The works of Ramaṇa Maharṣi

Upadeśa Undiyār

Verse 13

இலயமு நாச மிரண்டா மொடுக்கமிலயித் துளதெழு முந்தீபறவெழாதுரு மாய்ந்ததே யுந்தீபற

இலயமும் நாசம் இரண்டாம் ஒடுக்கம் இலயித்து உளது எழும் உந்தீபற எழாது உரு மாய்ந்ததே உந்தீபற

Two silences that feel the same

In plain words

There are two ways the mind can go quiet, and they look identical from the inside. One is absorption. Lovely, deep, and temporary — it comes back up, because nothing happened to it. It was asleep. The other is the end of it. The test is not how deep the quiet was. It is whether the thing rises again.

Word for word

Subsidence is of two kinds: absorption and destruction. What has merely subsided in absorption rises again. Fly up, undī! That whose form has perished does not rise. Fly up, undī!