my article

In reply to a friend who wrote to me asking for some advice concerning the psychological effects of some health problems that he was experiencing, I wrote as follows: Whatever we experience in our outward life as a body-bound mind or ego, we are destined to experience for a purpose, and the ultimate purpose behind all that we experience is for us to learn the essential lesson of detachment. Nothing that we experience — other than ‘I am’ — is real or lasting. It is all just a fleeting appearance, as are the body and mind that we mistake to be ourself. But so long as we attend to these fleeting appearances — that is, so long as we allow them to encroach in our consciousness — their seeming reality will be sustained and nourished. Therefore, if we wish to rest peacefully in and as our essential being, ‘I am’, we must learn to ignore all appearances, and we can ignore them only by being completely indifferent to them (‘holy indifference’, as the Christian mystics call it). That is, only wh...

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...

I am currently preparing to upload four new e-books to the Books section of my website , namely Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam , Sri Ramanopadesa Noonmalai , Part Two of The Path of Sri Ramana and Sadhanai Saram , and I am drafting introductory pages for each of these. The following is an extract from the introductory page that I have drafted for Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam : ஸ்ரீ அருணாசல ஸ்துதி பஞ்சகம் ( Sri Arunachala Stuti Panchakam ), the ‘Five Hymns to Sri Arunachala’, which is a collection of the principal devotional songs composed by Sri Ramana, is the first section of ஸ்ரீ ரமண நூற்றிரட்டு ( Sri Ramana Nultirattu ), the Tamil ‘Collected Works of Sri Ramana’. The following are the five main songs that comprise it: ஸ்ரீ அருணாசல அக்ஷரமணமாலை ( Sri Arunachala Aksharamanamalai ), the ‘Bridal Garland of Letters to Sri Arunachala’, is a song composed in the metaphorical language of bridal mysticism or madhura bhava (the affectionate attitude of a girl seeking union with her lover...

A friend wrote to me recently asking: How to start with atma vichara ?? Some says, “look at your thoughts”, some says, “see from where it occurs”, some says “see who does all this” — what in this is to be followed??? doesnt the one sees is also mind??? Even though always the grace of guru is showered, why is that we cannot have atma vichara always??? Please kindly clarify me in the approach of atma vichara because I many times doubt whether the way of vichara that I do is right. The following is the reply that I wrote: Ātma-vichāra is not looking at any thought other than our primal thought ‘I’, which thinks all other thoughts. All other thoughts are anātma (non-self), anya (other than ourself) and jaḍa (non-conscious), and hence we cannot know our real self by looking at them. We are constantly looking at our thoughts throughout our waking and dream states, but we do not thereby know our real self. In fact, our attention to thoughts is the obstacle that obscures our knowledge o...

In reply to my recent article, Which sat-sanga will free us from our ego? , Anonymous wrote a comment in which he or she said: Thanks for your reply to my (anonymous) concerns. “Merely being in the physical presence of a true guru is not the most efficacious form of sat-sanga ” — yes I accept that, but I’ve heard so many stories of people experiencing the Self effortlessly in the presence of a true guru after many years of failure through their own attempts to experience the Self and that’s why I was tempted to ask that question. ... If we truly have faith in the grace and guidance of our sadguru , Sri Ramana, we will have no doubt about the simple truth that he can and does provide us with all the help — both inward and outward — that we need to enable us to scrutinise and know our real self. If we would really be helped by being in the physical presence of a true guru , would he not place us in such a presence? And if he has not placed us in such a presence, should we not underst...