The 108 Names of Sri Bhagavan (Ramana Ashtothara 69-71) Original Sanskrit by Sri Viswanatha Swami and English Translation & Commentary by Professor K. Swaminathan
69. Sri sonachala hrudbhâta Skandasrama niketanah: Dweller in Skandasramam, the heart of the Hill of Gold.
[Sonachala, Hill of Gold, is one of the names of Arunachala. Name No. 39 is Virupaksha guha vasa. Thirty names have been used to describe Bhagavan as he lived during the 16 years in the cave.
Virupaksha is a name of Siva. The true Virupaksha cave is the spiritual heart on the right side where the spaceless and transcendent Being is ever present. Siva or sat is the reality, the Being-Awareness, whose centre is everywhere, in every living being and in every particle of matter, and whose circumference is nowhere. Satya is the truth whose centre is in sat, pure Awareness, and whose circumference is in relative reality, in time and space; the other centre of this satya is the individual human heart, physical and tangible. The two, sat and satya, are apparently distinct, but are clearly and closely related and ultimately identical. See No. 20 in supplement to Forty Verses.
Sat is now embodied as satya. Virupaksha or Siva has taken concrete shape as Skanda. The transcendent has been made accessible as Sukumara, as Sunlight on the Ganga, as fire on earth, as a man among men. Kumara as Skanda now lives in Skandasramam, the heart of Arunachala, the Mountain which is the very embodiment of Father Siva, and hence the centre of this universe, itself composed of pure Awareness. Skandasramam is the centre of this centre.
Bhagavan, as Skanda, lived here for six years (1915-1922). If Virupaksha is the spiritual centre, Skandasramam is the visible, tangible, geographical centre of the Hill which is the centre of this world.
The name Skandasramam and its meanings, for those who make much of mythology, come as matter of fact from a simple man, Kandaswami, a strong and sincere devotee who did the hard work of cleaning the jungle and putting up the modest structure. It was a convenient spot with a fresh water spring near it and a better place of residence than Virupaksha cave. It was higher up the Hill, more conspicuous and more easily seen from the town, and soon became an Ashram, commodious and hospitable, with the Mother as hostess.
From Skandasramam the next move was made in 1922 to the present site of Ramanasramam, within the municipal limits of Tiruvannamalai town].
Sri sonachala hrudbhâta Skandasrama niketanaya namah.
70. SaddarsanápadÉshta: Teacher of Satdarshan, revealer of Reality.
[In the years following 1922 “Ulladu Narpadu” (Forty Verses on Reality) came to be written at the request of devotees. Its translation in Sanskrit by Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni is named Sat-Darshan. There are commentaries on this work by Kapali Sastri, ‘WHO’, Sivaprakasam Pillai and Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan].
Om Saddarsanápadeshtre namah.
71. Sadbhakta Vrinda par¹v tah: Surrounded by bands of lovers of Truth.
[The Sadguru attracted more and more sadhakas. These true devotees or seekers surrounded him both in the Ashram and during his frequent giripradakshina. In those years when he had come and settled down at the foot of the Hill, crowds of seekers surrounded him].
Om Sadbhakta vrinda pariv taya namah.