Ramana Maharshi’s

Forty Verses on Reality

Ulladu Narpadu

A synopsis of his teaching

With comments and practice notes

by Richard Clarke
 Published by
Infinite Pie Publications
Lake Chapala, Mexico

2017
 Forty Verses on Reality

A Brief Overview

Forty Verses on Reality was written by Ramana Maharshi

at the request of Muruganar, who wanted a concise
synopsis of Ramana’s teaching, and wanted 40 verses to fit
a classical Hindu poetic form. Ramana wrote the verses as
they came to him, and Muruganar arranged them in a
particular order. Later, Ramana wrote 40 additional verses,
and the original 40 verses were put into a supplement to
the 40 verses. The final verses are in this booklet.

Advaita, non-duality, Identity, is the supreme doctrine

expressed in these verses; Jnana marga, the path of
knowledge, is the approach to it. Self-inquiry, “Who am I?,”
is the technique Bhagavan taught for this path. There is no
more profound and comprehensive statement of it than his
Forty Verses on Reality, or Ulladu Narpadu in Tamil.

About the comments

Each verse is given a short title. These comments are

intended to support the reader in coming to understand
experientially what Ramana Maharshi taught. Notes for
practice are included to assist the reader in meditation and
inquiry to make each verse a part of their own experience.

Richard Clarke has been a follower of Ramana Maharshi

since 1990, under the superb teaching of Nome at SAT in
Santa Cruz, CA. Before this he had studied Zen and Chan
Buddhism for 25 years. He lived in Tiruvannamalai, home
of Ramana Ashram from 2007 to 2015. He now resides in
Mexico, near Lake Chapala.

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Invocation

i. Reality exists as the Heart, your very Being

If Reality did not exist, could there be any knowledge of

existence? Free from all thoughts, Reality abides in the Heart,
the Source of all thoughts. It is, therefore, called the Heart.
How then is one to contemplate it? To be as it is in the Heart,
is Its contemplation.

Comment: This verse sets out the entire teaching. First is

Reality. If there was no Reality would you even exist? But
you do exist, and you know you exist. You know Reality,
directly and immediately. To notice this Reality all you have
to do is to look within yourself. Reality is everywhere. If we
trace this Reality to where it comes from, we find is it from
deep within, deeper than any thought. This Reality is there
even when thoughts are not. Thoughts appear in Reality,
not the other way around. So if you trace the origin of the
sense of Reality within you will find the open space of
consciousness. This open space of consciousness is also
your own real identity. It remains always, and it is
untouched by everything that you think affects you. It is at
the core of your being, the Heart.

Practice Note: What we really are seeking, what we really

want to know, is within ourselves. One way to find it is to
inquire, look deep within, questioning, “Is this who I am?”
and noticing everything that comes and goes. What is it that
does not come and go? That is with you always. Just notice.

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 Forty Verses on Reality

ii. Deathless are they who know the Self

Those who know intense fear of death seek refuge only at the
feet of the Lord Who has neither death nor birth. Dead to
themselves and their possessions, can the thought of death
occur to them again? Deathless are they.

Comment: This shows the basis for Ramana Maharshi’s

own realization, which started when he searched within for
the answer to life and death at the age of 14. He found
within himself that which never dies, and is his deepest
identity. He was free, free from old ideas, free from gain or
loss, and free of all possessions. Free of the body and ego.

Who dies? The body is born and so must die. Within us, as
our very Self, is the Existence and Consciousness that lights
up our mind, our senses, and our body. Does Existence ever
die? Consciousness? Do you die? When you know yourself
as this unlimited Existence–Consciousness, then of what
value is any transitory thing; what you have and are is
always. You know you were never born and so will never
die.

Practice Note: Do you exist? How do you know this, except

by your own inner light? Where does this light come from?
This is a good inquiry: “Who knows this?” Knowing this you
find something, not a thing, but consciousness vast and
without boundary. It is Consciousness-Being (or Existence).
Being and Consciousness are not two separate things, but
one thing, indivisible. Can you ever find one without the
other? Look and see within yourself. Does this Existence

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 Forty Verses on Reality

ever die? If this is your own nature, do you die? This leads
to freedom and peace. How can you want anything since
you are vast and partless? No separation means there is no
other thing to want.

Verses

1. You are all

From our perception of the world there follows acceptance of

a unique First Principle possessing various powers. Pictures
of name and form, the person who sees, the screen on which
he sees, and the light by which he sees: he himself is all of
these.

