First *ai=chennai:
Went there with Girija aththai (aththai means Aunt). The travel in KSRTC Volvo bus was good. This started in the noon and we were at Chennai at 2100 hrs. Went straight to Sarasa aththai's home. Her sons Anand and Mohan were there. Shiva (is in grade 9) and Meenu (in grade 4) (kids of Saro who is the 1st daughter of Sarasa aththai) were there too. We went straight to play cards and Scrabble!!! At the end of the my trip, all of us had played more than 2 years quota of these games!!! :-)
Next day, we watched Tamizh movie Anniyan in a theatre nearby. We noted a shloka that was used from the Bhagavadgita (18.66). The movie makers just could not manage to get it pronounced correctly! We got back home after the dinner at a Restaurant and went straight to Saro's home. There we (Shiva and me) picked up the Bhagavadgita and saw the shloka:
sarvadharmAn parityajya mAmEkam sharaNam vraja
aham tvA sarvapApebhyo mOkshayiShyami mA shuchaha
Meaning: Give up all the dharmas and take shelter in me, I shall absolve all your sins, do not grieve.
It also means that if Arjuna (the mind) if surrendered to Krishna (the Atman), what would remain is the one self, one consciousness and that will be sat-chit-ananda.
I am happy that I learnt this and so is Shiva too!
The next day, Shiva and Meenu cut their classes and stayed back. Anand also was on leave. But, Mohan had lots of work, so, he sped off to work. This day too, we played cards and Scrabble to the heart's content. Girija aththai went back to Bangalore.
The next day, Shiva and Meenu went to School. Sarasa aththai, Anand and me started to the second *ai.
Second *ai=Tiruvannamalai:
According to me, Tiru means Holy, Vanna(m) means Color and Malai means Hill.
People call it the Fire Mountain. This place is centered around this one hill and this hill is considered to be Lord Shiva himself. Legend says that Vishnu and Brahma had a fight as to who amongst them was the greatest. Shiva resolves the fight by becoming a huge column of light and asks them to find the start and the end of this column of light. They both admit defeat and their arrogance is ended. Shiva is said to have become Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai) from this column of light. There are other legends about Arunachala that I will write another day!
We reached there at 1330 hrs, went straight to the Arunachaleshwara temple, but it was to open again only at 1500 hrs. So, we took an Auto, went straight to Sri Ramanashramam. Peacocks greeted us there with their welcome cries!!! Here again things were closed, but we did not have to wait for long before the Maatrubhuteshwara temple, the old hall where Bhagavan Ramana used to give darshan and the huge meditation hall having the Ramaneshwara lingam were opened. Had darshan in all these places, saw where Bhagavan took his Mahasamadhi, Sri Niranjananda Swami's samadhi and samadhis of Cow Lakshmi, Valli the Deer, Jackie the Dog and the Lucky Crow. The Ashram's bookshop opened at 1500 hrs, we scouted for a few books and then proceeded back to Sri Arunachaleshwara temple. There was this temple Elephant there, majestically accepting the fruits from admirers and silently going through the decorations by the Mahout.
The temple darshan timings came by and people started to pour in. We joined the crowd, took the special darshan ticket and had very close darshan of Lord Arunachaleshwara. We came out of the temple, had some snacks and I took a room in Hotel Arunachala just next to the temple. Anand and aththai proceeded back to Chennai. I freshned up and went walking to Sri Ramanshramam. This walk was good. I got to see Sri Seshadri Swami's Ashram, the Dakshinamurthi temple before I reached Sri Ramanashramam. Some people were doing the Pradakshina around Sri Ramaneshwara Lingam; I joined them. Bhagavan Ramana's photos are hung all round the hall. They are just too good and are even lit in the evening!!! Tamizh Parayanam happened with 2 groups of people alternating in chanting many of the works on and by Ramana. This aroused an interest in me! I can read Tamizh but the Parayanam is impossible for me to understand (my Father finds it difficult too but he surely can help!) Generally what is done at the Ashram is that when a group of people chant/read something together, lots of copies of the relevant book are available for anyone to pick up and join the group. They are collected back after the chanting/reading. At 2000 hrs, people started to move out and I started towards the Hotel. Called up home and Bhatta to say how happy I was!!! to be at Arunachala & in Sri Ramanashramam.
Next day, I woke up early and went straight to Sri Ramanashramam. The morning Veda chants were going on, followed by Rudram, Chamakam and chanting of Bhagavan's works (I think it was Upadesha Saram!) It was 0730 hrs when the morning prayers ended. I came out and entered the just opened Ashram's bookshop and got myself a Giri Pradakshina poster. I asked the person there: "Do people do the Giri Pradakshina with or without footwear?". He said: "It is best if you do it barefoot." That was it, I left my footwear where I had left it (just inside the entrance to Ramanashramam) to proceed with the Giripradakshina!
