''Ātmopadesa Śatakam'' is a

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

spiritual work by

Narayana Guru Narayana Guru, , (20 August 1856 – 20 September 1928) was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India. He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual ...

in the form of a poem. It is considered as the classic work of Narayana Guru, who was a social reformer and spiritual leader of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The literal translation of the title means "One Hundred Verses of Self Instruction". "Atmopadesa Śatakam" contained 100 verses or stanzas, each of which describing a set of actions performed by the self on itself, affecting and recognising moments of transformation into an absolute value. Narayana's principal disciple,

Nataraja Guru Nataraja Guru (born P. Natarajan, 18 February 1895 – 19 March 1973) was a disciple of Narayana Guru. Nataraja Guru founded Narayana Gurukula on 1923 for the integral study of various wisdom approaches. Life P. Natarajan was born in Bangalor ...

, translated this work into English, titled as "Centiloquy of the self".

Nitya Chaitanya Yati Nitya Chaitanya Yati (2 November 1924 – 14 May 1999) was an Indian philosopher, psychologist, author and poet, best known for his commentaries on Advaita Vedanta as well as his literary criticisms. He was a disciple of Nataraja Guru, the succe ...

, famous disciple of Nataraja Guru, also made a commentary on it as "That Alone, the Core of Wisdom: A Commentary on Atmopadesa Śatakam, the One Hundred Verses of Self-Instruction of Narayana Guru". Nithya Chaithanya Yathis says: "With this verse you are entering into an intense spiritual discipline. There is no need to learn each verse and then rationally apply it in everyday life. You can even hear it and forget it. Forgetting means it only goes deeper into you. Once you have heard it, it will go and work its way by itself. The effect will be very subtle. It comes almost without you knowing that it is something which you heard that is enabling you to see things in a new light or make resolutions in a certain more helpful way." "Atmopadesa Śatakam" was initially published as "Atmabodham" and is believed to have reached its present form by 1897. This work is presented before a group of people at

Aruvippuram Aruvippuram is a village in the southern district of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India. It is famous for the Siva temple established by Sri Narayana Guru. The Guru consecrated the Siva idol, the first non brahmin to do so in Kerala society, i ...

, as a practice text written into form of advice who followed Narayana Guru. Though he wrote in Sanskrit and Tamil, this work is in Malayalam. Most of his earlier works contained adoration of

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

deities with an underlying context of Advaitha Vedantha. But in this work, he directly describes the ways of attaining self-realisation with a philosophical context and stresses seeking the absolute value called "Self" or "the Atman" and not any God to adore as hitherto.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atmopadesa Satakam Narayana Guru Malayalam-language poems Hindu poetry