The ‘fourfold means’ (sādhanā catuṣṭayam)

This article is also available in a clearer and more easily readable format on my main website:
The ‘fourfold means’ (sādhanā catuṣṭayam)

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A friend recently asked me to talk in an online meeting about the ‘fourfold means’ (sādhanā catuṣṭayam) that Sadhu Om refers to in chapter 6 of The Path of Sri Ramana (2023 edition, page 72), which is a translation of his Tamil original, ஸ்ரீ ரமண வழி [Śrī Ramaṇa Vaṙi] (2012 edition, page 78). Since the description he gave there of this ‘fourfold means’ (including the third one, śamādi ṣaṭka saṁpatti [the sixfold accomplishment beginning with calmness], which he described in a footnote) is a summary (in some places slightly paraphrased) of what Bhagavan wrote in the fifth paragraph of his Tamil adaptation of Vivēkacūḍāmaṇi, I decided that it would be more useful to discuss that entire paragraph sentence by sentence, which I did in a meeting with a group of his devotees based in Chicago on 30th March 2025.

Aruṇācala Tattuvam and Dīpa-Darśaṉa Tattuvam: The Reality of Arunachala and Seeing Deepam

Friday 13th December 2024 was Kārttikai Deepam, which is an annual festival celebrated in the Tamil month of Kārttikai (mid-November to mid-December) on the day on which the moon is in conjunction with the constellation Pleiades (known in Sanskrit as kṛttikā and in Tamil as kārttikai), which always coincides with the full moon or comes one or two days before or after it. At 6pm on this day a beacon light or dīpam (popularly spelt deepam) is lit on the summit of Arunachala, and continues to burn for about ten days.

Pure intransitive awareness alone is real consciousness and what actually exists

In section 16.1 of A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications Robert Lawrence Kuhn quoted some extracts from personal communication I had with him regarding what Bhagavan taught about consciousness or awareness, so this article is a copy of what I had written to him (with references added in the body of the text instead of in footnotes):

Introduction to Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu

Last year Sandra Derksen asked me to write an introduction for Ramana Maharshi’s Forty Verses On What Is, a book that she had compiled and edited from various explanations that I had given about each verse of Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu in my writings and talks, so this article is adapted from the introduction I wrote for it.

How to know and to be what we actually are

In June my website, which was previously called ‘Happiness of Being’, was renamed ‘Sri Ramana Teachings’, so in August this blog was likewise renamed, and the respective URLs were also changed accordingly. Since the homepage had hardly changed since the website was launched in 2006, it was also in need of updating, so I have drafted a new homepage with a more detailed introduction to and overview of Bhagavan’s teachings, which I hope to post within the next few days, and in the meanwhile I am posting here this extract from it, namely sections 11 to 14.

Āṉma-Viddai verse 5: in the heart that looks within without thinking of anything else, oneself will be seen

In continuation of and as a conclusion to the five articles on Āṉma-Viddai that I posted here previously, namely Āṉma-Viddai: Tamil text, transliteration and translation, Āṉma-Viddai verse 1: thought is what causes the appearance of the unreal body and world, Āṉma-Viddai verse 2: the thought ‘I am this body’ is what supports all other thoughts, Āṉma-Viddai verse 3: knowledge of all other things is caused by ignorance of ourself and Āṉma-Viddai verse 4: self-investigation is the easiest of all paths, because it is not doing but just being, in this article I will explain and discuss the meaning and implications of the fifth and final verse:

Āṉma-Viddai verse 4: self-investigation is the easiest of all paths, because it is not doing but just being

In continuation of four articles on Āṉma-Viddai that I posted here previously, namely Āṉma-Viddai: Tamil text, transliteration and translation, Āṉma-Viddai verse 1: thought is what causes the appearance of the unreal body and world, Āṉma-Viddai verse 2: the thought ‘I am this body’ is what supports all other thoughts and Āṉma-Viddai verse 3: knowledge of all other things is caused by ignorance of ourself, in this article I will explain and discuss the meaning and implications of the fourth verse:

Āṉma-Viddai verse 3: knowledge of all other things is caused by ignorance of ourself

In continuation of three articles on Āṉma-Viddai that I posted here previously, namely Āṉma-Viddai: Tamil text, transliteration and translation, Āṉma-Viddai verse 1: thought is what causes the appearance of the unreal body and world and Āṉma-Viddai verse 2: the thought ‘I am this body’ is what supports all other thoughts, in this article I will explain and discuss the meaning and implications of the third verse:

Āṉma-Viddai verse 2: the thought ‘I am this body’ is what supports all other thoughts

In continuation of two articles that I posted here in January and February of last year, Āṉma-Viddai: Tamil text, transliteration and translation and a detailed explanation of the first verse, Āṉma-Viddai verse 1: thought is what causes the appearance of the unreal body and world, in this article I will explain and discuss the meaning and implications of the second verse:

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 16

This is the sixteenth in a series of articles that I hope to write on Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Bhagavan willing, the completed ones being listed here.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 15

This is the fifteenth in a series of articles that I hope to write on Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Bhagavan willing, the completed ones being listed here.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 13

This is the thirteenth in a series of articles that I hope to write on Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Bhagavan willing, the completed ones being listed here.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 11

This is the eleventh in a series of articles that I hope to write on Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Bhagavan willing, the completed ones being listed here.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 8

This is the eighth in a series of articles that I hope to write on Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Bhagavan willing, the completed ones being listed here.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 5

This is the fifth in a series of articles that I hope to write on Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Bhagavan willing, the completed ones being listed here.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 2

This is the second in a series of articles that I hope to write on Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai, Bhagavan willing, the completed ones being listed here.

Upadēśa Sāraḥ: Sanskrit text, transliteration and translation (with the original Tamil text)

उपदेश सारः (Upadēśa Sāraḥ), ‘The Essence of Spiritual Teachings’, is Bhagavan’s Sanskrit translation or adaptation of one of the poetic texts that he originally wrote in Tamil, namely உபதேச வுந்தியார் (Upadēśa-v-Undiyār). Like all his original writings, both these versions of this poem are extremely deep and rich in meaning and implication, so in order to understand them clearly and correctly we need to do careful śravaṇa (hearing, reading or studying attentively), manana (considering and thinking deeply about what is meant and implied) and nididhyāsana (deep contemplation on that towards which all these teachings are ultimately pointing, namely our own real nature, which is sat-cit, our fundamental awareness of our own existence, ‘I am’).

Āṉma-Viddai verse 1: thought is what causes the appearance of the unreal body and world

In continuation of my previous article, Āṉma-Viddai: Tamil text, transliteration and translation, in this article I will explain and discuss the meaning and implications of the first verse of this text, and in subsequent articles I will do likewise for each of the other four verses:

What are vāsanās and how do they work?

A friend wrote to me asking whether the following is ‘a reasonable terse description of the meaning of the term vāsanā’:

vāsanā: an inclination, which has been imprinted through one’s past actions and experiences, to desire having a particular or type of experience

This article is adapted from the reply I wrote to this friend.

The Ramaṇa mahāvākya: ‘நான் நான்’ (nāṉ nāṉ) or ‘अहम् अहम्’ (aham aham), ‘I am I’

I have recently been trying to complete a detailed explanation about the song Āṉma-Viddai that I began to write more than two years ago but never had time to complete, so if it is Bhagavan’s will I hope to be able to post that here within the next few weeks. In the meanwhile, since the teaching ‘நான் நான்’ (nāṉ nāṉ) or ‘अहम् अहम्’ (aham aham), ‘I am I’, is such a fundamental and central principle of his teachings, but one that is sadly so overlooked and neglected due to a widespread misinterpretation of it and a consequent failure to recognise its profound significance, I decided to post this extract from the explanation I have written for verse 2 of Āṉma-Viddai: