He teaches that nishkamya-karmas (actions performed without desire for any fruit or result) will purify the mind and show the correct path to liberation. Therefore it is to be understood that the puja, japa and dhyana mentioned in this and the subsequent verses is only nishkamya puja, japa and dhyana, and not kamya puja, japa and dhyana.

5. Worship [any of the eight forms] thinking that all the eight forms are forms of God, is good worship [puja] of God.

Note: The eight forms mentioned in this verse are earth, water, fire, air, space, sun, moon and living beings (jivas), all of which are forms of God, the one reality underlying the appearance of this whole world.

The Tamil words en uruyavum, which are here translated as ‘all the eight forms’, may also mean ‘all (things), which are forms of thought’.

The words vazhipadal (worshipping) in the Tamil version and sevanam (worship or service) in the Sanskrit version may mean either performing ritual worship or rendering appropriate service. But whereas performing ritual worship can be applicable to all the eight forms of God, rendering appropriate service can be applicable only to living beings (jivas) and not to the other seven forms of God. That is, one can worship living beings either by ritual worship or by rendering some appropriate service to them, such as providing them with food, clothing or shelter, but one can worship the other seven forms of God only by ritual worship, since there is no appropriate service which one can render to the five elements, the sun or the moon.

6. Rather than praising [God], japa is good; rather than japa done in a loud voice, japa faintly whispered within the mouth is good; and rather than japa within the mouth, that which is done by mind is good; this mental repetition or manasika japa is what is called meditation [dhyana].

7. Rather than meditation interrupted [by other thoughts], uninterrupted meditation [upon God], like a river or the falling of ghee, is excellent to do.

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https://www.davidgodman.org/rteach/Upadesa_Undiyar.pdf