God Darshan

He who sees Me on the day of Arudra star in the month of Margasirsa in the company of Uma and worships my emblem or embodied image is dearer to Me than even Guha.

On that auspicious day the vision alone accords ample results. If he worships too, the result cannot be adequately described.

Since I manifested Myself in the form of the Linga Emblem in the field of battle, this place is known as Lingasthana.

Since this column is without foot or top it will henceforth be diminutive in size, for the sake of the vision and worship of the world.

This emblem confers bliss. It is the only means of worldly enjoyment and salvation. Viewed, touched or meditated upon, it wards off all future births.

click to enlarge

Since it rose resembling a mountain of fire, this place shall be famous as reddish Aruna Mountain.

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

Celebration of chariot festivals, congregation of devotees, the presentation of ordinary as well as sacrificial gifts and offering of prayers at this place shall be million fold efficacious.

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

Worship me in my supreme Linga Form at this place and performing the other sacred rites shall accord the five types of salvation.

[Sivapuranam – Vidyesvarasamhita Chapter 9 vv. 15-27]

Chandikeswara

In many of the functions of Deepam Festival, the panchamurtis are taken on procession. These panchamurtis are: Vinayaka, Arunachaleswara-Unnamalai, Amman, Kartikeya and Chandikeswara. I am including information below about the fascinating Chandikeswara and why he follows the other murtis (idols) as their steward.

Chandikeswara idol Arunachaleswara Temple

“Chandikeswara,a devotee of Lord Shiva was born in the village of Seynalur on the banks of the river Manni in the Chola country, as a young lad named Vicharasarman.

He was the son of a pious and learned Brahmin named Yajnadatta. Vicharasarman was of great intelligence. One day when the lad was going to school, he saw a cowherd brutally assaulting a cow. Angry at the behaviour of the cowherd, young Vicharasarman took upon himself the duty of tending the cows of the village, to which the villagers acceded. From that day the cows looked happier and yielded more milk. More than the cow’s udders could hold. Vicharasarman, seeing that the milk was being wasted, collected it in vessels, set up lingams made of sand and poured this excess milk to bathe the lingas with intense piety for Shiva.The cowherd who had lost position on account of this Brahmin boy, saw him in this act and found this a good cause for denouncing him. He immediately brought it to the notice of the village elders as well as Yajnadatta, Vicharsarman’s father. The father saw his son pouring milk on small sand mounds and without investigating, kicked one of the lingas in anger. Young Vicharasarmana came out of his reverie and cut off the leg of his father with an axe with which he had kicked a linga.

Shiva was pleased with the devotion of this boy and he appeared in person along with Parvati his consort, before the boy. Shiva embraced him and made him in charge of his ganas (devotees or followers). He was also made the steward of his household, naming him Chandikeswara.”

Gangai Konda Cholapuram Temple

“Siva seated on a throne with four arms carries axe and antelope in his upper arms; with the lower the Lord is seen crowning Chandesa with a garland of flowers, a symbol of affection and stewardship. Chandesa is seen seated in front and with folded arms receiving the pride of place bestowed on him by his Lord. Chandesa is the embodiment of devotion and piety and the place he attained is considered the highest, a devotee of Siva is privileged with. It is called the Chandisa padam, the abode of deliverance. According to Saiva Siddhanta Siva bestows this grace, in the company of Sakti, His consort. In the sculpture under reference, Parvati or Uma Parameswari as she is often described, is seated by the side of Her Lord. The treatment of ornaments, the portrayal of limbs and affection with which Siva is seen taking the garland around the head of Chandesa are suggestive and truly convey the supreme message of Saiva Siddhanta, the image seeks to depict.

On the side walls is shown the story of Chandesa; Chandesa worshipping Siva as a Linga; the cows standing by the side; his father watching the happenings hiding himself behind the branches of a tree; disturbing Chandesa’s worship; perturbed Chandesa throwing his axe at his father and Siva bestowing grace on both.”
[By Dr. Nagaswamy]

Big Car Festival

Click to enlarge all photographs

THE BIG DAY

In conjunction with the below photographs taken of today's great Maha Radham -- The Big Car Festival, I am also posting the next part of the excellent, descriptive narrative on 'The Festival of Light,' by Apeetha Arunagiri.

"There are several Big Cars, huge wooden carts carved with fabulous mythological figures telling all the stories, with the biggest wheels in the world; the biggest car dwarfs all the buildings in town except the giant temple towers. It is called The Big Car.

Our temple elephant leads the procession. Several elephants come for Deepam, most of them beggars; they walk from wherever they come from. On this day parents or family members also carry their babies around the procession route. They string a sari on a sugar-cane pole which they support on their shoulders making a hammock for the child. The babies carried are ones whose parents asked Arunachala to bless them with so they are carried in thanksgiving.

The splendid bronze figures of Annamalai and Unnamalai - male and female personifications of Arunachala, are heavily garlanded and bejeweled, seated up on The Biggest Car; the towering edifice is covered with long strips of embroidered cloth and gigantic flower garlands. There are several big cars pulled before and after The Big Car; there’s a women-only one carrying Abhithakuchalambal, and there’s also a kids’ car, which trails flamboyantly at the end.

It's all stupendously awesome.

Years ago we used to walk in to watch the Big Car come up the incline of one main street around midday; for years and years and years, we’d all have lunch in ashram and then everyone would make their way around to the east face of the hill to meet the gods coming up Thiruvoodal street. But now there are so many pilgrims that the schedule has extended interminably. Inauspicious times of the day intervene so the proceedings stop until the bad hour has passed, and there’s also the time when suddenly everyone goes home for lunch.

