My spiritual Journey -Swami Vellaianadan

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2007 visit to Swami Vellayananda

Arunachala, is the center of power and spirituality to Hindus and devotees of all faiths, the bestower of boons and inner awareness to those who are blessed to have the darshan of beholding its beauty and circumambulating its magnificant base. For me, bouncing along this windy dusty 250 mile journey from Babgalore, it also symbolizes the end of a tortuous bus ride. I am making this journey to visit a yogi who completed fifteen year fast without food or water,much of that time in breathless samadhi. I previously visited him with Rama after the Khumba Mela in 2000; and am once again with Rama on our way to pay our repects.Vellayananda Swami, now close to eighty, still lives in a very humble mud and house in the same area he lived as a young yogi, in the

jungles of Tiruvanmali, about an hour drive from the ashram of his famous contemporary, Ramana Maharshi, whose Samadhi shrine and ashram sit on the base of Arunachala. Vellayananda, long ago refused offers of temples in his honor and all that goes with that, to practice in the simplicity and beauty of the nature that surrounds him. As non-discript as his abode is, he is surprisingly easy to find. Ask any taxi or rickshaw driver and they will offer to take you there, for most people in this city have gone themselves to receive the blessing of his glance of grace, a powerful experience as his look is as penetrating as it is loving.

 

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This picture was taken on Jan. 3, 2006, shortly before

Vellayananda's 79th birthday. He was only in a lungi when we arrived, the flowers were an offering we brought which his son drapped about him. His birthday

will be celebrated Jan 20, this year, in the Kurumarpatti Village, near Tiruvannamalai.

 

 

This is the Swami and his son----he is

an excellent host and carries quiet a bit of his father's energy.

 

 

New rice crop on the way ----planted by the

Swami's wife and daughter-in-law. They were very proud of it so had to include it here.

 

 

 

 

 

Arrunachala

 

 

 

2007 Visit to Swami Vellayananda

 

Above.

This is a shot of Swami taken during his 80th birthday celebration (I believe his grandaughter is beside him.)

Below. Swami as a young yogi

 

 

 

Swami's wife

 

Annointing Swami's feet during

the celebration

My daughter, Rama, and myself made an offering to Swami, a one eyed Rudraksha bead

and a saligram, for his birthday.

 

 

Swami with his wife in attendance

during the puja ceremonies.

 

This unusual " Mudra " is a source of blessing that Swami gave during

his birthday celebration. His son is to his right looking on.

 

 

 

 

-- ! Jai Gurudev !