Upadeśa Undiyār
Upadeśa Undiyār is a concise yet profound work of Sri Ramana Maharshi, comprising thirty Tamil verses. It was composed at the request of Sri Muruganar, first in Tamil, and was later rendered into Sanskrit, Telugu, and Malayalam under the title Upadeśa Sāram—meaning The Essence of Spiritual Teachings.
In this text, Sri Ramana presents a clear progression of the main spiritual paths—karma (action), bhakti (devotion), yoga (meditation), and jñāna (knowledge)—showing how each, when pursued rightly, leads the seeker inward toward the source of the ‘I’. The work culminates in Self-enquiry, revealing it as the direct means to realise the Self.
Remarkable for its simplicity and depth, Upadeśa Undiyār distils the core of Vedanta into practical guidance, making it a foundational text for understanding Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teachings on doership, surrender, and Self-abidance.
The Main Text
1) Karma bears fruit by the will of God. Since karma is insentient (jada), how can it be supreme?
2) Since the fruit of any action perishes (being part of prārabdha), causing the seed (vishaya-vāsanā) to fall back into the ocean of action, it does not lead to liberation.
3) When action is performed without desire (nishkāmya karma) and dedicated to God, it purifies the mind and becomes a means to liberation.
4) Ritual worship (pūjā), repetition of sacred names (japa), and meditation (dhyāna) are actions of the body, speech, and mind respectively, and they progress in excellence in that order. This is certain.
5) To worship God by recognizing the eight forms (earth, water, fire, air, space, sun, moon, and jīvas) as His manifestations is noble pūjā.
6) Rather than praising God, japa is superior; rather than japa performed aloud, japa faintly whispered within the mouth is superior; and superior to japa within the mouth is japa performed by the mind. This mental repetition (mānasika japa) is what is called meditation (dhyāna).
7) Uninterrupted meditation upon God, flowing like a river or the falling of ghee, is superior to meditation broken by other thoughts.
8) Rather than meditating upon God as other than oneself (anya-bhāva), to meditate upon God as not other than oneself—as “He is I” (ananya-bhāva)—is the highest.
9) Through the power of meditation rooted in ananya-bhāva (Self-attentiveness), one abides in the state of Being (sat-bhāva), which is beyond meditation (bhāvanātīta); this alone is the essence of supreme devotion (para-bhakti-tattva).
10) To abide, having subsided in the place of rising—one’s source, the real Self, the Heart—is itself karma (desireless action) and bhakti (devotion), as well as yoga (union with God) and jñāna (true knowledge).
11) By restraining the breath within, the mind will also subside, like a bird caught in a net. This (practice of breath-restraint) is a means to restrain the mind.
12) Mind and breath are two branches which have knowing and doing (as their respective functions); (but) their origin is one.
13) Subsidence (of mind) is of two kinds—abeyance (laya) and destruction (nāsa). That which is in abeyance (laya) will rise. (But) if the form dies, it will not rise.
14) When the mind subsides through restraint of the breath, it can then be annihilated by single-minded attention to the Self (on the path of knowing and becoming one with the Self).
15) For the great yogi who is established in the Reality due to the death of the mind-form, there is no action (to perform), because He has attained his true nature (the natural state of Self-abidance).
16) True knowledge is the mind knowing its own form of light (its nature as pure consciousness), having relinquished external objects.
17) By closely scrutinizing the form of the mind without without forgetfulness (that is, without pramada or slackness of attention), one discovers that there is no mind at all; this is the direct path for all.
18) The mind consists only of thoughts. Of all (these thoughts), the thought ‘I’ (the feeling ‘I am the body’) alone is the root. (Therefore) what is called mind is (this root-thought) ‘I’.
19) When one scrutinizes within thus, ‘What is the rising-place of ‘I’?’, the ‘I’ will die. This is Self-enquiry (jnana-vichara).
20) In the place where ‘I’ (the mind or ego) merges, the One (existence-consciousness) shines forth spontaneously (and continuously) as ‘I-I’ (‘I am I’). That itself is the Whole (pūrna).
21) That (‘I-I’, the Whole) is always the true import of the word ‘I’, for we exist even in sleep, which is devoid of the ‘I’ (that is, the ‘I’-thought, or the mind).
22) Since the body, mind, intellect, breath and the darkness (of ignorance which remains in sleep) are all insentient (jada) and unreal (asat), they cannot be the ‘I’, which alone is real (sat).
23) Because there is no other consciousness to know what exists, that which exists (the reality or sat) is itself consciousness (chit). That consciousness itself is ‘we’ (the real Self).
24) By (their) existing nature (that is, in their real nature, which is existence or sat), God (Creator) and souls (creatures) are only one substance (vastu). Their differences are due only to differences in form and levels of knowledge.
25) When the creature (soul) abandons its illusory individual form and recognises itself as without attributes, it sees the Creator (God) as its own true Self.
26) Being the Self is itself knowing the Self, because Self is that which is not two. This Being and knowing the Self is abidance in the reality (tanmaya-nishta).
27) The knowledge which is devoid of both knowledge and ignorance (about objects), alone is (true) knowledge. This is the truth, (because in the state of non-differentiation) there is nothing to know (other than oneself).
28) If one knows what one’s own nature is, then (what will remain and shine is only) the beginningless, endless and unbroken existence-consciousness-bliss (anadi ananta akhanda sat-chit-ananda).
29) Abiding in this state (of Self), having attained the supreme bliss, which is devoid of bondage and liberation, is abiding in the service of God.
30) To know that which remains after the ‘I’ has ceased to exist, that alone is excellent tapas; thus said Lord Ramana, who is the Self.
Inquiring into the nature of one’s self that is in bondage, and realising one’s true nature is liberation.
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi ~
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