Of all the works of the Sage Ramana Maharshi, උපදේශ සාරම් is considered as the supreme legacy of his teaching.
කර්තුරාජ්ඤයා ප්රාප්යතේ ඵලම් ।
කර්ම කිං පරං කර්ම තජ්ජඩම් ॥ 1 ॥
By the law/will of the Creator, the fruits of actions are realized.
How is action then supreme? It is not. It is inert/insentient.
කෘතිමහෝදධෞ පතනකාරණම් ।
ඵලමශාශ්වතං ගතිනිරෝධකම් ॥ 2 ॥
The results of actions are impermanent and pass away.
Yet, their seeds form an ocean of Karma which becomes a barrier in the progress of a seeker.
ඊශ්වරාර්පිතං නේච්ඡයා කෘතම් ।
චිත්තශෝධකං මුක්තිසාධකම් ॥ 3 ॥
Work which is performed as an offering to the Almighty, and done without any expectation of the fruits thereof, helps in purification of the mind and thereby leads one to Liberation or Realization.
කායවාඞ්මනඃ කාර්යමුත්තමම් ।
පූජනං ජපශ්චිංතනං ක්රමාත් ॥ 4 ॥
Among the actions performed by the body, voice and mind – puja (ritualistic worship), japa (chanting) and contemplation (inner meditation) – each is superior to the other in an ascending order.
ජගත ඊශධී යුක්තසේවනම් ।
අෂ්ටමූර්තිභෘද්දේවපූජනම් ॥ 5 ॥
Worshipping any of the eight forms (Ether, fire, air, water, earth,
Sun, moon and living beings), thinking they are all forms of God, is good worship (puja) of God.
උත්තමස්තවාදුච්චමංදතඃ ।
චිත්තජං ජපධ්යානමුත්තමම් ॥ 6 ॥
Singing the Lord’s praises is good, but better than that is loud chanting of japa. Better than loud chanting is soft and low-voiced chanting. However, best of all is silent, mental japa or meditation in the mind.
ආජ්යධාරයා ස්රෝතසා සමම් ।
සරලචිංතනං විරලතඃ පරම් ॥ 7 ॥
Like an unbroken flow of oil, or a stream of water, continuous meditation is better than that which is interrupted.
භේදභාවනාත් සෝऽහමිත්යසෞ ।
භාවනාऽභිදා පාවනී මතා ॥ 8 ॥
Meditation without duality, that is meditating as ‘I am
HE’, is superior to meditation which assumes a separation between the Bhakta (devotee) and the beloved Lord.
භාවශූන්යසද්භාවසුස්ථිතිඃ ।
භාවනාබලාද්භක්තිරුත්තමා ॥ 9 ॥
A state of void, free from thought, is gradually attained,
making abidance in the background state of ‘I AM’ complete. This is supreme devotion.
හෘත්ස්ථලේ මනඃ ස්වස්ථතා ක්රියා ।
භක්තියෝගබෝධාශ්ච නිශ්චිතම් ॥ 10 ॥
Fixing the mind in the Heart (Source) is true Karma (action), Bhakti (devotion), Yoga (action) and Jnana (knowledge).
වායුරෝධනාල්ලීයතේ මනඃ ।
ජාලපක්ෂිවද්රෝධසාධනම් ॥ 11 ॥
Through breath-control, the movement of the mind is contained, just as a bird is restrained when caught in a net.
චිත්තවායවශ්චිත්ක්රියායුතාඃ ।
ශාඛයෝර්ද්වයී ශක්තිමූලකා ॥ 12 ॥
The mind and pranas (as thought and action), which carry out various thought processes and actions within the body, emerge from one common source, the Supreme.
ලයවිනාශනේ උභයරෝධනේ ।
ලයගතං පුනර්භවති නෝ මෘතම් ॥ 13 ॥
Mind control can be achieved through two modes – either through absorption/abeyance or through complete destruction. In the case of the first mode, the mind emerges again as it is merely absorbed in the void and hence temporarily held in abeyance. In contrast, through the second mode, when the mind is destroyed, it can never emerge again.
ප්රාණබංධනාල්ලීනමානසම් ।
ඒකචිංතනාන්නාශමේත්යදඃ ॥ 14 ॥
When the mind is held in suspension through breath control, it must then be completely destroyed through one-pointed attention to that ONE reality.
