Quote from Guru Vachaka Kovai
Guru Vachaka Kovai
by Muruganar, Ramana Maharshi, Translated by Dr. T. V. Venkatasubramanian, Robert Butler, and David Godman
Avadhuta Foundation, Boulder, Colorado, 2008. 598 pages
“Guru Vachaka Kovai (The Garland of Guru’s Sayings) is a Tamil poetical work that contains 1,254 verses composed by Muruganar and a further twenty-eight that were written by Ramana Maharshi. The vast majority of these verses contain teaching statements made by Ramana Maharshi and recorded by Muruganar in Tamil verses, most of which are four lines long. Taken together they form a vast and comprehensive summary of Sri Ramana’s teachings.
Muruganar
Muruganar (1890-1973) is widely regarded as being one of the most eminent and influential of Ramana Maharshi’s devotees. He was instrumental in persuading Bhagavan to compose both Ulladu Narpadu and Upadesa Undiyar, two of his most important philosophical works, and he was also responsible for promoting Bhagavan to write down more of his teachings in Ramana Puranam, a long 540-line poem that he jointly authored with Muruganar. In addition to these endeavors he composed many thousands of verses of his own which mostly fall into one of the following categories: expressing his own experience of the Self; praising Sri Ramana and expressing gratitude toward him; recording teachings that he had heard Sri Ramana say. His output was prodigious: in fifty years of writing on these topics he managed to compose in excess of 20,000 verses.” (p. xiii, introduction by David Godman)
-- quote submitted by Matt M.
Muruganar
Muruganar (1890-1973) is widely regarded as being one of the most eminent and influential of Ramana Maharshi’s devotees. He was instrumental in persuading Bhagavan to compose both Ulladu Narpadu and Upadesa Undiyar, two of his most important philosophical works, and he was also responsible for promoting Bhagavan to write down more of his teachings in Ramana Puranam, a long 540-line poem that he jointly authored with Muruganar. In addition to these endeavors he composed many thousands of verses of his own which mostly fall into one of the following categories: expressing his own experience of the Self; praising Sri Ramana and expressing gratitude toward him; recording teachings that he had heard Sri Ramana say. His output was prodigious: in fifty years of writing on these topics he managed to compose in excess of 20,000 verses.” (p. xiii, introduction by David Godman)
-- quote submitted by Matt M.