Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 4: Be and shine in my heart as one without a second

This article is also available in a clearer and more easily readable format on my main website:
Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 4: Be and shine in my heart as one without a second

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In continuation of my previous four articles, Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam: Tamil text, transliteration and translation, Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 1: When, by its wonderful act of grace, Arunachala enchanted and pulled my mind close, I saw as this is acalam, Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 2: When investigating within the mind who he who saw is, I saw what remained when he who saw was completely non-existent and Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 3: When thinking of your form without thinking, form will cease, in this article I will explain and discuss the meaning and implications of the fourth verse:

Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 3: When thinking of your form without thinking, form will cease

This article is also available in a clearer and more easily readable format on my main website:
Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 3: When thinking of your form without thinking, form will cease

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In continuation of my previous three articles, Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam: Tamil text, transliteration and translation, Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 1: When, by its wonderful act of grace, Arunachala enchanted and pulled my mind close, I saw as this is acalam and Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam verse 2: When investigating within the mind who he who saw is, I saw what remained when he who saw was completely non-existent, in this article I will explain and discuss the meaning and implications of the third verse:

Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam: Tamil text, transliteration and translation

This article is also available in a clearer and more easily readable format on my main website:
Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam: Tamil text, transliteration and translation

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In continuation of my translations of other works of Bhagavan, such as Nāṉ Ār?, Upadēśa Undiyār, Upadēśa Sāraḥ, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Kaliveṇbā, Appaḷa Pāṭṭu, Āṉma-Viddai, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu Anubandham, Aruṇācala Tattuvam and Dīpa-Darśaṉa Tattuvam, Śrī Aruṇācala Navamaṇimālai and Śrī Aruṇācala Padigam, this is my translation of ஸ்ரீ அருணாசல அஷ்டகம் (Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam), and in the coming months or years I hope to be able to revise and post here my translations of all his other original writings.

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.

Śrī Aruṇācala Padigam: Tamil text, transliteration and translation

This article is also available in a clearer and more easily readable format on my main website:
Śrī Aruṇācala Padigam: Tamil text, transliteration and translation

* * * * *

In continuation of my translations of other works of Bhagavan, such as Nāṉ Ār?, Upadēśa Undiyār, Upadēśa Sāraḥ, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Kaliveṇbā, Appaḷa Pāṭṭu, Āṉma-Viddai, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu Anubandham, Aruṇācala Tattuvam and Dīpa-Darśaṉa Tattuvam and Śrī Aruṇācala Navamaṇimālai, this is my translation of ஸ்ரீ அருணாசல பதிகம் (Śrī Aruṇācala Padigam), and in the coming months or years I hope to be able to revise and post here my translations of all his other original writings.

Śrī Aruṇācala Navamaṇimālai: Tamil text, transliteration and translation

This article is also available in a clearer and more easily readable format on my main website:
Śrī Aruṇācala Navamaṇimālai: Tamil text, transliteration and translation

* * * * *

In continuation of my translations of other works of Bhagavan, such as Nāṉ Ār?, Upadēśa Undiyār, Upadēśa Sāraḥ, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu, Upadēśa Kaliveṇbā, Appaḷa Pāṭṭu, Āṉma-Viddai, Uḷḷadu Nāṟpadu Anubandham and Aruṇācala Tattuvam and Dīpa-Darśaṉa Tattuvam, this is my translation of ஸ்ரீ அருணாசல நவமணிமாலை (Śrī Aruṇācala Navamaṇimālai), and in the coming months or years I hope to be able to revise and post here my translations of all his other original writings.

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.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 21

This is the twenty-first 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 18

This is the eighteenth 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 10

This is the tenth 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 3

This is the third 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.

Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai: pāyiram, kāppu and verse 1

‘அருளும் வேணுமே. அன்பு பூணுமே. இன்பு தோணுமே’ (aruḷum vēṇumē. aṉbu pūṇumē. iṉbu tōṇumē), ‘Grace also is certainly necessary. Be adorned with love. Happiness will certainly appear’, sings Bhagavan in his concluding statements of the final verse of Āṉma-Viddai, and as he often said, ‘Bhakti is the mother of jñāna’, thereby implying that all-consuming and heart-melting love (bhakti) is the sole means by which we can know and be what we actually are. This truth is implicit in all his teachings, but in no other text does he express it as clearly, emphatically and heart-meltingly as he does in Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai.

Is it possible for us to have a ‘glimpse of Self’?

A friend wrote to me asking, ‘Can the practice become constant? Turning attention inward, I remain there (I-AM). Where does effort stop? I had glimpses of Self, how to remain there? Is it at all possible?’, in reply to which I wrote:

Self-investigation as the way to love

In April of last year a Finnish friend, Jussi Penttinen, invited me to Helsinki, where he had arranged for me to give a talk and answer questions at a meeting organised by Forum Humanum. A video of this meeting, 2019-04-03 Forum Humanum, Helsinki: Michael James discusses self-investigation as the way to love, is available on my YouTube channel, Sri Ramana Teachings:

Why should we try to be aware of ourself alone?

Referring to two sentences I wrote while explaining the second sentence of verse 5 of Śrī Aruṇācala Aṣṭakam in one of my recent articles, How to merge in Arunachala like a river in the ocean?, namely ‘How can we grind the mind on the stone called mind? By attending to ourself alone’, a friend wrote to me asking what exactly I meant by ‘alone’ here, and though there is only one in enlightenment, how we can be alone while making an effort to turn 180 degrees. In reply to this I wrote:

Must we purify our mind by other means before we can practise ātma-vicāra?

This article is adapted from a series of messages that I exchanged with a friend via WhatsApp.

Why do viṣaya-vāsanās sprout as thoughts, and how to eradicate them?

A friend wrote to me recently:

Through self-inquiry every vasana comes up to the surface. Sometimes I am really lost, sometimes I am cool.

I try to practise self-inquiry with every thought that comes up in my mind, but they are getting more and more.

Is it true that vasanas want to go, when they are on the surface?

The best thing is, I will not give up to practise, but I want to do it in the best way.

The following is adapted from the reply I wrote to him: