Parvathamalai Archive of Blog Postings

In response to those requesting information about Parvathamalai, below are a list of my postings of this sacred place. I will enlarge this archive when I make new postings on the Hill.

Parvathamalai, which is located a short distance from Arunachala lies in its sacred powerful influence as stipulated in the Skanda Purana.

Temple on Summit of Parvathalamalai

Parvathamalai Hill and Temple 

[18 October 2014] 

Information about the Hill and Temple located on the summit. Legends and mythology connected with the Hill. 

Thavathiru Veera Vairakiya Moorthy Swamigal and Parvathamalai 

[October 27, 2014] Legend connected with the great saint who lived at Parvathamalai and performed a famous miracle at Tiruvannamalai. 

Arunachala from Summit of Parvathamalai

Parvathamalai—Girivalam, Accommodation, Routes: 

[22 March 2015] 

Details of how to climb Parvathamalai and information about accommodation both at the Hill base and on the summit. 

Parvathamalai Summit: 

[31 March 2015] 

Information about the summit of the Hill including mythology and legends associated with the Hill. 

Parvathamalai Girivalam: 

[21 February, 2017] 

Photographs and History of 25 km Parvathamalai girivalam path. Information about Temples and Accommodation on Girivalam. Hints and suggestions. 

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"” 

A Very Short History

Arunachala is in the Eastern Ghats of the North Arcot District. Its about fifty miles inland from the Bay of Bengal and rises into a peak some 2,268 feet above sea level, forming a conspicuous object in the landscape for miles around. Arunachala has many other names: Arunagiri, Sonagiri, Sonasaila and Sudarsanagiri are some. Sometimes it is referred to as Jothirlingam or Tejo Lingam, which means lingam of fire. Lingam being the formless (nishkala) emblem of Siva.

The Hill is referred to in the Puranas as the oldest hill on earth, and is regarded as the heart of the earth owing to its sanctity. The Deccan plateau, particularly the Eastern Ghats, has been thought to be the oldest land of the earth.

A geologist has stated about this Hill:

“Arunachala should have been thrown up by the earth under the stress of some violent volcanic eruption in the dim ages before even the coal-bearing strata were formed. This rocky mass of granite may be dated back to the earliest epoch of the history of our planet’s crust, that epoch which long preceded the vast sedimentary formations in which fossil records of plants and animals have been preserved. It existed long before the gigantic saurians of the pre-historic world moved their ungainly forms through the primeval forest that covered our early earth. It was contemporaneous with the formation of the very crust of earth itself. Arunachala was almost as hoary and as ancient as our planetary home itself.”

Even though Arunachala, is regarded as the physical embodiment of consciousness, of Shiva, and of the Divine Principle itself, it has always been explicitly associated with the androgyne (ardharnisharva) siva-sakti representation of the Divine. That aspect of the divine locked in union, with no distinction between consciousness and its contents, and no world.

As can be evidenced by the still remaining practice of fire worship and fire walking (here and here) at Shakti Temples (including Unnamalai Temple, Tiruvannamalai), of animal sacrifice in many Temples dedicated to the Goddess and the relics of a multitude of sacred groves, there have been occasions in the history of the Hill, that the primary worship in these parts were primeval veneration and Animism.







Arunachala has constantly been attracting saints, teachers, gurus and pilgrims to itself since time immemorial. As far as our own recorded history goes, it is said that the great Adi Shankaracharya himself visited Arunachala. Which is most fitting since it is believed that Sri Adi Shankara was an exponent of self-investigation or self-attentiveness (atma-vichara) which is often translated into English as ‘self-enquiry’. Atma-vichara denotes the practice of examining, inspecting or scrutinising the essential consciousness of ‘I am’.

In one of his Ashtakas, Sri Sankara calls Arunachala ‘Meru’ and says that Siddha Purushas are found here and also on the Himalayas. Shaktas regard this hill as Sri Chakra, a diagram of forty-three triangles. Some consider that the form of the hill resembles the first half of the Sri Chakra which is called Meruprastana, the emblem of the Cosmos.

Sri Ramana Maharshi’s (of more recent history) greatest legacy has been his emphasis of the practice of self-investigation and self-attentiveness to ‘Who Am I?’ A practice of attentive examination of the basic consciousness of our own being, which we always experience as ‘I am’.

A contemporary of Sri Ramana Maharshi was the great Sri Seshadri Swamigal. Seshadri who arrived at Arunachala six years earlier than Ramana, was an exponent of Sri Vidya and a tapaswi of a very high order. One result of the mantras and sadhana he practiced from his earliest years was the development of various siddhis and psychic powers.

Throughout his life and teachings Sri Seshadri continuously emphasised the glory of Arunachala:

‘This is Siva Lingam. It is enough to worship this. One can become spiritually enlightened and attain liberation’.

Nowadays many saints, holy people and spiritual teachers who regard themselves as being of the lineage of Sri Ramana Maharshi in so far as they have accepted Bhagavan as their Guru or their Guru's Guru, have thus adopted the practice of Self Enquiry as a pivotal part of their spiritual teachings. Such holy people, now deceased, include H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji) Robert Adams, and the still living Sri Nannagaru, and Laksmana Swamy and Sri Saradamma.

Some ten years ago a great change came about in these parts. Previously Arunachala seemed to be the country’s best kept spiritual secret. How was it possible that in a country where pilgrimage is a national past time, and Arunachala’s glory has been lauded in the Puranas and texts of antiquity and expounded by such great saints as Arunagirinatha, Guhai Namasivaya, Guru Namasivaya and Isanya Desikar – should still remain such a comparative secret? There was a time, not long distant, that even on full moon, the numbers of pilgrims performing girivalam around Arunachala could be numbered in the hundreds. And now the numbers are the hundreds of thousands and ever increasing.

And as to the future, read below a fascinating narrative recorded by Sri Ramana Maharshi in [Day by Day with Bhagavan Pages 116-117]:

“In those days these Rajas used to fortify their hills and live there. See Ginjee for instance. The Ginjee fort was built on three hills. They are all in ruins. Padaiveedu nearby in this District was once a great city. Hampi was a great city and the capital of an Empire. It is said that the town was built on the model of a Sri Chakra and that there has been some slight mistake somewhere, and that is why, though the Empire flourished well for a time, it did not endure but failed.

There is a rumour that a prophecy made by Vidyaranya, earlier a Dewan of Hampi Empire and later a Shankaracharya, has declared that when again a descendant of that Empire or a successor of his in the Mutt builds a city on the model of Sri Chakra, a great Empire will again flourish with that city as capital.

Some people have even thought that the present Shankaracharya (note: the now deceased Sri Chandrasekhara Saraswati) might be the person for such destiny. Our Naina used to feel that as this town is by nature itself built on Sri Chakra model, by the Gods themselves, if only we could build houses all round the Hill and make a city of it, this will become the capital of a big Empire. He used to be always thinking and speaking of swaraj (note: self-governance or home rule i.e. from the British) dreaming and planning for it and saying what he would do when swaraj is attained. People say there was a town in the old, old days somewhere here to the South of the Hill. Who knows that will happen hereafter? Did we imagine that all these houses now here were going to be built?”

Nayanmar Poosalaar

Here is a beautiful and inspirational story about Poosalaar, an ardent devotee who enshrined Lord Shiva in his heart. Poosalaar is one of the Nayanmars stated in the Periyapuranam (lives of 63 Tamil Nadu saints).

The Legend

"His heart was large enough to house Shiva's temple and his love served to implement the task with ease.”

Thirunindravur, near Chennai once saw the outpour of devotion of a devout heart as well as the reciprocated grace as a result of the intense devotion. Poosalaar, was a poor man in terms of material wealth but rich in dedicated devotion towards Lord Shiva. His heart brimmed with love and devotion for the Lord. He was called Poosalaar as his body was always smeared with the sacred ash, (Tamil-Poosu-Apply). Bhagavan Ramana says that the right kind of desire on the spiritual path will condition an aspirant to become one with the divine ultimately. Poosalaar was not an exception to this and he yearned to erect a beautiful temple for his heart's favourite. However he became the object of people's ridicule for his herculean desire in his impoverished condition.

Poosalaar however was not deterred by the words of the people. His heart was large enough to house Shiva's temple and his love served to implement the task with ease. Meanwhile Rajasimha Pallava, the King of Kanchi had undertaken the task of erecting a temple for Lord Shiva. On the completion of the task, the king wanted it to be named Rajasimeswaram and duly consecrated. Hence the king fixed a date for the consecration. The day before the assigned date the king's heart was brimming with pride of having erected a beautiful temple for the Lord as his eyes shut with his thoughts vanishing into his sleep. And Lo! The Lord appeared in his dream and stated that He will not be able make present Himself in the consecration ceremony as He will be present in the consecration ceremony of another temple built by an ardent devotee, Poosalaar. Hence the king was asked by the Lord to choose another date to have Him installed ceremoniously on another day in the temple built by him.

Rajagopuram of Poosala Nayanar Temple

The surprised king immediately commanded the culmination of the ceremonies associated with the temple consecration and proceeded to check out on the temple of Poosalaar. Coming to know that Poosalaar lived in a nearby town he set out towards Thirunindravoor. The king was perplexed on the results of his enquiry that Poosalaar lived in poverty and there was not a sign of a new temple being erected in Thirunindravoor. Counting on the Lord's words, the King sought to meet Poosalaar who was meditating under a tree. The king approached Poosalaar and stated the purpose of his visit. Poosalaar replied with joy to have a look at the ceremonious installation of Lord Shiva in the temple that he had built. Lo and Behold! The king witnessed the consecration ceremony of the temple built by Poosalaar within the heart of Poosalaar, with the chanting of the Vedas and other ceremonial activities!

It was then that the king realized that the poor devotee had visualized his desire stage by stage within his heart, surrendering his will and wish to his beloved Lord. The pure devotion and the unconditional love for the Lord had led the almighty to be enshrined in his heart forever. The king then materialized the temple that Poosalaar had built in the cavern of his heart before having the temple built by him duly consecrated. He called the deity 'Irudhayaleeswarar', the one who abides in the heart.

“The story symbolically represents the Vedic principle of seeking the lord within one's heart and to ultimately lose oneself in Him”

About the temple

Thirunindravoor, the place where the temple of Irudhayaleeswarar is situated is located in the Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu near Chennai. The inner roof of the temple is fashioned like that of a heart divided into four compartments probably displaying Poosalaar's conception. Parvati here is worshipped as Maragathambigai. Poosalaar's statue is found with folded hands in the shrine of Irudhayaleeeswarar. Irudhayaleeswarar is also worshipped as Manavaleswarar. People with an ailing heart is said to flock to this temple for speedy recovery due to Irudhayaleeswarar's grace.

Hrudayaliswarar Temple

The story of this temple states that the Lord surrenders to the ambit of a devotee's pure devotion and not extravaganza. The story symbolically represents the Vedic principle of seeking the lord within one's heart and to ultimately lose oneself in Him indivisibly. Poosalaar sought the Lord within Himself which led to His liberation from the cycle of birth and death. In the words of Ramana Maharshi, the greatest form of bhakti or devotion is to find and identify Him within oneself."

[By Priya Devi]

Subhalakshmi Amma

This is the view of Arunachala from the gate of Sadhu Om Colony which lies south of the Hill.





The next photograph is of the outside of the house in which Sri Tinnai Swami lived for over 40 years.





The below is of Subhalakshmi Amma, widow of the late C.P. Nathan, in whose home the atma-jnani Sri Tinnai Swami lived on a verandah masonry bench (tinnai) for over 40 years; attaining samadhi on Deepam Day, 7th December 2003. Subhalakshmi (who now lives with her daughter-in-law, Radha, in the Sadhu Om colony), for most of her life was in the blessed position of being able to serve and cook for two atma-jnanis; Sri Tinnai Swami and Sri Sadhu Om.


When I met Subbhalakshmi Amma this week, she told me of some of her experiences at Tiruvannamalai and memories of the saints living in her compound. She also recalled that the first time she came to Tiruvannamalai, with her husband C.P. Nathan, to take blessings from Ramana Maharshi was in 1946. At that time Subbhalakshmi was just 20 years old, and did not speak to Bhagavan, in its place she bowed to him.




