Ramana Ashram Visit #4

[Guest guest]

Arunachleswara Temple

So at dusk, we start out towards Arunachleswara temple in downtown

Thirumvannamalai (notice how South Indian names are reallly long?!). And I

quickly discovered that Thiru is a lot bigger and noisier than I had thought.

When we got to the temple, it's size really hits you - it's like a large

fortress to the Gods of Hinduism. So we checked our shoes in at the temple shoe

place and proceeded to go inside. Kumar gave me a tour of all of the various

temples inside the complex, and there were many, dedicated to numerous Gods,

such as Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Lord Muruga (Shiva's other child, in addition to

Ganesh), and so many others that I cannot recall. The temple complex also has a

large water tank for bathing/purification and also has an elephant on the

grounds - it's not often one stands next to an elephant, though this one was on

the small side.

 

One temple of note was an underground chamber that seemed very potent, and it

was here where Ramana Maharshi meditated for 20 days straight with no food or

water, with ants eating away at his skin. The temple priests, recognizing that

this was no ordinary yogi, proceeded to take care of him.

 

Arunachala Mountain

 

The temple was a bit overwhelming, and I didn't feel at the moment very

connected to the Hindu pantheon. So finally, after a bite to eat we began

circumambulating Arunachala mountain. Once we got outside of downtown Thiru, the

roads became very quiet, much to my relief - the tooting of bus horns can really

get to you, not to mention the pollution. But as we walked, the quietness of the

night was comforting, and I found myself becoming very joyful.

 

Along the roadside, there are many small temples which Kumar stopped to say a

prayer. And I kept looking at the mountain, but it didn't seem to change much in

the dark, though it felt blissful. At one point, I realized that I had horrific

blisters on my feet, from my mediocre quality Indian sneakers. A

circumambulation of Arunachala is supposed to be done in one's bare feet, but

this tenderfoot didn't think he could handle two hours of skin to tarmac. But,

nevertheless, I stilled paid a painful price in blistering feet.

 

We passed numerous groups of people doing the same circumambulation, and due to

nighttime disorientation, it didn't feel to me that we were walking in circles

around the mountain. I was also getting very tired and worn out, though blissed

out at the same time, which kept me going. Finally we arrived back at Ramana

Ashram, and I swear there was some kind of time/space warp - it just didn't seem

that we walked around the mountain, but apparently we did! I bid Kumar a

goodnight and headed straight to bed.

 

Courtesy of Phil Seredvio

 

Tiruvannamalai My final destination, Ramana Ashram!