The Giripradakshina is an awesomely organized way to go around Arunachala. At every place, you can see Arunachala in various forms. At one place you can see the Ekamukhi, at another you see Chandramouleeshwara, at another you see a Nandi, then a Trimurthi, a Pachamukha, then Siva Parvathi, then a SriChakra, then Bhagavan's rock and many more. All along the route you have many temples lined on either side of the road. The major way people do the Pradakshina is to have the darshan of Ashta Lingams. Giri Pradakshina is completed by thousands and thousands of people on the Poornima day (the Full moon day!), but I got the call on an Amavasya (when there is no Moon at all). There was no one doing the Pradakshina which left me the only one doing it. I lost track of time!!! The last hour was the toughest part for me. My feet were aching after having walked barefoot and they could not step on either the sand alongside the road or the road itself. The temperature was quite high which left both the road and the sand scorching hot!!! But, due to his grace, I survived. I did a funny thing here: every step i took burnt my foot, so instead of concentrating on the foot that was burning, i shifted the focus to the one in the air. This relieved the pain a little!!! Of the Ashta Lingams, locating Indra Lingam was a little hard, but having done that, the last one I had to goto was the Agni Lingam. All along the way, many people wearing Saffron robes were seated at various places that you have to visit and they ask for money!!! There were a few people, again clad in Saffron robes, but, were on the move. They silently do a Namaskaram to you and move on. It gives you a feeling that is indescribable!!! A silent bow to the Atman in you which you reciprocate back. You must go through this to experience what I did.
At one of the first temples I visited on the Giri Pradakshina, the Subrahmanya temple, the Archaka asked me to leave my bag before doing the pradakshina around the deity. He said: "Don't worry, I will not run away with your belongings." It was such a simple statement! It had a deep impact. People here don't care for your money, they are immersed in the happiness of praying to their dear lord. Humbled me. I just said: "No sir, I did not mean anything. I am used to carrying the bag." I did leave my backpack there, finished the 3 Pradakshinas around Lord Subrahmanya and moved on.
I remember the Hanuman temple along the way. The Archaka there was saying: of what use is money, everything is His!!! These Archakas did not care for the money that you put in into the Arathi tattai (plate!) I sat there for a while, silently started to chant Nama Ramayana. One lady who was selling Tulasi garlands outside the temple also asked me to leave my bag there, to which I again told the same. She also said that I might have money in it!!! After coming out of the temple, I asked as to where the temple of Kaattu Shiva was (my next stop according to the map). She said it was in the forest and people don't go there anymore. She advised me not to go there alone with the money I had. So, I moved on. Thought I can go there another day with a group of my friends/relatives!
Unfortunately, I did cut short the Giri Pradakshina because there are too many places to visit, some of them being high on the hill. This I did because I could not walk any longer. I did enquire as to what people generally do to which they said that the darshan of Ashta Lingams was good enough. This is what I did. Visiting all the places indicated in the map I got in one go is pretty difficult. This dawned on me after quite some time. I started with good speed early in the morning, but the pace just broke down at the end. Thinking of it now, the pace never matters. All that matters is that you have gotten the call to Arunachala! One of the most sacred things to do is the Giri Pradakshina. My suggestion is to start very early in the Morning if you wish to do the Pradakshina. Very early is 0500 hrs!!! As said earlier, people do it on a Full Moon day starting about 21oo hrs in the evening and ending at 0230 hrs or 0300 hrs early next Morning. Coming back here, I reached Sri Ramanshramam at 1315 hrs (this is when I took out my Watch). I had lost track of time!!! Went into the meditation hall, did a silent bow and went back to the Hotel.
I had a shower and tried to sleep. I tried pretty hard, but could not sleep. Slept for 45 minutes after trying for 2 hrs!!! Woke up, and the moment i stepped on the ground, i realized that a thorn found my right foot a very comfortable place to lodge itself :-) i thought of going to a Doctor and went back to Ramanashramam. Spent the evening there. There was a group of people reading Day by Day with Bhagavan. I joined them taking with me the new book I got from the bookshop. Got myself 2 bags from the bookshop and filled them with books!!! After the Tamizh Parayanam, I went back to the Hotel. All the time, the thorn was making it's presence felt. Just outside of Ramanashramam, i got a set of safety pins from a shop to try and pry out the thorn on my own! Had dinner, tried to get the thorn out. Could not. Called up home, Bhatta and my cousin Manigandan (another devotee of Ramana who asked me to go to pAtALa lingam there!!! That is where Ramana stayed with his body being eaten up by insects! Sri Seshadri Swamigal and the temple archakas literally carried Ramana out of the place and nursed him back to health. Seemed to me that i got so lost that i forgot to visit a few places that are very important!!!). Manigandan told me that the Ashtalinga darshanam was good enough which make me feel better! Went back to the Hotel and tried prying out the thorn for probably 6th or 7th time and this time, the thorn decided to come out. Probably there was something amiss and when i realized that, the thorn's purpose was served???!!! i wonder! ramaNArpaNamastu.
[Bhatta pointed out that the thorn's episode was missing! Again, that made me write about pAtALa lingam!!!]
[A few more days to be covered, but will do it later]
Preview of my last day at Tiruvannamalai: Went there early, spent good time at the meditation hall, at 0730 hrs, took the route to Skandasraman. This is through a gate at the backside of Ramanashramam and this gate is located just after the samadhis of Lakshmi the Cow, Valli the Deer, Jackie the Dog and the Lucky Crow. On the left hand side there are samadhis of devotees of Ramana (Muruganar, Palaniswami, Kunjuswami...i've got to get this correct, so, i will update this list after my next visit). After a long climb up on Arunachala, saw
Skandashramam and then i went to the
Virupaksha guhai. How does it feel to be there: i got lost.
...more later
