I AM

My Name is I AM
(anonymous)

I was regretting the past and fearing the future.
Suddenly my Lord was speaking,
'My name is I AM'
He paused. I waited. He continued.
'When you live in the past with its mistakes
And regrets, it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I WAS.
When you live in the future with its problems
And fears, it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I WILL BE.
When you live in this moment, it is not hard.
I am here.
My name is
I AM.'

Monsoon preparations

Tiruvannamalai Municipality recently convened a District Disaster Management Committee to discuss precautionary measures to be taken to mitigate possible flood situations during the October-December Northeast monsoon season.

In this respect PWD officials were requested to prepare materials such as gunny bags, wooden logs and sand to repair possible breaches in water bodies. Public Health Officials have been requested to ensure the availability of sufficient quantities of medicines in the case of monsoon-related illnesses and fire and rescue service personnel have been asked to ensure such resources as rubber boats and ambulances are available throughout the monsoon period.

The Municipality also ordered that Control Rooms should operate round-the-clock in Tiruvannamalai Divisional Offices throughout the October-December Northeast monsoon season.

I can't remember the Monsoon season previously necessitating such extreme precautions as rubber boats; but maybe our local officials have decided to prepare for all contingencies! It certainly seems like the rainy season nowadays is much more rainy. Our big natural reservoir, Samudra Lake, overflowed last season with rainfall being the highest in the last 20 years.

Also parts of Tamil Nadu had so much rain and dampness, that the usual tropical fruits like banana and papaya rotted on their leaves and trees. Maybe soon the UK will be cultivating mangoes and we will be harvesting strawberries, yummy!

Update

Been having some blimps with my computer this week and have decided to get everything sorted out in one go hence am sending this from a local email facility while my own computer is at computer hospital getting a new Windows installation.

As to news on our Arunachala website:

www.arunachalasamudra.org we should should have the colours and formatting taken care of within the month. We are not taking the site down while we redesign, so please be patient with our interesting page colours, while the work proceeds.

After the Website facelift is complete, we will continue to develop the website to include an Inspiration and Information section, and hopefully make Arunachala more accessible to people that don't have a strong Hindu connection. Advaita and Hindu mythology are beautiful, enriching and fascinating principles BUT When all is said and done, sometimes it is easier to make a connection with the Divine using ones own tradition and history as the access point. In this respect this Blog welcomes any and all questions about Arunachala.

The Arunachala Grace Newsletter will be coming out at the end of this month so if any readers wish to sign on for their free subscription, please check out the left hand margin of this Blog for the Newsletter subscription sign-up.

Am currently preparing a new montage entitled Arunachala Friends, so if all goes well with the computer update, the new montage should be posted on this Blog within the next few days.

Operators!

I suppose there is a certain expectation that spiritual people, who supposedly dedicate their lives to spirituality, should perhaps be more expert in living with greater integration between thought-word-action. Unfortunately as well as Gurus sometimes turning out to be big disappointments, there are plenty of professional sadhakas who are a disgrace to their lineage. Here at Arunachala the professional sadhaka from the West is becoming a more frequent visitor - and with this upsurge of dedicated seeker, little stinkers are also beginning to turn up.

From my own experience I got cheated big-time by an American lady over a land arrangement here at Tiruvannamalai. She is a long term Sri Sathya Sai Baba devotee who has been living at Swami's Puttaparthi Ashram in Andhra Pradesh for over twenty years. So, I don't have much patience with listening to foreigners complaining about 'rogue' Indian dealers - from my own experience there are some rather dreadful foreign operators out there too!

I suppose it's like the saying, 'when a thief sees an Angel - all he notices is his pockets'. So even here at Arunachala the occasional stinker makes it through the radar - and instead of the Glory of Arunachala, all they can see is a different kind of opportunity!

Cola Protest

It was announced on Wednesday (September 6th), that The Federation of Tamil Nadu Traders Associations plan to observe October 2 as Pepsi-Coke Protest Day.

The Federation believes that the overseas Cola Companies have been encouraged by the Government to develop a monoply on the market via tax exemptions. The upcoming protest is also against the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) in Tamil Nadu, which the Federation believes will only give support to foreign companies opening up retail outlets in India.

I'm curious as to what is going to happen in the protests. More information as it happens.

Sadhu Bath

Being a Sadhu is not an easy life. Although there are several places available for daily sit down meals; like Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram, Sri Seshadri Ashram, takeaways at Ramana Maharshi Ashram and rice breakfasts at the Palakothu Tank, still there's not much chance of tea, coffee, fruit, biscuits, and the essential Sadhu prerequisite of biddies (home-rolled country style cigarettes). Also no nice bed and for most of them it's sleeping rough in the open and taking very publics bath at one of the many water tanks dotted around Tiruvannamalai.

A lot of these sadhus were in fact regular people like teachers, government bureaucrats or railway workers who on retirement decided to take up the life of itinerant sadhu. This is very much in line with the Hindu tradition that sets out the four stages of a person's life; student, householder, solitary, sannyasa (renunciant).

