Walk About

Even though there is a rapid urbanization of the Tiruvannamalai area, still there are several pockets of unspoiled, idyllic, countryside close to the southside of Arunachala and near to major ashrams and facilities. One of these favourite idyllic spots is the area which lies between the parallel roads of NH-66 (to Bangalore) and the lower lying Perumbakkam Road.

In the below photograph a traditional rustic farmhouse.

While visiting with the family I even got to name the little baby cow - Meenakshi.

If you would like more information about this area, please get in touch at:

arunachalameenakshi@rediffmail.com

Ganesha Chaturthi

The main day of the festival of Ganesha Chaturthi this year falls on September 15. Ganesh Chaturthi is the occasion on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees

There is a curious tale about the birth of Ganesha. It is believed that once while Parvati was bathing, she created a human figure from some unguent and balm, gave him life and asked him to guard the door while she bathed. After a long period of meditation on Mountain Kailash (Shiva’s abode), Shiva chose that very moment to visit his wife, but was abruptly stopped by the man-god Parvati had posted at the door. Outraged by the impudence of this stranger, Shiva cut off his head only to discover that he had killed Parvati’s son! For fear of enraging his wife, Shiva immediately dispatched his ganas (attendants) to get him the head of the first living creature they could find, which happened to be an elephant.

As instructed, the head was chopped off and brought back to Shiva, who placed it on Parvati’s son’s body, bringing him back to life. This elephant-headed God was welcomed into the first family of the Hindu heavens and named Ganesha or Ganapati, which literally means the chief of the ganas, or the attendants of Shiva. Ganesha is the foremost God of the Hindu pantheon and the most auspicious God of new beginnings. He is worshipped during every festival and before people undertake a journey or embark upon a new venture. You will also see him carefully guarding entrances to Temples and homes and gracing marriages and important occasions.

Wedding Day

This morning I attended the marriage festivities of Gopal, my autorickshaw driver. He is a very popular young man, so the function, which was held on the grounds of Sri Seshadri Ashram, was well attended.

Some of the invitees were waiting in the hall for the wedding festivities.

Traditional musicians, sitted on a dais at the back of the wedding hall, played the usual marriage music .

The below photograph shows the entrance to the Hall. The Hall incidentally can be used for any function and in fact is occasionally the venue for satsangs and talks of such teachers as John De Ruitter, who last time he visited Arunachala, conducted his meetings here.

While many waited in the hall, others enjoyed a nice breakfast in the adjacent dininghall. Food for over 600 had been prepared and included vadai, pongal, idli with all necessary sauces and chutneys, sweet kesari bath and to finish off - coffee. All very delicious. As today in fact is a very auspicious day for weddings, there were wedding functions all over Tiruvannamalai (and doubtlessly all over Tamil Nadu)!

The below photograph is of the little man I sat next to during breakfast.

And now the Wedding function is in full swing and we are able to appreciate all the time and work that went into arranging this lovely event.

In the next photograph, the highlight of the wedding ceremony, when Gopal places the holy wedding thread (managala sutra) around the neck of his new bride, Navanita.

Outside Seshadri Ashram is the autorickshaw stand that Gopal plies from.

And on this special day, a large roadside poster at the rickshaw stand, proudly announcing to all the wedding of Gopal to Navanita. Navanita, who is from a local village called Aruni, will now relocate to Tiruvannamalai and, as is traditional, live with the family of her new husband. Good Luck to both of you.

Sad Monkey Tale

A Bonnet Macaque Monkey

Monday was a sad day for me, because it was a day in which I saw a monkey die. But although the day was sad it was also beautiful because the bonnet macaque monkey experienced the love of many in its final moments – should we all be so fortunate to meet our end in such a light-filled way. What happened was this, at the Tamil Nadu Housing Estate, some kind but careless person coaxed a monkey out of a tree with the offer of a banana. This was a good and loving thing to do, unfortunately the person did not pay attention to what was happening close by because as soon as the monkey came for the banana – it was set upon by seven street dogs. Monkeys and dogs are bitter enemies mainly because they are food rivals – so you often see clashes and confrontations between them. Anyhow, the folk at the Housing Estate had to vigorously thrash the dogs with sticks to get them off the monkey – but sadly the bonnet macaque was seriously injured.

