Five Verses on the One Self
Ekanma Panchakam
Lord Ramana Guru Himself has here again lovingly composed “Ekatma Panchakam”, which He formerly gave through His Grace, as an excellent Kalivenba in Tamil called “Ekatma Vivekam” (The knowledge of the One and Only Self) as an aid for true devotees to recite.
1.
Know that, one formerly forgetting the Self, thinking a body alone to be oneself, taking countless births, and finally knowing the Self and being the Self, is only like one’s waking up from a dream of wandering around in the world.
2.
Know that one who, without diving deep within by keenly attending to the feeling ‘I’, merely asks himself, vocally or mentally, ‘Who am I?” and ‘What is the place where ‘I’ exist?’, even though he always exists as self, is equal to a drunkard who asks ‘Who am I?’ and ‘In which place am I?’
3.
When in fact the body is within the Self which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda), he who thinks that the Self is within that insentient body, is like one who thinks that the cloth or canvas of the screen, which is the support of the cinema picture, exists within the picture.
4.
Does an ornament exist as other than gold, which is the substance (vastu) ? Likewise, without the Self, the sole existing Reality, where is the body? He who thinks himself to be the body is an ajnani, whereas He, who takes himself to be the Self, is a Jnani who has known the Self. Bear this in mind.
5.
That which always exists and shines by its own light, is only the Reality (vastu), that one Self. When at that time in ancient days, the Adi-Guru (the primal Guru, Dakshinamurti) revealed that Reality without saying, that is, by teaching though silence, say who can reveal it by saying through words?
