Worshipping this Lingam helps devotees get relief from disease, to
maintain good health and also helps them face problems and difficulties in
their lives.
Arunachala
Shiva!!!
Let the lightning take me away, to you…
“Arunachala!” He thought to himself, “Protect me, tonight!”
His father had warned him repeatedly in his school days, “The eldest
son or the only son should not walk alone after midnight in the open. Demons
and ghosts will catch you.” And, for good measure, he had added, “Lightning in
a thunderstorm can recognize the eldest son. In a stormy night, it will come searching
for one, and will hit you, even if you are in a crowd!” Balaji Naidu wondered
about his father’s words as he looked up at the silhouette of Arunachala, the
ever merciful peak of Tiruvannamalai, hidden in the stormy night clouds, with
the moon nowhere to be seen.
The bus journey had been very tiring. He had not been able to get the
express bus and had somehow managed to get on the regular inter-city bus from
Chennai. The normal 3-4 hour bus journey by an express bus took longer in this
one, stopping at every small mofussil location. The seats had been extremely
painful, and Balaji Naidu was exhausted. It was past midnight, long past
midnight, at Tiruvannamalai. There was a rainstorm pouring down and he had no
umbrella or raincoat with him. The streets were empty, and he searched the
skies for protection from the silhouette of Arunachala, with the moon behind.
The city had gone to sleep in this storm, and he walked alone, talking
to himself, “O Balaji, do not be frightened. This rain will not harm you.
Demons and ghosts will not come for you. With Arunachala Shiva as your
protector, this storm will not even attack you with its lightning.” He walked
from the bus stand and past the great temple. He had to get back to the lodge,
but it was too far away and there was no transport at this hour past midnight.
The roads were empty and he was frightened. He had come all the way from
Chennai and wanted to walk on the Girivalam, the path around the sacred hill of
Arunachala Shiva. He would have to start on the fourteen kilometer walk, maybe
early dawn, and be able to complete the entire route before it would get too
hot.
It did not look like he would be able to reach the lodge in the pouring
rain, he thought. He was near the Agni Lingam temple. He knew that the temple
would also be closed at this time of night, for this was not the date for the
Girivalam. He remembered that there were some shops nearer to the temple and
they would be closed now. He could take shelter in their shaded shop fronts. He
turned into the lane for the Agni Lingam temple and came up to the shops. As he
had guessed, the shop front was dry, and the awning would protect him. He could
rest here for the night, in front of the Agni Lingam temple.
He could see the sacred Arunachala, resplendent in the thunderstorm. It
was lit up by the moon and the silhouette made the peak look very magical.
Balaji was drenched, but he was happy. He was camped on the porch of a deserted
shop front, opposite the Agni Lingam temple and he was protected by Arunachala.
Opening up his haversack, he took out a dry lungi and towel, changed his
clothes and placed the wet ones to dry on a nylon rope that was hanging outside
the shop shutters. This was good, he felt. He could sit it out in the rain
here, get his clothes dried, and early morning, if the rains stopped, he could
begin his walk on the Girivalam, with prayers and offerings at the Agni Lingam
temple, right here.
It must have been nearly 1.30 am, he thought, and he could sleep here,
until dawn, without any disturbance. He could see Arunachala getting drenched,
and the clouds bowing to its glory. The puzzling aspect was, as he thought back
to his father’s advice, the thunderstorm was devoid of any lightning tonight.
It must have been his prayers, of course, though Balaji to himself with a
smile. He spoke a quiet prayer, and turning up to Arunachala, he spoke loudly,
“Arunachala, Arunachala Shiva! Nandri, nandri!
Thank you. I am in your protection tonight. Thank you for not sending
out any lightning to seek me out! I will go back to my father, with your grace
and tell him that Arunachala Shiva protected me in this thunderstorm, and did
not allow any lightning to get me!”
Upon speaking thus, in that dark stormy night, in that deserted shop
front, Balaji got ready to lie down and sleep it out, resting his head on his
haversack, and covering himself with a shawl that he had brought for this
purpose. He must have drifted off to a deep sleep, and must have been in a
strange dream, for he could hear some dogs growling nearby and a goat bleating
softly. A man was talking and all these animals and the man seemed to be
talking to Arunachala. Puzzled, Balaji woke up and sat still, worried and frightened
at this very strange dream.
He could not see anything. The rain had increased in its intensity. He
could not see Arunachala, and this frightened him some more. In panic, he
looked at the Agni Lingam temple, and he could barely see the closed gates. He
closed his eyes and looked up at Arunachala, and started chanting, “Arunachala!
Arunachala! Arunachala!” Pacified a bit, and beginning to breathe normally
again, he turned to look for the Agni Lingam temple. There seemed to be someone
there, at the gate, ghostly, or not, he could not make out.
