News on July 2, 2016 of development of Arunachala Girivalam Pathway

Below I am reproducing in full an article that appeared today in National Indian Newspapers about the current situation regarding the development of the Arunachala Girivalam Pathway. 

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

"Steadfast protest of people from all walks of life in Tiruvannamalai on Friday on the girivalam path made the Collector A. Gnanasekaran to suspend the order on felling of trees until he takes a relook at the spot. He said he will explore the possibilities for alternative alignment. 

Though the protesters wanted total withdrawal of the project, they welcomed the gesture of the Collector. 

The project proposes to widen the road by 7 to 10 meter along the 14 km route around the Tiruvannamalai hill and apportion a lane for girivalam devotees to walk around the hill. Though devotees go around the hill walking barefoot every day, lakhs of people perform it on every full moon day. 

About half of the route that traverses through Tiruvannamalai town and overlaps a national highway has become urbanised. Another half that starts from Chengam Road junction and ends at Vellore Road junction remains a pristine beauty and a real avenue flanked by forests. 

Though the protesters oppose the project in total, they are more concerned about preserving this half, especially the Sonagiri forest. It is the only natural forest (where humans never planted trees) that remains intact in the hill that serves as a house to rich diversity of plants, animals and birds. The proposed alignment of the widening project cuts through this forest encircling a few road side threethams (ponds). 

 

Earthmover near Sonagiri Forest, Arunachala Girivalam Roadway

 

Human chain 

Earthmovers entered this serene section a couple of days ago and were digging trenches for constructing a 12km-long drainage along the forest as part of the project. 

Expecting the machines to touch the trees of Sonagiri forests on Friday for digging the trench, about hundred activists and concerned devotees assembled in the place in the early morning. 

They blocked the bull-dozer and asked the workers to wait till their proposed meeting with the Collector by 10 a.m. They formed a human chain there and resolved to face the situation without resorting to any lawless activities. 

Mix of emotions 

The workers pretended to heed their request. But after moving a few hundred meters away from the spot they started felling trees in the peripheries of the Sonagiri forest. The protesters, that included some western devotees, ran to the place and shouted angrily. Some of them like Psychiatrist Dr. Seetha started weeping on seeing the felled trees. A mix of anger and emotion prevailed there. They suddenly sat there blocking the road. 

DSP Saravanakumar initially tried to vacate them terming their protest as illegal. However protesters persisted. 

Prominent citizens like writer Bava Chelladurai, banker turned cinema actor Murugan, Lions club functionary and literary aficionado Kuzhandaivel and local trader Satheesh Sankar argued with the officer and made him get an assurance from the work supervisor to stop till the proposed talks with the Collector."

2016 Arunachala Tamil New Year

The Ner Annamalaiyar Lingam Shrine and Mandapam is located on the Arunachala girivalam roadway in an exact axial line opposite to Arunachaleswarar Temple on the other side of the Hill. 

The early morning sun on Tamil New Year i.e. April 14 (Puthandu Vazthukal) first falls directly onto the Lingam in this Shrine – this phenomenon can only be viewed on this day. Traditionally each year on this date, large crowds gather at this Temple to be first to greet the rays of Surya and seek divine blessings for the coming new year. 

The Ner Annamalaiyar Lingam Shrine at daybreak April 14, 2016

First light of Tamil New Year shining on Lingam at Shrine

First Light Tamil New year 2016

Mookupodi Swamigal Location

Many readers eager to contact Mookupodi Swami, have contacted Arunachala Grace asking where they can find him and take darshan. This posting is to help you locate Swamigal. 

He is usually at the Navagraha Shrine in the early mornings, and if he goes to other places, he will generally return there. The Shrine is located near the well-known Unnamulai Amman Temple about 3 kms on the Girivalam Roadway after it forks off from the NH66.

Unnamulai Temple, Arunachala Girivalam Roadway

Navagraha Shrine

Deepam Puja at Sri Rajarajeshwari Temple

As is my usual custom today, the day before Deepam, went early morning with a friend from Malaysia to Rajarajeshwari Temple to attend abhishekham of the Goddess. A very special Temple at Arunachala.

