Sri Arunachala Ashtakam

Introduction by Sri Michael James

Sri Arunachala Ashtakam (ஸ்ரீ அருணாசல அஷ்டகம்) means the ‘Eight Verses to Sri Arunachala’. It was composed by Sri Ramana as a continuation of Sri Arunachala Patikam. On the day that he composed the last two verses of the patikam, he started for giri-pradakshina (circumambulation of Arunachala hill) accompanied by a devotee, who took with him a piece of paper and a pencil, thinking that he may compose some more verses, and on the way round the hill Sri Ramana composed the first six verses of this ashtakam or poem of eight verses.

Soon after this, when a devotee decided to publish these seventeen verses, Sri Ramana composed two more verses to form two separate poems, one of eleven verses and the other of eight verses. Whereas the eleven verses of the patikam are composed in a metre that consists of four lines with seven feet in each line, the eight verses of the ashtakam are composed in a metre that consists of four lines with eight feet in each line.

Like the patikam, the ashtakam is composed in the antadi style of concatenation, and not only does each verse begin with the first metrical syllable of the last foot of the previous verse in the same poem, but even the first verse begins with the first metrical syllable of the last foot of the final verse of the patikam, namely அறி (ari), which is a verbal root that means ‘know’.

Though the ashtakam is composed in the outward form of a hymn praising God in the form of Arunachala, most of its verses are actually a clear and extremely profound expression of the philosophy and practice of the non-dual science of true self-knowledge.

Arunachala Ashtakam Commentary by Sri Sadhu Om, translated and explained by Michael James
Verse 1
Ah (what a wonder)! It stands quietly as if an insentient Hill, (yet) its action is mysterious – difficult for anyone to understand ! (Listen to my experience) From (my) knowledgeless early childhood (that is, from my early childhood when I knew no other thing), Arunachala was shining in my mind as that which is most great. (However) even when I came to know through someone that it was Tiruvannamalai, I did not realize the truth of It (that is, I did not realize what Arunachala really is). (But later) when having enchanted (my) mind, It drew me near, then I came near and saw It to be a Hill (achala).

Verse 2
When I, scrutinized within the mind who is the seer (who saw thus) ?, the seer became non-existent and I saw that which remained (namely the real Self). The mind (the ego or I thought) does not (now) rise to say, “I saw (the Self)” ; (therefore) how can the mind rise to say, ‘I did not see (the Self)’ ? Who has the power to reveal this (the state of Self-experience) by speaking, when in ancient times (even) You (as Dakshinamurthi) revealed it only without speaking (that is, only through silence) ? Only to reveal Your state (the true state of Self experience) without speaking (that is, through Silence), You stood shining as a Hill (rising from) earth (to) sky.

Verse 3
When I approach thinking of You (the Supreme Reality) as a form, You stand as a Hill on earth. If one thinks of (or meditates upon) Your form (Your real nature) as formless, one is like someone who wanders about the world in order to see the sky. Therefore, instead of trying to meditate upon You thus), when without thinking one, thinks of Your (Real) form (the existence-consciousness ‘I am’) (one’s) form (or separate individuaity) will cease to exist like a sugar-form placed in the ocean. When I know myself, what else is my form (but you)? You, who were existing as the great Aruna Hill, (alone) are (and I, the separate individual, am not).

Note : “If oneself is a form (the body), the world and God will also be likewise …….”, says Sri Bhagavan in verse 4 of Ulladu Narpadu. That is, so long as we feel the name and form of a body to be ‘I’, we cannot know God as anything but a name and form. Since meditation can be done only by the mind, and since the mind is that which feels I am the form of this body’, meditation can be done only upon a form. Since all thoughts are nothing but forms, even the thought that God is formless is itself a form. Therefore it is impossible for the mind to do formless meditation or Nirguna-dhyana. That is why Sri Bhagavan says in the second line of this verse, if one thinks of (or meditates upon) your form as formless, one is like some- one who wanders about the world in order to see the sky”.

