Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Tomorrow, September 1st is Ganesh Chaturthi, the birthday of Lord Ganesha. Chaturthi always falls on the 4th day of the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada (August-September).

Mushikavaahana modaka hastha,
Chaamara karna vilambitha sutra,
Vaamana rupa maheshwara putra,
Vighna vinaayaka paada namasthe

“SALUTATIONS to Lord Ganesha who is Brahman Himself, who is the Supreme Lord, who is the energy of Lord Shiva, who is the source of all bliss, and who is the bestower of all virtuous qualities and success in all undertakings.”

Swami Sivananda Recommends:

”On Ganesh Chaturthi, meditate on the stories connected with Lord Ganesha early in the morning, during the Brahmamuhurta period. Then, after taking a bath, go to the temple and do the prayers of Lord Ganesha. Offer Him some coconut and sweet pudding. Pray with faith and devotion that He may remove all the obstacles that you experience on the spiritual path. Worship Him at home, too. Have an image of Lord Ganesha in your house. Feel His Presence in it.

Don’t forget DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON on this day; remember that it behaved unbecomingly towards the Lord. This really means avoid the company of all those who have no faith in God, and who deride God, your Guru and religion, from this very day.

Take fresh spiritual resolves and pray to Lord Ganesha for inner spiritual strength to attain success in all your undertakings.”

The Festival ends with the immersion of the idol on Ananta Chaturdasi Day (this year September 12, 2011).

On that day, statues of the God will be taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, and fanfare to be immersed in a river, sea, lake or water tank symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of his devotees, this is the ritual known as Ganesh Visarjan.

To find out more about this loved elephant God, read this article about Ganesha by Sri Swami Sivananda.

However we decide to celebrate this Ganesha festival, lets all try to remember to keep everything as eco friendly as possible and avoid the dreadful pollution and environmental damage caused by Plaster of Paris idols and chemical paints. For help in understanding the environmental impact of this Festival and what we can do to help, visit this link here.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all.

Lord Ganesha and the Moon

There are many stories of the loved and popular Lord Ganesha, but one particularly connected with the day of Ganesh Chaturthi (this year September 1st) is a favourite with many. The story goes thus:

Lord Ganesha is very fond of Modakas which are sweet balls made of rice. One Ganesh Chaturthi day, the Lord visited the homes of his devotees accepting their offerings of Modakas. After having eaten a large number of Modakas, the Lord set out that night for his home riding his vahana the mouse.

Seeing a snake, the mouse got afraid and stumbled, resulting in Ganesha falling down, his stomach bursting open and the sweet Modakas rolling out. The Elephant God gathered the fallen Modakas and stuffed them back into his stomach, and catching the snake that had caused the mouse to stumble, tied it round His belly.

Seeing all this, the moon in the sky laughed heartily. The Lord furious at the behaviour of the moon, pulled out one of His tusks and hurled it at the moon and cursed that no one should look at the moon on the day of Ganesha Chaturthi (this year September 1st) and that if anyone looks at it on that day, the person would earn censure and ill repute.

The moral of this tale is that the moon who behaved unbecomingly towards the Lord is a metaphor that we should avoid the company of those who have no faith in God or in the Guru.

A Beautiful Morning

It was beautiful, bright and toasty during our early morning walk and Arunachala was shimmering in an early morning haze.








My doggie scamps and I (there are three more doggies out of this photograph) take our daily walk early enough to avoid the goats, cows and wood cutters who arrive later in the morning.








Sweet little Winnie (who is now one week shy of 4 months of age) has become a confident and eager explorer. She has already learnt to swim and is fearless when hurling herself into any remaining ponds or water bodies at the Samudram.






The mornings are the happiest time of the day for hairy Victor who loves going on walks particularly to enjoy the cool waters of ponds not yet heated by the day's sun.

Self Enquiry

Sri Nannagaru, a living Master who regularly visits Arunachala, and attributes his realisation to the Grace of Arunachala/Sri Ramana has stated that the core of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings are set out in the slim booklet ‘Who am I?” And that an earnest seeker will receive incalculable benefit by daily reading a small part of that booklet.

The history of the booklet entitled “Who am I?” is thus. Around 1902 a visitor to Arunachala, Sivaprakasam Pillai, visited Ramana Maharshi who was then living in silence at Virupaksha Cave on the slopes of Arunachala. On his visit the seeker posed a series of spiritual questions starting with ‘Who Am I?’ The questions posed were answered by the silent Saint in writing and constitute, what is believed to be, one of his first sets of spiritual instructions.