Goddess Rajarajeshwari

Sri Meru Chaktra

Nandi takes darshan of his Lord

The Goddess

Arasu, previously Civil Engineer who now manages this family Temple

Sadhus and Sannyasins at Raghavendra Shrine, Arunachala

This week to celebrate the ending of negative Shani influence in her star chart, Jacqueline Jacques arranged a feeding of sadhus at the venue of Sri Raghavendra Shrine, Girivalam Roadway (near Hanuman Temple). After about an hour of communal chanting and quiet sitting over 400 sadhus took their evening meal. 

 

Venue for dinner was the Sri Raghavendra Shrine, Arunachala

Chanting at Function

Chanting and group meditation proceeded dinner

Some Sadhus and Sannyasins in attendance

Function was well organised with plenty of food for all

Over 400 Sadhus and Sannyasins were given evening dinner

Feeding at Sri Raghavendra Shrine, Girivalam Roadway

2014 Adi Pooram at Rajarajeshwari Temple

I myself attend the Adi Pooram function at the Rajarajeshwari Temple which is located off the girivalam roadway. The Vallaikappu ceremony and puja attracted large crowds, and the Goddess was splendidly adorned in a multitude of silk saris, jewels and garlands for the occasion. 

Sri Rajarajeshwari 2014 Adi Pooram

Close-up of the supremely contented Goddess

Visit to an Elephant

Being that I love elephants and also enjoy a nice, celebratory procession, I visited Sri Seshadri Ashram yesterday (Saturday October 5, 2013) in order that I could view the procession connected with the Raja Parivara Puja, which was scheduled to leave that Ashram at 4.00 p.m. As things usually get off to a slow start I turned up at Sri Seshadri Ashram at about 4.30 pm. But was disappointed to see that neither the horse nor cow (for the puja) had arrived, and that arrangements for the procession seemed to be delayed.

Fortunately the sweet elephant from Trichy was on time and was waiting patiently at the Ashram whilst snacking on some nice greens. I was told that she had been transported from Trichy by lorry, which I suppose in these days of speeding vehicles on overburdened roadways is the safest solution. In quieter times elephants would have a nice walk to functions. In days previously whenever Sri Sathya Sai Baba was switching from his Puttaparthi Ashram to his Whitefield Ashram, his elephant Geeta, would be taken between those stops by a long, leisurely walk. 

I waited at Sri Seshadri Ashram till about 5.00 p.m. but as not much progress was being made starting up the procession, decided to leave and go upon my household shopping duties. 

Having a little munch

Checking it all out

Wearing freshly painted face decorations

Pots inside Sri Seshadri Siddhar Hall

Young lads with their musical instruments

The sweet elephant wearing her "fancy dress" outfit

Mahapuja for 18 Siddhars, Arunachala

While visiting various Swamis and Shrines off the Girivalam Roadway a couple of days ago, noticed this large poster telling about a nice function scheduled for a few days time. Years ago I attended such a Raja Mahapuja and it was a grand, beautiful occasion. 

If you don't have time to go to the various functions at Sri Seshadri Swsamigal Ashram or at the Viji Marriage Hall (off the Girivalam Roadway) then think about having a nice view of the celebratory procession that will be moving its way on the Chengam Road early this Saturday morning. Below are details of the upcoming Function.

The Maha Guru Mutheri Dhayana Sanga Peetam invites all to a Raja Parivara Puja which will be performed for the 18 Siddhars at Tiruvannamalai. 

Right click on poster for enlargement to read 

Poster in Tamil with full details

On October 5th, 2013 in the evening at 4.00 p.m., a procession will start from Sri Seshadri Swamigal Ashram and end at the Viji Marriage Hall on the Girivalam roadway. The procession will be very grand and include (as in such Rajapujas), an Elephant, Horse and Cow and celebratory music. The Kumbhas will be kept at a special tent and poojas will be performed at that place which is adjacent to the Marriage Hall on the girivalam roadway. 

On October 6th, 2013 in the early morning at 4.00 a.m., a special Mahakumbha Puja will be performed for 18 Siddhars with 18 Mahakumbhams at the above place. 

