Upadesa Saram

In this definitive translation and commentary on the text, Rajivji deciphers the deep truths found in Upadesa Saram.  Rajivji’s commentary makes Sri Ramana’s teachings easy to understand for seekers of all paths and stages of spiritual development. The books contains thirty verses on the essential teaching of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi.  Within the text, Sri Ramana describes the practices and benefits found on the four paths to liberation: Karma, Bhakti, Raja, and Jnana Yoga.

The story of Upadesa Saram originates with the famous Tamil poet, Muruganar. Muruganar was composing a poem about a group of ancient ascetics who were performing rituals in the Daruka Forest in order to obtain special powers to fulfill their worldly desires.  They believed that Karma Yoga was the highest path towards liberation. Lord Shiva, seeing their ignorance, manifested in Daruka Forest to offer them the right instruction (upadesa) in order to achieve liberation.  Once Muruganar reached this point in his poem, he realized that he did not possess the knowledge to explain Lord Shiva’s teaching to the ascetics. Only Muruganar’s guru, Sri Ramana, possessed that knowledge being himself an embodiment of Lord Shiva. Muruganar then prayed to Sri Ramana to reveal the essence of the teachings that he had himself given to the ascetics in Daruka Forest. In response, Sri Ramana produced the Tamil text Upadesa Unidyar, which he then translated into Sanskrit as Upadesa Saram.