The monkey was taken to the Animal Shelter where the vets sewed up the monkey’s wounds, gave it antibiotics and pain killers and then put it in a large cage to sleep and recover.

The next day the vets were feeling optimistic that the monkey was going to make a quick recovery. When I arrived at the Animal Shelter, I witnessed most everyone who works there, hanging around outside the cage calling out encouraging words to the monkey. A couple of resident dogs at the shelter were happy to lie outside the cage and the monkey, in spite of its recent traumatic experience with the pack of seven street dogs, didn’t seem to be worried that he had some nice, new canine friends hanging around outside his cage keeping him company.

Shanti, a woman who loves all animals and works at the Shelter brought a bowl of milk for the monkey and some nice, fresh, juicy papaya. The monkey drank his milk and was hand fed his fruit and then lay down. Suddenly it got up and started to move about restlessly. It stood in its cage looking out at his numerous supporters like it was trying to talk and tell us what the problem was. All of us there started to encourage him by calling out, ‘What’s the problem monkey? Tell us what the problem is?’ It was so frustrating for us not to understand, because the monkey kept opening its mouth making guttural noises almost like it was trying to communicate some kind of message to us, but we didn’t understand what it wanted to say. ‘Come on monkey – what’s the problem?’ It tried and we couldn’t figure it out and all of a sudden the monkey slumped to the bottom of the cage and died. Immediately one of the vets arranged for the the cage to be moved into the examination room. Whereupon it was opened and the monkey taken out and the vet frantically tried to resuscitate it. But nothing worked and the monkey remained inert and dead.

Everyone at the Shelter was upset as the monkey had made many friends in the short time it had been there. It was a male, very gentle, elderly (around 20 years old), had really bad teeth, and was obviously socialised as it absolutely no fear of people. Sadly the monkey died because a well meaning, kind person gave it food in an inappropriate manner. So please if you are visiting Tiruvannamalai – where there are many monkeys in the town, on the Hill and on the hillround roadway remember a few tips.

Dogs and monkeys are not friends. Be aware if there are dogs around.

Don’t throw food onto the road – otherwise monkeys lose their fear of the road and of traffic. So always throw the food away to the sides of the road.

As adorable as monkeys are, don’t get too close to them. For the monkeys’ health it is better for them to be less friendly and more suspicious of people as there are bad people around who work for the exotic pet industry or for animal testing laboratories who try and steal monkeys or even kill the mother and take the baby.

Monkeys like things besides bananas – if you really want to give a monkey some nice treats – give it some carrots, crunchy vegetables, seeds or nuts.

Brick Making

Tiruvannamalai is experiencing a housing boom and builders, carpenters, labourers, masons, electricians and all the rest have their choice of where and when to work because there is plenty of work available! Most new houses at Tiruvannamalai are built with plastered over bricks - so to support the building industry, local brick making kilns all over the city daily produce a huge amount of bricks.

The workers at these brick kilns are mostly women because the are cheaper to employ (now where have I heard that before)? The ladies in the bottom photograph stopped to have their lunch which they had brought to the site in tiffin tins. Considering how exhausted they must have been from all the heavy labouring they had already undergone that day, they were really friendly and chatty. The ladies get paid piece work at the princely sum of Rs.70 for 1,000 bricks - well someone is definitely making a profit, but I doubt its the cheerful ladies!

In the next photograph a large amount of bricks have been made into a giant kiln which will be set alight (you can see wood stuck into the gaps throughout the pile) thereby baking the bricks.

Once the bricks are baked then the temporary kiln is torn down and the bricks are off on their way to whatever building site has ordered them.

The next few photographs show the process of brick making. With sand and water being combined into a soggy mess and put into individual brick sized molds. The mold is then turned upside down and the wet brick comes out and is left in lines to dry out.

Bricks and more bricks.

Poll Results

In the poll results of 'Have you visited Arunachala', 53% have visited Arunachala either once or more, 5% have never visited Arunachala and 24% have not yet visited Arunachala but wish to in the future.

Countryside Excursion

A friend and I decided to go on a countryside excursion. It was a beautiful day and as we left the crush of Tiruvannamalai we were quickly able to experience the charms of outlying pristine rural areas.

Our intended destination a chain of hills about 12 miles southeast of Arunachala.

Its astonishing just how easy it is to get 'far away from the madding crowd' and crush of Tiruvannamalai.

The below photograph shows Arunachala from a different and unique vantage point.

In the next photograph, looking in another direction one can see a chain of more hills far away in the distance.

Below, an inviting road winding through the beginning of the reserve forest area which leads further into the quiet of the countryside.

Over the last several months we have been visiting land within a 12 kilometre radius of Arunachala and have discovered serene, pristine countryside land far from the urban sprawl of Tiruvannamalai. We will be posting regular updates of both urban and countryside land in our Blog, however if you have specific questions about the possibility of purchasing land in an area such as this, please feel free to get in touch to:

arunachalameenakshi@rediffmail.com

In the next photograph the comforting presence of the silent sentinel Arunachala. Somehow in the wonderful peace and silence of undisturbed countryside, the beauty and power of the Hill seems even more pronounced.

It was a beautiful day and we agreed to soon return.

Controversial Site

Below is a series of photgraphs I took earlier this week at the three acre controversial building site on Arunachala Hill at Pavala Kunru hillock. The current status of the site is that all work has been halted pending a Court ruling.

Many homes (admittedly most of which were also illegally built some years back) are in jeopardy due to the ashram construction work. There are many houses like the yellow one at the right of the bottom photograph whose occupants have been put into life threatening situations due to possible mud or rock slides.

The Gopurams in the distance in the next photograph are of the Arunachaleswarar Temple at the base of Arunachala.

The last photograph of this sequence is of Pavala Kunru Temple situated at the top of Pavala Kunru hillock, a spur of Arunachala.

Rock at Arunachala

Below in the words of Nithyananda, his realisation experience at Pavala Kunru (what is now the controversial site)on Arunachala.

“I had my first spiritual experience at the age of twelve. Let me describe the incident to you. I was sitting on a rock, locally called Pavazha Kundru (the Holy Rock) on the Arunachala Hill and meditating. I was meditating for a long time that day. I was looking into myself to see where thoughts were coming from. I was actually playing with this technique, when a strange experience happened. It was on the Buddha Purnima day (full moon day) in the month of Vaikasi (May-June as per the Tamil calendar), and evening sunset period.

In the midst of his meditation, I felt something opening up within me, something was getting crushed, something else was getting created. It was like a vessel inside getting broken and a door opening, both together at the same time. It was a feeling of creation and destruction at the same time; and a very pleasurable feeling.

Even with my eyes closed, I could see all around. I did not need my eyes to be open to see. Not just that, I had a 360-degree vision with my eyes closed. With equal clarity, I could see the hill in front, the temple behind, the rock below, the stars above, the trees to the left, part of the hill to the right, all these were in my visionary field, without having to open my eyes!

At that moment, I awakened to the realization that I was one with the whole of Existence and everything was I! It was like this tree in front of me became my bone and this thatch above became my nerves!

How did this happen? What made me have such a strong experience of samadhi? There are many others who are also doing the same meditation, of seeing where the thoughts arise from, but why don't they have such experiences? The reason is, I was so inspired by the masters, that I was living like them! Because of that, my consciousness was ripe and ready for such an experience.”

