the composing of Aksharamanamalai

However, the most moving and beloved of the Five Hymns is the Marital Garland of Letters (a Hundred and Eight Verses to Sri Arunachala), commonly known in English by its refrain, `Arunachala Siva' [and widely known as Aksharamanamalai or Akshara Mana Malai]. During the early years of Sri Bhagavan's abode at Virupaksha, Palaniswami and others used to go into town to beg food for the small group of devotees, and one day they asked Sri Bhagavan for a devotional song to sing as they went. He replied that there were plenty of sublime songs composed by the Saints, many of them neglected, so there was no need to compose a new one. However, they continued to urge him and some days later he set out on pradakshina round the Hill, taking a pencil and paper with him, and, on the way, composed the hundred and eight verses.

Tears of ecstasy streamed down his face as he wrote, sometimes blinding his eyes and choking his voice. The poem became the great devotional inspiration of the devotees. All the pain of longing and all the bliss of fulfilment are mirrored in its glowing symbolism. The perfection of Knowledge is combined with the ecstasy of devotion. And yet this most heartfelt of poems was composed from the standpoint of the devotee, of one who is still seeking. It is also an acrostic, its hundred and eight verses beginning with the successive letters of the Tamil alphabet. Nevertheless, no poem could be more spontaneous. Some devotees asked Sri Bhagavan the interpretation of some of the verses and he replied: "You think it out and I will too. I didn't think while I was composing it; I just wrote as it came."

~ Arthur Osborne, Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge

Fiery Gem

Unmoving Hill, melting into a Sea of Grace,
have mercy on me I pray, Oh Arunachala!

Fiery Gem, shining in all directions, do Thou burn
up my dross, Oh Arunachala!

Shine as my Guru, making me free from faults and
worthy of Thy Grace, Oh Arunachala!

~ Akshara Mana Malai

Treasure of benign and holy Grace

Treasure of benign and holy Grace,
found without seeking,
steady my wandering mind, Oh Arunachala!

~ AMM