That year it was evening before the Big Car reached that street. My daughter’s two children - Hari and Ani - were very young so we secured a protected view from the balcony of a cloth shop half way down the incline, long before the towering, tottering, embroidered, garlanded Big Car - with it’s flouncing umbrella on the very top, appeared above the roofs of the shops and maneuvered itself into position for the strenuous haul up towards Arunachala.

Upon the up-roaring signal of its visibility from the crowd, Hari dropped his pile of coat-hangers and rushed to be held up over the balcony. His eyes popped, his ears flapped. Even though we’d seen it before, nothing can prepare us for the majesty of its annual sight. Below us the street was a sea of heads; all balconies and rooftops up and down the street full of faces and now that the Big Car appeared, bodies behind us pressed forward, pushing us onto the balcony rails festooned with dubious electrical fairy lights. It’s quite exciting.

Since the divinities are coming, dedicated persons don’t wear shoes. This year we noticed one Policewoman wearing socks to protect her dainty feet from the yucky street. About five thousand pilgrims pull the cart around the temple circuit-route, ladies on one side and gents on t’other. When the car stops, big chocks of heavy wood are wedged underneath the enormous wheels while the pullers take a rest and offerings are made to their majesties the gods. When ready to start again, young men with enthusiasm climb up onto the chocks with poles to steady themselves, and on signal they jump up and down on the slanted chocks until their force pushes the wheels forward, giving momentum for the pullers to haul the cart further up the street.

Looking down into the crowd below as the cart passed beneath us, we were treated to a seething mass of human energy - drums beating in time to muscles, bystanders shouting encouragement, enormous wheels slowly turning, the carving on the cart creaking, embroidery panels blowing in the wind, garlands wavering about, lucky little boys sitting up high lowering cloth carry bags on strings for people to send up coconuts and flowers, the Brahmin priests looking down impassively.

It’s the Brahmins particularly – the extravagant courtly costumes, the imperious faces staring down – that convey the true sense of the gods as majesties: as the most important personages in our world, out on a tour of the town, to be saluted by their adoring subjects. And a very large number of their adoring subjects are sweating, straining at the edge in the effort required to pull them. The Big Car teeters its way uphill until the momentum runs out. The chocks are wedged in again. Everyone breathes.

It will take about ten hours to circumnavigate the temple.”

Deepam Processions

I am posting photos of some of the current festivities of Deepam 2008. There are far too photographs to post, so would remind readers that I am compiling a full pictorial history of the Deepam Festival 2008. In this respect there will be well over two hundred photographs of the Festival.

If you wish to receive a DVD pictorial history of the 2008 Arunachala Deepam, please get in touch at the contact link situated top left of Arunachala Grace. A donation is required in order to cover costs and expenses. There is a PayPal facility located at the left column of this page. In the case of International readers please add an additional U.S.$10 to your donation to bear the cost of registered, airmail.

Click on all photos to view enlarged version


Second Night Function

The below is of lighted representations of the Five Deities (Five Deities:

Vinayaka, Arunachaleswara-Unnamulai, Amman, Murugan, Chandeswarar -- at the Brahma Tirtham inside Arunachaleswarar Temple.

Outside the concourse leading up to the Raja Gopuram (main gate of Temple) are the murtis of the Five Deities on display. They will be loaded onto vehicles and taken around in procession around the 26 acre perimeter of Arunachaleswar Temple.

And in the next photograph, the procession around Tiruvannamalai is underway. And the first chariot is that of Arunachaleswara-Unnmulaiamman.

Procession on the Fourth Night

Kalpataru Tree (wish fulfilling tree)

Lord Arunachaleswara and his Goddess, Unnamulai are seated under a representation of Kalpavriksha (of which the Kalpataru Tree is a synonym) -- which is a wish-fulfilling divine tree common in Sanskrit literature. Along with the Kamadhenu, or 'wish-giving cow', the Kalpavriksha originated during the ‘Samudra manthan’-- "churning of the milk ocean", and the King of the gods, Indra returned with it to his paradise. The Kalpavriksha tree figuratively refers to a source of bounty.

To those interested in finding out more about the esoteric significance of this tree, there is a very interesting article I found which starts:

"Leaving aside the sheer narrative brilliance of Vyasa, it is the perception of over-arching symbols, such as the Kalpataru, which gradually dawns on the readers, stirring the innermost depths of their psyche, as they voyage across the one hundred thousand verses of this ocean among epics; that fascinates them, compelling them to return, time and again, to the Mahabharata.

To appreciate the thematic brilliance of this concept, it is first necessary to recount the story of the Kalpataru, the Wish-fulfilling Tree, described in eidetic detail by Krsna in the beginning of chapter 15 of the Gita. Its roots are in the heavens and its branches permeate the cosmos, paralleled in occidental mythology by the Norse Yggdrasill" . . . to read more go to this link: ‘Desire Under the Kalpataru Tree’.

Kamadhenu (wish fulfilling cow)

In Hindu mythology, Kamadhenu was a divine cow who was believed to be the mother of all cows. Like her daughter Nandini, she could grant any wish for the true seeker. Kamadhenu provided Vasishta with his needs for the sacrifices. Kamadhenu (kama-dhenu, 'wish-cow'), was a miraculous cow of plenty who could give her owner whatever he desired.

Sparsa Tiruvannamalai update

Below are a sequence of new photographs of Sparsa Tiruvannamalai, the new eco-sensitive, luxury hotel. In the upcoming Arunachala Grace Newsletter I will be posting a narrative about the Hotel's introduction of a traditional Tamil ethnic element into the Hotel. But for now here are some photographs.

Guests to the Hotel are invited to take a bullock cart ride throughout the nearby area.