Mottayan Swami and Kootankuchi Swamigal

On October 20, 2009 I received a note from Dr. S. Ananthakrishnan which became lost in my computer files and which I unearthed only recently whilst clearing my files. On going through the note thought it was time to make an effort to respond to the questions raised by Dr. S. Ananthakrishnan. 

Kottankuchi Swamigal

The note went thus: 

"Have you heard of the mouna Swamigal on the Girivalam route? . . . I have personally met him and it was a casual meeting near the main Annamalaiyar Temple. His appearance is of a young person not less than 30-31, with a naturally formed French beard and he wears the Kaavi dress like the Kanchi Paramacharya style. This Mouna Swamigal himself wrote and told me when he visits the Mottayan Swami, that Mottayan Swami makes him sit in his lap. Still this mouna Swamigal preserves the photo of the Mottayan Swami though the edges of the photo are slightly damaged.

I would request you if you could post the photo of this Swamigal and his current whereabouts. Recently (note: i.e. at the end of 2009) on Zee Tamil T.V., they showed a video on the research on the Parakkum Siddhar. During the show they showed Mottayan Swami and this mouna Swamigal . . . “

Current house of Kootankuchi Swamigal

After stopping at several places and talking with another Swami (who I will write about in due course on my blog Arunachala Mystic) residing in a house near the old Shantimalai Trust Gokulam, I and my friend arrived by auto rickshaw at the house of the silent Swami now residing just off the Girivalam roadway (near the Rajarajeshwari Temple). The mouna Swamigal is still in silence but responded to my questions occasionally by hand signs and sometimes by writing his answers in a notebook. 

Kootankuchi Swamigal's compound right of Sai Mandir, Girivalam Road

Swami goes by the name Kootankuchi Swamigal. As he is a sannyasin, he did not wish to answer many questions regarding home and previous family but he did give several bits of information. His age is around forty years old and even though he is in silence he is available to visitors. He worships the Divine Mother in the form of Varahi. His guru is the now deceased Jangalidas Maharaj who has an ashram about seven kms from Shirdi. Kootankuchi Swamigal stayed at that place for six months many years previously. 

Kootankuchi Swamigal has been living at Tiruvannamalai for a number of years and for the last 10 years has been maintaining a verbal silence. He had great love for Visiri Samiyar (Yogi Ramsuratkumar) and spent a lot of time with him in earlier days. 

When asking Kootankuchi Swamigal whether the story of him sitting in the lap of Mottayan Swamigal was true. He said that previously (over 7 years ago) Mottayan Swamigal would sometimes come and meet with him and at that time, Mottayan would often lie on the floor resting his head upon Kottankuchi Swamigal and sometimes sitting in his lap. I asked Kottankuchi Swamigal as to his opinion of Mottayan Swami. He bowed his head in great reverence and indicated in writing that Mottayan Swami was a great Siddha. 

Jolly workers building Swami's house

I visited the Kootankuchi Swamigal with a friend Mr. Hari Prasad and my regular auto rickshaw driver Gandipan. Whilst there a number of personal questions were asked by us all, which Kottankuchi Swamigal answered (in writing and by gesture) clearly and at length. On a personal level I found that his advice was in line with the advice I have received through my own prayers and meditation upon the Divine Mother. 

Kottankuchi Swamigal is currently building his own house a short distance from his rental accommodation and as soon as that is complete (probably not before the beginning of 2014) he will shift from his current abode. 

Construction of House underway

I have made many postings of Swami Mottayan (also known as Mookupodi Swami = snuff Swami as he is in the habit of daily taking snuff). As it has been sometime since I last saw him, early this morning I stopped at the new Navagraha Shrine (near Rajarajeshwari Temple) on the girivalam road, where I had heard that he currently stays at. 

Mootayan Swami (Mookupodi Swamigal)

A crowd of about thirty people were standing silently and reverently close by the Navagraha Shrine taking silent darshan of Mottayan Swami whist he was drinking his morning tea at an adjacent tea stall. I have heard that nowadays there is often a crowd of pilgrims and visitors surrounding him. 

