2020 Bharani Deepam Significance
"The all-pervading quiet of early morning is suddenly disrupted by a mad clamor of thunderous sound. Ringing bells, pounding drums and piercing nagaswarams (temple horns) almost overpower the belting voices of hundreds of devotees who are singing songs in praise of Siva, the Lord of Arunachala. It is 4:30 am on the 29th November, 2020, and the main sanctum sanctorum of the massive Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar Temple is packed with souls who have been waiting eagerly for this moment.
The chief priest has just finished a simple ritual called Bharani Deepam and now ceremoniously waves a huge camphor flame in the direction of nearby Arunachala mountain. Although he is chanting Sanskrit slokas, he cannot be heard amidst the deafening furor of devotion that surrounds him. Finally, he touches the flame he is holding to the wicks of five huge, earthen, ghee-filled pots, representing the sacred elements; earth, air, fire, water and ether.
As these five flames loom up with red-yellow light, the famous South Indian festival of Karthigai Deepam officially begins. A single flame is then taken from the pots and kept burning in the Temple throughout the day as a symbol of the merging of manifestation back into God, the one source of all. This single flame is referred to as the Bharani Deepam.
Around 10:00 a.m. this Bharani morning, a group of fishermen will be blessed by a priest in a ceremony at the Temple. Amidst ringing bells and temple music, the priest will give the fishermen a lamp in a protected container that has been lit from the Bharani Deepam in the Temple. After the consecration ritual, the fishermen take off up the mountain. It will take them about four hours to carry the flame to the top of Arunachala.
Others of the same hereditary fishing family will remain at the Temple and in the evening light the Deepam flame outside the Arunachaleswarar Siva Sannidhi."
Watch below video from Arunachaleswarar Temple which live streamed the 2020 Bharani Deepam.