Comment: Since we exist and perceive an external world

there must be a cause, a higher power, something greater
than our individual self, one Reality which underlies the
appearance of both the seer and what is seen: Existence-
Consciousness.

Perceptions play out on the “screen of consciousness,” as

does everything with a name or form. This includes this
seeming person that sees the screen, the screen itself, and
the light by which is screen is lit. All of this, the seer, the
screen, and what is seen, is your Self, your deepest identity,
not the imagined identity that you hold to as real, and who
you are. It’s like we are at the movies, only to discover we
are the screen, not the movie. Is the screen ever burned by
the fire in the movie?

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 Forty Verses on Reality

This Self is the “First Principle” written about in the first

sentence.

Practice Note: Right now, do you exist? You do exist and

you know you exist. Without using mind or senses you
know you exist. If you are looking within for who you are,
how can any of these changing things be you? You feel like
you, the same one, all the time. What is it that is present all
the time, within yourself? When you look “through your
senses” you see myriads of objects and complexities. When
you “look” directly into yourself, what you find is most
singular. Do you have two existences, or just one? Are there
two selves within one to see the other? Or just one?

2. Not three, but only One

All religions postulate the three fundamentals, the world, the

soul, and God, but it is only the one Reality that manifests
Itself as these three. One can say, “The three are really three”
only so long as the ego lasts. Therefore, to inhere in one’s own
Being, where the “I,” or ego, is dead, is the perfect State.

Comment: First we imagine that we are a separate self,

then we see a world populated by others. Thinking how this
all happens, we imagine a god. We usually do not notice
that all three of these sprang from ourselves. When,
through Self-inquiry, we discover this, there is only peace,
the peace that comes from there being no “other” to fear,
and no thing we do not have, so there is no desire, nothing
to want.

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Desires come from the ego. There is nothing separate for

the Self to desire. Peace is freedom from desire, so to gain
real peace, you must “kill” the ego. When you know who
you are, your identity as the Self, you also see that the ego,
being unreal, had no existence to begin with. This is how
the ego is said to die. How can something that never existed
have any hold on you?

Practice Note: Notice that you exist. Investigate just what

this means, just who or what exists, and where? Discard all
that comes and goes, and dive into what remains. Do you
sense “three” here, or only one? Existence is singular, so are
you. You just need to discover for yourself that no
individual exists now, nor did it ever.

3. Take a nonobjective outlook

‘The world is real.” “No, it is a mere illusory appearance.”

“The world is conscious.” ”No.” “The world is happiness.” “No.”
What use is it to argue thus? That State is agreeable to all,
wherein, having given up the objective outlook, one knows
one’s Self and loses all notions either of unity or duality, of
oneself and the ego.

Comment: Dualities are just mental constructs. To debate

the reality of the world is like arguing over the scales of a
snake that is finally found to be just a rope. The entire
point of spiritual practice is to find out just who (or what)
you are. This, called above, “having given up the objective
outlook,” brings peace and happiness to everyone. That is
why Ramana said, “That State is agreeable to all.”

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Practice Note: When your mind gets quiet, you feel calm
and at peace. Where does this peace come from? When
your mind is quiet you are no longer conjuring up the
thoughts, memories, ideas, and projections that you usually
seem to live in. What is different in these mental states?
And if it is not conjured up, where does this peace come
from? And why is this felt by everyone? Could it be that
everyone is looking within, to what is always there, for
everyone? What is to be found by such investigation? Who
am I?

4. The seeing Self is the Eye of the Eye

If one has form oneself, the world and God also will appear
to have form, but if one is formless, who is it that sees those
forms, and how? Without the eye can any object be seen? The
seeing Self is the Eye, and that Eye is the Eye of Infinity.

Comment: How you see yourself determines how you see

anything else. If you have a form, then so do others, the
world, and God. If you, though, are formless, so are the
world and God.
Practice Note: Inquire into yourself, “Who knows?” Use
this inquiry to dive into your own consciousness. If you
think it is the mind that knows, then ask, “Who knows this
mind?” and ”Does this knower have a form?”

5. Do you see a world without a body?

The body is a form composed of the five-fold sheath;

therefore, all the five sheaths are implied in the term, “body.”

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Apart from the body does the world exist? Has anyone seen
the world without the body?

Comment: The five sheaths are, from outer to inner, 1.

Physical, the Body and senses, 2. Energy, the life force that
moves within the body, 3. Mental, the mind and thought, 4.
Wisdom, the intellect, and 5. Bliss, the “subtle body,”
experienced as happiness, delight, and bliss. Your own
Being, your Self, is within, the innermost, deeper than all
five sheaths.