Crowd watching Swami take his morning tea

The times that I was able to get easy access and even sit with him on the verandah of a local school playing with thayam stones seemed to be a very long time ago. To view some of the posts on Mottayan (Mookupodi) Swami on Arunachala Grace, go to this link here. 

Mottayan Swami (aka Mookupodi Swami)

Aadi Pooram Photographs—Friday August 9, 2013

After a long delay I finally connected with Swami at Rajarajeshwari Temple on the Arunachala Girivalam Roadway, and picked up photographs of the Aadi Pooram Festival as it was celebrated at that Temple. 

Below are two photographs of Sri Rajarajeshwari at Arunachala, specially dressed for this most auspicious Festival. I will be posting a more complete narrative with photographs onto my website Arunachala Samudra. To read more about this wonderful Temple, please visit my website at this link here. But for the time being below, two most sublime photographs. 

Right click for photo enlargement

Adi Pooram is celebrated in all Hindu temples in Southern India in the month of Adi, which corresponds to the English months of July-August, when the asterism Pooram (Delta Leonis) is in the ascendancy. As the Festival fell on a Friday this year, the occasion was regarded as even more auspicious. This Festival is observed to propitiate the Sakti Goddess who is said to have come into the world on this occasion to bless all. She is thus worshipped in order that one may secure happiness for oneself and for loved ones.

Rajeshwari (Parvati Temple)

Recently this Temple, The Rajeshwari (Parvati) Temple on the Girivalam Roadway, was renovated and painted in preparation for a just completed mahabishekam function. In addition to the paintings of the interior and exterior walls, some new murals were painted on each of the outside walls of the Shrine, by a local Tiruvannamalai artist. The paintings are of: Shiva and Parvati on Nandi, Parvati with the Sage Bringi, Lord Dakshinamurti, Lingodbhavamurti, and the Goddess Durga with her foot on the decapitated head of the demon Mahisha. 

The stucco figurines adorning the gopuram are ancient and made in a pure Dravidian style. Just outside the Sanctum Sanctorum, there is a stela (stele) blackened by oil and upon which are Shiva and Parvati, sitting on the bull Nandi. 

This Shrine was originally called the Aravan Temple. The reason for the original name is unclear, it could possibly refer to the snake (i.e. aravan) adornment that Lord Shiva wears on the stele. It could also refer to the name of a warrior from the epic Mahabharata, who was on the side of the Pandavas. In the epic, it is Aravan who offers sacrifice before the first battle. For this reason he is known for granting protection to devotees and as he supervised the fire, he is often invoked by devotees who are attempting firewalking. The name Aravan could also possibly refer to the name of a Siddha Purusha of South India. 

Whatever the reason for the original name, traditionally this Temple is favoured by visitors who are seeking fulfillment of wishes or blessings in undertakings. 

Back of the Shrine with stucco figurines

View of Temple from the Girivalam Roadway

Front of Temple

Goddess Parvati with Sage Bringi

Lord Dakshinamurti with the four Rishis

Very nice Lingodbhavamurti

Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati on Nandi

Goddess Durga on Mahisha's Head

Shrine with Stele at side

Close up of Stele

Meeting with Mooku Podi Swami

Vishesh a reader of Arunachala Grace recently sent me an email about his meeting and experience with Mooku Podi Swami here at Arunachala. I am posting the narrative in full below. The accompanying photographs were taken by myself some time ago while Swami was residing near Pavarthi Hill. 

“As you requested, I wanted to give my experience with Mooku Podi Swami. As I mentioned earlier, I live in the US and visited India on Vacation for three weeks. I got initiated into several Meditation techniques by Vethathiri Maharishi and then started to follow Sri Nithyananda Swami. There is a huge temple in the city where I live in the US. I did see some blog postings by you on Nithyananda Swami. I along with my wife, 10 year old son and my Father-in-law came to Tiruvannamalai on the evening of 5th January to be part of Nithyananda Swami's Birthday celebrations. I drove our car from Trichy and stayed in a hotel just outside of Arunachala temple. Because of worst traffic, I decided to take an auto rather than driving the car. That is when everything started. 

