Sivaprakasam Pillai
'The Maharshi' newsletter Citations
Sep / Oct 1991
Amused, I said to myself, 'Is this known as Brahman'!" One of the earliest devotees, Sivaprakasam Pillai, has referred to this at the beginning of his brief ...
Sep / Oct 1993
Gita fame, Munagala Venkataramiah (the late Swami Ramanananda Saraswathi, the author of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi) and Sivaprakasam Pillai.
Nov / Dec 2002
A century has passed since M.Sivaprakasam Pillai visited the young Sri Ramana Maharshi on the slopes of the Arunachala Hill and earnestly beseeched the ...
Sep / Oct 2003
Back in 1902 Sivaprakasam Pillai queried Sri Bhagavan as to the nature of 'I' and in response received the enlightening exposition enshrined in Sri Bhagavan's ...
May / Jun 2004
An old devotee of Maharshi, Siva Prakasam Pillai, has mentioned this in his "Ramana-charita Ahaval" as "the sage who obtained consciousness of Brahman ...
Jan / Feb 2006
That well-known early devotee of Bhagavan, Sivaprakasam Pillai, for whom Who am I" was written, says in one of his poems: "To everyone you give only this ...
Nov / Dec 2016
The Essence of Sri Ramana's Sayings by Sivaprakasam Pillai
Nov / Dec 2023
Who Am I ? - Introduction
The questions were put to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi by one Sri M.Sivaprakasam Pillai about the year 1902. Sri Pillai, a graduate in Philosophy, was at...
Who Am I ?, 1931 text
Self Realization - 1931. Below are the original fourteen questions put by Sivaprakasam Pillai and the answers given by Bhagavan.
Who Am I?, T.M.P.Mahadevan
The questions were put to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi by one Sri M.Sivaprakasam Pillai about the year 1902. Sri Pillai, a graduate in Philosophy, was at ...
Saranāgatī Aug 2023
Origins: The History of the Ashram Tamil Parayana
[1]
Saranāgatī Sep 2023
In Profile: Sivaprakasam Pillai [part 1]
Saranāgatī Sep 2023
In Profile: Sivaprakasam Pillai [part 2, conclusion]
The Essence of Sri Ramana's Sayings
Sivaprakasam Pillai is the fortunate devotee, who put the important question "Who am I?" to Bhagavan and preserved His answers. This treasure-trove of Wisdom now guides innumerable seekers all over the world.
He dedicated the rest of his life to contemplation of His teachings. Now and then he used to write a few verses. Sivaprakasam Pillai passed away in January 1949. After that, when Sri Manickam Pillai, his nephew, came to the Ashram, Bhagavan enquired about Sivaprakasam Pillai's last days. He asked whether 'Pillaiyavargal' (this is how Bhagavan referred to Sivaprakasam Pillai) had left any poems behind. The nephew hesitatingly replied: 'Bhagavan! He did leave some manuscripts with me, but with the instructions that I should burn them after his death and not show them to others.?'
'Oh, is it so! Doesn't matter. You can show them to me!' From the bunch Bhagavan picked up one sheet and said: 'This one is enough' and returned the rest.
On the sacred day of Sri Pillaiyavargal's remembrance, we present the English translation of his poem selected by Bhagavan:
Sri Ramana Vachana Saram
Translation by Devotees
This is the essence; This is the essence!
This indeed is the essence of Ramana's words!
Tell me who is the real You! Seek the real You!
You are not surely the putrid flesh.
The body is born, the body dies.
The body knows not itself in deep sleep.
You are Knowledge. Knowledge is You.
Knowledge-Eternal is never born nor dies.
In sleep is Awareness of Self, not of body
You alone witness absence of body-consciousness
Do not all know that body takes birth
Is there anybody who is aware of birth of Consciousness?
You are not the body as declared above.
Destroy the false notion that you are the body
Seek ceaselessly your real nature
Think no other thought.
If the root thought 'I am the body'
Subside; then all other thoughts subside.
'Who is aware of the body' -This quest
Alone will eliminate 'I am the body' notion.
The deluded one who thinks 'I am the body'
Will crave for food, clothes and desires thereon
He who is free from the delusion 'I am the body'-
His mind will not crave for food, clothes and desires extensive
Even as the end draws nigh, get not perturbed
Be tranquil; it is all God's work
Ponder not the body is one, two or three (gross, subtle or causal)
Vain is such pursuit.
Arunachala Siva.
If you observe attentively
There is no scope for body-consciousness at all
Reject all appearance that seems apart [from You]
Reject it as "Not I"
All other dogmas and tenets are garbage-like collections
Remove them all away.
Repeatedly questing "Who am I"
The I-thought alone stays
The rest will be ashes.
When I-thought gets burnt away
Know that "That is the Real You"; bereft of thought
That which neither rises nor sets is the Real You - shining effulgent
As the Self shines like the resplendent Sun
Be that, never falling back
This is the essence, this is the essence,
This indeed is the essence of Ramana's Teaching.