Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu Anubandham

Know that this, the treatise of ambrosial pure sayings that is [given] the suitable name Sūkti Sudhā [the Ambrosia of Wise Sayings], which shines [as a compilation formed] by explanatory translations [or adaptations] of sayings of wise [noble, excellent or humbly subsided] people and by his own perfect [full or wholesome] sayings, is what Sri Ramana composed and graciously gave.

Those having clarity [of heart and mind] who study, understand and follow [or conduct themselves and practise in accordance with the principles taught in] Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu together with [this] treatise given [by Bhagavan Ramana] as anubandham [a supplement or appendix], combining both his own [original compositions] and [verses that he translated from] what were given in other languages, have [thereby] attained excellence [namely the infinite happiness of liberation, which is what alone remains when ego is eradicated].

In what all this world [seemingly] steadily exists, of what [or whose] all are, from what this entire world arises [appears or originates], also for what [or because of what] all these are, by what all this world arises [appears or originates], [and] whatever this all is, that itself is uḷḷa-poruḷ [the existing substance or sat-vastu, the one and only substance that actually exists]. Let us [always] hold [keep, cherish or meditate on] that svarūpa [our own real nature], which [alone] is real, in the heart. {Or: That svarūpa, which is real, is the [great] treasure [of divine grace] [that always exists] in [our] heart.}

By association [compatibility or fitting well together] with sat [pure being, ‘I am’, or those who abide as pure being], [outer] attachment [to all other things] will leave [or depart]; when [outer] attachment leaves, attachment of the mind [or will] [namely viṣaya-vāsanās (inclinations to seek happiness in objects or phenomena), which are the subtle seeds that sprout as outer attachments] will perish [or be dispersed]; those in whom mental attachment has ceased [perished or been severed] have ceased [or perished] in that which is not moving [namely sat, pure being, which exists eternally without ever moving or undergoing even the slightest change of any kind whatsoever]; they have attained jīvanmukti [‘living liberation’, liberation while the body is still living, or liberation from living, implying liberation from jīvatva (lifeness, soulhood, egoness or individuality)]. Cherish their association.

What exalted state [namely the supreme state of knowing and being what one actually is] one achieves here by clear vicāra [investigation, namely self-investigation], which arises in the heart when one takes refuge in sādhu-association [association with a sādhu, which in this context implies a jñāni, one who knows and abides as sat, pure being], that [exalted state], which is extolled [by the Vedas and other texts as the ultimate goal], is not possible to achieve by [studying under the guidance of] a bōdhaka [a teacher of religious or spiritual precepts], by [learning] the meaning of texts, by [doing any number of] virtuous actions, or moreover by any [other] means [whatsoever].

If one adheres to living with those who are sādhus [saintly people, which in this context implies jñānis, those who know and abide as sat, pure being], for what are all these niyamas [restrictions or disciplinary practices such as fasting, yōga practices, ritualistic worship, mantra-japa or meditation on anything other than oneself]? When the air of the excellent cool southern breeze is blowing, you say, what is the purpose of having a fan?

Heat will be destroyed [or removed] by the cool moon, poverty by the good kalpaka [the heavenly wish-fulfilling tree], and pāpa [sin or demerit] itself by the gaṅgā [the holy river Ganges]. All these three, beginning with heat, will depart [slip off or cease] just by the great darśana [seeing or sight] of peerless sādhus [namely jñānis, those who know and abide as sat, pure being].

Tīrthas [sacred bathing places], which are composed of water, and deities [images of God], which are [composed of] stone or earth, are not at all equal [similar or comparable] to those mahātmas [great souls or jñānis]. Ah! See, those [tīrthas and deities] give rise to purity [of mind, heart or will] by countless days [that is, gradually over a long period of time], [whereas] sādhus [jñānis] [do so] as soon as they see by eye.

[Disciple:] Who is God?

[Guru:] Who knows the mind? [implying that whoever knows the mind is God].