To download a free PDF booklet of “Who am I?” go to this link here:

Answers specifically addressing Self-enquiry can be found in another booklet entitled “Self-Enquiry”. The book was compiled from answers to questions asked by Gambhiram Seshayya, a devotee of Lord Rama and yoga practitioner. In the same way as “Who am I?”, the questions raised by Gambhiram Seshayya were answered by the then silent Ramana living in the Virupaksha Cave in the 1900s.

To download a free PDF booklet of Self Enquiry go to this link here:

To find more free downloads of the books and works of Sri Ramana visit the ashram’s website book section for a list of Ramana’s book. Free PDF downloads are typed on the list in bold face.

Quiet Places

'There are quiet places also in the mind', he said meditatively. 'But we build bandstands and factories on them. Deliberately -- to put a stop to the quietness . . .

All the thoughts, all the preoccupations in my head -- round and round, continually What's it for? What's it all for? To put an end to the quiet, to break it up and disperse it, to pretend at any cost that it isn't there. Ah, but it is; it is there, in spite of everything, at the back of everything. Lying awake at night — not restlessly, but serenely, waiting for sleep -- the quiet re-establishes itself, piece by piece; all the broken bits . . .

we've been so busily dispersing all day long. It re-establishes itself, an inward quiet, like the outward quiet of grass and trees. It fills one, it grows -- a crystal quiet, a growing, expanding crystal. It grows, it becomes more perfect; it is beautiful and terrifying . . .

For one's alone in the crystal, and there's no support from the outside, there is nothing external and important, nothing external and trivial to pull oneself up by or stand on . . .

There is nothing to laugh at or feel enthusiast about. But the quiet grows and grows. Beautifully and unbearably. And at last you are conscious of something approaching; it is almost a faint sound of footsteps. Something inexpressively lovely and wonderful advances through the crystal, nearer, nearer. And, oh, inexpressively terrifying. For if it were to touch you, if it were to seize you and engulf you, you'd die; all the regular, habitual daily part of you would die . . .

one would have to begin living arduously in the quiet, arduously in some strange, unheard of manner.

[Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley]

Lingashtakam

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is worshipped by Brahma, Vishnu and other Devas,
Which is pure and resplendent,
And which destroys sorrows of birth.

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is worshipped by great sages and devas,
Which destroyed the god of love,
Which showers mercy,
And which destroyed the pride of Ravana.

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is anointed by perfumes,
Which leads to growth of wisdom,
And which is worshipped by sages, devas and asuras.

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is ornamented by gold and great jewels,
Which shines with the snake being with it,
And which destroyed the Yagna of Daksha.

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is adorned by sandal paste and saffron,
Which wears the garland of lotus flowers,
And which can destroy accumulated sins.

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is served by gods and other beings,
Which is the doorway for devotion and good thought,
And which shines like billions of Suns.

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is surrounded by eight petals,
Which is the prime reason of all riches,
And which destroys eight types of poverty.

I bow before that Lingam, which is the eternal Shiva,
Which is worshipped by the teacher of gods,
Which is worshipped by the best of gods,
Which is always worshipped by the flowers,
From the garden of Gods,
Which is the eternal abode,
And which is the ultimate truth.

Any one who chants the holy octet of the Lingam,
In the holy presence of Lord Shiva,
Would in the end reach the world of Shiva,
And keep him company.

Lingashtakam

Brahma Murari Sura architha Lingam,
Nirmala bashitha Shobitha Lingam,
Janmaja dukha vinasaka lingam.
That pranamami sada shiva lingam.

Deva Murari pravarchitha Lingam,
Kama dahana Karunakara lingam,
Ravana darpa vinashana lingam,
That pranamami sad shiva lingam.

Sarva sukandhi sulepitha lingam,
Budhi vivarthana karana lingam,
Siddha surasura vandhitha lingam,
That pranamami sada shiva lingam.

Kanaka mahamani bhooshitha lingam,.
Panipathi veshtitha shobitha lingam,
Daksha suyagna vinasana lingam,
That pranamami sada shiva lingam.

Kunkuma chandana lepitha lingam,
Pankaja hara sushobitha lingam,
Sanchitha papa vinasana lingam,
That pranamami sada shiva lingam.

Deva Ganarchitha sevitha lingam,
Bhavair bakthi pravesa lingam,
Dinakara koti prabhakara lingam,
That pranamami sada shiva lingam.

Ashta dalopari veshtitha lingam,
Sarva samudbhava karana lingam,
Ashta daridra vinasana lingam,
That pranamami sada shiva lingam.

Suraguru sura vara poojitha Lingam,
Sura vana pushpa sadarchitha lingam,
Parathparam paramathmaka lingam,
That pranamai sada shiva lingam.

Lingashtakam, Idam Punyam padeth Shiva Sannidhow,
Shivalokam avapnothi shive na sahamodathe.

