Arunachala Postings: 7-27 July, 2013

Below are links and short extracts of postings on my various Arunachala Blogs from Sunday July 7, 2013 to Saturday July 27, 2013. 

Arunachala Grace 

Mahashivaratri Retreat 2014: Information about Torsten Brugge and Padma Woolf Retreat at Mahashivaratri 2014. Venue Sri Nannagaru Ashram, Tiruvannamalai. 

Shani Pradosham July 20, 2013: Photographs of Shani Pradosham at Arunachaleswarar Temple. Mythology of Shani Pradosham Vrata Mahatmyam. Mahakaleshwar Temple and Lingam.

Gods at Ayyankulam Teertham: Function marking the end of the Ani Brahmostavam Festival. Information and photographs about the Arunagirinathar Temple. 

Abhishekam of Lord Nataraja: Lord Nataraja brought in procession to the Thousand Pillared Hall at the Big Temple. 

Guru Poornima 2013: Photograph and Mantra dedicated to the Guru. 

Rudra Pasupathi Nayanar: Narrative on life of this Nayanar and video of the Sri Rudram: Namakam-Chamakam in Devanagari, English translations 

5th day Ani Brahmostavam Festival: Rishaba (Bull) Chariot Procession through Tiruvannamalai on fifth day of Festival. 

Ani Brahmostavam 2013: Photographs of the flag hoisting at Arunachaleswarar Temple at the beginning of Festival. 

Arunachala Birds 

Indian Birds’ Nests Part 2: Narrative with photographs of unconventional nests of four Indian Birds.

Peacocks at Arunachala: Series of photographs of the Peacock at Ramana Ashram. Links to previous postings. 

Arunachala Mystic 

Uttarayana and Dakshinayana: Esoteric significance of the seasonal calendar delineations of Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. 

Visit to Country Ashram: Visit to the countryside Ashram of Sri Siva Jothi Mona Siddhar, some 20 kms from Tiruvannamalai 

Arunachala Land 

Duplex at Vediappanur: Photographs and information about Duplex for sale at Vediappanur, off Girivalam Roadway, Tiruvannamalai 

Jackfruit Tree: Photographs, mythology and information about the popular Jackfruit Tree of Tamil Nadu. 

Postings: 1st week of July, 2013

Below are links and short extracts of postings on my various Arunachala Blogs from the first week of July: Saturday June 29, 2013 to Saturday July 6, 2013. 

Arunachala Grace

Pradosham Removal of Sins: Photographs of July 5, 2013 Pradosham as observed at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, Tiruvannamalai. 

Arunachala Samudra Website: Inviting support towards the development of the Arunachala Samudra Website

Devotion to the Guru: Words of spiritual guidance from Swami Satchidananda of Anandashram

Swami Satchidananda and a Question: Personal experience of interaction with Swami Satchidananda in 1985 and a question posed to him. 

Tiruvannamalai, India—Travel Diary: Video about a group of Russian Pilgrims and their days at Arunachala.

Arunachala Birds 

Working Bird: Photographs of modern day falconry with Rufus the Wimbledon American Harris Hawk.

Nests of Indian Birds: Part One of descriptions and photographs of various Indian Birds’ nests.

Arunachala Mystic 

Soma Sutra Pradakshina: Explanation of how to perform Soma Sutra Pradakshina at time of Pradosham. 

Mother Umadeviar: Vignettes of Mother Umadeviar who was renowned as a channel to Sri Seshadri Swamigal 

Postings: 4th week June, 2013

Below are links and short extracts of postings on my various Arunachala Blogs from the fourth week of June: Saturday June 22, 2013 to Saturday June 29, 2013. 

 

Arunachala Grace 

Ani Brahmostavam: Invitation for upcoming Festival at Arunachaleswarar Temple.

Samudram Eri: Early morning walk on the dry lakebed, Samudram Eri. 

Ramana Ashram Clinic: Narrative and photographs of Ramana Ashram Dispensary.

Arunachala Birds 

The Southern Grey Shrike: Information and photographs of an occasional visitor to the Arunachala area, the Southern Grey Shrike 

Arunachala Mystic

Arunachala Mystic Relationship between Saints: Connection between the Arunachala saints’ Seshadri Swamigal and Ramana Maharshi 

Arunachala Land 

Silk Cotton Tree: Narrative and photographs of the tallest tree in Arunachala.

Postings: 3rd week June, 2013

Below are links and short extracts of postings on my various Arunachala Blogs from week Saturday June 15, 2013 to Saturday June 22, 2013. 

Arunachala Grace 

Murugan Shrine: Small Murguan Shrine located on hillock off Perubakkam Road near Arunachala. 

Sri Tirumular Nayanar: Story of Sri Tirumular a Nayanar from the Periapuranam and his great work the Tirumandiram with link.

Solstice and Pradosham: Synchroncity of these two auspicious events at Arunachala.

Arunachala Birds 

Bird Stories: Narratives illustrating the power the great Mahan Sri Seshadri Swamigal had over birds at Arunachala. 

Red Vented Bulbul: Narrative, video and photographs of this Arunachala beautiful bird of the Bulbul family.

Arunachala Mystic 

Healing Miracles of Sri Seshadri Swamigal: Inspirational stories of the great healing miracles of the avadhuta Sri Seshadri Swamigal. 

Postings: 1st week June, 2013

Below are links and short extracts of postings on my various Arunachala Blogs from week Saturday June 1, 2013 to Saturday June 8, 2013.

Arunachala Grace

Mosquito Repellent Advice Tamil Nadu: Practical information for visitors to Tiruvannamalai (and Tamil Nadu) and advice as to chemical free mosquito protection.