How then is one to know God as formless, as He really is? Only if we remain without thought – without even the first thought ‘I am this body, I am so-and-so’, can we realize God as formless. How to remain thus without even the first thought ‘I’? The only way is to attend to Self, be- cause when the attention is withdrawn from all second and third person objects and fixed on the mere feeling ‘I’, no thought can rise. Such self-attention is what is denoted here by the words, “when without thinking one thinks of Your (Real) Form (the existence-consciousness ‘I am’)”. When, by thus attending to ‘I’, one remains without thought, the form of the mind (the feeling ‘I am this body’) will cease to exist, and the formless reality of God or Arunachala will then be experienced as it is.

Verse 4
See, leaving You (the real Self), who (always and everywhere) exist (as existence or Sat) and shine (as consciousness or chit), and seeking God, is only (like) taking a light, seeking darkness.

Only to reveal (the truth about) Yourself, who exist and shine (as the existence-consciousness “”I am””), You exist as various forms in each and every religion. If people do not know You, who (thus) exist and shine (as ‘I am’), they are only (like) the blind who do not have knowledge of (the existence of) the Sun. O Gem (of self-shining consciousness) called the peerless great Aruna Hill, (graciously) exist and shine in my heart as one without a second!

Note : In truth, God or Arunachala ever exists and shines as ‘I am’, the reality of every individual. Therefore, if an individual ignores the ever-shining existence consciousness ‘I am’, which is the true form of God, seeks for God as a second or third person – as something other than himself, he is like someone who takes a light to seek for darkness. Wherever the light is taken, darkness cannot be seen ; similarly, so long as God is taken to be something other than oneself, He cannot be seen as He really is. Since God can be known as He really is only when He is experienced in one’s own heart as “”I am””. Sri Bhagavan prays in the last line of this verse, ……. (graciously) exist and shine (that is, graciously make yourself known) in my heart as one without a second (that is, as the reality which is not other than ‘I’)

Verse 5
Like the string in (a garland of) gems, You alone exist as the one in each and every soul and in each and every one of the diverse religions (that is, You exist as the one self in every soul and as the one God in every religion). Just as a gem is polished (on a grinding stone), if the mind is polished on the stone called mind (that is, if the mind attends to itself, the first person) so as to remove (its) flaws (the adjuncts or upadhis such as this or that), the light of your grace will shine forth (that is, the mind will shine devoid of adjuncts as the light of your grace, the mere consciousness ‘I am’). (Then) just, as (the colour of any other object cannot affect) the light of a (coloured) gem, the attachment towards any other object will not approach (such a mind, which has been transformed into Self). When the light of the sun falls on a photographic plate, can an image (thereafter) be impressed (upon it)? When the light of Arunachala, (similarly the sun of Self knowledge) falls upon the mind, no image can thereafter be impressed upon it. Other than you, the intensely lustrous Aruna Hill, is there (any) thing (whose light can thus destroy the mind) or whose light can thereafter make an impression upon it)?

Note : Two similes are used in this verse, namely that of a gem and that of a photographic plate.

When a gem is first dug out of a mine it will be full of flaws, which can be removed only when it is polished on a special grinding stone, and only when all the flaws are thus removed will the gem shine with its natural lustre. Thereafter, the colour of no other object will be able to affect the lustrous colour of that gem; instead, the gem will cast its own light around it and make other objects shine with its lustre. Similarly, when the mind always attends to second and third person objects, it will be full of flaws (adjuncts such as ‘this’ or ‘that’, which are superimposed on the pure light of consciousness ‘I am’), and these flaws can be removed only when the mind is polished on the special grinding stone called mind (that is, only when the mind turns away from second and third persons and attends to itself, the first person, by enquiring ‘who am I, the mind ?) ; only when all the flaws are thus removed, will the mind shine with its natural lustre as the mere consciousness “I am”. Thereafter, such an adjunct-free mind (a mind which has thus been transformed into Self) will not be affected by anything in this world; instead, It will cast its own light on the whole world and will thus see the world as nothing but itself.

If the light from any object falls upon an undeveloped photographic plate, the image of that object will be impressed upon the plate. But if, before the plate is developed, the brighter light of the sun then falls upon it, the image formed by the light from that object will be destroyed. Similarly, the objects of this world can be impressed upon the mind in the form of tendencies or vasanas only so long as the mind has not been exposed to the light of Arunachala, the sun of Self-knowledge. But since there is no greater or brighter light than that of Self- knowledge, once Self-knowledge has dawned, the mind becomes like a photographic plate which has been exposed to the sunlight, and hence the objects of the world can no longer make any impression upon it. Thus when Self- knowledge dawns, all the vishaya-vasanas (the tendencies or impressions formed by contact with sense objects) will be destroyed once and forever, and no fresh vasanas can ever be formed thereafter.