“Yaar ange? Who is there?” Balaji called out in fright, “The temple is
closed. Come into this dry place and get out of the rain. Come here.” The
person materialized from the pouring rain, and Balaji was calmer. It was an
actual person. Not a ghost or demon, as his father had warned him. The man must
have also got caught out in the rains and must have been seeking shelter in the
rains. The man came walking up to Balaji and seemed to be accompanied by some
animal that was following him.
It was a goat! So, it was not a dream after all, thought Balaji, in
relief. He must have heard this man and the goat calling out, trying to seek
shelter from the rain. The man and his goat entered the shelter of the awning
and sat quietly. He seemed like a villager from the hills, for he had the
appearance of one who would not be from the cities. The goat was huge and very
strong, but quiet and docile. It came up on the stairs and sat next to the man
from the hills. There seemed to be some sort of a complete understanding between
the man and the goat.
He was indeed a very strange looking man, Balaji said to himself, for
he could see him more clearly now, as he was sitting on the stairs in front of
the shop front. He was huge, firstly, and the colour of his skin was unlike
anyone that he had seen. Balaji had traveled through India, and in his job as a
tour operator at the Chennai international airport, he had seen all sorts of
foreigners. This man was certainly not a foreigner, for he was a local man from
the hills. His skin was of a deep red colour, very reddish, dark, and not
brilliant. He was dressed in some sort of a dhoti, encumbered around his waist,
and dropping down to his ankles. Waist-above, he had no cloth or shirt banian
of any sort.
But, he did not seem to be feeling uncomfortable at all. He did not
seem to be noticing the rain or the night or the thunderstorm. He looked very
relaxed, and patient and accepting. So was his huge goat that was sitting so
very peacefully alongside. The man was watching the Agni Lingam temple very
intently and demonstrated some amount of irritation, from time to time,
muttering and speaking to himself. Suddenly, he looked up at the peak of
Arunachala and grumbled about something, and shook his hands in seeming
disgust. And again, he would sit patiently, waiting it out in the darkness of
the thunderstorm. After a while, he stood up angrily, looked at the temple,
spoke something, almost scolding the temple, and then, turned to the sacred
Arunachala, and again, spoke in an irritated manner.
Balaji could not understand his speech. He was amazed and surprised
that someone so very obviously familiar with the location, with the Agni Lingam
temple and the very sacred peak of Arunachala, could be so angry with various
aspects. What would it be that made him so very angry, he thought to himself, without
talking it out with this strange man from the hills? He was wary about talking
to this very strange reddish looking man. He looked large, and moment by
moment, he seemed to be appearing larger and larger. It must be his
imagination, thought Balaji. He looked at the quiet goat sitting nearby, and he
was content and smiled. The goat seemed the same size, and it had not grown.
After a while, the man sat down quietly, and did not remonstrate at any
aspect, including the temple or the sacred peak. He kept grumbling at times,
and started talking to his goat in the unintelligible language that he spoke.
The goat sat quietly, happy to be out of the rain. It looked quite happy to
have the reddish looking huge man talking in bursts. The goat must have been
familiar with this sort of behavior. Balaji wondered if the man would relax and
sleep for a while, for if not, then he would not be getting any sleep until
dawn, and he would be very tired in the Girivalam.
Getting curious, Balaji decided, that it would be better to talk it out
with this strange man. After all, he must have just been some person from the
hills nearby, and who was he to wonder about the colour of his skin or the
language that he spoke. Taking courage, Balaji spoke, in the local Tamil
dialect, “Hello, Saar, you know that you do not have to get upset about the
rain. This is the season for rain. But then, who am I to tell you about the
rain, for you look like someone from the hills of this region. Do not worry
about it. Very soon, it will be daylight, and one can expect that the temple
will be opened. If it continues to rain, we can take shelter in the temple.
But, it cannot continue to rain like this.”
The man looked at Balaji, and heard him speak. He did not reply. He
turned back to grumbling with himself and continued to talk to his goat. Since
he did not get angry, and did not beat him up, Balaji thought, why not take up
some more issues? Why not ask him something more about himself? Again, taking
courage, Balaji spoke, “Ennaa Saar, do not get angry or upset. This rain will
not harm us at all. My father used to tell me that such a thunderstorm was very
dangerous, but I am sure that Arunachala Shiva will protect us. Are you from
the nearby places? You do not look like you are from Tiruvannamalai or Gingee.
Are you from Kanchipuram?”
The strange man looked back at Balaji, seeming to understand that he
was being asked a question. He chose not to reply again. He looked angrier and
angrier, and perhaps, was getting upset with the questions from Balaji, or in
his attempts to be drawn into a conversation. He turned back to shaking his
hands at the sacred peak of Arunachala, and kept talking to himself, muttering
almost angrily, talking to the goat. Balaji decided that it would perhaps be
safe to make another attempt. He said, “Do not worry, my friend. This rain will
soon stop and you will be able to go and get whatever it is that you are upset
about. I am not frightened about this rain, and my father had advised me that I
should always be careful about not going out in such a thunderstorm. Do you
know why I am not frightened?”
