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In continuation of my previous six articles, which were explanatory paraphrases of Upadesa Undiyar , Ulladu Narpadu , Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham , Ekatma Panchakam , Appala Pattu and Anma-Viddai ( Atma-Vidya ) , the following is the last of seven extracts from the introductory page that I have drafted for Sri Ramanopadesa Noonmalai (an e-book copy of which I will be uploading to the Books section of my website within the next few days, along with e-book copies of Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam , Sadhanai Saram and Part Two of The Path of Sri Ramana ): Besides these six poems that form உபதேச நூன்மாலை ( Upadesa Nunmalai ), there are a total of twenty-seven separate verses of upadesa (spiritual teaching) that Sri Ramana composed, which are not included in the Upadesa Nunmalai section of ஸ்ரீ ரமண நூற்றிரட்டு ( Sri Ramana Nultirattu ), the Tamil ‘Collected Works of Sri Ramana’, but which could appropriately be included there. However, as I explain in the introduction that I wrote f...

In continuation of my previous five articles, which were explanatory paraphrases of Upadesa Undiyar , Ulladu Narpadu , Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham , Ekatma Panchakam and Appala Pattu , the following is the sixth of seven extracts from the introductory page that I have drafted for Sri Ramanopadesa Noonmalai : ஆன்ம வித்தை ( Anma-Viddai ), the ‘Science of Self’, also known as Atma-Vidya Kirtanam , the ‘Song on the Science of Self’, is a Tamil song that Sri Ramana composed on 24th April 1927 in answer to the request of Sri Muruganar. That is, Sri Muruganar composed the pallavi and anupallavi (refrain and sub-refrain) of a kirtana (song), in which he said that atma-vidya (the science and art of self-knowledge) is extremely easy, and he then asked Sri Ramana to complete the kirtana by composing the charanas (verses). Sri Ramana accordingly composed the charanas , in which he emphatically confirmed the truth that atma-vidya is extremely easy. The title of this song, ஆன்மவித்தை ( anma-vi...

In continuation of my previous four articles, which were explanatory paraphrases of Upadesa Undiyar , Ulladu Narpadu , Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham and Ekatma Panchakam , the following is the fifth of seven extracts from the introductory page that I have drafted for Sri Ramanopadesa Noonmalai : அப்பளப் பாட்டு ( Appala-p-pattu ), the ‘ Appalam Song’, is a Tamil song that Sri Ramana composed for his mother one day in about 1914 or 1915, when she asked him to help her make some appalams (a thin crisp wafer made of gram flour and other ingredients, also known as parpata , pappadam , poppadum or pappad , which can either be fried or toasted over a naked flame or in hot embers). He responded by composing this song, in which he compares each of the ingredients, implements and actions required to make an appalam to the qualities and practices required for us to experience true self-knowledge. In the pallavi or refrain (which completes the meaning of the anupallavi and each of the four vers...

In continuation of my previous three articles, Upadesa Undiyar – an explanatory paraphrase , Ulladu Narpadu – an explanatory paraphrase and Ulladu Narpadu Anubandham – an explanatory paraphrase , the following is the fourth of seven extracts from the introductory page that I have drafted for Sri Ramanopadesa Noonmalai : ஏகான்ம பஞ்சகம் ( Ekanma Panchakam ), the ‘Five Verses on the Oneness of Self’, is a poem that Sri Ramana composed in February 1947, first in Telugu, then in Tamil, and later in Malayalam. The word ஆன்மா ( anma ) is a Tamil form the Sanskrit word atman , which means ‘self’, and hence in the title ஏகான்ம பஞ்சகம் ( Ekanma Panchakam ) the compound word ஏகான்ம ( ekanma ) means ‘the one self’, ‘self, the one’ or (by implication) ‘the oneness of self’, and பஞ்சகம் ( panchakam ) means a ‘set of five [verses]’. Thus this title implies not only that self is only one (and not many), but also that self is the only one (that is, the only one existing reality), which is the true ...

In continuation of my previous two articles, Upadesa Undiyar – an explanatory paraphrase and Ulladu Narpadu – an explanatory paraphrase , the following is the third of seven extracts from the introductory page that I have drafted for Sri Ramanopadesa Noonmalai : உள்ளது நாற்பது – அனுபந்தம் ( Ulladu Narpadu – Anubandham ), the ‘Supplement to Forty [Verses] on That Which Is’, is a collection of forty-one Tamil verses that Sri Ramana composed at various times during the 1920’s and 1930’s. The formation of this work began on 21st July 1928, when Sri Muruganar asked Sri Ramana to write a text to ‘reveal to us the nature of reality and the means by which we can attain it so that we may be saved’ (மெய்யின் இயல்பும் அதை மேவும் திறனும் எமக்கு உய்யும்படி ஓதுக [ meyyin iyalbum atai mevum tiranum emakku uyyumpadi oduka ], which are words that Sri Muruganar records in his payiram or prefatory verse to Ulladu Narpadu ). At that time Sri Muruganar had collected twenty-one verses that Sri Ramana ha...