THE MAHARSHI 1-2/2001

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THE MAHARSHI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January/February 2001 Vol. 11 - No. 1

 

 

 

Produced & Edited byDennis HartelDr. Anil K. Sharma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Hymns to Arunachala

Kartikai Deepam, the annual nine day festival which concludes with the lighting of the beacon on the top of the Arunachala Mountain, is attended by a million pilgrims, broadcast on South Indian television, and this year was available for viewing around the world through the Internet. The holy mountain's growing attraction would not have surprised Sri Ramana Maharshi who never tired of praising its glories and always felt at home strolling upon its slopes. Though a Jnani of the highest order he wrote a number of inspired devotional hymns in praise of Arunachala. In these, he poetically narrates how Arunachala captured him in his youth, stilled his mind, swallowed him whole and made him one with Arunachala, which is none other than the Supreme Self. These inspired poems also provide us with precise directions on the easiest and most direct path to reach the peak of spiritual experience. Every aspirant can find something directly relevant to his or her individual needs in the Five Hymns to Arunachala.

In the following article, Prof. G. V. Subbaramayya, an intimate and respected devotee of Sri Maharshi, clearly lays before us the ground upon which we can easily walk toward a greater understanding and true veneration of these sacred hymns.

ONE EVENING Sri Ramana related to us how in his vision Arunachala appeared a citadel of Heaven full of shrines and gods. On a morning when Sri Ramana delayed to return from his constitutional and this writer with another devotee went up and met him, he said smiling. "As the weather is fine I have been strolling here. This Hill is like my own home. Whenever I am on Arunachala I forget myself." While relating the glories of Arunachala he would indeed forget himself. The story of Arunachala was his favorite theme. He often used to say that while all other sacred hills and shrines were but the abode of various gods, Arunachala is the Supreme God Himself and that going around Arunachala is the direct worship of God Almighty.

The last forty-four years of Sri Ramana's life were spent in Arunachala alone. Within the temple compound, in the outskirts of the town, up the Hill and down the Hill, he dwelt throughout his life. Never once, not even during the time when the place was declared dangerous on account of epidemics, did he stray from the environs of Arunachala. The very thought of leaving Arunachala never seems to have occurred to him. So many people, from his mother down to a casual visitor, attempted to induce him to go elsewhere. His written reply to his mother's entreaties was typical and significant: "Whatever is destined not to happen will never happen, try how hard you may. Whatever is destined to happen must happen, do what you may to prevent it." In other words, he declared that Arunachala and he were destined to be inseparable.

Marital Garland of Letters

The Five Hymns to Arunachala are the magnum opus of Sri Ramana in devotional lyric poetry. Of them the first is "Aksharamanamalai" (the Marital Garland of Letters). It was composed in Tamil by young Ramana in response to the request of a devotee for a song to be sung while wandering in the town for alms. It is an acrostic of one hundred and eight couplets with the initial letters in alphabetical order and with a popular refrain "Arunachala Siva, Arunachala Siva." It unfolds an allegorical love story and depicts the madhura bhava (love-aspect) of devotion. Arunachala is the lover and the singer is the beloved. The lover made secret love to the beloved while she was in her parental home. At the mere thought of his name, he stole her heart. He eloped with her stealthily and brought her here. While she is now harassed by so many enemies, he remains unmoved as a mountain. She remonstrates and complains of her lover's neglect and indifference. "Having entered my home and lured me to yours, why do you keep me prisoner in your cavern?.... Having seduced and ravished me, if you deny me union and abandon me now, would it be chivalry? Nay, such desertion will be a memorial of shame for you.... Having called me and lured me here, it is writ large on your forehead to look after my well-being.... If you will not unite with me, I shall be melting away in tears of anguish .... Pray rain your mercy on me ere your fire consumes me to ashes." So runs her love-plaint. Then for her harsh words of remonstrance, she apologizes to her lover and prays for the bliss of complete union and merging. "Pray close me in, limb to limb, body to body, or I am lost.... Let us embrace, one in the Real Self on the soft flower-bed of the Mind.... Come and sport with me in the open space of the Heart where there is neither night nor day.... May I be absorbed into you as food is assimilated into the feeder." At last the prayer is fulfilled. The love is consummated in marriage, and with the bride's invocation to the bridegroom: "0 Lord Arunachala, throw around me your garland and let me place on your breast this garland strung by me," the song concludes. In this poem Arunachala is described and addressed in the most fascinating terms. Arunachala is "the real meaning of OM unexcelled, unparalleled,the magnet that attracts the iron filing of devotees and holds them fast,the Ocean of Grace in the mould of a mountain,the gem of fire sparkling all round,the treasure of Divine Grace got without seeking,the elixir of all life's ills,the spider whose spreading webs entices into its meshes and devours all egos,the wizard who exercises the ghost of the ego and then himself possesses the being,the mountain drug for all madness."