In the below photograph a local potter is fashioning traditionally styled implements used in home and kitchens. The Hotel encourages guests to 'try their hands' making pots under the tutelage of the expert potter.

The Hotel is decorated throughout with reminders of Tamil history and culture. Below are figurines of Tamil musicians.

Below a photograph of one of the bedrooms fitted with a king-size bed at Sparsa Restort Hotel.

The dining room is now complete and welcomes customers who are staying outside the Hotel.

In the evenings the Hotel offers a variety of musical programmes.

Very nice photographs of dusk and evening at the Hotel.

AKSP -- November, 2008 Report

Arunachala Kattu Siva Plantation: Greening of Arunachala
[November, 2008 Report]

The Forest Department intends to take full responsibility for the reforestation of Arunachala Mountain and we wish them well in their endeavour. After working on the Western end of the mountain for six years we will, from now on, observe the efforts of the Forest Depart while attending to plantation on flatlands surrounding Arunachala. This prospect offers greater potential for raising environmental awareness in the community. We are pleased to join two well established trusts – one on Arunachala's east and one on the west, both oriented towards the growth of sustainable ecological perspectives in children: The Arunachala Village School at Vediyappanur and Nectar Soma Trust at Somasapadi.

We are also engaged in the development of an organic model farm – "Prakruti" - on land offered us for this purpose on the Adianamalai side of the mountain. The land will first be developed with basic amenities before we begin structuring the farm with the introduction of organic farming techniques. On land offered near Arunachala Village School we will maintain a nursery for trees that will eventually be planted along roadsides and in villages on that side of the Mountain. The initial task in this direction is offered by the Panchayat at Selvapuram in Vediyappanur; who have invited us to design and develop a new burial ground, which we consider an honour. The children of the Arunachala Village School will be assisting us in this plantation as well as in the village itself and along the roadway leading towards the town of Tiruvannamalai.

We are in the process of training the children at the farm run by our Managing Trustee in using shadow puppet theatre for communication about environmental matters in surrounding villages. These children are forming a theatre group with Prahbun – a puppeteer from Bangalore, who visit regularly and assist with productions. This group will also give shadow puppet workshops at the Arunachala Village School where the Manager presents an ecological component in the curriculum. It is hope that this school will become proficient in spreading environmental awareness in their area.

At present we are building a nursery at the Nectar Soma children’s farm with considerable future prospects for plantation in the villages and on private lands. Adjacent is land owned by the Atma Saranalayam Ashram who have invited us to create a forest for its own sake on this land. We now feel oriented towards a wider arena of influence in our contribution to the greening of Arunachala.
[Apeetha Arunagiri]

Deepam Festival

Greatness of Deepam Festival

Sage Gowthama said: “I shall describe to you the glory of that which liberates people from all sins and bestows all prosperity. In the mount of Karthika, on the day of the star Krittika during pradosha (i.e. thirteenth day country from the new moon/full moon) the fortunate ones who perform giripradakshina are not born again. All karmas are destroyed on performance of giripradakshina. ‘It is customary to circumambulate the Hill for a Mandela or forty days. One who is not able to do this may perform giripradakshina at least for eleven days. If even this is not possible, then one should go round the Hill on the day of Deepam. This is equivalent to performing crores of Yagnas. (one crore 10 million). He who worships the Deepam lit atop the Hill derives countless blessings. A person residing elsewhere may light lamps in front of any shrine of Siva, atop His temple towers or on the peaks of other hills and he will be blessed. Whatever may be the attitude of the devotee, the mere lighting of the lamp on this day with any type of oil available confers great merit on him.

He who has darshan of this light on Arunachala Hill acquires the merit of having performed great charity and of having bathed in the sacred rivers. Who can express in words the benefits enjoyed by the one who has darshan of the peak of Arunachala with the beacon light glowing?’

The Glory of Arunachala
[Skanda Upapuranam]




Deepam Festival – Another Legend:

Long ago, King Vajresan of Panchala who was childless, was blessed with a son after having darshan of the Arunachala Deepam in the month of Kartika. The son was named Shatrujith. The prince grew up to be lecherous man. He once eloped with the wife of a Vedic scholar and came to Tiruvannamalai and entered the Temple of Arunachaleswarar.

It was the day of the festival of the beacon. The paramour made a wick out of her sari and lit the lamp with castor oil. At that moment the Vedic scholar came there and in a fit of rage stabbed his wife and the prince. And in turn the prince killed him.

Since it was a gruesome murder committed in the sacred precincts of the Temple the three were about to be taken to hell by the messengers of Yama, lord of death. At that moment the messengers of Siva intervened and claimed the prince and the woman as their own and took them to the abode of Siva. Their blasphemous acts were condoned by Arunachala Himself because the wife made a wick and the prince helped her to light the lamp for the Supreme Lord.

But the Vedic scholar was puzzled, as he was held by the messengers of Yama. The prince, moved by the plight of the Vedic scholar, ordered the vessel used for lighting the Karthika lamp to release the scholar. Immediately the Vedic scholar was liberated. Thus all the three, despite their misdeeds, were taken to the abode of Siva, as the merit gained by the simple act of lighting a lamp on Kartika day in his Temple outweighed their devilish acts.

The Glory of Arunachala
[Skanda Upapuranam]

First Visit to Tiruvannamalai

"The below is a narrative written by Joyce Meyers detailing some of her experiences during her first visit to Tiruvannamalai this November, 2008. Joyce travelled with a group of seven ladies with Virginia Lee facilitating their programme. Virginia's report of the Retreat will be featured in the upcoming Arunachala Grace Newsletter. (Check left column newsletter free subscribe facility to receive a copy of the monthly Newsletter).

