Ulladu Naarpadu - Verse No.8

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ULLADU NAARPADU

(Reality in Forty

Verses)

 

The famous Vedantic poem in Tamil by

Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi

(consisting of two preliminary verses

called Mangalam, 40 verses which form the main text , and another 40 verses

called the Appendix)

 

Detailed Commentary in Tamil by

Lakshmana Sharma,

adapted into English by Profvk

 

(Continued from ULLADU NAARPADU – Verse

No.7

See Post #48160

Of Harsha

Satsangh)

 

Introduction to Verse No.8

 

That existent Reality does not have

names and forms. However, allotting names

and forms to That Absolute, taking it to

be God and worshipping it will pave the way for Self-Realisation. In spite of all these it is the actual

experience that shows it truthfully.

There is no alternate means of realising it. This is the content of this

eighth verse of Bhagavan.

 

Verse No.8

 

Eppeyar iTTu, evvuruvil Ettinum,

Ar, pEr, uru, il apporuLaikkAN vazhi

adu. Ayinum,

am-meypporuLin uNmaiyil tan uNmaiyinai

Orndu oDungi

onDrudalE uNmaiyil kANal, uNar.

 

Translation (Lakshmana Sharma)

 

Even though to worship Him in any form

and by any name is a means towards the right vision of Him, who (really) is

without name and form, true vision of Him consists in being at one with Him, by

merging in Him the Transcendental Being, through the realisation of the

identity of the Real Self with His real essence.

 

Translation (Prof. K. Swaminathan)

 

Under whatever name or form we worship It, It leads us on to

knowledge of the nameless, formless Absolute. Yet, to see one's true Self in

the Absolute, to subside into It and be one with It, this is the true Knowledge

of the Truth.

 

Translation (Osborne)

 

Under

whatever name and form one may worship the Absolute Reality, it is only a means

for realizing It without name and form. That alone is true realization, wherein

one knows oneself in relation to that Reality, attains peace and realizes one's

identity with it.

 

Word by Word

 

eppeyar-iTTu : Whatever name you assign

evvuru-vil: (and) in

whatever form

Ettinum : (you) propitiate it

adu. : that is

kANvazhi : the means

of realizing

Ar apporuLai: that full and complete Reality

il : (which is) without

pEr: name

uru: (and) form.

Ayinum: However,

kANal: the Vision

uNmaiyil : in truth

(is)

onDrudalE: only in becoming one

oDungi : (after) subsiding, sublating (oneself)

Orndu: (and)

cognizing

tan uNmaiyinai: one's own reality

uNmaiyil: in the Truth

ammeyp-poruLin : of that Reality.

uNar: Know (this)

 

Commentary (Lakshmana Sharma)

 

The

JIva, Ishvara and the Universe are all mental constructs. In sleep where there

is no mind, they don't exist; the only Reality therefore is the Atman which is sat-cit-svarUpa.

But man, trapped in the mAyA of the mind, thinks, out of Ignorance, he

is a separate JIva and thus revolves in the vortex of samsAra; as such

he cannot but think of a God as the maker of all Jivas and Universes. So long

as he thinks of his Jivahood as real, God also has to be real for him. That God is in fact the unique sat-cit-

svarUpa Reality. Because of

Ignorance, the Atman which is the ever-existent Reality becomes foreign to him

and is termed by him as God or Ishvara. That Reality is assigned names and

forms by the ignorant devotee and he thinks of Him as distinct from him, as the

Overlord of the Universe and as the Most Compassionate One. We already said that this is but natural. Our

Bhagavan says this Bhakti type of worship will lead to a purification of the

mind and a discriminating intellect and finally will take him to

Self-Realisation. The second line of the present verse means exactly this. To get out of the bondage caused by names and

forms, one can thus adopt the means of worshipping the Absolute Reality as God by

assigning it names and forms.

 

The

first line of the verse says that Brahman can be given any name and form

associated with Shiva or Vishnu and one can worship it according to one's

taste. It is quite fitting to say that, since the Brahman that is worshipped as

God is nameless and formless, whatever names and forms are imagined by a

devotee those names and forms are accepted by God. This is Equanimity. It is only nonsense to fight with one another

using notions of `My God' and `Your God'.

 

The

form for worship may be just a construct by the mind; or one might take any

form in the outside world and worship the Absolute to be in that form. Thus the

Sun, the Firmament, Fire, Mountain, River – any such natural form might be

imagined as the form of the Absolute and worshipped. The highest among all such

forms is that of the Guru who is an Atma-JnAni (One who has realised the Self).

For, a JnAni does not think of himself as something different from the

Absolute, nor as a body. That is why Krishna

says in the Gita (VII: 18): `JnAni is Myself'. The Guru who is himself a JnAni,

whatever way he thinks of himself, in the same way we should consider him. It

is wrong to think of him as something different from Brahman. That seeker who

thinks like that and works for Self-Realisation will not attain it.

 

The

devotee who worships in this manner, without understanding that

Self-Realisation is the ultimate objective, would want God to present before

him in the form which he has imagined for Him.

By the strength of his devotion he may even get a vision of that kind.

But the vision that appears would not be a permanent one. It will be mentioned later that since in actuality

God is not distinct from the Atman, the vision that shows up to him is again a

mental construct, not real.

 

Though

the devotee may not want Self-Realisation, he will ultimately attain it. It has to be said that is only due to God's

Grace. And that Grace is nothing but Brahman, that is God, being the Atman in

the heart.

 

It

is this Self-Realisation that gives permanent satisfaction. The latter half of

the present verse indicates only this Self-Realisation. The last few verses of

this chapter give the same meaning.

 

Bhagavan

used to say that the above truth is also the lesson that we learn from the

story of Prahlada occurring in JnAna-VashishhTam (different froim the one that

occurs in the Bhagavatam and other Puranas). Prahlada's father Hiranya-Kashipu conquered

the three worlds and was comfortable in the thought of his being matchless. So

his son Prahlada was living without any fear.

But the father was vanquished and killed by Lord Vishnu. Prahlada thought that the same Vishnu could

kill him also and this generated the fear of death in him. In order to overcome

this fear, he surrendered to Vishnu Himself. To obtain His Grace, he observed

devotion to Him by means of pUja, japa and dhyAna. Vishnu

appeared before him in person and said: "For you to obtain immortality, this

vision of mine is not enough. You have to realise the Vishnu in your Atman

inside.". And he was also taught what to practise. Accordingly Prahlada

attained Self-Realisation and Immortality with the attendant Fearlessness.

 

Thus

it is confirmed in this verse that the existent Reality, Brahman, is nothing

but the Atman.

 

[To be continued in Verse #9].

PraNAms to all

seekers of Truth.

PraNAms to

Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi.

profvk