The word Arul (Grace) occurs in nearly every stanza, so that the whole song may be called a rhapsody of Grace. This love-lyric is indeed an allegory of Sri Ramana's own life story and so is full of autobiographical interest. While sounding the depths of philosophical wisdom, this song stirs the tenderest chords of the human heart and makes the most daring rites of love romance in the spiritual firmament. It was and is sung on all auspicious occasions in the Ashram. Though Sri Ramana always declined to be drawn into a discussion of its diverse interpretations, he would sit up in a trance of ecstasy whenever it was sung. Just before Sri Ramana's Mahanirvana this hymn was being sung in a chorus by the devotees who assembled outside his room. Sri Ramana opened his eyes, looked in the direction from where the voices came, and then as he closed his eyes, tears of ecstasy gushed from their outer edges and he breathed his last. So this song into which Sri Ramana had breathed the essence of his Divine Spirit became appropriately the background music to his life's finale, like the glow of mellow light around the setting sun.

The Garland of Nine Gems

Next in chronological order comes "Navamanimalai" (The Garland of Nine Gems). This is a collection of nine casual verses in various meters. Its underlying sentiment is also love and devotion to Arunachala. It explains at the outset the idea of achala tandavam (motionless dance) of the Lord. He is static and dynamic at the same time. The glorious source that absorbs and transcends both the aspects is this Arunachala. The verbal root meaning of A-Ru-Na is also set forth. It means respectively either Sat-Chit-Ananda (Being-Consciousness-Bliss) or the Supreme Self, the individual Self, and their identity or That-Thou-Art. Achala means the Great One. That is why the mere recollection of the name 'Arunachala' confers mukti instantly. The rest of the poem is a call to complete self-surrender and a moving prayer for forgiveness of faults and for deliverance. It is impossible to cross the sea of samsara and climb the shore unless Arunachala, out of His more-than-maternal love, stretches forth His hand of Grace. This song is also autobiographical. It relates how Sri Ramana was born of virtuous Sundaram and Alagu in sacred Tiruchuzhi and was rescued from the coils of ignorance even in early youth and raised by Arunachala to His own seat. The poem is in short a paean of praise and thanksgiving.

Ten Verses on Arunachala

The next hymn is "Arunachala Padikam" (Ten Verses on Arunachala). It really consists of one invocatory verse and ten stanzas, all in the same meter. It observes the rule of mukta-pada-grastam, that is to say, the last word of each verse is repeated as the first word of the next verse so that the whole poem reads like a chain of linked sweetness long drawn out. It is also a devotional love-lyric and is full of autobiographical interest. Arunachala, the lover, steals the guileless singer' heart in early youth for thinking of Him but once and, having drawn the beloved to His Feet, keeps her long like a frog amidst the lotus-stalks, and slowly consumes her (ego). The singer surrenders to the will of her Lord and prays He complete the process of devouring her, thereby changing the frog of her mind into a bee that tastes the honey of the lotus blossom. The song concludes with a warning and an appeal. It warns the worldly-wise, saying: "Lo, I have newly discovered a magnet mountain that attracts all beings who think of it even once, makes them still like itself and preys upon their sweet lives (egos). That magnet-mountain is Arunachala. So beware and keep off. "At the same time, the singer makes a clarion call to all kindred spirits who have renounced the worldly life in quest of the means of deliverance. The singer shouts: "Here is the panacea, the sovereign remedy, the wonder-drug for all the distractions and ills of life. If you merely think of it but once, it cures you. It kills without killing. It kills the ego without killing the Self. Many have been thus saved like me. It is none other than Arunachala. You, all afflicted beings, know this and be saved."

