Uḷḷadu Nāṛpadu – selfenquiry.me

Uḷḷadu Nāṛpadu

Uḷḷadu Nāṛpadu (Reality in Forty Verses), composed by Sri Ramana Maharshi, is a concise and profound exploration of Reality and the nature of the Self. In these forty verses, Bhagavan points directly to the essence of existence, dissolving misconceptions about the world, the mind, and the ego. It stands as one of Ramana Maharshi’s clearest expressions of Self-enquiry and non-dual understanding.

Invocatory verses

1) Could there be awareness of being without that which is? Since that Reality exists in the Heart, free of thought, who could meditate upon that Reality, called the Heart? Know that to abide in the Heart, as one is, is truly to meditate (upon the Heart).

2) Pure-hearted people who have intense fear of death will, for their protection, take refuge at the feet of Lord Siva, who is devoid of birth and death. In thus taking refuge in Him, they suffer their own death. For them, in this deathless state, will the thought of death remain?

The Main Text

1) Since we perceive the world, it is reasonable to accept that there exists a First Cause, inherent in which is a creative potential to manifest diversity. The picture consisting of names and forms, the seer, the screen, and the pure light, all are He, the Self.

2) Every religion postulates three fundamentals—soul, world and God. The argument as to whether one First Cause manifests as three or whether three fundamentals remain as three will continue as long as the ego exists.

3) What is the use of disputing, “the world is real or not”, “the world is consciousness or not”, “the world is happiness or not”? Abandoning the world and coming to know oneself is the fitting state for all.

4) If one’s self is a form, then the world and God will also be forms. If one’s self is not a form, who is there to see their forms, and how? Can the seen be anything other than the eye? The eye is oneself, the infinite eye.

5) The body is a form composed of five sheaths. Therefore, all five are included in the term ‘body’. Without a body, is there a world? Is there anyone who, without a body, has seen the world? Say!

6) The world is of the form of the five sense perceptions. It is nothing other. Since the mind alone perceives the world through the five senses, can there be a world apart from the mind? Say!

7) Although the world and the mind arise and subside together, it is through the mind that the world shines forth. That which shines without appearing and disappearing, as the place where both the mind and the world appear and disappear, is the Real.

8) Worship under a name and form is only a means to realize that Reality as name and form. True knowing is to discern one’s own truth, to subside into it, and to merge as one with it.

9) The pairs of opposites (dyads) and the three factors of knowledge (triads) depend upon the one (ego) for their existence. If one investigates what that one thing is, they will cease to be. Those who know this are knowers of Truth. They are not confused. Know this!

10) Without ignorance, knowledge does not exist and without knowledge, that ignorance does not exist. That alone is knowledge that knows the ego, which is the source of knowledge and ignorance, through the enquiry “To whom does that knowledge and ignorance occur?”

11) To know that which is other than oneself without knowing the self (knower)—How can this be knowledge, and not ignorance? Upon knowing oneself, which is the foundation for both, both knowledge and ignorance will cease to exist.

12) That in which knowledge and ignorance does not exist is true knowledge. That which knows (the world) is not true knowledge. Since it shines by itself with nothing else for it to know, and with nothing other than itself to make it known, the Self is true knowledge. It is not a void. Know thus.

13) The Self, which is knowledge (jnana), alone is real. Knowledge of diversity is ignorance. Even this ignorance, which is unreal, does not exist apart from the Self, which is knowledge. Can all that (gold) jewellery, which is not real, exist apart from the gold, which is real? Say!

14) If the First Person exists, the Second and Third Persons will also exist. But if, upon one’s investigation into the reality of its nature, the First Person is destroyed, the Second and Third Persons will also cease to be, and Self-nature, shining alone, will be revealed as one’s own nature.

15) The past and future exist depending on the present. Whilst they are occurring, these too are the present. The present alone exists. To attempt to understand the past and future without having ascertained the truth of the now is like trying to count without the number ‘one’.

16) When we investigate, where is time and where is place apart from ourselves? If we are the body, then we will be caught up in time and place. But are we the body? Now, then and always, we are the same One. In place, here, there and everywhere, we are the same One. Therefore, we alone exist, we in whom there is neither time nor place.

17) The body is ‘I’ both to those who have known the Self and to those who have not. To those who have not, the “I” is limited to the size of the body. To those who have, the ‘I’ shines without limit. Know that this is truly the difference between the two.

18) The world will be real both to those who possess knowledge of the Self and to those who do not. For those who have not known the Self, reality is limited to the world (of name and form). The reality of those who have known the Self will shine without limit as the substratum for the world. Know that this is the difference between the two.

19) The dispute as to which will triumph, fate or free will, is only for those who are without understanding as to the root of fate and free will. Those who have known the (ego) self, which is the single source of fate and free will, are free from those things. Say, will they resort to them thereafter?

