Ulladu Narpadu

Introduction by Sri Michael James

Ulladu Narpadu, the ‘Forty [Verses] on That Which Is’, is a Tamil poem that Sri Ramana composed in July and August 1928 when Sri Muruganar asked him to teach us the nature of the reality and the means by which we can attain it.

In the title of this poem, the word உள்ளது (ulladu) is a verbal noun that means ‘that which is’ or ‘being’ (either in the sense of ‘existence’ or in the sense of ‘existing’), and is an important term that is often used in spiritual or philosophical literature to denote ‘reality’, ‘truth’, ‘that which is real’ or ‘that which really is’. Hence in a spiritual context the meaning clearly implied by ulladu is atman, our ‘real self’ or ‘spirit’.

Though நாற்பது (narpadu) means ‘forty’, Ulladu Narpadu actually consists of a total of forty-two verses, two of which form the mangalam or ‘auspicious introduction’ and the remaining forty of which form the nul or main ‘text’.

Like many of his other works, Sri Ramana composed Ulladu Narpadu in a poetic metre called venba, which consists of four lines, with four feet in each of the first three lines and three feet in the last line, but since devotees used to do regular parayana or recitation of his works in his presence, he converted the forty-two verses of Ulladu Narpadu into a single verse in kalivenba metre by lengthening the third foot of the fourth line of each verse and adding a fourth foot to it, thereby linking it to the next verse and making it easy for devotees to remember the continuity while reciting.

Since the one-and-a-half feet that he thus added to the fourth line of each verse may contain one or more words, which are usually called the ‘link words’, they not only facilitate recitation but also enrich the meaning of either the preceding or the following verse.

In Bhagavan’s own words
The story of how the work Ulladu Narpadu came into being is told by Ramana Maharshi himself in Day by Day with Bhagavan, 7th December 1945:

Bhagavan referred to the article in the Vision of December, 1945 on Sthita Prajna and to the lines from Sat Darshana quoted in that article. Dr Syed thereupon asked Bhagavan when Reality in Forty Verses was made by Bhagavan. Bhagavan said, “It was recently something like 1928. Muruganar has noted down somewhere the different dates. One day Muruganar said that some stray verses composed by me now and then on various occasions should not be allowed to die, but should be collected together and some more added to them to bring the whole number to forty, and that the entire forty should be made into a book with a proper title. He accordingly gathered about thirty or less stanzas and requested me to make the rest to bring the total to forty. I did so, composing a few stanzas on different occasions as the mood came upon me.

When the number came up to forty, Muruganar went about deleting one after another of the old collection of thirty or less on the pretext they were not quite germane to the subject on hand or otherwise not quite suitable, and requesting me to make fresh ones in place of the deleted ones. When this process was over, and there were forty stanzas as required by Muruganar, I found that in the forty there were but two stanzas out of the old ones and all the rest had been newly composed. It was not made according to any set scheme, nor at a stretch, nor systematically. I composed different stanzas on different occasions and Muruganar and others afterwards arranged them in some order according to the thoughts expressed in them to give some appearance of connected and regular treatment of the subject, viz., Reality.” (The stanzas contained in the old collection and deleted by Muruganar were about twenty. These were afterwards added as a supplement to the above work and the Supplement too now contains 40 verses).

By Robert Butler
Sadhu Om, in his Sri Ramanopadesha Nunmali – Garland of Teaching Texts by Sri Ramana gives a detailed account of the process of creation outlined above, gleaned from his long acquaintanceship with Sri Muruganar, whose key role is mentioned in the above quotation. Sadhu Om first points out that, in 1923 when Muruganar first came to Ramana, little was known of Ramana’s true ‘teachings’ since he felt no compulsion either to speak or commit to writing anything of his own volition, preferring to allow his state to communicate itself to others through silence. What ‘teachings’ that were available were the results of his responses to individuals who had asked him questions and to whom he had replied, tailoring his answers to suit the specific philosophical standpoint of the questioner. (At this time the one existing work that adequately expresses Ramana’s advaitic standpoint, Nan Yar – Who am I, was not widely known).

According to Sadhu Om’s account, Muruganar was that rare one who humbly begged Ramana to ‘Pray tell what is the nature of reality, and how may it be attained, so that we may attain salvation!’ Muruganar’s pressing did not go unrewarded. Its fruits were two works of monumental importance, the Upadesha Undiyar, and Ulladu Narpadu. However, this is jumping ahead somewhat. Muruganar collated the occasional verses that Ramana had composed from time to time at the request of devotees, and proceeded, as Bhagavan describes, with his plan to make them into a book, bringing the number to 40, and then requesting Ramana to replace most of the original verses on the grounds that they were not suitable. His clear aim, as Ramana was no doubt well aware, was to eradicate anything that was not an authentic statement from his guru, and thus derive a work that was truly the teaching of his master. The number Forty was inspired by the title of several works on ethics from the early post- Classical period of Tamil literature, such as the Inna Narpadu, Forty on things which are harmful, and the Iniyavai Narpadu, Forty on things which are desirable. Like Ramana’s Ulladu Narpadu, both the aforementioned works were written in the venba metre, and it was clearly Muruganar’s aim to help create a work which recalled the great works of Tamil literature, rivalled them in its artistry and technical skill, and surpassed them in terms of its subject matter, Reality itself.

It should be added that, in Ulladu Narpadu, Ramana shows himself to be a true master of this most difficult and prized of metric forms. Accordingly therefore, according to Sadhu Om’s account, on the 21st July 1928, Ramana began composing one or two stanzas a day. Muruganar placed the new verses with the old ones in order according to subject matter, and whenever he felt that one or another of the old verses did not reflect the pure advaitic teaching of his master, he requested Ramana to compose a new one in its place, claiming that it was not sufficiently clear, or germane to the subject in hand. By August the 8th the work was complete. 19 new verses had been composed, 18 of the original 21 replaced, and a 2 line kural venba written as a Mangalam – Invocation.