[Translated by P. R. Ramachander]

Arunachala as Lingam

“When I approach regarding Thee as having form, Thou standest as a Hill on earth. If the seeker looks for Thy form as formless, he is like one who travels the earth to see the ether. To dwell without thought upon Thy nature is to lose one’s identity like a doll of sugar when it comes in contact with the ocean and when I come to realize who I am, what else is this identity of mine but Thee, O Thou Who standest as the towering Aruna Hill?”
[By Aquarius]

At this Shiva Sthalam Arunachala; the non-anthropomorphic form Shiva Lingam is a representation of the infinite cosmic column of fire.

The Hill itself as Lingam (and Lingam in the Shiva Sannidhi, Arunachaleswarar Temple) is authenticated in various scriptures including the Skanda Mahapurana (both sections) and the Vidyeswara Samhita of the Siva Mahapurana. The mythology of the Hill, its manifestation as a Lingam and the development of Arunachaleswarar Temple and the surrounding city of Tiruvannamalai (then known as Aruna) is traced in the following passages of the Skanda Mahapurana [.iii(U)]







Sri Siva said:

Let this perpetual and immobile Fiery Form of mine, famous as Arunadri, be present here forever.

Brahma and Vishnu said:

If it has to be so, O support of the Universe, let this mountain remain as the support of this Universe. But this brilliance is unbearable.

. . .

Hence it is better, O Rudra, that its refulgence be like that of an ordinary mountain. Let it stand with indivisible greatness. Let it be the great mine of salvation.

It discloses its own inherent brilliance and refulgence for the sake of the prosperity of this Universe once every year in the month of Kartika at the close the day of the constellation Krittika.

Although, at your bidding, O Lord, the Sondadri is the bestower of happiness on men, it cannot be worshipped by any devotee on account of its huge size.

Hence, beginning from today at our request our Lord should be present in the form of a Linga on the ground over the tableland of this mountain.

…..

Then there appeared a certain auspicious Linga there. On seeing it Mukunda and the Lotus-seated Lord (Brahma) experienced a great surprise. Bowing down repeatedly with great pleasure, they worshipped and eulogized it for a long time.

They caused a temple of the Lord of Sonagiri to be built by Visvakarma and a multitude of other craftsmen. . . . For the sake of the ablution of the Lord they caused a sacred lake to be dug there. It was fresh and full of (the water of) all the (other) Tirthas.

Nearby they built a city named Aruna for the sake of spiritual achievement.”


***************


The Lingam identical in every way to the Hill, that was thus created by the Lord is the Lingam that is now at rest inside the Siva Sannidhi of the Arunachaleswarar Temple. Over the centuries the Temple grew around the Lingam and its enveloping Sannidhi, until the present day where there is a large 26 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple compound in which inhabits a multitude of sannidhis, shrines, gardens and tirthams.

In 1938 the authorities of Arunachaleswarar Temple filed a law suit regarding the ownership of Arunachala Hill which was being claimed by the Government as Forestry Department property. The temple authorities cited Sri Ramana Maharshi as a witness. On May 9, 1938, the Court sent a Commission to record Sri Ramana Maharshi’s deposition.

In this deposition Sri Ramana Maharshi gave his own opinion as to the nature of the Hill and its association with the Temple [which housed the Lingam]:

“There is an aitikya that this hill is linga swaroopam, that is to say, that this hill itself is Swamy. This aitikya is not to be found anywhere else. That is the cause of the glory of this place. The aitikya of this place is that this hill is Easwaraswaroopam and that the Swaroopam is full of thejas. Every year Deepothsavam is celebrated in the form of Deepam. Authority for this is found in the Vedas, the puranas and stotras of devotees. Also giripradakshina is done following this aitikya that the above said hill is Siva swaroopam. I also have faith in giripradakshina and have experience of it. THERE IS NO SASTRA TO SEPARATE THE HILL FROM THE TEMPLE.”
[Ramana Maharshi]

Antonio’s Destiny

"Antonio was a civil servant in a small city in the interior. One afternoon he saw two cocks fighting. Feeling sorry for the birds, he went to the centre of the square to separate them, without realising that he was interrupting a fight between two fighting cocks. The furious spectators beat him up. One of the them threatened to kill him because he was almost winning and would have won a fortune in bets. Filled with fear, Antonio decided to leave town. People found it odd when he failed to turn up for work, but since there were many applicants for the job they soon forgot the old civil servant.

After three days of travelling, Antonio met a fisherman, and feeling sorry for Antonio, the fisherman took him home. After chatting, he found that Antonio knew how to read, and proposed a deal: he would teach the newcomer to fish in exchange for teaching him to read and write. Antonio learned to fish. With the money from fishing, he bought books to be able to teach the fisherman. Through his reading, the fisherman learned things that he did not previously know.