Practice Note: How do you know the world? It is only

through the senses. How do you know the senses? It is only
though the mind. How do you know the mind? You can
“see” your thoughts, which means that thought is “external”
to you. What within you knows your thoughts? What within
you knows?

6. The world and the mind exist together

The world is nothing more than an embodiment of the

objects perceived by the five sense-organs. Since, through
these five sense-organs, a single mind perceives the world, the
world is nothing but the mind. Apart from the mind can there
be a world?

Comment: Your idea of a world and mental model of that

world is based only on your sense perceptions of it. For
you, the world is really only this mental model. Your senses,
also, are filtered through this mental model. When the mind
is not active, like in deep sleep, do you even know of any

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 Forty Verses on Reality

world? So the world rises and falls based only on your

mind.

Practice Note: When you are dreaming, where does the

world in the dream come from? This world has the same
sense of reality as the world in the waking state. What do
these two worlds have in common? It is only the mind that
knows them. Who knows the mind?

7. That which does not rise or set is the Reality

Although the world and knowledge thereof rise and set

together it is by knowledge alone that the world is made
apparent. That Perfection wherein the world and knowledge
thereof rise and set, and which shines without rising and
setting, is alone the Reality.

Comment: All things come and go. Something knows all

these transitory things. If you look within right now there is
something that is the same as in your oldest memory. What
is this? The sense of reality is in each moment and in last
night’s dream. Trace out, where does this sense of reality
come from?

Practice Note: If you inquire, and first ask yourself, “Do I

exist?,” the same answer will come no matter how many
times you ask. You must exist; otherwise you could not ask
that question. What is this existence? Does it ever change?
Is it sometimes more and sometimes less? The sun rises
and sets. Do you?

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 Forty Verses on Reality

8. Realization is knowing identity with Reality

Under whatever name and form one may worship the

Absolute Reality, it is only a means for realizing It without
name and form. That alone is true realization, wherein one
knows oneself in relation to that Reality, attains peace and
realizes one’s identity with it.

Comment: Only the Self can know the Self. The mind can
never know; the mind is in the Self, not the other way
around. When you turn your own light of consciousness
upon itself, you find this light that is “lit up” by itself.
Nothing else is needed. What is this Self-effulgent light? Is it
any different from you?

Practice Note: When you look outside your body and

inside, all you perceive is objective to you, it is an object of
perception. You are the subject. When you look within at
more subtle experiences, like feelings, moods, and
thoughts, these are still objective, known to you. Who is the
knower of all of these? The knower never appears as the
known, how could it? Who is this “unknown knower of all
that is known?” Does this need any other “light” than itself
to be known?

9. Dualities and trinities are only the one Reality

The duality of subject and object and trinity of seer, sight,

and seen can exist only if supported by the One. If one turns
inward in search of that One Reality they fall away. Those
who see this are those who see Wisdom. They are never in
doubt.

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Comment: The Self is the substratum on which dualities

and trinities exist. They seem to obscure, to cover, the Self,
like clouds cover the sun. When the clouds part the sun
shines, unabated. So it is with the Self. Remove the
obscurations and the Self shines, by itself. When this is
known directly, doubts and misconceptions can stand no
longer.

Practice Note: When you look deep within, how many do

you find? How many existences do you have? Are there two
of you, one to know and the other to be known? These are
examples of the common experience that at our heart, we
are just one.

10. True Knowledge only knows the Self

Ordinary knowledge is always accompanied by ignorance,

and ignorance by knowledge; the only true Knowledge is that
by which one knows the Self through enquiring whose is the
knowledge and ignorance.

Comment: Only the Self can know the Self. What is not the
Self is not real. It comes and goes like dust in the winds.
How can what is not real ever know anything?

What is called in this verse “ordinary knowledge” is mental,

conceptual; a “model” of reality, a model made with desires,
aversions, attachments and fears. The Self is direct
knowledge. How do you know the Self? Why through Self-
inquiry, using forms of the inquiry such as, “Who knows
this?,” and “For whom is this?”

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Practice Note: Consider the story of the snake seen in a

dark room. When turning the light on it is seen only as a
rope. What is the benefit in wondering about the snake’s
history, and the color of its scales? What is unreal is unreal
and has no existence. Ignorance is unreal.

