Verse 08 ("eka sloka")

[vasudevaram]

Here is Verse 8 of the Supplement, Bhagavan's translation of what is better known as the "eka sloka".
We can read through it as it is, very possibly recognising many of the sounds and words:

itayamaang	kukaiyi	naappa	Neekamaam	piramam	maatra
matuvaka	makamaa	neeree	yavirnt’idu	maanmaa	vaakaa
vitayamee	saarvaay	tannai	yeNNiyaa	zhalatu	vaayu
vatanuda	naazhma	nattaa	laanmaavi	nidda	naavaay

We'll follow on next with the breakdown which will appear in the sub-board.

[vasudevaram]

Dear members:
At this point we're going to add the Sanskrit text, the text from
which Ramana translated the verse into Tamil.
My thanks go to Nanyar for making the transliteration:

hRdayakuharamadhye kevalam brahmamAtraM
hyahamahamiti sAkshAdAtmarUpeNa bhAti |
hRdi viSa manasA svaM cinvatA majjatA vA
pavanacalanarodhAdAtmanishTho bhava tvam ||

[vasudevaram]

In the centre of the Heart-Cave there shines alone the
one Brahman as the ‘I, I’, the Atman. Reach the Heart by
diving deep in quest of the Self, or by controlling the mind
with the breath, and stay established in the Atman.¹

This one interests me:

In the interior of the heart-cavern the one Brahman shines alone as 'I—I', as the Self (atman). Resort to the heart by diving deep within, through Self-enquiry or by subduing the mind along with the breath. You will thus become established in the heart

Evidently the translator has felt that 'eNNi' (base verb is 'eNNu') is to be seen as a word for vichara. By context this makes sense to me.

(Source: Collected Works published by Sri Ramanasramam in 1968.
3rd edition)


¹In 1915 when Bhagavan was living in Skandasramam, a young devotee,
Jagadiswara Sastri, wrote on a piece of paper in Sanskrit the words hridaya
kuhara madhye (in the interior of the Heart-cavern). He then went out on some business.
When he returned he found to his surprise a complete Sanskrit verse
beginning with those words and learned that Bhagavan had written it. This
verse was later translated into Tamil by Bhagavan and incorporated in the
Forty Verses Supplement. Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni also included this verse
in his Sri Ramana Gita, ch. II, v. 2

[vasudevaram]

Dear Members.
Let's take a look at the following translation (from the Sanskrit) by our dear friend nanyar:

"In the Centre of the heart-cave, Brahman alone shines,
in the form of the Atman, with direct immediacy as I, as I.
Enter into the Heart with questing mind or by diving deep,
with breath controlled, and ever abide as the Self!"

It's the only translation I've seen which has the word 'direct' included,
a word which is present in both the Tamil and Sanskrit versions.
This is reinforced by the word 'immediate' (i.e. with no middle, with nothing coming in between).

A snatch from Talk 341 comes to mind "he must have realised what he wrote".

anbudan

John