Joyce is a licensed psychotherapist, certified Ericksonian hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, art therapist, and board certified past life regressionist. She uses a transformational therapy developed from traditional, spiritual and experiential approaches to healing."

Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, South India. November 2008.

“Although I have been home in New York City for two weeks, my heart is still very much in Tiruvannamalai. It was an important experience for me, and not one I had in the least anticipated. Ten months prior I had spent two weeks in Haridwar and Rishikesh. The entire time I felt cradled in the arms of the Divine Mother, who healed my shredded heart from a severed relationship. I was expecting to be provided with a similar embrace, only to find that Tiruvannamalai, the home of Arunachala and Ramana Maharshi, was preparing me for a different kind of ride. It was softly inviting me to look within and examine buried pockets of grief and negativity and I was given ample opportunity to do so, both internally and externally. This was not exactly what I had in mind, but it was what I was needing. So I decided to want what I needed. As I reluctantly released resistance to what was being presented, it soon led, thankfully, to other adventures of the uplifting kind.

I began experiencing heightened feelings of unconditional love with the locals, from the sales clerk, to the coconut lady, to the teachers, to the people who work at Sri Nannagaru ashram where I stayed, to sadhus, and the poor with outstretched arms. These feelings extended to the dogs and cows and bulls that lined the streets. In Rishikesh and Haridwar, I received all embracing spiritual love. In Tiruvannamalai, I received and gave human love.

In preparation for this trip, I immersed myself in learning about Ramana Maharshi and was taken with his teachings. Tiruvannamalai, which seems to be the hub where seekers, sages, sadhus, teachers and gurus gather, provided many opportunities to receive darshan with spiritual leaders and sit in satsang with advaita teachers where I could ask questions and apply what I was learning. I had no idea these Ramana teachings would lead me in a new direction. Since being home, I have joined advaita groups, signed up for an Enlightenment Intensive that Taj, from our group, directed me towards, and went back to reading Eckhart Tolle. On another occasion I went to hear Sri Vast, a guru, speak. I was waiting to be bored, only to finding myself moved by his every word. What I found spiritually in India filled and fulfilled me.

Gwen and Maryjo from our group, and I, went to Pondicherry, less than three hours away. We visited Auroville, Sri Aurobindo and The Mother Ashram; and Sri Vast Ashram, as well as my having a dental appointment for a hurting tooth with a most skillful, caring dentist using highly sophisticated Japanese equipment, all for 75% less than I would have paid in the states. Visiting Sri Vast Ashram, for me, was the highlight of this excursion. Far more important than the beauty of the land and the graceful architecture of the building structures, were the values Sri Vast upholds. His vision, and what he has put into practice, represents the greatest breadth and depth of vision of any intentional living community I have ever come upon.

left to right -- Ganesh, Dinesh, Radesh, Priya

Last but definitely not least is the ability to make a difference in the lives of several children. Priya, Dinesh and Radesh, the children of Jayanti (who works as a servant at Nannagaru Ashram), as well as Dinesh’s best friend Ganesh, are now enrolled in a year of English tutoring classes. With this, they can have the possibility of acceptance to a good school and open to choices in their life. The tutoring arrangement was accomplished with the very kind and generous help of Mr. Ravichandran, director of Shantimalai Trust, one of the top schools in the area.

Aswini

With Priya, I have already made a commitment to sponsor her through all her years of schooling. The other three, all of whom are very intelligent, aware, and adorable, will need sponsors as well if they pass their English exams or will require other kinds of support to learn a trade. Gwen, another fellow traveler on the journey, and I, now share a godchild, Aswini, who we are sponsoring through all her years of schooling. She was introduced to us by Mr. Ravichandran. Aswini was going to have to leave school because her mother couldn’t continue to pay, due to circumstances at home. How do you say no when you look into the eyes of a small child before you and know what a difference you can make in their life?

Thank you, Meenakshi Ammal, of Arunachala Grace Network, for leading me to Shantimalai and for helping the group as an expert travel guide consultant.

In order to travel to the tutor, each child, except Radesh, needed a bicycle. Gwen, Mary Jo and I chipped in and now Dinesh and Priya have their bicycles, with Ganesh’s on the way. It was joyous for me and Gwen to sit in the downtown bicycle shop with Dinesh, Priya and their mom, Jayanti, while the bicycles were being assembled, bells, whistles and all; to watch the happiness light up their faces, and then to watch all three ride home together. And none of this cost very much: $80 a bicycle, $200 a year to tutor four children, $25 a month to sponsor a child through Shantimalai Trust. I couldn’t do this kind of thing in the U.S.A., but in India, a dollar goes very, very far.

India feels like home. It is that spiritual dimension that deeply nourishes. It is the naturalness, openheartedness and lack of pretense of the people, with everything exposed and out in the open. There it is in your face, life taking place in the streets - death, excrement, bare feet, cow dung, dirt, eating with your fingers, deep-eye contact and soul connections with ‘strangers’, the friendliness of the people and their excitement at your taking their picture, sadhus sleeping or resting on the earth, fresh laundry laid out to dry on the ground, garbage, poverty, sorrow, seeking, awareness, and joy. Oh, joy!

Whatever it is that took place in Tiruvannamalai, It has brought me to a new level of awareness, of understanding, and of being. Thank you, India. And thank you, Virginia Lee, our travel leader, for creating the opportunity to participate in this wonderful journey.”

Joyce Z. Meyers
http://www.heartandsoultherapy.com/

The Deepam Festival -- Part Three

"It is widely believed that the provision of Free Food at Deepam is rewarded by the Lord more than any other provision of Free Food! Down at little shrine area in the only remaining virgin forest adjacent to my house, on one side of the road every year we have The Big Temple servants feeding ten thousand persons a day, and on the other side another group feeding another ten thousand. Crowd Control Barriers sprout and the vast distribution of free food manifests itself all along the Hill Round Route.