It must be very difficult at a late age, after a lifetime of the usual comforts, to give it all up and live on the streets, sleep on the roads, beg for your food and have to put up with abuse from harsh foreigners; who invariably whine, 'Well, if you're a sadhu; why do you need money?' Such nagging folk should definitely NOT be allowed to leave their homeland under any circumstances!

Looking Good!

Each full moon there is scurry of activity all around the mountain with hordes of merchants coming into town with their array of various bric-a-brac, fortune telling robots, green coconuts, holy pictures and books, fruit stands, candyfloss wagons and all the rest of the paraphernalia.

It's all for the crowds of Pilgrims who come to Arunachala specifically to do Poornima (full moon) pradakshina. Shrines around the Hill are given a special smarten-up, are beautifully garlanded and readied for a lot of admiring looks from devout, pious pilgrims. This nice Lingam shrine is a small, rather insignificant one; but for Poornima, definitely done up to the nines, and capable of stopping anyone in their tracks!

Arunachala News

This month we have started posting Arunachala narratives and photographs on a new Blog www.arunachalanews.com which we are authoring on behalf of a U.K. Company, Syntagma Media. We certainly hope our information reaches an audience through Syntagma Media that would not otherwise have the opportunity of hearing about Arunachala.

Great care will be taken not to duplicate posts and photographs, so once you've finished reading here, why not check out: www.arunachalanews.com

Bhuta Lingams

In India there exists five famous Lingams based on the elements (bhutas): Fire, Earth, Wind, Water and Ether (Sky). The Bhuta Lingams are said to be places where Shiva manifested himself as the natural elements.

Each of the five Lingams are situated in celebrated Temple Towns, and are as follows:

Tiruvannamalai: Fire Lingam

Kanchipuram: Earth Lingam

Kalahasti: Wind Lingam

Tiruvanaikka/Jambunath: Water Lingam

Chidambaram: Sky (Ether) Lingam

The Shiva Lingam denotes the primeval energy of the Creator. It is believed that at the end of all creation, during the great deluge, all of the different aspects of God find a resting place in the Lingam; Brahman is absorbed into the right, Vishnu to the left and Gayatri into the heart. The Shiva Lingam is also a representation of the infinite Cosmic Column of fire, whose origins, Vishnu and Brahma were unable to trace.

My Experience

Before I shifted to Arunachala I had been residing at the Puttaparthi Ashram of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and it was in fact Swamiji himself who told me to move to Tiruvannamalai. At that time I didn't know much about this area except for information from the wonderful book 'In Search of Secret India' by Paul Brunton.

But once I arrived here, I quickly learnt that Arunachala represents the Fire Lingam and that it's meant to burn away the ego etc. That actually had been my experience with Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and the whole time I had lived at his Ashram it felt like I was living on the edge of a simmering volcano; hot, hot, hot!

It was only when I came to Arunachala that things changed. And the raging heat of my Puttaparthi days stopped and curiously it felt like my mind was immersed in water. That feeling has never gone. For me Arunachala is cool, quiet, watery and peaceful; like an air conditioner blowing inside the mind.

One day when I was telling David Godman (the writer) this story, he remarked my experience was interesting and reminded him that during his course of interviews with Annamalai Swami in preparation for writing the brilliant, 'Living By The Words of Bhagavan', Annamalai Swami said that his first impression (which never altered) of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, was one of coolness!

My point is sometimes people experience Arunachala as 'cooling' but most ALL experience Arunachala's extraodinary stillness and peace.

Hospital News

I've been keeping this story to the side meaning to post it as it encapsulates so much of the drama of living in India and in particular at Tiruvannamalai.

However, yesterday evening I was reading the 'Drudge Report' online about two Rainbow travellers in Colorado. The two men on seeing discarded, rotten fruit lying outside a Produce Supplier, jumped the compound fence to get at it. Suddenly, whoosh! And everything unravelled. Now they are currently each serving 6 month prison sentences for taking discarded, rotten fruit! Initially, when I read the headlines, I assumed it was an Asian farce and was astounded when I read on and learnt it actually happened in beautiful Colorado.

The point is, my hospital story doesn't sound that weird anymore! All of a sudden crazy seems being out there! Anyhow here's the story: A patient was beaten up for refusing to give a bribe to an employee at the Tiruvannamalai District Government Hospital.

Apparently, after Siva (a farmer) sustained injuries from fireworks at a Temple Festival, he was rushed to the Government Hospital where employees demanded Rs.50/- (U.S.$1.25) for dressing his wound. Siva, the farmer told the hospital workers to complete the dressing and he would arrange for the money later. Once the work was finished, the farmer promised he would get the money from his relatives after they arrived at the Hospital.

Irked by this, one of the employees forced Siva into a room and beat him up. It is said that the employee was drunk and scolded the other hospital workers for treating Siva without first receiving bribe money.

Apparently it is not uncommon for employees at the Tiruvannamalai General Hospital to demand bribes from patients, including accident victims. I suppose a Hospital sometimes isn't the best place to go to when you're sick! Pity!

Flashy!

This photograph is taken outside the Big Temple's walls (you can see part of a Tower on the right-hand side). Let's hope this fellow has a successful day because what he's wearing looks none too comfortable!

Kumar Family

This is a family known to most Western visitors to Arunachala. The lady is Beate from Germany, the gent Kumar her husband from Tamil Nadu and the little girl their daughter Janani. They run the best email facility in town and are an important resource for foreigners with; airport pickups, booking tickets, changing money, renting videos and providing lots of additional software computer services. If you're planning on coming over you can check them out at their website:

http://www.shantionline.com/

Nandi

Shiva Temples always have some kind of statue (vigraha) of Nandi, the bull; Shiva's vahana (or vehicle). Vah in Sanskrit, means to transport and in Hindu symbolism, the Vahana is also the symbol of the deity. Nandi, the bull, represents strength and virility and also means 'joyful' (from the Sanskrit root, 'Nanda').

From His Light

From His Light
the niche of my essence enlightened me;
by means of me,
my nights blazed morning bright.

I made me witness my being there
for I was he;
I witnessed him as me,
the light, my splendor.

By me the valley was made holy,
and I flung my robe of honor;
my "taking off of sandals"
on those summoned there.

I embraced my lights
and so was their guide;
how wondrous a soul
illuminating lights!

I set firm my many Sinais
and there prayed to myself;
I attained every goal,
As my being spoke with me.

My full moon never waned;
My sun, it never set,
And all the blazing stars,
Followed my lead.

[By Sufi, Umar Ibn al-Farid(1181-1235)]

Garden

This is a photograph of my great Mum (maid servant). She is in the garden with Arunachala in the background. I hope she doesn't see any snakes out there today!

Very Interesting!

Over the last two months I've had verbal skirmishes with 'supposedly' enlightened or advanced sadhakas. I will relate these interesting stories soon, but for now want to write-up something I read which is amusing, not inaccurate and very relevant.

'Those who perpetuate the belief that ego transformation is enlightenment do spiritual culture a disservice. Additionally, the reverence and respect accorded enlightened beings is also undeserved because enlightenment is nothing other than a re-discovery of something that was already known.

When I wake up I don't become somebody else, I simply trade the idea of myself as a dreamer for the idea of myself as a waker. In fact, the waker and the dreamer are the same person, but seem to be separate entities because of their association with the state of consciousness in which they find themselves at the moment.

It is fashionable these days for society to congratulate formerly fat people who returned to their normal size. But rather than offer them respect shouldn't they be castigated for getting fat in the first place? Touting one's Enlightenment only calls attention to a lengthy and embarrassing stay in ignorance.' (by James Schwartz)

Thumbs Up!

Ragini

This is Ragini - who is something of a local Ramana Nagar resource as she is responsible for feeding hordes of Westerners throughout season time. She is famous for her cooking and prepares mild, chilli heat-free South India food. Here she is at her doorway giving food to an old lady begging at her doorstep.

The downstairs part of the house holds the kitchen and dining hall and the thatched roof on the upstairs is reserved for satsang meetings. Throughout the season Western teachers hold daily satsang at Ragini's house; makes it easy if you plan on taking lunch downstairs - sort of an all-in-one!

Good Morning

These trees are date palms and they have fruits high up in the fronds that are round, purple-black and look like small bowling balls. When you open up the fruit you find a tasty but gelantinous insides. You can see Arunachala peeping through the trees.

Three of my mad dogs chasing the fourth one through the water. You don't often see Indian country dogs playing. I once asked someone about this and he suggested generally Indian country dogs spend most of their day prowling around ensuring they have enough to eat and thus don't have much time for extra fun and games! That sounds about right - lucky my rascals don't have to worry about their mealtimes!

A beautiful photograph of Arunachala with rutted bullock cart tracks heading towards it. You cannot believe how muddy and impassable it becomes even with a small amount of rain. To walk across you often have to take off your sandals and go barefoot, otherwise you shoes get left behind in the mud. I recently saw a tractor get totally stuck in just one day's mud. Good honest clay hereabouts!

Baby Shiva

This is a nice picture of a young child dressed up as Shiva. Depending on the prevailing festival, such kids dress up as Shiva, Krishna and the big favourite, monkey Hanuman, who generally comes equipped with the requisite and truly magnificent tail.

The groups travel from house to house serenading until somebody comes out and gives them a donation. In what is often a battle of will on the kids' part and patience on the home-owners, the kids generally win out and successfuly collect generous contributions!

Peace

Even with all the Divine help and support we get from Arunachala, we still have that nasty man's nature to contend with. And until that is resolved and we all ascend to a higher level of consciousness, such idyllic scenes as those in the painting, will never be experienced here on earth.

Lots of money coming into Tiruvannamalai and with that comes plenty of attendant vices. However it is on record that during the Deepam period of the recent past; serious, criminal incidents are rare and exceptional. Considering that nowadays Deepam (the first night of the lighting of the flame is December 3rd) will attract over 3 million pilgrims, that is quite a commendable record. So maybe we are in fact improving!