Verse 6
You, the Heart, the light of consciousness (or Self- knowledge), the One Reality, alone exist! A wonderful power sakti exists in You as not other (than You). From (that sakti) series of subtle shadowy thoughts (rise and) by means of (the reflected light of) consciousness in (and due to) the whirl of destiny (prarabdha) – are (simultaneously) seen (as) shadowy world-pictures, both inside (on) the mirror of the thought-light (or mind-light) and outside through the (five) senses such as the eyes, just like a cinema-picture which exists (by being projected) through a lens. O Hill of Grace, whether they (the world-picture) stop (appearing) or whether they continue (appearing), they do not exist apart from You.

Note : Arunachala, the Self, is the only Reality that exists. Yet in the Self there exists a wonderful Sakti, which is not other than the Self. From that Sakti series of subtle shadowy thoughts seemingly rise due to the whirl of prarabdha and are illumined by the mind-light, the reflected light of self-consciousness. Of all these thoughts, the first and root thought is the thought ‘I’ or I am so-and- so. It is only this first thought (which is itself unreal) that sees all the other thoughts, which follow in its trail. These other thoughts are seen by the first thought (the ego) as the names and forms of subtle world-appearances within and as the names and forms of gross world-appearances outside. These subtle world-appearances are seen within on the mirror of the mind, while the gross world-appearances are seen outside by being projected through the lenses of the five senses. But whether these world-appearances appear or cease to appear, they do not exist apart from Self. Therefore, no importance should be given to either the appearance or disappearance of the world-picture, and Self alone should be attended to.

For a fuller explanation of this verse, refer to appendix 4 (a) of the Path of Sri Ramana – Part two.

Verse 7
If the thought ‘I’ (the ego or mind, the feeling ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’) does not exist, no other thing will exist. Until that (that is, until the thought ‘I’ is found to be non- existent), if other thoughts rise, (one should enquire) To whom (do they rise)? To me (then by scrutinizing) what is the rising-place of ‘I’?, merge (within). Diving within (in this manner), if one reaches the Heart-Throne, (one will become) verily the Soverign under the shade of one umbrella. (that is, one will become the One non-dual Supreme Reality itself). (Since the thought ‘I’ will then not exist) the dream (of dyads or dvandvas) known as inside and outside, the two karmas (good karmas and bad karmas), death and birth, pleasure and pain, and darkness and light, will not exist, and the limitless ocean of the light of Grace called Aruna Hill, which dances motionlessly in the court of the heart (in the form of the sphurana’I-I’), alone (will exist).

Note : The expression the soverign under the shade of one umbrella (oru kudai nizhal ko) in Tamil and eka chatradhipati in sanskrit) is an idiomatic expression used to denote an emperor whose sovereignty is sole and absolute.

Here it is used to denote the fact that whom one reaches the heart and attains self-knowledge, one will remain as the sole, absolute, non-dual Reality. In that state of Self- Experience, the ego or ‘I’ thought will be found to be non- existent, and hence everything else (which is a mere dream which can seemingly exist only if the ‘I’ thought seemingly exists) will also be found to be non-existent, and Arunachala, the adjunctles conscious ‘I-I’, alone will be found to be that which truly exists.

Verse 8
The water showered by the clouds, which rose from the ocean, will not stop, even if obstructed, until it reaches (its) abode, the ocean, (similarly) the embodied soul (the soul which rises as ‘I am this body’) rises from You (O Arunachala) and will not stop, though it wanders (or suf- fers) on the many paths which it encounters, until it reaches (or unites with) You. Though it wanders about the vast sky, (in that sky), there is not abode (or place of rest) for the bird; the place (for the bird to rest) is not other than the earth; (therefore) what it is bound to do is to go back the way it came. O Aruna Hill, when the soul goes back the way it came it will unite with You, the ocean of Bliss.

Note : An explanation of this verse is given in the opening pages of chapter two of the Path of Sri Ramana – Part Two.