In 1947 the C.P. Nathan family were able to make a permanent home a short distance south of Ramana Ashram, and were then able to offer a home to both Sri Tinnai Swami and in the family's adjacent home, Sri Sadhu Om. Subhalakshmi's two sons Arunachala Ramana and Amritalingam (and their wives) were also committed to the service of the saints living in their home. As well as serving the two saints, Subhalakshmi Amma has also been fortunate to be able to cook for many of the saints who occasionally visited her compound including such luminiaries as Yogi Ramsuratkumar and Sri Muruganar.

Subhalakshmi's daughter Radha (widow of Subhalakshmi's youngest son Arunachala Ramana) maintains the tradition of cooking for sadhus and pilgrims in her home at Sadhu Om and at her sattwic kitchen, Tamil food is served three times a day to visiting pilgrims and sadhakas.

The below photograph is of the pretty and serenely peaceful Sadhu Om Colony.




The current Sadhu Om Colony now comprises the samadhis of both Sri Sadhu Om and Sri Tinnai Swami. The below photograph is of the samadhi of Sri Sadhu Om.




And below is a photograph of the samadhi of Sri Tinnai Swami. As in life both saints lived in two adjacent homes of the same family, in death (samadhi) the tombs of both great atma-jnanis are positioned next door to one another.



The colony is also comprised of several beautiful cottages maintained by the Subhalakshmi family and occupied by visiting sadhakas and pilgrims.




"During the many years that he lived on their tinnai, C.P. Nathan, and his family were blessed with the good fortune of providing him with the little food, clothing and shelter that his body required, and in the early years in spite of their then state of poverty they performed such service not only to him but also to Sri Sadhu Om and other sadhus and devotees of Sri Bhagavan. Sometimes they even had to sell their cooking vessels in order to purchase provision to feed visiting devotees. All of us who had the good fortune to know Sri Tinnai Swami will be very grateful in particular to Mrs. C.P. Nathan, who in spite of many hardship serviced him with great devotion in every way she could especially providing him food, as she did till the end in spite of her advanced age and physical weakness."

Grace Working

Once in relating a story about the workings of Grace to a visiting devotee, Ramana Maharshi asked the devotee whether Grace was measured in terms of the success of desires. He said:

'Do you mean to say that if everything goes according to your desires, only then it is possible to say that the grace of a saint has worked?'

Bhagavan then went on to explain the actual workings of Grace:

"The blessings of a saint perform the purficatory work of life. These blessings cannot increase impurity. One whose understanding is limited will ask for blessings so that he can fulfil certain desires, but if the desires are such that their fulfilment will make the seeker more impure rather than purer, the saint’s blessings will not enable him to fulfil the desires. In this way the seeker is saved from further impurities. In that case are not the saint’s blessings a fit of compassion?"

Arunachaleswarar Temple

Arunachaleswarar Temple at the foot of Arunachala, Tiruvannamalai, is one of the largest (27 acres) and oldest Temples in South India. The tallest tower (Gopuram) of the Temple is 13 stories (60 metres) high.

The Temple occupies a special place in the Saivite realm and is regarded as one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalams (one of the five great Temples associated with the five basic elements). Arunachaleswaraar is related to the element Fire and the other four Temples are: Tiruvanaikkaval (Water), Chidambaram (Space), Kanchipuram (Earth) and Sri Kalahasti (Wind) respectively.

The mythlogy surrounding the Temple goes that after Shiva promised his effulgent form would shine forever as the eternal immutable Arunachala, the Gods Brahma and Vishnu asked that He moderate the effulgence of the Hill, to make it more bearable. They thus requested Shiva should make his eternal abode at Arunachala in the form of a Shiva Lingam on the eastern site of the Hill. The Lord agreed and immediately appeared in the form of a Shiva Lingam. To house the Lingam, Arunchaleswarar Temple was gradually formed around it. The Lingam is now situated inside the Shiva Sannidhi of the Temple.

There is an air of deep mysticism around the Temple and it has been been known for its long association with Yogis, Siddhas, and the well known spiritual savant Ramana Maharishi. The origin of the Temple dates way back in time, although much of the Temple structure as seen today, is a result of building activity over the last one thousand years.

To read more stories adapted from the Skanda Purana about the mythology of Arunachala, please visit this link.