[Chaturamnaya] On the Glory of the Siddhas - Chapter 18 of Sri Ramana Gita (1)

[S Jayanarayanan]

http://www.arunachala.org/newsletters/2011/sep-oct
 
THE Sri Ramana Gita contains the essence of wisdom
imparted by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi to Sri
Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni, his illustrous devotee who
sought refuge at His feet in 1907. The Muni thereafter
aptly named the sage - who was then known as
Brahmanaswami - Sri Ramana Maharshi, the name by
which he became renowned the world over.
The Sri Ramana Gita contains replies given by Sri
Bhagavan to Sri Ganapati Muni and other devotees on a
variety of important spiritual topics discussed during the
years 1913 and 1917. The text contains three hundred
verses and is arranged into 18 chapters, such as “The
Importance of Self-Abidance”, “The Paramount Duty” and
“The Nature of Gnana”.
 
In former times, the Paramatman, the Divine Self in
the form of Lord Krishna, gave his gospel in the form of
the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna in order to remove the
darkness of ignorance. In the present age, Lord Ramana,
the Sage of Arunachala, has clarified the path to liberation
in order to meet the spiritual needs of present-day seekers
of Truth from every continent the world over.
The concluding eighteenth chapter of Sri Ramana
Gita is titled “On the Glory of the Siddhas”. In this chapter
Sri Kavyakantha pours out his heart in devotion to his
Master, elucidating his power and Divinity. Most of
Bhagavan’s devotees are familiar with Ganapati Muni’s
exquisite exposition in 40 verses in praise of Sri Ramana,
titled “Sri Ramana Chatvarimsat”. The verses composed
for the 18th chapter of Sri Ramana Gita are in every manner
a similar source of inspiration and insight.
 
This 18th chapter has been melodiously sung by Sri
Lingeswara Rao and Sri J. Jayaraman of Sri Ramanasramam
and recorded on a CD titled “Sanskrit Hymns
from Sri Ramanasram”. A sample of this can be heard on
Arunachala Ashrama’s web site at:
http://www.arunachala.org/bookstall/audio/
 
Sri Ramana Gita is one of those few books that all
sincere aspirants should revisit often. At present, Sri
Ramanasramam has three different publications titled Sri
Ramana Gita. The first one contains the Sanskrit text
with an English translation and transliteration, and also a
Tamil translation. The second was recently published and
is titled Sri Ramana Gita of B. V. Narasimha Swami.
This second edition was serialized in our 2010 newsletter.
The third is Sri Ramana Gita (The Teachings of
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi). This is the English
translation of Kapali Sastriar's Sanskrit commentary of
Sri Ramana Gita. Kapali Sastriar was an eminent disciple
of Ganapati Muni and himself an illumined scholar and
sadhaka.
 
The following English translation is taken from the first
book described above which is the result of the lifelong
devotion, practical experience and scholarly insight of
Swami Viswanathan and Prof. K. Swaminathan.
 
We have included the English transliteration so that
devotees will be easily able to add their voices to the
divine words given by Sri Kavyakanta in praise of Sri
Bhagavan Ramana, and share in that divine devotion in
which all else is rendered superfluous.
 
 
(To be continued)