[Disciple:] My mind is only known by me, who am the soul [or spirit].

[Guru:] Therefore, since śruti [the Vedas] roar [or declare emphatically] ‘God alone is the one’ [implying that the one who actually exists is only God, so he is ‘one only without a second’ (ēkam ēva advitīyam), and hence nothing can be other than him], you are actually God [or God is actually you].

[Guru:] What is the light for you?

[Disciple:] For me in daytime the sun, in darkness a lamp.

[Guru:] What is the light that knows the [physical] light [from such sources]?

[Disciple:] The eye.

[Guru:] What is the light that knows [or is aware of] that?

[Disciple:] The light [that knows the eye] is the mind.

[Guru:] What is the light that knows [or is aware of] the mind?

[Disciple:] That is I.

When the guru said, ‘Even the light in light [namely pure awareness, which is the light that shines in and thereby illumines the mind, which is the light that in turn illumines all other lights, making them known] is you’, [the disciple replied:] ‘I am that alone [or that indeed]’.

In the centre of the cave that is the heart, brahman, which is the one [the only one that actually exists, and hence the one without a second], alone shines directly as oneself as ‘I am I’ [that is, as awareness of oneself as oneself alone]. May you reach [take refuge in, unite with or merge in] the heart by the mind that sinks [or subsides] [deep within] investigating itself or that sinks with the [sinking] breath; [and] may you [thereby] be one who is fixed in yourself.

What awareness exists [and shines] in the heart-lotus as the blemishless [immaculate or pure] and motionless [hence immutable] ‘I’-form [the svarūpa or real nature of ‘I’, meaning ‘I’ as it actually is], only that awareness, which is ‘I’ [namely ātma-svarūpa, the real nature of oneself], is what will give inner liberation [or liberation, which is ‘I’] by removing [expelling or banishing] ‘I’ [namely ego, the spurious ‘I’ that rises and subsides]. Know [this by investigating this pure and motionless awareness that shines eternally as ‘I’ without ever rising or subsiding].

The body is jaḍa [insentient or non-aware] like a pot; since the shining [or brightness] called ‘I’ [namely the self-shining awareness ‘I am’] does not exist for it [that is, since it is not aware of itself as ‘I’], [and] since our [real] nature [our fundamental awareness ‘I am’, which is our very being] exists [and shines] daily in [dreamless] sleep, in which the body does not exist, it [this body] is not I. Within the cave of the heart of those who [just] are [as they actually are], knowing [or being aware of] [themself as such] [by investigating] who is he who is ego [and] where is he, the omnipresent Lord, Arunagiri-Siva, will shine spontaneously [as] the sphuraṇa [clarity or clear awareness] ‘He is I’.

Who has [really] been born? He who has been born in [and as] his source, brahman, [being firmly established there by] carefully [tenderly or lovingly] investigating [himself, the source] where I [namely ego, the rising ‘I’, which is what is always aware of itself as ‘I am this aging and perishable body’] was born, he alone is one who has [really] been born. He is eternal [being immortal, imperishable and immutable], muṉīśaṉ [the Lord of sages]. He is daily [or always] new and fresh [being the ageless and ever-fresh awareness ‘I am’]. Investigate [yourself and be born thus as brahman].

Cease considering the wretched [base or despicable] body [to be] ‘I’. Investigate [or know] yourself, who are ever-unceasing [or imperishable] happiness [or bliss]. Together with [along with or while] cherishing the perishable body, thinking [or intending] to investigate [or know] oneself is like grasping a crocodile [as] a raft to cross a river.

