The Self is Arunachala

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The Teachings of BhagavanSri Ramana Maharshiin His Own WordsCHAPTER ONEGODParticularly interesting are the questions asked by a Muslimprofessor about the hymns which Bhagavan wrote to God inthe form of Arunachala.Devotee: I have been reading the Five Hymns. I find that thehymns are addressed by you to Arunachala. But you are a nondualist,so how can you address God as a separate Being?Bhagavan: The devotee, God and the hymns are all the Self.D.: But you are addressing God. You are specifying thisArunachala Hill as God.B.: You can identify the Self with the body, so why shouldn'tthe devotees identify the Self with Arunachala?D.: If Arunachala is the Self, why should it be specificallypicked out among so many other hills? God is everywhere. Whydo you specify Him as Arunachala?B.: What has attracted you from Allahabad to this place?What has attracted all these people around?D.: Sri Bhagavan.B.: How was I attracted here? By Arunachala. The Powercannot be denied. Again Arunachala is within and not without.The Self is Arunachala.D.: Several terms are used in the holy books. Atman,Paramatman, Para, etc. What is the gradation among them?B.: They mean the same to the user of the words but theyare understood differently by various persons according to theirdevelopment.D.: But why do you use so many words to mean the same thing?B.: It depends on the circumstances. They all mean theSelf. Para means not relative, or beyond the relative, that is tosay the Absolute. 11 Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, 273.