The auto driver who took us to Nithyananda Swami's ashram on our route started to talk about Mooku Podi Swami (MPS) and suggested us to attempt to see him once before we leave. Initially that thought did not get into me strongly. He mentioned that MPS stays in hotel called Arpana which is where we planned to go for Dinner on the 5th. He himself asked Arpana hotel's watchman about MPS whereabouts. The watchman replied that MPS no more stays in that hotel and moved to a place near the Srinivasan school on the Girivalam path. 

We had the dinner and then left to the hotel. I requested the auto driver to pick up again the next day to visit Nithyananda Swami's ashram. The next day on our way to the Ashram he stopped the auto at a place before to the Ashram and pointed out a old man and then said he is MPS. We just got out of the auto and stood on the other side of the road and paid our respects. I did not get any sort of opinions on MPS and prayed for his blessings. He had a look at our family and we felt really good about it. We had to leave to the Ashram as we had a Pada Puja scheduled with Nithyananda Swami. 

After we had our time at the Ashram we came back to see him and could not find him. Then we went to Ramana Asramam and Visiri Samiyar Ashram and spend the whole day. The next day (7th January) we were planning to return back to Trichy and I started to have a very strong urge to meet MPS once more before I leave. So we checked out of our hotel and headed out on the Girivalam path by 7.30 am. To our surprise, MPS was sitting on the same spot (it was a Police booth). We parked the car on the road, left our sandals in the car and got out of the car and sat on a bench which was around 30 foot away from him. It would have been around 20 minutes we just sat and got his darshan. He started to walk around and then came and stood near our car. I turned to him in the sitting position and we were looking at him for blessings. I was praying inside to get me initiated into Atma Vidya (Ramana Maharishi's “Who Am I” self introspection). Other than that, I did not have any other feelings. 

After seeing MPS standing near our car, the people around that place started to scream asking to open the car door as MPS wanted to sit inside. I immediately rushed and opened the door and requested him to sit in our car. He hesitated and did not sit. There was one small boy around (15 years old) and urged us to remove all the sandals out of the car. I removed everyone of them and then MPS came around and sat in the passenger side. I took my son and then sat in the car. He did not talk anything to me and used sign languages and gave me directions. I finally ended up in a hotel called Udupi. 

He went inside and showed sign language to me to make the chair available for him to sit. I did it and then me and my son wanted to sit on the floor near his foot. He urged us to sit on the chair in the nearby table. After he had some Dosa and coffee and he left and we again headed out of the hotel. I wanted to go around girivalam (anticlockwise-as you had mentioned in one of your posting) and came to the same spot where we started. He wanted to stop and then he got down. The same small boy asked me to do namaskarams and touch his feet. I did and when I tried to touch his foot, he nodded his head and signalled me as not to touch. I obeyed his instructions and said good-bye. He gracefully nodded and gave me his send off. Then there were people around who came got his blessings. 

Parvarthi Hill, off Girivalam Roadway

My wife after getting his blessings wanted to donate some money for Anna Dhaan at the Ragavendra Ashram. It was just across the road. After visiting Ragavendra Ashram, I had the feeling again to take a photo of him so that I can have in my Puja area for worship. We returned back to see him and he was not there. When I asked the people around that place they asked us to check at the Srinivasan school. 

Girivalam Roadway where Swami stays

We went there and found him sitting at the hallway. I walked up to him and asked him if I can take a photo. He nodded his head stood up and walked out of the school straight to our car. So we had him seated again and this time all of our family sat inside. He again signalled me to go anticlockwise. I started to drive. We went two full rounds this time and Swami by then started to take a nap. During the middle of the third round, the police had put some barricade and blocked the road. Then he signalled to take a diversion and then we ended up to go clockwise again. When the car came near the school, he signalled to stop and got down. I once again asked if I could take a snap and he nodded no again. That was the end. He walked straight inside the school and I did my namaskarams again and headed out. 

He was uttering two words again and again for 5 to 6 times: They were "ஆபிசு....ஆபீஸ்"”