Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 7

In a Zoom meeting of the ‘Ramana Maharshi Foundation UK’ on 25th June 2022 Michael James discusses verse 7 of Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai:

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உனையே மாற்றி யோடா துளத்தின்மே
      லுறுதியா யிருப்பா யருணாசலா

uṉaiyē māṯṟi yōḍā duḷattiṉmē
      luṟudiyā yiruppā yaruṇācalā

பதச்சேதம்: உனை ஏமாற்றி ஓடாது உளத்தின் மேல் உறுதியாய் இருப்பாய் அருணாசலா.

Padacchēdam (word-separation): uṉai ēmāṯṟi ōḍādu uḷattiṉ mēl uṟudiyāy iruppāy aruṇācalā.

English translation: Arunachala, may you be firmly on the mind so that it does not run, deceiving you.

Explanatory paraphrase: Arunachala, may you be [remain, sit down, be seated or be enthroned] firmly on [my] mind so that it does not run [out towards other things under the sway of its viṣaya-vāsanās], deceiving [or cheating on] you [like a promiscuous wife].

Alternative interpretation 1 [when the first two words are split as ‘உனையே மாற்றி’ (uṉaiyē māṯṟi), ‘changing you’, instead of ‘உனை ஏமாற்றி’ (uṉai ēmāṯṟi), ‘deceiving you’ or ‘cheating you’]: Arunachala, may you be [or sit down] firmly on [my] mind so that it does not run [outwards], changing [or transforming] you [by seeing you, who are the one infinite, indivisible and immutable pure awareness, as the numerous objects that constitute both the internal world of mental phenomena and the external world of physical phenomena].

Alternative interpretation 2 [when மாற்றி (māṯṟi) is taken to mean removing, dispelling, repelling or expelling instead of changing, altering or transforming]: Arunachala, may you be [seated] firmly on [the back of this horse, namely my unruly] mind, so that it does not run [away out of control], expelling [or rejecting] you [by throwing you off its back].

This episode can also be watched as a video, 2022-06-25a Ramana Maharshi Foundation UK: Michael discusses Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 7, and a more compressed audio copy in Opus format (which can be listened to in the VLC media player and some other apps) can be downloaded from here.

After discussing this verse of Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai Michael answers questions about this and other aspects of Bhagavan’s teachings, particularly the practice of self-investigation and self-surrender, and this part of the meeting is recorded in a separate episode: Śrī Aruṇācala Akṣaramaṇamālai verse 7 Q&A.