1. Blessed be the feet of the Master, who appeared as the embodiment of grace. Blessed be the knower of the Vedas whose feet remove ignorance and bestow knowledge.

2. Blessed be the feet of God who steals the minds of those who see him. Blessed be the feet of the pure one who has neither likes nor dislikes.

3. Blessed be the feet of the Lord who granted a vision in the form of light. Blessed be the feet of him, the devotee, who has received the grace of the ancient Lord.

4. Blessed be the feet of the embodiment of Truth who realised the Truth and renounced completely all [else]. Blessed be the feet of the strong one, who shows the path of salvation as it really is.

5. Blessed be the feet of the knower who truly knows [everything] but does not show himself off as a knower. Blessed be the feet of the great one who teaches the way of highest devotion.

6. Blessed be the feet of the exalted one who grants freedom from fear to those who, [fearing the world,] take refuge in him. Blessed be the feet of the Lord who takes even poison as nectar.

When Bhagavan lived on the hill, a jealous sadhu tried to poison him. Bhagavan knowingly ate the poison, but it had almost no effect on him. I spoke to Ramaswami Pillai about this incident since he was present on the day it happened. He told me that Bhagavan sat motionless, ‘glowing like the Buddha’. Rangan also refers to this incident in his account.

7. Blessed be the feet of the Supreme One who removes all sins. Blessed be the feet of the father who lets no danger approach [his devotees].

8. Blessed be the feet of the Lord who does good even to those who do evil [to him]. Blessed be the feet of the Creator who melts even stone-like hearts.

9. Blessed be the feet of the munificent one who, like the sky that showers [rain], does not expect any reward. Blessed be the feet of the Lord whose speech is sweet as nectar.

10. Blessed be the feet of him who says, ‘See who you are and let go of the non-Self’. Blessed be the feet of the peaceful one who says that misery will go if one becomes the Self.

11. Blessed be the feet of the one who grants knowledge that ‘I am not the body that is so dear [to me]’. Blessed be the feet of him who says, ‘Cast all burdens on the Lord’.

12. Blessed be the feet of the one who says that the divine will bear any burden. Blessed be the feet of the sublime one who says, ‘Stick to the path that is given [by the Guru]’.

13. Blessed be the feet of the one who says that all forms and all their activities are the Lord. Blessed be the feet of the one who says that it is the ego, and nothing else, that causes all trouble.

14. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘That which rises as the “I” is the mind’. Blessed be the feet of the one who proclaims, ‘The vision of Jnana is the destruction of that [mind]’.

15. Blessed be the feet of the one who instructs, ‘Be still without thinking anything’. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘Always keep your mind fixed in your Self’.

16. Blessed be the feet of the one who proclaims, ‘Till you achieve abidance in the Self, do not slacken in self-enquiry’.

17. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘The connection with the body will be destroyed by the “Who am I?” enquiry’.

18. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘Bliss will surge up more and more as the “I” dives deeper and deeper within’.

21. Blessed be the feet of the Lord who instructs, ‘If the mind jumps out, stop it. This is offering the soul to the Lord.’

22. Blessed be the feet of the one who teaches, ‘Crush all thoughts that rise. This indeed is the highly praised vairagya. [non-attachment]’

23. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘The ways to control the mind are many. The best among them is self-enquiry.’

24. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘If controlled by other methods it [the mind] will revive due to the rising vasanas’.

25. Blessed be the feet of the siddha who explains, ‘By mantra japa the mind will subside. Japa is vichara sadhana.

I do not know why Bhagavan is equating the practices of vichara [self-enquiry] and japa in this verse. He usually maintained that they were quite different sadhanas. By translating  sadhana as ‘means’, one could make the sentence read, ‘Japa’ is a means to  'vichara’, that is, a preliminary method, but this is far from being the most obvious reading of the text.

26. Blessed be the feet of the form that says, [‘Contemplation on] form will make the mind one-pointed. Properly considered, [this method] is also a way.’

27. Blessed be the feet of the great one who teaches, ‘If prana [breath] subsides, mind will also subside. [Hence,] pranayama [breath control] is also a means [to make the mind subside].’

28. Blessed be the feet of the one whose teaching is, ‘Of all the niyamas [codes for self-discipline], the best is moderate eating.
Blessed be the feet of the one whose teaching is,'One word spoken leads to many.'

When speaking of  niyamas Bhagavan usually said that it would be enough if devotees moderated sleep and speech and took sattvik food in moderate quantities.

29. Blessed be the feet of the one whose teaches, ‘Control of the mind is the gist of all books. Why [is] a book [needed] to see yourself?

In Irangal, verse two, Sivaprakasam Pillai wrote:

                 ‘He [Bhagavan] asked me, “What is your wish, tell me? Is it to enquire into rare or beautiful arts, or is it to do self-enquiry?” I told him, “I have no desire for books. I am interested only in enquiry.” O mind, why do you forget your word and now desire books?’

                In a comment on this exchange, Sivaprakasam Pillai wrote in one of his stray verses:

‘If one wants to know oneself, there is no need to learn sastras (Scriptures). If you ask what should be done, then enquire firmly “Who am I?” without uttering a word. Give up completely all thoughts of the non-Self and become tranquil.’

30. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘Desire and the rest are the play of the atom [like vasanas]. The cessation of desire is Jnana.

 ‘Desire and the rest’ is an abbreviation of the following list:  kama (desire), krodha (anger), loha (miserliness), moha (delusion), mada (pride), mathasarya (jealousy).

                The first line merely says, ‘Desire and the rest are the play of atoms’. I have taken atoms (anu) to mean vasanas since Bhagavan himself used the word in this context in Arunachala Ashtakam, verse six.

31. Blessed be the feet of the liberated one who enjoins, ‘Get rid of the distinction between man and woman. Marriage is a way of achieving it.’

32. Blessed be the feet of the noble one who explains, ‘Giving to others is giving to oneself. If one knows this, who will refuse to give?’

33. Blessed be the feet of the epitome of humility who says, ‘The more one humbles oneself, the more one benefits. Why have that harmful hatred even towards bad people?’

The two themes of this verse were expanded on by the author in two verses from Irangal:  

Sadhu Ramana made this poor man, who did not know anything, pray only to his feet. Am I fit to receive this good fortune granted by him? He told me to stick to the path of those who had given up vain talk and disputation. ‘Even if others speak ill [of you], do not get upset’. Ramana spoke to me in this way.

O mind, you keep proclaiming that Ramana is your ruler and that you are his slave. Ramana always acts with humility as though he is the slave of everyone. Although you have seen this for yourself, without subsiding with humility, you quarrel with everyone. Think that this amounts to quarrelling with the great Ramana, who has destroyed anger [in himself].  

In one of his notebooks Sivaprakasam Pillai gave a striking example of Bhagavan himself exemplifying these teachings:

                ‘One Balananda Swami asked Bhagavan to order Sri Palaniswami out of Virupaksha Cave. When Bhagavan did not do so, Balananda Swami spat on Bhagavan. Hearing about this later, Kambali Swami asked Sri Bhagavan, “What did you do at that time?” Sri Bhagavan replied, “I kept laughing. After all, this is only a body that has been spat out many times.”’

                Since Bhagavan had ‘spat out’ or severed the I-am-the-body idea, he had no reason to get angry when the body was abused in this way.

34. Blessed be the feet of the friend who says, ‘If “I” rises, all others will rise. If “I” subsides, [all others] will subside.’

35. Blessed be the feet of the friend who instructs, ‘Don’t go back on your word. Keep away from other’s affairs.’

36. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘It is good to practise climbing [spiritually] by yourself. We won’t lift you up.’

The note to verse 33 of Sri Ramanadeva Malai on the respective roles of grace and effort can also be used to qualify this verse. When Bhagavan spoke, he often used the plural pronoun ‘we’ instead of ‘I’.  

37. Blessed be the feet of the yogi who says, ‘It is dangerous to discard traditional rules of conduct. Ponder [over them] and understand their [inner] significance.’

38. Blessed be the feet of the silent one who teaches, ‘Believe that the Lord rules over everything. Regard the world as a dream.’

39. Blessed be the feet of the Lord who says, ‘It is fitting for the wife to listen to the words of the husband. [If she does,] she will derive the same peace as the husband.’

Marriage here is used as a metaphor for the spiritual relationship between the Guru and his disciple. If the disciple listens to the words of the Guru and acts on them, he will attain the same peace as the Guru. In Tamil, the word for husband is the same as the word for ‘the Lord’.

40. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘Fix the mind in the Self. Know that this alone is praising the Guru’s word.’

41. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘There is no need to give me anything. It is sufficient if [the feeling of] differences is removed.’

42. Blessed be the feet of the one who says, ‘Formal respect is only for external show. When the husband and wife are in bed, where is all this [formal respect]?'

This is an oblique reference to an analogy that Bhagavan occasionally used. The disciple may realise the Self and attain oneness with his Guru, but even then he still gives his Guru the usual outward show of courtesy and respect. Bhagavan compared the disciple’s behaviour to that of a wife who publicly treats her husband with respect even though she has experienced sexual union with him. Bhagavan explained this analogy more fully in Guru Vachaka Kovai verse 304:

‘The habit of disciples of worshiping their Guru, who has taken them as his own, is, if pondered over, only observed as an outward formality, just like a wife’s habit of outwardly observing proper reverence towards her husband while in company.’

In one of his unpublished versions of Who am I?  Sivaprakasam Pillai gives some of Bhagavan’s comments on the state of equality that exists between the Guru and the realised disciple:

‘The Guru will be waiting for the disciple to get mature. When the disciple matures, the Guru will give him one glance. At that time all others, other than the disciple, will disappear as if burnt by fire. The Guru will keep such a matured disciple with him as his equal.’

43. Blessed be the feet of the Guru who takes even faults as merits. Blessed be the feet of the Jnani who has adopted me, a dog-like one who has not done good tapas.

44. Blessed be the feet of the sweet one who, like the sun, makes the hearts of the devotees blossom. Blessed be the feet of the blemish-free one who lives in beautiful Arunachala.