One of the books taught carpentry, and Antonio decided to set up a small workshop. He and the fisherman bought tools and started to make tables, chairs and bookcases. Many years passed. The two continued to fish and they contemplated during the time they spent on the river. They also continued to study and the many books unveiled the human soul. Both continued to work at carpentry, and the physical work made them healthy and strong.

Antonio loved talking to the customers. Since he was now a cultured, wise and healthy man, people came to him for advice. The whole city began to progress, because everyone saw Antonio as someone capable of finding good solutions to the problems of the region. Soon people formed study groups around Antonio and many of these people developed into disciples. A famous biographer was commissioned to report the lives of the Two Wise Men, as Antonio and his friend were now called.

The biographer wrote for five months. When the book came out, it became a great success. It was a marvellous and exciting story of two men who seek knowledge, abandon all they are doing, fight against all sorts of adversity and encounter secret masters. “It was nothing like that,” said Antonio. “Wise men need to have exciting lives,” answered the biographer. “A story has to teach something, and reality never teaches anything.”

Antonio gave up arguing. He knew that it was reality that taught everything a man needs to know, but it was no use trying to explain that. “Let these fellows go on living with their fantasies,” he said to the fisherman. And they continued, reading, writing, fishing, working, teaching disciples, and doing good.

They only promised never again to read books on the lives of saints, since the people who write these books fail to understand a very simple truth; everything that a common man does in his life brings him closer to God."

[By Paulo Coelho, abridged]

Sri Nannagaru August Visit

Sri Nannagaru recently left his Arunachala Ashram, after a stay of more than 10 days.

A large number of devotees followed Swami from Andhra Pradesh, to enjoy early morning darshan and afternoon discourses held in the meditation room of Sri Nannagaru Ashram at Tiruvannamalai.

Sri Nannagaru, who was born in 1934 has been visiting Tiruvannamalai regularly since 1957. Even though he never had the physical darshan of Ramana Maharshi, he has taken the Maharshi as his Guru, and reflects that any spiritual attainments he may have achieved are as a direct result of the grace of Arunachala-Sri Ramana.

Sri Nannagaru’s states that his mission in life is twofold; to spread the fame of Arunachala and to disseminate the spiritual teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.







In response to the question asked of Sri Ramana, “Is it possible for a sadhaka to realise without a Guru?” the Maharshi replied, “Once a connection has been established between Guru and devotee, a devotee can realise even after the death of the Guru. But only an exceptional mind can realise without previously having experienced the connection of a living Master.”

As well as realising without having the connection of a living Mater, Sri Nannagaru realised whilst continuing his duty as an agriculturist, husband and father. There was no question of him deserting his family and duty, going on extended pilgrims, or secluding himself for intense sadhana. In this way his life is a remarkable and inspirational example to those tied down with duties and responsibilities that one doesn’t have to retire to Himalayan caves, to connect with the Self.









There is a Brahmin Lady called Nartaki (who I will mention again in upcoming posts) who lived at Arunachala for most of her life. As a young school girl of 14 years and dressed in school uniform, she took darshan of the sage Ramana Maharshi the day before his Samadhi. She herself died recently after a long life of prayer and service. And in that life, she met many Saints and Holy People including such luminaries as; Sri Nannagaru, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Lakshmana Swamy and others.

Of Sri Nannagaru, who she first met when he was 24 years old (before his realisation) she said to me, “I’ve always believed that the essential character of a person remains the same after realisation. And, of Sri Nannagaru, I noticed two things when he was a young man. Firstly, that he was very kind and secondly, that he had a wonderful sense of humour. Both those qualities are very evident in the person he has become.”



Sri Nannagaru:

“He is an intelligent, wise person who inquires into the heart for the truth. We get energy only from peace. You should not lose your peace as a result of small and trivial things. We should protect our tranquility and solve all problems. We should increase the span of time of a “life of love” . . . you don’t get the truth in books. You have to search in the heart. When you throw something into a blazing fire, you need not burn it, the fire itself will do that job. Similarly, your job is only to merge your mind in the heart.”

Winnie

Thanks for the kind emails from many readers of Arunachala Grace, enquiring about the absence of recent postings. Sorry. There are several reasons for the delay, but I hope that from now, I will be posting more regularly about life here at Arunachala.








But before that, I will introduce a new member of my doggie family, little 3 week old Winnie, a puppy from a pair of Himalayan Mountain Dog cross-breeds. Winnie is now over 3 months old and accompanies myself and my other doggies on our daily walks. She has already shown herself as absolutely fearless by jumping into a 20 foot deep pond of water. Needless to say, on that day she learnt to swim.