The Eight Verses on Arunachala

The next and grandest hymn is "Arunachala Ashtakam" (The Eight Verses on Arunachala). Sri Ramana himself related how it was composed in the course of a walk around the sacred Hill. All of a sudden the first word of the hymn flashed into his mind and with an irresistible urge composed itself into the first stanza. Then the last word of the stanza lingered in the mind and clamored for further expansion into the second stanza. The same process was repeated in the other stanzas, and at the end of the eighth stanza the urge for expression automatically ceased. So the stanzas are of uniform meter and observe the rule of mukta-pada-grastam like the previous hymn. This hymn is a masterpiece of philosophical poetry in which both thought and style reach their high water mark. For its superb symphony it is a universal favorite among music lovers. It is also autobiographical and reveals the mysterious association of Arunachala with Sri Ramana from childhood and the part played by Arunachala in his process of Self-Realization. Arunachala is the real Self that manifests Itself when the ego-mind traced back through Self-enquiry merges in its Source. This song is distinguished by the daring originality of its thought and imagery. "To search for the essential inner truth of Thyself (Arunachala) is like going around the earth to see the sky. It is like the sugar-doll diving to measure the depth of the ocean.To quest for God elsewhere turning away from Thyself (Arunachala) is like searching for darkness with a light.Those who fail to visualize the one matchless, resplendent diamond of Arunachala are like the blind that cannot see the sun before them.The mind that has contacted Thee (Arunachala) and is sparkling itself like a cut or polished gem will not need another light to kindle it, just as a sensitive plate exposed to the sun will not take on impressions afterwards.A mysterious Shakti (Power) in Thee (Arunachala), which however is not apart from Thyself, illumines with the reflection of Thy pure Light the latent, subtle dark mists which then manifest within as thoughts whirling in the vortices of prarabdha (past karma) and are projected without, across the lens of the mind and the outgoing senses as the passing world-picture upon the unchanging screen of Thyself (Arunachala).Just as the waters rising from the sea as vapor and coming down as rain must flow back into the sea in spite of all obstacles, just as a bird soaring into the sky, fatigued, must needs return to the earth for rest, so every being must finally retrace its way to the Source and merge in Thee, Thou Ocean of Bliss, 0 Arunachala." It will be seen that in the above passages the poet makes use of irony and of metaphors culled from nature, from the arts and science such as photography and cinema. This is all the more remarkable as Sri Ramana had never handled a camera, nor had he ever been to a cinema show.

Five Gems to Arunachala

The last and most famous hymn is the one entitled "Arunachala Pancharatnam" (Five Gems to Arunachala). While the other four hymns were Tamil compositions, this one was composed by Sri Ramana in Sanskrit at the request of Kavyakantha Ganapathi Muni to serve as an introduction to Sri Ramana Gita. It was later rendered into Tamil by Bhagavan himself. It has become the daily prayer of all devotees. These "Five Gems" have been praised by Kavyakantha who said that they contain the quintessence of the whole Vedanta and, though terse and brief, are all-comprehensive like Sastras (Scripture). As Sri Ramana never studied Sanskrit we wonder how he could have composed this Sanskrit classic, which can only be explained on the ground that he had realized "THAT by knowing which everything else is known." As it was to the Maharshis of yore, so was it for Sri Ramana Maharshi. The usual order of thought and speech was reversed. Words flashed first, and their sense followed.

In their depiction of Arunachala as Sarvatman (the Universal Self) these "Five Gems" resemble the famous "Dakshinamoorti Ashtakam" of Adi Shankaracharya. The opening stanza invokes Arunachala as the "Ocean of Nectar full of Grace by whose splendor the entire Universe is engulfed" and it prays to Him the Supreme Soul "to be the sun for the full blossoming of the lotus-mind." The second stanza expounds Arunachala as Swarupa (the Source) in whom "all this panorama arises, exists and dissolves." It further explains how Arunachala manifests in the Heart as 'I', the Self, and so is Himself named the Heart. The third stanza describes the path of Jnana (Self enquiry) and how on knowing one's Self one merges in Arunachala as the river in the ocean. The fourth stanza unfolds the path of Yoga (meditation). "The Yogi with controlled breath and concentrated mind, meditating on Thee within, beholds in Thee, 0 Arunachala, Thy Light Transcendent." The final stanza depicts both the paths of Bhakti (Devotion) and Karma (Action). Both the devotee, who with dedicated mind beholds Arunachala alone, or the man of action, who reverentially serves all as the form of Arunachala, shines immersed in the Bliss of Arunachala. So this hymn within a brief compass is all-comprehensive and stands out as the most glorious monument of Sri Ramana's relationship to Arunachala.

This mysterious relationship was most impressively demonstrated by the celestial phenomenon at the time of Sri Ramana's Mahanirvana. At that very moment a brilliant light in the shape of a huge star emanated in the southeast corner of the horizon and trailing majestically across the sky, seemed to merge in the highest peak of Arunachala. This was witnessed by many people. It was to all mortals an ocular, heavenly revelation of the Life-Light of Sri Ramana ascending and merging in the Universal Light of the Supreme Self that is Arunachala. Indeed, Sri Ramana was Arunachala's Self incarnate in human form, and Arunachala is Sri Ramana himself in mountain-mould. In essence, both Sri Ramana and Arunachala are one and the same. That is the Supreme Self.

- From the Mountain Path, April 1980

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