When you inquire, “Who knows?” what do you see? Is it the

mind? Who knows the mind? When you look to know your
existence, who knows that you exist? When you inquire,
“For whom is this?” is it for the mind? Or something
deeper, that knows the mind? This knowledge, deeper than
mind, does not depend on mind, this is True Knowledge.

11. Ignorance is not knowing the knower

Is it not, rather, ignorance to know all else without knowing

oneself, the knower? As soon as one knows the Self, which is
the substratum of knowledge and ignorance, knowledge and
ignorance perish.

Comment: We know so much in our life: ourself, our loved

ones, our home, our city, our job, what we like and dislike,
we know just about everything–but who we really are. All
that we can know cognitively, with our mind, are things of
senses and feelings – objects, gross and subtle. But
existence is not an object. Consciousness is not an object.
You are not an object. How can the mind know something
that is nonobjective? The mind, so to say, rests within the
substratum of you. You know the mind; it does not know
you. Yet you can know yourself, directly and immediately,
even right now. Self-inquiry is a way to know yourself.

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Practice Note: You exist, and you know you exist. Who
knows? In your deepest meditation, who knows? Is it the
mind, or deeper than than mind? When you are happy, who
knows? Who is this knower? The unknown knower of all
that is known, who know this? Who am I?

12. True Knowledge is beyond anything known

That alone is true Knowledge which is neither knowledge nor

ignorance. What is known is not true Knowledge. Since the
Self shines with nothing else to know or to make known, It
alone is Knowledge. It is not a void.

Comment: What is the ”light” of you own consciousness?

Does it need another source of “light” to know? Or is it self-
effulgent, lit by its own light’? That which is seen with this
light is true Knowledge. Your knowledge of your own
existence is true Knowledge. In true Knowledge there are
no divisions such as ignorance and knowledge. True
Knowledge is nondual, without pairs of opposites.

What is known by the mind are objects, gross and subtle.

The mind does not provide its own light: rather it is the
same self-effulgent light, which is who you are, that
illumines everything. What is known through the mind is
indirect and filtered and shaped by desires, fears, and
conditioning. What is known by the mind always is
centered around this “I”-thought, the imaginary character
that we assume ourselves to be. This knowledge is all
relative, with its relationship with this imagined person.
This is not true Knowledge.

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 Forty Verses on Reality

True Knowledge never changes, it is knowledge of your

existence, knowledge of the Self. It is Self-known. There is
no other light.

Practice Note: You know you exist. By what light do you

know? What about when you are dreaming? Who is the
“Unknown knower of all that is known?”

13. The Self is the only Reality

The Self, which is Knowledge, is the only Reality. Knowledge

of multiplicity is false knowledge. This false knowledge, which
is really ignorance, cannot exist apart from the Self, which is
Knowledge-Reality. The variety of gold ornaments is unreal,
since none of them can exist without the gold of which they
are all made.

Comment: Even ignorance is lit by self-effulgent

consciousness. For ignorance to be ignorance, it must be
known.

Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, Sat,-Chit-Ananda is who you

are. Is there any possible alternative to your existence? Is
there some other reality other than what is real? This is the
substratum upon which your ego, others, the world and
your idea of a higher power all exist. Are they other than
“gold,” the substratum itself?

Ramana says the Self is Knowledge. What does he mean by

this? Perhaps it is understood better to say the Self is
Consciousness. As you inquire you see that everything is
only Consciousness. Consciousness is always there with

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 Forty Verses on Reality

Existence, they are not two, but two names for the same
thing. This is your very Self, your only Existence.

Practice Note: Inquire, “Where does this sense of reality

come from?” Now, make the same investigation about the
sense of realty in your dreams. Who know the waking
state? Who knows the dream?

14. Find the real “I” and “others” perish

If the first person, “I,” exists, then the second and third
persons, “you” and “he,” will also exist. By enquiring into the
nature of the “I,” the “I” perishes. With it “you” and “he” also
perish. The resultant state, which shines as Absolute Being, is
one’s own natural state, the Self.

Comment: The ego can only disappear if it is not real. What

is real is true always. We all have experiences where the
ego is no more. These include our nightly sleep, also
various internal states, including meditation and samadhi,
where the ego just vanishes. If this ego comes and goes, if
the ego is not permanent, is it real? Notice that when the
ego vanishes, so do all others and the world, as is the case
in deep sleep. There is something, though, within us, that
never disappears; what is that? Ramana calls this the
“natural state.” It is the natural state since it is what is
present when all the various ideas, suppositions and
misidentifications fall away. It is natural since there is
nothing to do to produce it, rather it is what always
remains.

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