Know [understand or consider] that dēhātma-bhāva [the body-self-condition or body-self-conviction, namely ego, the false awareness ‘this body is myself’] being severed [ceasing or perishing] is dāna [giving or charity], tavam [tapas, burning, heat, fire, austerity or asceticism], vēḷvi [yāga, yajña, offering, sacrifice, sacrificial fire or worship], dharma [righteousness, virtue, morality, duty or justice], yōga [joining, yoking or harnessing, particularly in the sense of yoking the mind to the object or target of its meditation or to any spiritual practice], bhakti [devotion or love], vāṉam [space or sky, implying either the space of pure awareness or heaven], poruḷ [substance or vastu, in the sense of either the one real substance, namely pure being, or wealth], śānti [pacification, cessation, peace, tranquillity, calmness or quiet], vāymai [truth or truthfulness], aruḷ [divine grace, kindness, tenderness, affection, love, solicitude, compassion, benevolence, pity, mercy or blessing], mauna [silence, namely the silence of pure being], nilai [standing, fixedness, firmness, stability, permanence or niṣṭhā], sāhāmal sāvu [death without dying], aṟivu [knowledge, awareness, understanding, wisdom or jñāna], sār tuṟavu [accomplished renunciation], vīḍu [mukti, liberation, release, leaving or letting go] and iṉbam [happiness or bliss].

Investigating for whom [or to whom] are those [defects] such as karma [action], vibhakti [lack of devotion], viyōga [separation] and ajñāna [ignorance], is itself [or alone] [what will fulfil the purpose and aims of each of the paths of] karma [desireless action or niṣkāmya karma], bhakti [devotion or love], yōga [joining, yoking or harnessing, particularly in the sense of yoking the mind to the object or target of its meditation or to any spiritual practice, and in this context referring to practices whose aim is to bring about ‘cessation of mental activity’ (citta-vṛtti nirōdhaḥ)] and jñāna [knowledge or awareness in the sense of true self-knowledge, which is awareness of oneself as one actually is]. When one investigates [oneself keenly enough], [the ‘I’ for whom karma, vibhakti, viyōga and ajñāna seem to exist, namely ego, will cease to exist, and] without [that] ‘I’ they [namely karma, vibhakti, viyōga and ajñāna] never exist. Only being permanently as oneself [one’s own real nature, namely pure awareness] is what is true [or real].

Not knowing the fact that they move [or the manner in which they function] [only] by śakti [divine power, namely cit-śakti, the power of pure awareness], the buffoonery of lunatics [or idiots] who strive [doing various kinds of tapas with the desire] ‘We shall [hereby] acquire all siddhis [supernatural, magical or miraculous powers]’ is a match for the story of the lame person [who could not even stand or do anything else unaided, but] who [nevertheless] said, ‘If anyone helps me rise, what measure are these enemies [that is, what match will they be for my strength]?’

Since citta-śānti [pacification, cessation or extinction of mind] alone is mukti [liberation], which is [eternally] accomplished, how will those whose mind [or will] is yoked [attached or set] on [acquiring] siddhis [accomplishments, particularly supernatural, magical or miraculous powers], which are not accomplished [achieved or acquired] without activity of mind, immerse in mukti-sukham [the bliss of liberation], in which turbulence [agitation, disturbance or movement] of mind has ceased? Say.

See, when God [always] bears [or supports] the [entire] burden of the world, the spurious [imitation or unreal] soul [imagining that he is] bearing [it or even a small part of it] is a mockery [like] the form of a gōpuram tāṅgi [‘temple gate tower supporter’, a plaster statue standing high on the tower above a temple gateway, posing as if strenuously carrying or supporting the top of it]. Someone travelling in a train that is carrying a great burden, not putting [their] luggage on the train [but instead unnecessarily] suffering [or accepting pain] carrying [it] on [their] head is whose fault?

Between the two breasts, below the chest [and] above the stomach, there are six things; [their] colours are various. Among these [six things], one thing resembling a water lily bud, and [which is] what is inside two digits to the right [from the centre of the chest], is the heart.

Its mouth [the mouth of that bud-like thing called ‘heart’] is closed [tight like an intricately entangled knot]; inside [it] exists a tiny hole [or hollow]; in it [that tiny hole] dense tamas [darkness, namely the darkness of self-ignorance, which is ego, the false awareness ‘I am this body’] exists residing along with desire and so on; all the major nāḍis [‘tubes’ or subtle channels through which mind and prāṇa (life, vitality or vital energy) spread throughout the body] exist adhering to [or depending upon] it; it is the abode of breath, mind and light [the fundamental, ever-existing and all-pervading light of pure awareness, ‘I am’, which shines unaffected and immutably in even the densest darkness, illumining it and all other things, and which is therefore the one real heart, the ultimate centre of everything, in which everything is contained].

The Lord shining as ‘I’ in the cave of the heart-blossom alone has been extolled as ‘Guhesan’ [the Lord of the cave]. By the abhyāsa-bala [strength of repeated practice] of constant sōham bhāvanā [meditation ‘He is I’], namely ‘Such Guhesan [that Lord who shines in the heart as ‘I’] [alone] is I’, if [you] stand [remain or abide] as that Lord [namely ‘I’] as firmly as ‘I’ is [now] fixed in [and as] your body, the avidyā [ignorance, in the sense of false awareness] called ‘[This] perishable body is I’ [namely ego] will immediately perish [or be dispersed] like darkness in front of the sun.

To Rama who asked, ‘Say, for all sentient beings in this world, what is that which is indicated as that heart in which great mirror all these [namely all phenomena that constitute the mind and world] appear in front as a shadow [image or reflection]?’, Vasistha, the wise one (muni), says: When [one] considers, the heart for all sentient beings of this world is of two kinds.

Listen to the nature [or characteristics] of these two [kinds of heart], [one of] which is what is fit to accept [grasp or hold] and [the other of which is] what is fit to reject [discard, cast off or abandon]. The organ called ‘heart’ situated in a place inside the chest of the measurable [limited or finite] body is what is fit to reject. Accept within [your] heart that the heart in the form of the one [unique, peerless, incomparable and only existing] awareness [namely sat-cit, the pure being-awareness that shines eternally as ‘I am’] is what is fit to accept. That is what is both inside and outside [being omnipresent, because (as described in the previous verse) it is the one great mirror in which the entire world of time and space appears as a shadow]; [yet] it is not what is inside [and/or] outside [thereby implying not only that it is not what exists either only inside or only outside, but also that it is what exists untouched by any distinction such as inside or outside].

That alone is the principal [first, foremost, primary and preeminent] heart. In it this entire universe is residing. It is the mirror for all things whatsoever [the mirror in which each and every thing appears]. It alone is the home for all [spiritual] riches [everything of real value]. Therefore it, [which is] the awareness [the original and fundamental awareness, ‘I am’] for all sentient beings, is what is declared as the [real] heart. It is not a small portion in part of the perishable, stone-like insentient body [the body, which is perishable (or mortal) and insentient like a stone].

Therefore by the sādhana [means or steady and persistent practice] of fixing the mind [attention] on [or in] the pure heart, which is composed of awareness [the clear, infinite and eternal awareness ‘I am’], complete [and hence permanent] dissolution [or cessation] of vāyu [breath, prāṇa or life] along with vāsanās [inclinations, namely viṣaya-vāsanās, inclinations to seek happiness in anything other than oneself] will be achieved automatically [or spontaneously].

By incessantly uninterrupted meditation on [or in] the heart [with the clear understanding], ‘What awareness is devoid of every upādhi [adjunct, namely everything that one mistakes oneself to be, thereby limiting oneself and disguising one’s real nature], that śivam [auspicious substance (maṅgala vastu), which is Siva in his ultimate form as the one self-shining awareness-nature (cit-svarūpa), meaning awareness as it actually is] is I’, dispel every attachment of the mind [heart or will].