නෂ්ටමානසෝත්කෘෂ්ටයෝගිනඃ ।
කෘත්යමස්ති කිං ස්වස්ථිතිං යතඃ ॥ 15 ॥
What action remains for an exalted Yogi whose mind has been completely destroyed and who is ever established in the Self?
දෘශ්යවාරිතං චිත්තමාත්මනඃ ।
චිත්ත්වදර්ශනං තත්ත්වදර්ශනම් ॥ 16 ॥
When attention is withdrawn from objects and focused exclusively on the Self, the Truth is revealed.
මානසං තු කිං මාර්ගණේ කෘතේ ।
නෛව මානසං මාර්ග ආර්ජවාත් ॥ 17 ॥
When one inquires: “What is the mind?”, he finds out that there is no mind. This is the direct path to Reality.
වෘත්තයස්ත්වහං වෘත්තිමාශ්රිතාඃ ।
වෘත්තයෝ මනෝ විද්ධ්යහං මනඃ ॥ 18 ॥
Mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts. These thoughts depend upon the 'I' thought alone. Hence the mind is nothing but this 'I' thought.
අහමයං කුතෝ භවති චින්වතඃ ।
අයි පතත්යහං නිජවිචාරණම් ॥ 19 ॥
When one turns within and searches
Whence this 'I' thought arises,
The shamed 'I' vanishes –
And wisdom's quest begins.
අහමි නාශභාජ්යහමහංතයා ।
ස්ඵුරති හෘත්ස්වයං පරමපූර්ණසත් ॥ 20 ॥
Where this 'I' notion faded
Now there as I–I, arises
The One, the very Self,
The Infinite.
ඉදමහං පදාऽභිඛ්යමන්වහම් ।
අහමිලීනකේऽප්යලයසත්තයා ॥ 21 ॥
Of the term, 'I', the permanent import
Is That. For even in deep sleep
Where we have no sense of 'I'
We do not cease to be.
විග්රහේංද්රියප්රාණධීතමඃ ।
නාහමේකසත්තජ්ජඩං හ්යසත් ॥ 22 ॥
Body, senses, mind, breath, sleep –
All insentient and unreal –
Cannot be 'I',
'I' who am the Real.
සත්ත්වභාසිකා චිත්ක්වවේතරා ।
සත්තයා හි චිච්චිත්තයා හ්යහම් ॥ 23 ॥
For knowing That which is
There is no other knower.
Hence Being is Awareness;
And we all are Awareness.
ඊශජීවයෝර්වේෂධීභිදා ।
සත්ස්වභාවතෝ වස්තු කේවලම් ॥ 24 ॥
In the nature of their being
Creature and creator are in substance one.
They differ only
In adjuncts and awareness.
වේෂහානතඃ ස්වාත්මදර්ශනම් ।
ඊශදර්ශනං ස්වාත්මරූපතඃ ॥ 25 ॥
Seeing oneself free of all attributes
Is to see the Lord,
For He shines ever as the pure Self.
ආත්මසංස්ථිතිඃ ස්වාත්මදර්ශනම් ।
ආත්මනිර්ද්වයාදාත්මනිෂ්ඨතා ॥ 26 ॥
To know the Self is but to be the Self,
For it is non-dual.
In such knowledge
One abides as that.
ජ්ඤානවර්ජිතාऽජ්ඤානහීනචිත් ।
ජ්ඤානමස්ති කිං ජ්ඤාතුමංතරම් ॥ 27 ॥
That is true knowledge which transcends
Both knowledge and ignorance,
For in pure knowledge
Is no object to be known.
කිං ස්වරූපමිත්යාත්මදර්ශනේ ।
අව්යයාऽභවාऽऽපූර්ණචිත්සුඛම් ॥ 28 ॥
Having known one's nature one abides
As being with no beginning and no end
In unbroken conciousness and bliss.
බංධමුක්ත්යතීතං පරං සුඛම් ।
විංදතීහ ජීවස්තු දෛවිකඃ ॥ 29 ॥
Beyond bondage and release,
Is steadfastness
In service of the Lord.
අහමපේතකං නිජවිභානකම් ।
මහදිදංතපෝ රමනවාගියම් ॥ 30 ॥
All ego gone,
Living as that alone
Is penance good for growth,
Sings Ramana, the Self.
Browse Related Categories:
