Here is something similar to the posting I made yesterday. Towards the end of Guru Vachaka Kovai there is a section entitled ‘The Author Declares His Experience’. In the nine verses that appear in this portion Muruganar describes the experience of the Self that Bhagavan bestowed on him and adds a few philosophical points whose truth he discovered as a consequence of this experience.
The material under the number in bold is the verse itself; sections that begin with ‘Muruganar:’ in bold are Muruganar’s own comments on his verses; and comments that are in italics are my own.
These verses are part of a new annotated translation of Guru Vachaka Kovai that has been done by T. V. Venkatasubramanian, Robert Butler and myself. The work is almost complete and I hope to send it to the press in a few days’ time. The book itself will be available in about two months’ time. Over the course of the next few weeks I will add several more selections from this new work. For those who are unfamiliar with this work, I will say that it is a collection of Bhagavan's teachings recorded in Tamil by Muruganar in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
1240
If I were to declare the experience that arose through the instructions of my Guru, it would be: ‘All that I perceived before as a forest of attachments is none other than the unuttered expanse of mauna [silence], true jnana. All relative knowledge, which is insignificant, is a dream.’
1241
I have known! I have known with certainty the state of supreme truth that is full of transcendental, being-consciousness! I have known that in truth there is never in the least any attainment of bondage, liberation, and so on, which are fabricated when one imagines that one is separate from reality.
Muruganar: Bhagavan wrote, in Upadesa Undiyar verse 29:
To abide in this state, wherein is experienced a supreme bliss, in which there is neither bondage nor liberation, is to abide in the service of the Lord.
He has also stated, in Ulladu Narpadu verse 37, that the argument that says ‘duality in practice and non-duality in attainment’ is not true:
Even the assertion, that during practice there is duality, and upon realisation there is non-duality, is not true.
If the state of ultimate truth is realised as it actually is, then, in that state, the feeling of liberation also does not exist. Since bondage never existed, one’s swarupa is also totally free from the knowledge ‘I am a liberated one’.
1242
Whatever religion we may examine and whatever doctrines we may hear, we have clearly realised that all these religions and doctrines declare with certainty the one and identical goal that shines without any differences.
Muruganar: Harmony among religions prevails only in mauna, and not through subtlety of intellect. After the experience of mauna, it will be known as clearly as an amla on one’s palm that all religions and doctrines uniformly have as their goal the attainment of Self.
1243
When one enters into and abides as the plenitude [purnam] which is all consciousness and which shines as the real import of the unerring Vedas, it is impossible to perceive the three divisions of time, the three persons [I, you, he/she/it] and the triputis [knower, knowing and known, or seer, seeing and seen].
1244
When examined [it will be known that] these subtle ideas just declaimed are the silent discourse joyously bestowed upon me by Ramana, the jnana-Guru, my true Lord, who instructed me by manifesting before me as the foremost Brahma-jnani.
Muruganar: The subtle truth described in the previous verses is realised in jnana. Therefore, what the jnana-Guru bestowed upon me is the essence of the mauna experience. Though the jnana-Guru ever abides within, he manifested outside with a physical body similar to ours to bring us under his rule by bestowing his grace. This is indicated by [the words] ‘manifesting before me’. As the understanding becomes firm only through mauna, it has been described as ‘the silent discourse’.
1245
In my true perspective ‘I’ alone am and ‘you’ are not. In your true perspective ‘you’ alone are and ‘I’ am not. In the perspective of the Self, Self alone is and everything else is not. When one ponders over the matter, all those things and people are only ‘me’.
The beginning of this verse can also be translated in the following way:
In my true perspective you do not exist apart from me. In your true perspective, I do not exist apart from you. From the true perspective of the Self, nothing exists apart from the Self.
1246
I am neither the possessed nor the possessor. I am neither the master nor the slave. I have no kartavya – the feeling that there are duties that must be done. I have no bhogtavya – the feeling that I have to experience enjoyments. I am not the doer.
1247
For my divided consciousness, which was lamenting, imagining itself to be shackled by maya, a Guru, by chance, appeared here [on this earth]. As it is the Self that manifested before me as the Guru and brought me under its rule, my most worthy obeisance is only to my perfect Self, which shines radiantly.
1248
Know that Murugan[ar] will remain forever under the sway of the benevolent power of consciousness, supreme Ramana. Never will he submit to the malignant power of maya, the world, even under circumstances in which dire and distressing poverty comes.
The ‘ar’ at the end of ‘Muruganar’ is a respectful suffix. Muruganar would not use it when he was referring to himself.