20) Seeing God without seeing oneself is seeing a mental vision of God. Can it be said, even, that he who sees the Self sees God, his source, when, once one’s root, the ego, has gone, one is no longer other than God?

21) If you ask what is the truth of many learned works which speak of ‘one’s seeing oneself’ and ‘one’s seeing God’, the reply will be: If, since oneself is One, one cannot see oneself, then how can the seeing of oneself occur? And how can the seeing of God occur? It is only by becoming a prey (to the Self). See! (becoming food is seeing).

22) Giving light to the mind, (the Lord) will shine within that mind. Other than by curbing the mind, turning it inwards and embedding it in the Lord, how can there be any thinking of the Lord on the part of the mind? Consider this.

23) This body does not say ‘I’. In deep sleep, no one says “I do not exist.” After the ‘I’ arises, all else arises. Investigate with a keen mind whence this ‘I’ arises.

24) The gross (insentient) body does not say ‘I’; being consciousness does not rise; but in between the two, one thing rises as ‘I’, which is limited to the body. Know that this is known as the awareness-insentience-knot (chit-jada-granthi), as bondage, as the jiva, as the subtle body, as the ego, as samsara, and as the mind.

25) The ghost ego, which has no form, comes into existence by grasping a form, and having grasped a form, it stands. Grasping and consuming forms, it grows. Leaving one form, it grasps another form. If you seek it out, it will take flight. Understand this.

26) If the ego arises, all else will arise. If the ego is not, nothing else will exist. The ego, truly, is all. Know therefore that simply to enquire what it is, is to renounce everything.

27) The state where the ‘I’ does not rise is the state where we are That (i.e., Atman). Without investigating that place where the ‘I’ rises, how can the extinction of the ego be achieved, whereafter the ‘I’ does not rise? Without attaining that, how to abide in the state in which one is That? Say!

28) Just as one dives deep into water to recover an object fallen into it, so too should a seeker dive within oneself with a keen mind, restraining speech and breath, in oder to discover the place of origin of the ego as it arises. Know this.

29) Without saying ‘I’ by mouth, investigating with an inward sinking mind, whence the ‘I’ arises, alone is Jnana. Instead, to think ‘I am not this, I am that’ is only an aid, but can it be enquiry?

30) When the mind turns inward investigating ‘Who am I?’ and reaches the heart, the ego ‘I’ bows down its head in shame. Then there appears another ‘I-I’ of its own accord. Though it appears so, it is not the ego, but the ‘I’ that is the whole, the Real Svarupa of the Self.

31) For one who has destroyed the personal self and enjoying the bliss of the Self (tanmayanada) which arises thereafter, what single thing remains to be done? Since he knows nothing other than the Self, who could conceive what state he is in, and how?

32) The vedas may proclaim in thunderous tones ‘You Are That’, but to contemplate ‘I am That, not this’, instead of knowing oneself through enquiry and remaining in that state, is due to want of mental strength, since That always abides as oneself.

33) To say ‘I do not know myself’ or ‘I have known myself’ is ground for ridicule. Why? To make oneself an object, are there two selves? Because being one is the truth, the experience of everyone.

34) Without knowing within the Heart, wherein (the mind) merges, the Reality that exists eternally as the nature of everyone, and remaining established there, disputing that ‘It exists’ or ‘does not exist’, ‘It has form’ or ‘is formless’, ‘It is non-dual’ or ‘dual’ or ‘neither’, is merely the evil of illusion born of ignorance.

35) To know the Reality that exists and to remain as That is true attainment (siddhi). Truly, all other attainments are attainments acquired in a dream. Will the siddhis attained in dream remain real on waking up? Will those liberated ones who are firmly poised in the Self, having woken up from the sleep of delusion, ever be deluded by the lure of siddhis? Consider and know.

36) If we think, we are the body, then to meditate, ‘No, we are not. We are That.’ may be a good aid to help us abide as that. However, since That is what we are, why should we always think, ‘We are That?’ Does a man need to think ‘I am a man?’

37) Even the assertion that during practice, there is Duality, and upon realisation there is Non-Duality is not true. Who else is the tenth man but the tenth man himself, both while he is anxiously seeking himself, and upon attaining himself?

38) If we are the doer of action, we will experience the resulting fruit. But when, on enquiring, who is the doer of action?, one knows oneself, then the doership is lost and the triple karma also falls off. This is the state of liberation which is eternal.

39) Only so long as one thinks ‘I am in bondage’, thoughts of bondage & liberation will remain. When one enquires ‘Who is the bound one?’, the Self reveals itself as eternally attained and free. In such a state, when thoughts of bondage doesn’t exist, can thoughts of liberation remain?

40) If it be said that liberation is of three kinds, with form, without form, and both with and without form, I will say that the destruction of ego, which distinguishes between with form, without form, and both with and without form, alone is liberation. Know thus.

An atma jnani alone can be a good karma yogi.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi ~