Yoginis

There is little information available on lady saints who have come and performed tapas at Arunachala. In fact so little information is available its almost impossible to believe that there have in fact been many holy women who have lived at Arunachala performing intense sadhana.

In the 40s and 50s several eminent ladies occupied hermitages and caves on the South East slope of Arunachala. Amongst these women was the revered and highly respected Lakshmi Devi who dressed in saffron and lived on the mountain. Lakshmi Devi kept a vow of silence for 12 years and responded by making signs in answer to questions from a constant stream of visiting devotees and pilgrims. At the end of a 12 year vow of silence she returned to her native place near Mysore. However her love of the peace she experienced at Arunachala drew her back and she returned to the caves and hermitages of the mountain.

Another sadhaka who lived on the Hill during the same time period was Srimati Radhabai Ammeyar, who was known as Ammal of Vadalur. Ammal was a faithful disciple of Ramalinga Swamigal and originally she and Lakshmi Devi shared a cave but Ammal eventually moved to a small rocky cleft higher up the hill. The little cave was so low and narrow one had to remain seated, and even then ones head practically touched the roof.

Ammal of Vadalur, always wore white, and lived in the rocky cleft for three years in perfect silence, her only possessions being an oil lamp and a book of the hymns of her Master Ramalinga. She took a daily meal during the afternoon which consisted of a few handfuls of rice-flour, roasted and mixed with curd. After three years she moved into a small nearby hut with a women disciple. Ammal of Vadalur was also much revered and visited during her time at Arunachala.

The yellow tin boat

Its been so long since I have seen the man in his yellow tin boat, but here he is! The front of his boat is periliously close to the water edge's and he seems in danger of dunking himself, watch out Mr. Fisherman.

On the shore stands the mans bamboo leaf hut, at least he is nice and close to his work! One of my dogs is standing guard outside. Good job Oscar!

Hillock Quarry

This photograph shows a large hillock spur in front of Arunachala. On the top of the spur there is a massive configuration of rock. It is this place which is home to a large colony of bonnet macaque monkeys, and also I suspect, from where our lonely exiled monkey friend (from yesterday's blog) hails from.

The tragedy here is two-fold: one, for the monkeys and the other for Arunachala devotees. The hillock spur is leased by a granite quarry which is harvesting stone from the hillock. On the face of the spur you can see differences in the colouration; these are the places where the granite was recently dynamited in order to break it up into smaller, more manageable pieces.

One had hoped that with the rapid urbanisation of this area the quarry would have, by now, discontinued its activities on this Arunachala spur. Unfortunately there is insufficient public and official interest to halt this sad desecration of both an Arunachala spur and also the home of a large group of monkeys.

Bishop for Vellore

New Delhi (ICNS) Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Father Soundaraj Periyanayagam as the new bishop of Vellore diocese, which has been without a bishop for more than a year.

The appointment was announced simultaneously in India and the Vatican on July 11. The new bishop, a Salesian born in 1949, is a native of Vellore. After his schooling, he had his initial years of Salesian training in Yercaud.Father Periyanayagam has been severing as the rector of Don Bosco Boys' Home in Katpadi, Gandhi Nagar, since 2004. The priest who holds a doctorate in economics also worked in Sacred Heart College in Tirupattur and St. Joseph's College in Tiruchirapalli.

The diocese of Vellore, created in 1952, now comprises both the civil districts of Vellore, Tiruvannamalai formerly known as North Arcot Ambedkar and Tiruvannamalai Sambuvarayar districts.

Shivas Proclamation

Sri Siva said:

Since I manifested myself in the form of a lingam in the field of battle, this place will be known as Lingasthana. (18)

O sons, this column without root or top will henceforth be diminutive in size for the sake of the vision and worship of the world. (19)

The lingam emblem confers enjoyment. It is the only means of worldly enjoyment and salvation. Viewed, touched or meditated upon, it wards off all future births of the living beings. (20)

Since the lingam emblem rose high resembling a mountain of fire, this shall be famous as Ruddy (Aruna) mountain. (21)

Many holy centres will spring up here. A residence or death in this holy place ensures liberation. (22)

The celebration of chariot festivals, the congregation of devotees, the presentation of ordinary as well as sacrificial gifts and offering of prayers at this place shall be millionfold efficacious. (23)

Of all my sectors this sector shall be the greatest. A mere remembrance of me at this place shall accord salvation to all souls. (24)

Hence this sector shall be greater than all other sectors, very auspicious, full of all sorts of welfare and according salvation to everyone. (25)

Worshipping me in my supreme lingam form at this place and performing the other sacred rites shall accord the five types of salvation. May all of you achieve all your cherished desires. (26)

Vidyesvarasamhita
Sivapurana, Chapter 9

Bonnet Macaque

On our daily walk through the conservation area, I was startled to see a lone monkey scampering through the underbrush. I have never seen a monkey in this area before as there is too much open, exposed flat land and not enough high trees to clamber up for safe sanctuary.

No idea where he was heading and to begin with thought he was one of my dogs so started to call to him. The monkey seemed to have experienced some degree of human socialization because although he did not actually come, he did appear very interested. Perhaps it was my mad, bad dogs that helped the monkey make his final decision, TO RUN AWAY!

Bonnet Macaque monkeys are not hard to spot at Tiruvannamalai; they are everywhere! Being so smart they have easily made the transition to the increasing urbanisation of this area. They are as easy to spot in the middle of the bustling marketplace in town as they are on the hillside of Arunachala.

Bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) have a grayish brown back and a well-defined circular tuft of hair (hence the derivative of its name bonnet). Their tail is two-thirds the length of its body. The monkeys are diurnal, arboreal, and terrestrial. Bonnet macaques are good swimmers.

They search the ground for insects and chase flying grasshoppers. Their diet consists of fruit, seeds, leaves, flowers, cereals. Bonnet macaques eat approximately 40 different plant species, as well as being necessarily conciliatory at temples and homes to get tasty handouts!

Adult males spend more time on the ground. These macaques sit in contact with others or huddle together when they rest. The monkey is around 35-60 cm long plus a tail of 35-68 cm. Males weigh 5.5 - 9 kg., females 3.5 - 4.5 kg. A Bonnet Macaque monkey can live more than 30 years.

Hill Swami

Swami Narayana, also known as Hill Swami, lived continuously on the top of Arunachala for some 16 years. On April 19th, 2005 he was asked to shift from Arunachala summit (with his assistants). This he did and relocated to the grounds of the Ganesha Polytechnic some 5-6 kms from the base of the Hill. Public opinion ensured Swami was awarded special dispensation by the Authorities to recommence his vigil on the Hill summit and within a week of his enforced departure, Swami returned to his spot on the top of Arunachala.

However on July 17th, 2005 Swami Narayana became ill and had to be helped down Arunachala Hill by devotees. He was admitted to Rangamma Hospital, Tiruvannamalai. Whilst at the hospital Swami received treatment and physiotherapy for arthritic knee joints, a condition brought about by his intense tapas over the last sixteen years at the summit of Arunachala Hill. Swami, who was attended by several devotees, and accommodated in a private Bungalow at the Hospital, maintained almost total silence during his stay and took no food, choosing to subsist entirely on milk.

Before his departure from Rangamma Hospital on 29th July, 2005, Swami remarked:

I have been sitting on Arunachala Hill for all these years allowing people to serve me, now it is time for me to stand up and serve others.

At his departure Swami raised both hands in blessings and uttered the word, Narayana. These few words were almost his total communication during his twelve day Hospital stay. After his discharge Swami left the Arunachala area and is believed to have moved near Tuticorin with some close devotees.

Swami has now decided to share his time between stays at Kerala and Tiruvannamalai. He returned to Tiruvannamalai about 2 weeks ago and is expected to remain for another 6 weeks, afterwhich time he will return to Kerala for a short visit.

Whilst at Tiruvannamalai Swami is staying at Vignesh Polytechnic Hostel on Thandrabuthu Road near Tamari Nagar Housing Colony. Swami is giving his darshan twice a day and is accessible to Indian devotees out of college hours. However it is not known at this time whether he is available to Western Pilgrims.