Excavation

I stopped by this evening at the site of the controversial land grab at Pavala Kunru, a small hillock spur of Arunachala. I took lots of photographs, which I hope to post over the next few days, but for the meantime a few to get started. The below photograph is of the rock on which Paramahamsa Nithyananda reports to have experienced his realisation while still a young boy. This is the site which is the centre piece of the envisaged 3 acre ashram infrastructure that some hope to develop but which is currently causing alot of local controversy.

The below is taken from the 3 acre site and shows part of the adjacent unspoilt Hill.

The last photograph is of part of the current exacuvation of the proposed 3 acre ashram site.

Apart from the overriding spiritual and aesthetic senstivities of the opponents of the proposed ashram at Pavala Kunru, Arunachala, there is also the serious consideration of soil erosion and mud slides during monsoon because of the disruption of boulders and rooted trees. Some years back, before the current Arunachala reforestation programmes, parts of southwest Tiruvannamalai was endangered by falling rocks from the Hill resulting from soil degradation.

Land Grab

I suspect that nowadays even Sri Ramana Maharshi's devotees wouldn't be allowed to construct Skandashram on Arunachala Hill. So its not really surprising that a certain controversy is currently underway at Tiruvannamalai regarding the development of new Swami Nithyananda facilities in the township of Tiruvannamalai. I reproduce below the following narrative which appeared in New India Press this day:

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Godman’s attempt to grab land foiled
Friday August 31 2007 11:03 IST

By A.D. Balasubramaniyan

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Bangalore-based Godman Nithyanandha Swamigal’s attempt to grab vast tracts of land on the hill slopes of Tiruvannamalai was foiled by the public here on Wednesday.

According to sources, huge earth movers had suddenly appeared from nowhere and started removing boulders on the hill slopes for the construction of an ashram for Nithyanandha Swamigal.

The small hillock, where these fraudulent activities were being carried out, actually belonged to the State Revenue Department. Local residents tried to prevent the work.

Meanwhile, CPM cadres stepped in and informed the police, who in turn, informed the revenue department. CPM cadres joined local residents in their agitation against the land grabbers.

The workmen of the Godman initially defended their actions saying that they had patta for that land. Revenue officials, who reached the spot shortly after the agitation, negated their claim and stalled the work.

Rayar Krishnamurthy, a devotee of Nithyanandha Swamigal, who carried out the works, gave a letter to Revenue Department officials stating that he was constructing an ashram for Dhiyana Peetam of Nithyanandha and would not engage in such activities any more.

Police then seized the earth movers. The Godman’s workmen had also felled many trees, planted three years ago under an afforestation drive.

The CPM demanded that the police book a case against them and remove another ashram, set up by Nithayanandha on the hill slopes."

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Its certainly interesting times. I will continue with updates on this situation as it unfolds.

Arunachala Webcam

ZeitCam is a unique destination featuring time-lapse movies of outdoor webcams from around the world! And includes webcam shots of such places as: St. Martin, Cancun, Cayman Islands and Jerusalem etc.

The Outdoor Webcam Directory has now also included a live webcam link for Arunachala, which you can view here.

Newsletter Information

Due to computer problems, I have been unable to make up-to-date postings on this blog, but hopefully these difficulties will be resolved over the next few days, at which time I hope to recontinue with regular Blog postings.

The September issue of Arunachala Grace Newsletter is due to be sent out this week, so if you are not yet a free subscriber to the monthly Newsletter, please become so by clicking on the subscriber facility at the left hand margin of this Blog.

This month's Newsletter contains Arunachala tid-bits, the second part of information on the beautiful Rajarajeshwari Temple, information of developing resources at Swami Nithyananda's Arunachala Ashram, information on Lord Ganesha; his upcoming Chaturthi and a link to information about the sad ecological results of his grand festival. As usual in the Newsletter we give information about a plant locally produced in this area, this month we focus on the homely 'garlic' with news about its medicinal properties and also Sri Ramana Maharshi's talk on the history of garlic. The Arunachala animal focussed this month is the quaint and quirky white crested water hen.

As well as the above, there is also the usual narratives, inspirational quotes and poems.