Ramana Maharshi's life, teachings and devotees
Ozhivil Odukkam
By Kannudaiya Vallalar
Edited by Robert Butler
Translation by Robert Butler
Paperback
230 pages
Published by V. S. Ramanan, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, India
ISBN 978-81-8288-282-9
Ozhivil Odukkam, which can be translated as 'Subsiding into the Self through the elimination of obstacles', or 'Ceaseless abidance in the Self', is a 15th century Tamil text that was regularly cited with approval by Ramana Maharshi. Though it is widely held to be a Saiva Siddhanta text, primarily because an early commentary interprets it that way, an examination of the original verses indicates that its primary aim is to point out the truth that lies beyond all religious and sectarian divides.
Because of the high esteem Sri Ramana held the work in, there have been many previous attempts by devotees to bring out commentaries or translations. Bhagavan himself asked Muruganar to write a commentary that brought out its advaitic import, but he never (it seems) got beyond writing two introductory verses. Munagala Venkataramaiah, the compiler of Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, made a preliminary English translation, but it was never published. In more recent years the ashram librarian J. Jayaraman translated and commented on some of the verses in The Mountain Path.
This is new translation, by Robert Butler, brings out the import of the original verses and adds extensive linguistic notes and comments.