Rehabilitate Hippo

A Wildlife agency has been asked to rehabilitate the hippopotamus which came from a private circus and is now reportedly abandoned in a village near Polur and languishing without sufficient water. People for Animals (PFA), which sent one of its representatives from Tiruvannamalai to check on the hippo's condition, said that two attendants from the circus were taking care of the animal in a facility owned by the Forest Department.

Raja, the 18-year-old male hippopotamus, is being kept in a shaded tank measuring 4 x 4.5 metres with five feet of water level. The animal has been there for almost nine weeks now. The hippo's morning diet is five loaves of bread, five litres of milk, a bunch of bananas and 40 kg of grass. In the evening, it is provided with carrots, potatoes and rice.

The animal spends most of its time in the tank and comes out only to feed, PFA said. Their spokesman felt it was time the Wildlife authorities intervened and shifted the animal to a suitable place. The circus to which the hippo belonged, has the dubious distinction of abandoning animals. On an earlier occasion, it had abandoned a dozen carnivores including lions and tigers in a village in Tiruvannamalai district, which were rescued and rehabilitated by the Wildlife authorities.

The good news is that the PFA are now involved in this and hopefully will pile on a lot of pressure. I feel so sorry for our dear hippo friend and am hoping the Wildlife authorities do in fact intervene and shift the hippo to some nice muddy river! And while they're at it - how about shutting down that private circus?!

Ammani Ammal

Ammani Ammal lived in the early part of the 17th Century and was responsible for the construction of the Northern Gopura of the Arunachala Temple. She lived a holy life from her early years and came to live at Tiruvannamalai in answer to a call from Arunachala.

She had siddhis one of which was the gift of curing diseases by giving holy ash (vibhutti). It is said that to finance the construction of the Tower, she collected money by begging. It seems she had a mysterious power of knowing the amount of money kept in any house she visited. She would thereafter appropriate a part of that amount towards the cost of the proposed construction. The completed Tower is named Ammani Amman’s gopura.

Preparing entries for this Blog I have noticed how little information is available on the history of lady saints and yoginis at Arunachala. Perhaps the reason is previously most vignettes and narratives were written exclusively by men. But whatever the reason women definitely seemed to have been shut out. It is going to be intriguing trying to unearth new information on this part of Arunachalas history!

Pavalakunru Temple

It is at Pavalakunru on the north east foot of Arunachala, that Gautama Rishi in Puranic times, was supposed to have done his penance. According to the Arunachala Mahatmyam, it is here that he had a Ashram and received Parvati when she came to Arunachala to perform tapas.

Nowadays there is a beautiful Temple located on top of this giant rock. In 1898 Ramana Maharshi came to Pavalakunru and lived in a small room at the Temple.

This is one of the most fascinating and unique Temples at Arunachala - but for some reason people don't come - I expect because they don't know about it. Those who make a trip to the top of the Pavalakunru spur are grateful they took the time to locate this difficult to find Temple. The view is spectacular and the energy at the Shrine beautiful. But remember to duck when you go into the little room Ramana Maharshi used for his meditation(!).

Great Mahans

Ramana Maharishi came here and never left this place; Seshadri Swamigal came to this Kshetra and never left this place; Bhagavan Yogi Ramsuratkumar came to this Kshetra and never left this Holy Place; and so also Mahatmas like Guhai Namasivayam, Guru Namasivayam, Virupaksha Muni came and lived in Tiruvannmalai.

If so many Mahans came and spent all their lifetime here and their samadhis are to be found here, can one extol on the Holiness of this Kshetra? The known charitra (life history) of these Mahans are all within this past hundred years.

The sthala purana (history of this Holy Place) says that five Jivan Muktas are always to be found living in this place. Therefore, even today there are Jivan Muktas living in this place, though unseen/not comprehended by us. How many Jivan Muktas must have lived here in the past? If all their samadhis exist in this place, one cannot through mere words extol the purity of this place.

This is the Holiest of all Holy places.

[Sri Madhuramurali]

Lingodbhava

The origin of the worship of Siva as Linga is to be found in Arunachala Mahatmyam. The legend is that there was a dispute between Brahma, the creator of the Universe, and Vishnu, the sustainer of the Universe regarding the superiority of the one over the other.

Siva decided to restore order to the Universe by putting an end to their dispute by appearing as an infinite column of Light. He instructed that whosoever found the top or bottom of the pillar of Light was the greater. Taking up His challenge Brahma and Vishnu stopped fighting and accordingly Brahma took the form of a swan and flew up to find the top of the pillar, whereas Vishnu dug down the earth as a boar to the find the bottom of the column of Light.

After aeons of futile search, both returned to Shiva accepted defeat and prayed to Him to take a more benevolent and accessible Form so that they could worship him. Siva accordingly took the form of a Hill, known as Arunachala. Brahman and Vishnu worshipped the Hill Linga thus making Arunachala the first and foremost of Lingas.

A granite representation of the Pillar of Light with Sivas form within and Brahma flying up as a swan and Vishnu digging down as a boar can be seen on the wall just behind the sanctum in every temple of Siva, in commemoration of this event. This representation is known as the Lingodbhava.

Brahma flying up to find the top of the Column of Light









Vishnu burrowing downwards to find the bottom of the Column of Light

Hippopotamus

Forest guards reported that a Hippopotamus was recently abandoned at a place called Kunnathur near Polur, Tiruvannamalai District, allegedly by a circus company. The hippo is currently being attended to. The District Officer in charge of Forest matters reported that:

"The animal is fine. Our forest guards are watching and taking care of the animal at a pond." After visiting the spot to get first hand information the officer also added that iron barricades had been erected around the pond to restrict the hippopotamus movement.

The officer further remarked, "We have asked the circus company for records pertaining to this animal and only after getting the records, we will take action. It may take a few days to move the animal to a safer place," he added.

Let us keep our fingers crossed that this story has a happy ending. Already there is a huge improvement in the poor creatures life by being separated from the Circus; it can only be wondered at what sort of conditions the poor creature had to suffer whilst with them! Will try to get more news on this as the story develops.

Dakshinamurti Shrine

This is a lovely picture of a cow with swishing tail standing in front of the Dakshinamurti Shrine on Chengam Road (between Ramana and Seshadri Ashrams). It is the cows custom to stand in front of the small Temple in the afternoon whilst the shrine is closed, the crowds are at home and everything is peaceful. The cow comes most days and stands for a long time in very much the same position, with her head leaning over the discarded puja tray, which always lies outside the shrine in the afternoons.

The name of the shrine, Dakshinamurti - can be understood thus: Dakshina = He who is facing the South, in the posture of Silence, Murti = with form, conversely, Amurti = without form. Dakshinamurti is one of the five aspects of Siva, represents the spiritual pole and is the primordial Guru, teaching through silence. The four sons of Brahma, having refused to follow the order of their ancestry and wishing to follow the Ultimate Truth, went to Dakshinamurti at Lake Manasorvar for His instruction.

It is a charming sight to see this lovely cow coming day after day to the Shrine. However one does in fact wonder what is the exact reason for this seeming pilgrimage! I recall one very special moment with Sri Sathya Sai Babas elephant Sai Gita (who lives in her own enclosure at Puttparthi). The pet elephant loves camphor and one time at the end of a puja (worship) when we had finished waiving the arati after the camphor had burnt off, Sai Gita grabbed the puja plate from us, curled her trunk around it and pressing it against her chest, inhaled long and deeply. She loves that smell of camphor and lots of animals (and people) do too!

So my question regarding the wonderful cow in this photograph. Is she indeed a Dakshinamurti devotee or is she just a camphor addict?!

August Newsletter

The upcoming issue of Arunachala Grace News will have information on some of the renewal and improvement projects currently underway and/or at the planning stage at Tiruvannamalai; including reforestation and ecological and urban cleaning programmes. If you wish to receive a free copy of the Arunachala Grace Newsletter please notify us by sending email on the left side of this Blog.

Urban Renewal Plan

"Urban Renewal Plan of Tiruvannamalai city" in collaboration with Anna University, Municipality and TNUDP attempts to regenerate sacred water bodies that are presently acting as sewage ponds by use of pisi culture and biological treatment and solid waste management by use of composting and vermi culture and preparation of counter/topography map and base map.

Scope of the project:-
The ecological balance is upset and natural environment of the town is gradually on the decline. The Annamalai hills, which was covered with vegetation a couple decades ago, now looks barren and the soil erosion is heavy during rains. The physical development of the town, which was harmonious in nature as that of the temple town, now has given way for mushrooming of commercial activities and encroachments of open spaces. The number of water bodies considered to be holy, apart from having been useful to maintain the water table in the town till some years back, are now being completely polluted with mixing of sullage and sewage, besides being misused.

In many of the tanks, major portion is encroached and water containment has become very much limited, which has resulted in constant depletion of ground water, apart from polluting the air, land and ground water. The soil erosion in the hills has resulted in silting and damage of the drainage network system, and in many of the roads, the drains are filled with silt and are completely choked.

The situation warrants a major intervention in order to improve the physical and natural environment of the town. A correction in development in the form of Urban Renewal is a basic requisite to enhance the living conditions of the people and to provide conducive atmosphere for worship and pilgrimage.

The Objectives of the project are:-

Decentralized Solid Waste Management including recycling and conversion into manure.
Construction of Storm Water Drains with rain harvesting measures.
Repair and renovation of Water Bodies.
Waste water recycling and decentralized treatment
Base map for Tiruvannamalai showing all existing features and contour levels

For fuller information on the Urban Renewal Plan of Tiruvannamalai please check out link:

http://www.tifac.org.in/mature/progupthir.php

Municipal Regeneration

A lot of money is coming into Arunachala to finance a multitude of municipal regeneration projects; road widening, electrification of outlying areas, new sewer systems, deepening and improvement of existing tanks, paved areas for pilgrims on giri pradakshina of the Hill etc. Will report on a lot of such projects in later Blogs.

In the meantime here is news of a current project being undertaken at Pular Kulam, a water tank in VOC Nagar about one kilometre from the Big Temple in town. A few months ago this tank was in a nasty condition; the water was stagnant, full of refuse and rubbish and unsuitable to use. Subsequently the Tank was drained and is currently in the process of being deepened and its sides reinforced; when work on the tank is finished, Pular Kulam will provide a good source of water for the immediate area.

Morning Walk

As is our custom the dogs and I went out early this morning for our daily walk and adventure. We are start off from here.

And we meet a local village lady collecting twigs from thorny bushes for her cooking fire. These bushes are excellent fuel and burn with a hot, fast flame; however the bushes are most unpleasant to handle as they are covered with sharp, pointed barbs. You need to be very experienced to touch them without getting stabbed by the thorns.


Further along we discover the discarded skin of one of the very many snakes that inhabit this peaceful and undisturbed area where, providing it pays a modicum of attention, a snake can live to a ripe old age!


The dogs have a grand time prowling and digging, looking for small bones amongst the leafy vegetables local ladies have recently planted at this beautiful protected conservation area.

Deepam

"The atmosphere became more and more tense. The sun had now disappeared behind the mountain, and the great moment was drawing near for which everyone was waiting; the appearance of the Flame. Expectation filled every heart and showed on every face. It increased in harmony with the rhythm of the cosmos itself; as slowly beyond the horizon the moon rose into the sky, and from the peak of the Mountain, on which all eyes had been fixed for the last full hour, the flame mounted up, manifesting both outwardly and in the heart of the faithful, the mystery of Light which from the beginning has at the same time hidden and revealed itself in Arunachala."

[Words of Swami Abhishiktananda]

Swami Abhishiktananda first visited Arunachala in the late 40's, but lived here off and on for many years. He died in 1973, but is now regarded to be one of the pioneers in the spiritual and theological dialogue between Christianity and Eastern religions, and a bridge-builder between Hinduism and Christianity. More about Swami in later posts.

Shiva Shakti

Shiva Shakti gives silent satsang twice daily at her ashram in Ramana Nagar to mostly Western visitors. She is currently living at Arunachala and is available for satsang throughout the year.