Having been asked such a direct question, the strange man looked back
at Balaji, and waited, expecting an explanation. He did not ask anything, but
the intention was very obvious. Balaji continued, “My father had told me to be
frightened about lightning during a thunderstorm. Do you know what I did? The
first thing that I did when I got frightened, I prayed to Arunachala, and
requested him to protect me from lightning. I was the only person moving around
in this heavy rain, and I must have been the only devotee on the Girivalam
route, and therefore, it must have been the only prayer tonight. Ha! Ha! Ha!
How could Arunachala not refuse me? See for yourself, in this entire
thunderstorm, there has not been any lightning, through the night. I knew that
Arunachala Shiva would protect me.”
The huge reddish-looking strange man with the goat looked very
startled, on hearing this explanation from Balaji. He seemed to get angrier and
perhaps, thought Balaji, he may actually resort to some violence. Why would
this strange man be upset that there was no lightning in the thunderstorm, or
that Arunachala Shiva was protecting his devotees? The strange man got out of
the shade of the shop and walked back to the Agni Lingam temple gate, touched
it, and turned back to face the sacred peak of Arunachala, and raised his
hands, and spoke something angrily. He did this, 2-3 times, and returned to the
shade of the shopfront, and sat with his goat, and grumbled.
What a puzzling man, thought Balaji. He actually looked angry that
there was no lightning in the thunderstorm. What would he want with the temple,
and why was he so upset with Arunachala? How could anyone be angry with Shiva
himself? Did he not know that he was getting angry with the deity? He could not
understand this man. He was actually angry. Let him be, reasoned Balaji. Better
to get some sleep, and save himself for the Girivalam. Let this strange man
argue it out with Arunachala and let him worry about his answers or any angry
reaction from Shiva, he thought.
The man came closer to Balaji, and stood facing Arunachala, and spoke,
and this time, Balaji seemed to be able to understand, though it was not spoken
in Tamil. The strange man spoke angrily to the sacred peak of Arunachala, “How
can you allow this? You do not allow me to do my work? What is the wrong that I
have done? Do I harm your devotees? Do I stop them when they are on the
Girivalam? This is not correct, O Arunachala!”
Amazed, Balaji looked at the strange man. He did not actually hear him
speak in Tamil. How did he manage to understand what he spoke? Perhaps, it was
because he could actually hear him clearly, finally, for he had only been
muttering and grumbling in undertones to the goat, and at the Agni Lingam
temple and at Arunachala. Who had not allowed this strange man to do his work?
How did Arunachala stop him from his work? What was this strange looking
reddish man’s work? How could his work harm the devotees on the Girivalam? So
many questions, he thought.
Suddenly, the thunderstorm became more intense, heavier and the sound
was angrier. Was Arunachala getting angry with this strange man? Balaji spoke
to the strange man, “Swami, why are you angry? I only spoke in jest. I did not
mean to stop you from your work. How can I stop you? I do not even know you.
Please do not get angry with my Arunachala, and please do not accuse HIM of
being wrong. How can HE be wrong? HE is the most graceful.”
Hearing Balaji, the strange man spoke again, to Arunachala as before,
“Did you hear him? He had not even asked you to stop the lightning in a serious
prayer. He did not even mean it. And, you stop me from doing my work! It is my
job, as given by you and you have denied me, my tasks. He was merely frightened
of some rain, that’s all. Let me do my job, for, never have you stopped me from
doing it. O Arunachala! Let me do my job in this thunderstorm. How can it be a
storm without any lightning?”
Saying thus, the strange man stood still, and worshipped Arunachala, in
a steady chant, and began to relax and drop his anger. As the chant grew in its
intensity, he turned to face the sacred peak, and raised his hands and clapped.
The sound was enormous; the sound of the claps grew in its volume. Balaji
looked on in amazement, and wondered at the man’s devotion. Suddenly, the
strange man stopped his clapping, and beckoned, and said, “Come, come, O
Arunachala, release me from inaction tonight. Release me from not doing my duty
tonight.”
And, in that very instant, the sacred peak of Arunachala looked that
much calmer, almost content, and peaceful, within the great rush of the
thunderstorm. In the next moment, there were two thick lines of lightning
bursting out from the skies, and they were followed by an amazing unstoppable
roll of thunder, that kept going on and on. He looked for the strange man, and
he saw him, with his goat, walking up the slopes of the sacred peak of
Arunachala, in the heavy rains, in the darkness. Balaji did not feel any fear
at the sound of the thunder and the sight of the lightning. He sang, “O
Arunachala, do not bless me anymore, for I am blessed a thousand and million
times in your presence. Let the lightning take me away, to you, to you, to
you.”