We wandered down to the little shrine area around midday on the seventh day of last year’s festival - the day of The Lighting. The Free Food queue in the crowd control barrier on one side of the road extended back for more than a kilometre, forming a static block against the jabbering stream of thousands not interested in free food just then. The field behind where the forest watchman lives was full of onionskins, vegetable peelings, big pots being filled with food and big pots on fires. Full steaming-hot big pots were carried on palanquins by strong men across to the awning on the roadside where more big pots of hot food were lined up and many men were dishing spicy rice onto leaf plates for the long barricaded queue of hungry Tamilians extending out of sight.

We ate our free food on a bench segregated from the crowd by thorns, watching a big fight between temple bouncers and persons trying to eat their food too near to the distribution spot, thereby creating untold congestion in a greatly congested situation. There was no alternative since there was nowhere to go to eat, because the sea of human beings takes up every available space. Discarded leaf plates smeared with spicy rice covered the road and particularly the shoulders of the road, where one had to wade through a great mess in order to move. Huge religious festivals have an agonizingly sordid side.

But the ecstasy is something else." To be Contd.

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

Flag Hoisting Ceremony

The below photographs show preparations and festivities for 2008 Deepam.

After completion of the various preceding three days of functions:

Day One -- Sri Durgambal Utsavam
Day Two -- Sri Pidari Utsavam
Day Three -- Vignesvara Puja are complete

We begin Day One of Deepam 2008 with the flag hoisting ceremoney at Arunachaleswar Temple.

The Kotittaampam from koti “flag” and tanipam “pillar”, indicates the God or Goddess residing at that Temple. It is believed that as well as signalling the start of Temple functions, the flag hoisting ceremony represents:

“. . . indicates that the descended Kundalani Sakthy at Moolatharam of our spinal cord should rise to the head. The flag lowering ceremony indicates how this supreme consciousness descends down from the head to the body (Creation) and reaches the end of the spinal cord (Moolathatam).”

Its Awfully Wet!

During the second week of November I remarked to a group of visitors from California, that Tiruvannamalai had had an insignificant amount of rainfall in 2008. Well towards the end of November, a couple of days after the group had left, the heavens opened and a gale blew into the Southeast coast of India. Chennai got the brunt of it – but at Tiruvannamalai we also had to bear huge winds and rains that went on and on – day after day. I (and lots of others) lost electricity power for days – and the weather was so unbelievably bad that nobody was on the streets or could come and repair the lines. Residents just hid in their homes. My doggies eyes glazed over in bewilderment – what was happening? Poor things. Outside it seemed liked everything was melting into one great muddy glob.

To give you an idea of the amount of rain we have received in such a short time, I am quoting below part of a posting made on the renovation of the local Simha Tank.

“The Simha Tank is one of my favourite spots around the Hill, as I very much like the iconic statue of the Lion standing sentinel at the front of the Tank. As previously mentioned the tank is being desilted and deepened. It probably will be difficult to believe but over the last few rainy seasons the water level of the tank actually overflows onto Chengam Road, and makes the spot look like a negative edge pool (i.e. infinity swimming pool).”

I took the below photos this afternoon which show the Tank filling up -- still a ways to go before we get to negative edge pool (i.e. infinity swimming pool) . . .

. . . but if you notice at the back of the this photograph the continuous stream of water pouring down from the slopes of Arunachala . . .

and in closer detail . . .



Maybe our negative edge pool (i.e. infinity swimming pool) is not so far away at all!

Arunachala by L.Osborne

“Arunachala! Thou art the inner Self who dances in the Heart as ‘I’. Heart is Thy name, O Lord!”
(Five Stanzas to Sri Arunachala, verse 2.)

In the Puranas Arunachala is referred to as the oldest Hill on earth and is regarded as the heart of the Universe.

Scientists have also pointed out the Eastern Ghats of the Deccan plateau as the oldest land. Arunachala has many names: Arunagiri, Sonagiri, Sudarsanagiri, Annamalai, to mention but a few and is also referred to as the Tejolingam — the lingam of effulgence — which is the formless emblem of Siva.

The form of the Hill is said to resemble Sri Chakra, the emblem of the Cosmos with its substratum, and shaktas regard this Hill as Sri Chakra itself. Bhagavan took an active part in the installation of Sri Chakra in the temple dedicated to the mother.

Devotees of Siva consider this divine Hill as the form of Siva, who appeared in the midst of Brahma and Vishnu as a column of fire without beginning or end in order to dispel their ignorance. Both failed to realise his presence by their physical efforts. This signifies the inability of mind or intellect to go beyond itself. Arunachala is traditionally identified with Sudarsana (a form of the chakra or discus of Vishnu). In the form of a deity, Sudarsana appears in a fierce aspect, armed with weapons of destruction. When a seeker penetrates beyond the semblance of the terrible, while struggling to overcome what seems terrible in himself — namely, the dark downward propensities of his own psyche — grace reveals itself as love and compassion. This, according to Dr. Mees, an authority on symbolism, is the etymology of Sudarsana which aims at the destruction of these propensities, so as to reveal love and beauty.

Many saints and sages have sung and composed songs in praise of Arunachala and its import, and some have attained enlightenment here. Shankara also seems to have visited Arunachala. In one of his compositions he calls this Hill ‘Meru’ and says, like Bhagavan, that Siddha Purushas are found here.




Saint Namasivaya lived in one of the caves, which is still called by his name. His disciple has written the well-known Annamalai Venba, a hymn in praise of Arunachala. Another well-known Saiva saint, Virupaksha, also lived in a cave higher up on the slope. It is said to be in the shape of OM — and some devotees have heard there, the sound of OM in silent meditation. The saint’s tomb is also there and this cave bears his name. Bhagavan spent seventeen years in it and later moved up to Skandashram where a trickle of water changed overnight to a perennial stream whose water, like that of the Ganges, does not deteriorate with time. Arunagirinatha, another notable saint, is also celebrated for his songs of praise after he received illumination through the grace of Muruga in the Arunachala temple. When mention was made one day of the tank adjoining the Ashram being called Agastya Thirtam, the Maharshi was asked if that sage ever visited the Hill. Bhagavan remarked “Yes, of course, everyone must come here eventually”, meaning that everyone must eventually return to the source — Arunachala.

Sages have said that one can attain salvation by being born in Tiruvarur, by dying in Benares, by worshipping in Chidambaram and by merely thinking of Arunachala. “So worship Arunachala of shining golden lustre for mere remembrance of Him ensures deliverance,” Bhagavan also affirms.

[By Lucia Osborne]

The Deepam Festival -- Part Two

The full 2008 Deepam Programme is listed in an earlier post on Arunachala Grace -- so please check the link to keep up-to-date with the Deepam schedule. As promised I will be posting many 2008 Deepam photographs throughout the Festival -- in this respect you can check this Blog on Wednesday when I hope to upload many photographs of processions and daily life of devotees and inhabitants of Tiruvannamalai.

Below I post Part Two of the excellent 'The Deepam Festival' by Apeetha Arunagiri, whose website is at this link HERE. You can view Part One of this narrative at this link.

"Deepam Festival lasts fourteen days. The Big Temple displays its treasures every night of the first nine days in processions around the circuit of streets in town. Millions of pilgrims come, perhaps two million sometimes, perhaps more; they camp out in the temple complex and fill every available hut, home, shop, guesthouse, ashram, room, corner, balcony, corridor, niche, stone bench, and nook under trees and rocks. They all walk around the hill; some many times because it is exceedingly auspicious to do so. Lord Siva may very likely grant a pilgrim’s wishes.

Many years ago when my daughter was small, the old infirm lady who lived with us - an elderly Brahmana woman of ninety-nine-odd years - used to bundle her pots and pans, condiments, clean white saris – she’d bundle them all up in a cloth and scoot off by rickshaw into town for Deepam every year. She had an age-old arrangement with a family in the main street, she used to camp on their verandah for the ten days, staying awake at night to worship the gods as they came past. The divinities would no doubt reward her for all her trouble.

Although we are tempted to conjecture that the motivation to partake of this exceeding auspiciousness arises from other-worldly concerns lured by the possibility of relinquishment from the cycle of birth and death, this is not entirely true. For the Hindu it is considered monumentally difficult for an individual to achieve the freedom from attachment to this world that is essential for absolute freedom. It is love of this world that fires the hearts of the devotees; the possible fulfillment of desires sustains arduous pilgrimages.

The number of pilgrims walking around Arunachala has increased so much during the past ten years that we now have a mini-Deepam every single month. A famous film star’s pronouncement that Arunachala grants wishes at full moon as well as at Deepam is what started it all off. Since then, the entire town has to be frozen of incoming traffic for the duration of the moon’s radiant fullness and thousands of extra buses are scheduled. The ostensibly other-worldly Deepam festival is actually a tremendous affirmation of confidence in life on Earth.

Hawkers come with their wares: food in particular and pictures of gods, film stars and politicians. Hawkers bring spiritual books, protective talismans, plastic toys and bunches of grapes, things to hang on your rear vision mirror and stand on your TV, wind chimes, socks, belts, warmers for heads, underpants, bangles, molded plastic divinities, fruit trees, pillows and blankets, jewels, hair clips, watches, fruit trees and motor bikes – to name a few conspicuous items. The religious festival becomes a vast marketplace. The Holy Hill is garlanded with opportunities.

Beggars come by the busload with their leprous legs and stumpy arms and their begging bowls; some have little vehicles. Sadhus come in orange - the mendicant’s uniform. Businessmen also come. Families come with plastic carry bags of clean clothes and blankets. With their shaven scalps smeared with turmeric paste; they wash their saris, dhotis and shirts in the tanks beside the hill-round road route and walk with one wet sari end tied modestly about their body - the other held by a family member up ahead, the cloth streaming out to dry in the breeze. Skinny people with big feet and wide eyes: these are the true-blue pilgrims who camp on the flagstones of temples and mandapams. Modern middle class families stay in expensive hotels. Groups come with musical accessories and flower garlands, voices joining footsteps. The Hill becomes garlanded in humans, encouraged by the voices of the hawkers and bucket loudspeakers blaring from the frequent stands selling tapes of devotional music.

A recent upsurge in progress has resulted in the construction of several sheds along the way, in which pilgrims can rest and watch TV. A special cable was laid to provide video images of the festival happenings including much film of pilgrims walking around the Holy Hill so that resting pilgrims can even see themselves perhaps, by courtesy of our recent technological achievements." -- To be Contd.

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

Durgambal Procession

Saturday 29th November marked the beginning of the 2008 Deepam Festival with the procession of Durgambal seated on Kamadhenu (the wish fulfilling cow) being taken on a clockwise procession from Durga Amman Temple around the perimeter streets of the 26 acre Arunachaleswarar Temple and thereafter returning back to her own Temple. The first photograph is of the statue at the Durga Temple before being placed on the Kamadhenu.

Below a close-up of the Goddess.