[Vasistha said to Rama:] Having investigated [examined or carefully considered] all states, which are of many kinds, what one [state] exists devoid of falsity [deceit or deception], [namely] paramapadam [the supreme state, which is the one real state of pure being-awareness (sat-cit), which is what shines eternally in the heart as ‘I am’], incessantly holding only that [supreme state of pure being-awareness, ‘I am’] firmly by heart [or mind], play in the world, hero. What exists in the heart as the reality for all kinds of appearances [namely sat-cit, which alone is what actually exists, and which is therefore the one fundamental reality that underlies and supports the appearance or seeming existence of all other things], since you have known that [the one underlying reality], without ever abandoning that view [namely that clear awareness of the one infinite, indivisible and immutable reality that underlies all appearances], play in the world, hero, as if [having] desire [appropriate to whatever role you play in life, such as the desire to uphold dharma or righteousness, which is the duty of a prince or king].

[Vasistha continued:] Being one who seemingly has rising of mind and delight [joy or pleasure in worldly matters], being one who seemingly has agitation [anxiety or impatience] of mind and aversion [dislike, disgust, hatred or enmity], [and] being one who seemingly has effortful initiative [that is, one who seemingly initiates and strives with persistent effort in worldly undertakings], [but nevertheless] being one who is [actually] devoid of [all such] defects, play in the world, hero. Being one who is freed from the many ties called delusion [that is, the many ties, attachments or bondages that give rise to delusion, confusion, darkness (lack of clarity of mind and heart) and consequently desire], [and] being one who is steadily [or permanently] equanimous [equal, impartial, even, calm, tranquil or dispassionate] in all circumstances, [but nevertheless] doing actions on the outside to suit the disguise [that is, outwardly engaging in activities appropriate to your disguise or external roles in this life], play in the world as required [in accordance with each situation], hero.

Whoever is one who has destroyed [killed, conquered or vanquished] the [five] senses by aṟivu [knowledge, awareness or jñāna, namely clear awareness of oneself as one actually is], one who is [thereby] fixed firmly as uṇmai-aṟivu [existence-awareness or sat-cit], is ātma-vid [a self-knower, namely one who knows oneself as one actually is]; he is aṟivaṅgi [aṟivu-aṅgi, the fire of knowledge or jñānāgni]; [he is] one who wields the thunderbolt that is knowledge [namely jñāna-vajrāyudha, the divine weapon of jñāna, which destroys ignorance (namely ego) and all its effects]; declare that he, Kalakalan [Lord Siva, who is kāla-kāla, ‘death to death’], is the hero who has killed death.

Brightness [brilliance, clarity or wisdom] and strength [power, ability or skill] of intellect will increase automatically [or spontaneously] for those who have seen tattva [what is real, namely ātma-svarūpa, the real nature of oneself], just like trees shining with all good qualities such as beauty as soon as spring arrives on this earth. Know [or understand this].

Like those who [seemingly] hear a story [even though their] mind [is actually] going far away [and therefore not hearing the story at all], the mind in which [all] vāsanās have been erased is actually not doing [any action at all] even though [in the view of others it seems to be] doing [any number of actions]. [On the other hand] the mind that those soak [that is, the mind that is soaked or drenched with vāsanās] is actually doing [action] even though [it is seemingly] not doing [any action], [just as] even though movement has ceased here [that is, even though in the waking world they seem to be lying without movement in bed], in dream climbing a hill they fall in a pit.

To the mey-jñāni [the knower of reality], who is asleep within the fleshy body, which is like a cart, activity [of mind or body], niṣṭhā [firmness, fixity, steadiness, motionlessness, inactivity or samādhi] and sleep are just like, to a person sleeping in a cart, that cart moving, standing or the cart remaining alone [separated from the bullocks that were yoked to it]. [That is, just as the various states of a cart are not experienced by a person who is sleeping in it, the various states of body and mind are not experienced by the jñāni.]

For those who experience waking, dream and sleep, waking-sleep [the eternal and immutable state of pure awareness, in which one is awake to (or clearly aware of) oneself as one actually is and therefore asleep to (or unaware of) everything else whatsoever], [which is] beyond [those other three states], is called by the name ‘turya’ [or turīya, the ‘fourth’]. [However] since that turya alone exists, [and] since the three [states] that appear [or seem to exist] [namely waking, dream and sleep] do not exist, [what is called ‘turya’ is actually] turya-v-atīta [turīyātīta, what transcends or is beyond the ‘fourth’]. Be assured.