Agnihotra Yagam: Information and photographs of a yearly Yagam performed at Arunachaleswarar Temple during the hot Summer Months. 

Thirujnana Sambhandar: Short biography of one of the four great Tamil Saints, the Nalvars, and a narrative of his visit to Arunachala. 

A Tamil Wedding: Photographs and information about a traditional Tamil Wedding performed at Arunachala.

June 6, 2013 -- Pradosham, Big Temple: Photographs and short narrative of the Arunachaleswarar Temple June 6th, 2013 Pradosham. 

Arunachala Birds 

Common Babbler -- Passerine: Extract from 1902 Book on Indian Birds about the Common Babbler accompanied with contemporary photographs of this bird species. 

 

Arunachala Land 

Frangipani: Description and photographs of the beautiful Frangipani Plant and narrative of the Frangipani in Hindu folklore. 

Arunachala Mystic

Nakshatra Offerings to Arunachala: Information and listing of Arunachala offerings appropriate to each of the 27 Nakshatras in connection with the date of one’s visit to the Hill.

Panchamukha Darshanam: Escoteric significance of the Panchamukha located off the girivalam roadway on the northeast side of Arunachala. 

Arunachala Grace Mentor Programme

Arunachala Grace is offering a Mentor programme for individuals and groups who wish to visit Tiruvannamalai and need assistance in arranging transportation and accommodation. In addition Arunachala Grace will arrange talks and tours for those who want to learn more about the history and mythology of Arunachala, its unique and extraordinary Temples, and its lineage of saints and seers. 

We invite you to email Arunachala Grace (top left corner) and begin a dialogue. 

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.

1,000

This is the 1,000th post on Arunachala Grace Blog since it started in May, 2006. The BLOG ARCHIVE RESOURCE is at the left column of this page and filled with lots of interesting information and photographs about the extraordinary, amazing Arunachala.

As well as Arunachala Grace Blog, there is also the monthly newsletter -- Arunachala Grace News -- sent direct to the email inbox of (free) subscribers, the additional Blogs -- Arunachala Land, Arunachala Birds and the website Arunachala Samudram. Depending on the support of interested readers, I hope to extensively develop the website Arunachala Samudram in 2009 to include even more information on Arunachala, connected material, interactive features, a readers forum, videos and mp3 audios.

In the meantime thank you to all readers and to those who have made suggestions and sent information and particular thanks to those who support the development of Arunachala Grace Network through donations (PayPal is located at the left hand margin of this page).

At the top left corner of this Blog there is a 'contact' feature which I welcome readers to use. If you need help, information or suggestions about visiting Arunachala, where to visit or where to stay -- or WHATEVER, please get in touch.

Once again thanks for connecting with Arunachala through this resource and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one and all of us!

Happy Buddha Poornima

Dear Arunachala Friends:

Sorry for the long absence in postings but life has been hectic and unpredictable the last couple of months. It all began with a snake bite which I received while taking my doggies out on Samudram Erie for their nightly walk and led to me receiving Hospital outpatient treatment for over a month. Once that started getting better, I had the rather unfortunate event occur of my bamboo roof being completely blown off my roof during evening gale force winds. Winds that have been so fierce and violent that in some areas, even electric posts have been uprooted. Unfortunately my nice, expensive new bamboo roof on its way off was responsible for a fair amount of damage to the structure of the roof. Oh well!Lets get that bad karma out of the way in one go!

Within the next few days I hope to be back posting regularly. And also plan on sending out the monthly newsletter for June, albeit it may be a few days late.

One good thing is that I have spent the last few 'quite' weeks thinking about Arunachala Grace and the possibilities of new areas that would be interesting to explore on certain aspects of the Hill. So look forward to sharing results of my research with you all.

In the meantime may you all receive Love and Light this Blessed Buddha Poornima (Wesak) time. Back soon. Yours, Meenakshi Ammal

Visitor Graph

Thought it might be interesting to post a current Visitor's Graph showing Country percentage information of visitors to Arunachala Grace. Unsurprisingly 38% of visitors come from India, but the large percentage of 31% hail from the U.S. I didn't realise there were so many Arunachala devotees in the United States. Great news.

Occasionally we even get visitors from China - now thats really global!

That Electric Supply!

There has been very little in the way of information and/or updates on Arunachala Grace for a while due to the combined circumstances of suspect electric supply, improvements to my house and the introduction of a new dog into the family that we have adopted from our local Animal Shelter. The dog is a very nice German Shepherd (Alastian) we have named Victor (much more about him in later posts).

On the electric front, the problem has been a dangerous and highly erratic electricity supply - so much so, that having the computer on was a nerve wracking experience. Well, everything came to a head one evening last week when in this area for the whole evening 440 current was passed through lines meant for 220 – consequently LOTS of blown T.V.s, lights, fridges etc. in the neighbourhood. On the night it happened, I fortunately had my computer off, but lots of other electric items in my home got 'fried'.

Happily the Electricity Board seems to have recitied the problem, so hopefully from now on computer access in this area will be simpler and safer.

Sorry for the silence

Dear readers of Arunachala Grace, I have been busy accumulating lots of interesting stories and news of Arunachala which sadly, due to problems with my internet connection at home, have not been able to post. Today I came into town (i.e. Ramana Nagar, Tiruvannamalai) to an internet facility to upload information onto this Blog, but none of the photographs successfully uploaded. So I suppose its a matter of waiting a couple of more days (until my connection at home is working again) so I can nicely update this Blog. Lots of very interesting information and news to report, some great photographs and also a very nice home movie entitled "Arunachala Pilgrims". So please check back in a couple of days.