This year large screens have been installed around Arunachaleswarar Temple, and one giant screen inside, so that later days of the Festival can be seen by the greatest number of devotees. The procession through the town plays a very important role in maintaining a living relationship with the ordinary folk going about their business throughout the day, who sometimes may not have sufficient opportunities to attend functions inside the Temple itself. As is always the case in such functions, the procession stops whenever people along the route make offerings.

In the above photograph the Goddess is seated on Kamadhenu (the cow) at one of the Gopurams (entrances) of the Big Temple (Arunachaleswarar). Decorations are already up at the Big Temple and like last year I hope to post a photograph from Arunachala Hill looking downwards to the Temple, to show the beautiful brightly-lit Arunachaleswarar Koil.

Deepam 2008 Photographs

For last year's Deepam I posted many excellent photographs covering various functions during the Festival. This year I will be doing the same and in this respect am working with a photographer who will be supplying me with unique photographs of each function. The below is of the Maha Radham (Big Car) in 2007 circumbulating Arunachaleswarar Temple -- it was taken by the same photographer that I am using this year. You can view the full size photograph by clicking on it.

Maha Radham-- 2007 Deepam Festival
click to enlarge

There will be some Deepam photographs posted on Arunachala Grace, however this year I am offering readers the opportunity to acquire a full pictorial history of the Deepam Festival 2008. In this respect there will be well over two hundred photographs (same size as 'enlarged' photo sample above) of the Festival. As the photographer is professionally accredited, he is able to take photographs in areas of Arunachaleswarar Temple etc., which generally restricts the taking of photographs, he is also able to get exceptional access to cover the actual lighting of the Hill Deepam.

If you wish to receive a DVD pictorial history of the 2008 Arunachala Deepam, please get in touch at the contact link situated top left of Arunachala Grace. A donation is required in order to cover costs and expenses. There is a PayPal facility located at the left column of this page. In the case of International readers please add an additional U.S.$10 to your donation to bear the cost of registered, airmail.

Deepam Programme 2008

Today is the first day of the Deepam Festival as celebrated at Tiruvannamalai. The sequence of the Festival is explained below. The lighting of the flame on top of Arunachala actually takes place on the 10th day of Deepam and stays alight for between 8-10 days.

Of these the first day is connected with the Durga Amman Temple. Each day denotes different functions and ceremonies at either the Durga Temple, the Annamalai Temple or in the streets surrounding them.

Deepam is a festival which traditionally is connected with the Hill and Arunachaleswarar Temple. In this connection Durga Amman Koil (Koil = Temple), is the only other Arunachala Temple that actually participates in the functions.

The reason for this is supposed to be because of the Goddess and the demon Mahisha (see ‘The Fight with Mahishasura’). Before her battle the Goddess appointed four noble Bhairavis (celestial damsels) to keep watch on all four sides of Arunagiri. She ordered:

"Admit only those who have come to worship Arunachala and are tired, hungry and thirsty. Others should not enter. She then appointed strong men to guard the boundaries of Arunachala and continued Her penace at Her ashram." [The Glory of Arunachala]

For this reason, the first day of Deepam Festival is always a celebration of the Goddess, recognised as a Guardian of Arunachala.

Festival Days 2008:

29th November, Saturday -- Durgambal festival:

During the night of this festival Durga Amman idol is taken in procession in Vimana.

30th November, Sunday -- Pidari festival:

In which the Goddess Pidari is brought in procession on a statue of a Lion.

1st December, Monday -- Anukjai Vignesvara Puja:

The elephant God Vinayka is taken out in the streets on a silver mount.

2nd December, Tuesday -- (First Day) Annamalai Temple:

Procession of five Deities in the morning and five Deities in the evening.

3rd December, Wednesday -- (Second Day) Annamalai Temple:

Morning procession of Chandrasekar (Lord Siva) and Vinayaka. Evening five Deities.

4th December, Thursday -- (Third Day)

Morning Vinayaka, Chandrasekar, Vimana, Buta Vehicles. Evening the five Deities, Lion Vehicle, Silver Swan Vehicle.

5th December, Friday -- (Fourth Day)

Morning Vinayaka, Chandrasekar, Vinayaka Snake Vehicle. Evening, five Deities. Silver Kalpataru (wish fulfilling tree), Silver Kamadhenu (wish fulfilling cow) procession.

6th December, Saturday -- (Fifth Day)

Morning Vinayaka, Chandrasekar, Mooshikam, Mirrored Bull Vehicle. Evening five Deities. Silver Mooshikam, Silver peacock. Big Silver Bull Vehicles procession.

7th December, Sunday -- (Sixth Day)

Morning Vinayaka, Chandrasekar, Mooshikam, Silver Elephant, 63 Nayanamars Vimanam. Evening five Deities, Silver Car, Indra Vimanam and other silver vehicles procession.

8th December, Monday -- (Seventh Day)

Morning the five Deities juggernaut. Dragging the rope of the car in Vrichika Lagna. Evening the five Deities returning from juggernaut.

9th December, Tuesday -- (Eighth Day)

Morning Vinayaka, Chandrasekar Silver Vimanam. Evening at 4 p.m. Bhiksandar festival on golden Meru (Sri Chakra). At night the five Deities. Horse vehicle procession.

10th December, Wednesday -- (Ninth Day)

Morning Vinayaka, Chandrasekar Mirror Vimanam. Evening the five Deities. Kailasa Vehicle, Kamadhenu Vehicle procession.

11th December, Thursday -- (Tenth Day)

Morning Barani Deepam. At noon sacred bath in Brahma Tirtham. At 6 p.m. the five Deities proceed in golden Vimanam. Great Deepam Darsan lit on top of Arunachala; the flame will be alight for between 8-10 days. That night at the Temple, the five Deities proceed on golden Bull Vehicles.

