The 108 Names of Sri Bhagavan (Ramana Ashtothara 74-79)Original Sanskrit by Sri Viswanatha Swami and English Translation & Commentary by Professor K. Swaminathan
74. Varnasrama matatitah: One who has transcended varna (caste-distinctions) and asrama (stages of life).
[Varna and asrama are concepts based on the body-mind. When one has ceased to identify oneself with the body-mind the question of one’s conforming to or departing from the rules and limitations of this conceptual system does not arise. The experience of Reality ends all conceptual distinctions. Frontiers and boundaries, elevations and depressions, exist on earth; the ethereal sky of satchidananda is one and indivisible].
Om Varnasrama matatitaya namah.
75. Rasajnah: Relisher of rasa, of enjoyment.
[There is a lot of difference between rasika and rasajna.
A rasika enjoys beautiful things, he is a man of taste. A rasajna enjoys enjoyment as a mode of awareness and is therefore free from the triputi (triad) of enjoyer, that which is enjoyed and the act of enjoyment. In every act of enjoyment, his own or anyone else’s, Bhagavan saw only a manifestation of the one Being-Awareness-Bliss. He enjoyed not only what he as a person enjoyed but all the joy of all creation. God is rasa. Bhagavan as a rasajna knew God as rasa. Rasovaisah – He himself is rasa, enjoyment. He enjoys knowledge. He knows joy. He does not merely know or enjoy objects. Like a good parent who enjoys the child’s enjoyment of a story, he is sukhi sukhitva].
Om Rasajnaya namah.
76. Soumyah: Embodiment of auspiciousness, of benevolence.
[Peaceful, sweet and gentle, he is capable only of spreading goodness. Cool like the moon, ambrosial like the soma juice].
Om Soumyaya namah.
77. Atmavan: Ever-composed and Self-possessed.
[Bhagavan is all atman. Not being any one single body, he is all bodies as the atman or awareness equally present in them all. He is the one indivisible Being-Awareness dwelling as Bliss in all creatures. Awareness is Bhagavan’s whole being and nature and sole possession. He knows the Self, enjoys the Self, is the Self].
Om Atmavate namah.
78. Sarvavani matasthanam aradhyah: One adored by the followers of all religions in the whole world.
[Advaita sums up and transcends all the different creeds. The goal and the core of all religions is the experience of oneness, the direct realization of the Self. Bhagavan enjoyed and expressed this experience and is therefore adored by Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus of all schools. In Him we find the final fulfilment of every creed].
Om Sarvavani matasthanam aradhyaya namah.
79. Sarva sadguni: Possessor of all good qualities.
[He did not pursue, practise and acquire one good quality after another. He realized the Self, and all good qualities flocked to him unsought. Bad qualities arise from identification with the body-mind. Identification with awareness dispels all bad qualities and brings in all good qualities. One made up of awareness has all the daivic endowments, all divine, auspicious qualities, as his inherent and natural splendour].
Om Sarvasadgunine namah