Saying ‘sañcita and āgāmya do not adhere to the jñāni [but] prārabdha does remain [for the jñāni to experience]’ is [just] an answer told [as a concession] to the questions of others [namely those who are unwilling or unable to understand and accept the deeper teachings and implications of advaita]. Just as [among the several wives of one husband] an unwidowed wife does not remain when [their] husband dies, all the three karmas will cease [when] the doer [namely ego, who is the doer of āgāmya and the experiencer of its fruit] [dies]. See.

For people of little knowledge [intellect, understanding or learning], others beginning with wife and children are just one family. In the heart [or mind] of those who have much [abundant or excessive] learning not [just] one [but] many book-families [namely families in the form of all the books they have studied, which thereby fill and cloud their minds with a dense fog of intense and ceaseless thinking] exist as obstacles [hindrances or impediments] to yōga [meaning not only meditation or spiritual practice more generally, but also achievement of the aim of all such practices]. Consider [or know].

[For] those who do not intend to erase the writing [namely the writing of fate, which must be experienced by ego so long as it rises, and which can therefore be erased only by eradication of ego], [which cannot be achieved except by] investigating where they were born who have known the writing [namely what is written in books], for what [purpose or benefit is their] knowing the writing [namely what is written in books]? Sonagiri vittaka [the wise one, namely the one whose nature is real knowledge or pure awareness], who else [are] they [but those who] have acquired the nature of a sound-recording machine? [That is, though they can repeat what they have learnt, like a sound-recording machine, they do not truly understand the practical implications of it.] Say.

Rather than those who have not subsided though learned [that is, those who have not humbly subsided back within in spite of studying, learning and mastering a vast range of spiritual and philosophical texts], those who are not learned are saved: they are saved from the demon of pride, which grasps [seizes or possesses] [the mind and heart of anyone who is not willing to humbly subside back within]; they are saved from the disease of many whirling thoughts [which infects the mind of anyone who has learnt a lot but does not turn back within to subside forever in the inmost depth of the heart]; they are saved from running [out towards the world] seeking fame [glory, reputation, esteem and high regard]. Know that what they are saved from is not [just] one [but many such perils and evils].

Though all the worlds [together with all the other pleasures that they offer] are [considered by them to be mere] straw, [and] though all the sacred texts [the Vēdas, vēdānta and so on] are within [their] hand [or grasp] [having been thoroughly studied and mastered by them], [for] those who have come under the sway of the wicked whore who is puhaṙcci [praise, admiration, adulation, fame or glory], escaping [their] slavery [to her] is, ah, [extremely] difficult [or rare].

When oneself always stands [stays or remains] without departing [that is, without ever rising as ego] in the state of oneself [the real and natural state of oneself, in which one exists and shines as pure being-awareness (sat-cit), as one always actually is], without knowing as ‘oneself’ and ‘others’ [that is, without ever experiencing any distinction such as ‘this is myself’ and ‘those are others’], who is there besides oneself? If whoever says whatever about oneself [whether they praise or disparage oneself], [so] what [or what does it matter]? Even if oneself praises oneself, or even if [oneself] disparages [oneself], so what [or what indeed does it matter]?

I shall proclaim truly akhila-vēdānta-siddhānta-sāram [the essence or core of the final conclusion of all vēdānta]: if, I dying, I become that [that is, if ego dies by our knowing and being what we always actually are, namely ‘that’, brahman, the one infinite space of sat-cit, pure being-awareness, ‘I am’], that I, which is the form of awareness [cit-svarūpa or jñāna-svarūpa, the actual form or real nature of pure awareness, meaning awareness as it actually is], alone is what remains. Know [or be aware of] [this one I that exists and shines eternally as sat-cit].