12th December, Friday -- (Eleventh Day)

Night at 7 p.m. float for Chandrasekar. Annamalaiyar going round the Hill.

13th December, Saturday -- (Twelfth Day)

At 7 p.m. at night for Parasakti Amman.

14th December, Sunday -- (Thirteenth Day)

At 7 p.m. night float for Subramanian (Lord Murgan).

15th December, Monday -- (Fourteenth Day)

Chandikesvarar festival procession on Silver Bull Vehicle.

2008 Karthigai Deepam – South India

Karthigai Deeepam, or Karthika Deepam, is the festival of lights in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, it is observed on the full moon day in the month of Karthigai (November-December). In Kerala, the festival is known as Trikartika or Kartika Vilaku and is held in the month of Vrichikam (November – December).

This year December 11th is the day for the lighting of traditional oil lamps at dusk (approximately 6.05 p.m.). Karthigai Deeepam is also known as Bharani Deepam and Vishnu Deepam in Tamil Nadu and is an auspicious day for both Shaivites and Vaishanvites. Click here to read more

The Festival of Light -- Arunachala

“Deepam is a Hindu religious festival which merges myth and sacred time with the ordinary temporal flow since the distinction between myth and reality’ does not exist in India where even the passage of time is illusory.

The sacred mountain Arunachala was worshipped long before the Vedic culture penetrated into the southern Indian peninsular millennia ago. In the south Lord Siva became the notion of significance and Arunachala became the embodiment of Lord Siva. Kailash Mountain of Tibet is his abode where he meditates, but Arunachala Mountain is Siva Himself.

It was in comparatively recent history that the Vedic Divine personalities evolved on the subcontinent; they up-staged the primeval pantheon of elemental divinities worshipped since time before mind: Fire, Water, Space, Air, Earth. Sacred places associated with these most ancient divinities lie in the South. Arunachala is The Fire Place.




However it is not Fire that is of primary significance but Light: an invisible column of light signifying the Enlightenment that those embodied in human form have the capacity to realize. Realisation confers freedom from the bondage of identity with form, both physical and mental. The light of the Deepam flame reminds us of this. Deepam means Light.

The original myth is that aeons ago the gods Brahma and Vishnu challenged one another, each claimed to be able to reach the end of the universe. Lord Brahma (the Creator) headed up in the form of a swan, and Lord Vishnu (the Preserver) headed down as a Boar. Neither was successful in their task. Lord Siva (the Destroyer of Ignorance) pronounced the justice of this situation: that no embodied being has precedence over any other; that only what is prior to consciousness is real. What is real is quality-less. It is eternal, unequivocal throughout all dimensions of all worlds. Lord Siva showed himself as this eternal principal in the form of an endless column of Light invisible to mortal eyes. He named it Arunachala. This was given visible form as a Mountain, an icon for what is beyond form, fondly referred to by locals as ‘the Holy Hillock’.”

[Apeetha Arunagiri]

Chatting Macaques

Reading an online International Newspaper, I found this light-hearted, amusing article about the macaque monkey. The macaques constitute a genus of Old World monkeys, of which there are twenty-two macaque species currently recognised, of which our own Bonnet Macaque, found extensively throughout this area, is one.

The article reads thus:

‘Why females love a good gossip ... even if they're macaque monkeys.’

“Female macaque monkeys love a good gossip as much as their chatty human counterparts, research has shown.

Scientists spent three months listening to a mixed group of macaques living on Cayo Santiago island off Puerto Rico. They discovered that, just as with humans, the female of the species was more talkative than the male.

The experts counted the grunts, coos and 'girneys' - friendly chit-chat between two individuals - while ignoring calls specifically used when in the presence of food or a predator. Female macaques were found to make 13 times as many friendly noises as males. They were also much more likely to chat to other females than males.

The scientists believe this is because female macaques form solid, long-lasting bonds. They stay in the same group for life, and rely on their female friends to help them look after offspring. In contrast males, who rove between groups throughout their life, chatted to both sexes equally.

Researcher Nathalie Greeno, from the University of Roehampton in London, told New Scientist magazine: 'The results suggest that females rely on vocal communication more than males due to their need to maintain the larger networks.' This is said to be the first time communication sex differences have been identified in non-human primates.

Primate expert Professor Klaus Zuberbuhler, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, agreed that the findings had a bearing on language development. In all social species, communication helped individuals 'navigate their daily social lives, usually by influencing the minds and behaviour of group members,' he said. He added that communication helped resolve tension between the opposite forces of competition and cooperation.”

New Vodpod and Photographs

I have updated the display photographs at the left column of Arunachala Grace with new photographs related to upcoming Deepam – as the mood is definitely gearing up in town. Most of those photographs are in fact from last year's Deepam. I have also posted a new VodPod at the bottom left column of this page with the following videos:


Spirit – Born Free
Beautiful, inspirational song composed for the movie Born Free (1966) about a real-life couple who raised an orphaned lion cub to adulthood, and released her into the wilds of Kenya. The video is of a later animated movie about a horse born free in the Cimarron.

Our Place in the Universe
The incomparable Carl Sagan says it best when he says – “The Universe is not supposed to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.” A video describing the awesome immensity of space.

A Previous Deepam
A beautiful, well-shot inspirational video of a previous Deepam celebrated several years ago.

Lingashtakam by S.P.B
Devotional chant sung for Lord Shiva (in linga form) by S.P. Balasubramaniam. Two versions on this video, first -- Tamil version and the second is in Sanskrit.

Sparsa Hotel, Tiruvannmalai
Musical montage of Tiruvannamalai's new 3-star eco-sensitive luxury Hotel