HYMN SRI ARUNACHALA AKSHARAMANAMALAI — The Marital Garland of Letters To Sri Arunachala, by Sri Ramana Maharshi
Verse 44 tirumpi yakantaṉait tiṉamakak kaṇkāṇ ṭeriyumeṉ ṟaṉaiyeṉ ṉaruṇācalā. aruṇācalā – Arunachala! eṉṟaṉai – You said, akam tirumpi – ‘Turning within, tiṉam aka kaṇ taṉai kāṇ – know the Self constantly [with ] the inner eye. ṭeriyum – [Then ] it will be known [to you ].’ eṉ – What [a wonder is this ]! Paraphrase ‘Turning towards the Heart and away from external phenomena through detachment (vairagya), ceaselessly and one-pointedly examine and know the Self through the self, with the inward-turned vision which is of the form of the enquiry “Who am I?” Then shall you (yourself) clearly know (as your very own nature, the truth of the words, “You yourself, You alone, are the essence of the Real.”).’ Thus did you instruct me, [Arunachala! ] What a wonder is this!
Commentary akam tirumpal – turning within means ceasing to pay attention to external objects.
The elimination of thoughts [about them] in the mind is also implied here.
Through observing oneself with the inner eye, the veil of illusion is destroyed and the perception (darśana) of the knowledge of the Real arises.
When we speak of ‘the self’ as the scope (viṣaya) of enquiry, we are referring only to the jiva, which is of the form of the ego, not to the Self, the true nature of the ‘I’.
How so? Because the suffering of birth, which arises from ignorance, and the consequent need for enquiry as a means to remove that suffering, appertain to the jiva only, which is bound by delusion and bewildered, not to the supreme Self, which is eternally present, pure, aware and free, and because that Self can never, in any way, shape or form whatsoever, be (or become) the object of the jiva’s practice of enquiry, except in the sense that when the ego, which is the obstacle to the realisation of the Self (ātma-sākṣātkāra), is destroyed through the means of enquiry, that Self will remain simply as the jiva’s own Self, and will be known and experienced by it as the nature of That (tanmaya) through [abidance in] perfect peace (śānta vṛtti).
Since the world with its cycles of birth and death (saṁsāra) does not actually exist in the supreme Reality, but arises through a lack of awareness (pramāda), which is the true death, unremitting enquiry is indispensable until such time as the ego-knot, which lies at the root of it, is permanently severed.
Therefore Arunachala through his grace instructed, ‘Constantly observe [the “I”] with the inner eye.’
[The meaning of] akamukam – inward turned [is] ‘to establish the mind in the Heart, its source, without letting it stray amongst external phenomena.’
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Robert Butler translation and commentary of Verse 44 of Sri Arunachala Aksharamanamalai, in Michael James Blog “Happiness of Being: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi”, in the Article dated Friday, 31 July 2015 - By attending to our ego we are attending to ourself, Comment permalink: 8 August 2015 at 16:09 :
https://happinessofbeing.blogspot.com/2015/07/by-attending-to-our-ego-we-are.html?showComment=1439046585731#c7170031721086053366
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