Cattle Fair, Tiruvannamalai 2011

One of the traditions of Deepam at Tiruvannamalai, is that each year during the Festival, there is a Cattle Fair. The fair is packed by farmers and traders either selling their livestock, or on the lookout to make a purchase. There are cows, buffaloes, horses and ponies, and its always a delight to walk amidst the hundreds of creatures tethered in the fields around the base of the Hill.

Quite appropriately the large open ground outside the Animal Sanctuary this year, is one of the areas most densely packed with livestock. But not just in the fields, also lining up on each side of Chengam Road, strong, healthy looking bullocks lie serenely chewing on hay. Good holiday for them!








As well as the fields of livestock, there are also stalls upon stalls selling various implements, ropes and adornments for cows, buffaloes and horses.







Some of the horses this year are so pretty, I was seriously tempted to bring a couple home to join my doggie family. Itching to fatten them up and give them a good brushing.







The annual Deepam Cattle Fair, just another part of the fun and excitement of the Festival.

Bharani Deepam 2011, Arunachala

Right click on all photographs to view enlargements


Preparations for this day begin one month in advance with the local administration, revenue department, police and temple authorities. Since early morning, temple staff and volunteers have been carrying five-gallon containers of ghee and large pots of thick, braided cloth wicks to the top of Arunachala mountain.

As you are reading this, town's people and pilgrims from far afield, are climbing Arunachala some in order to secure a good viewing point for the evening's lighting of the 2011 Deepam cauldron and others so that they can personally deliver their ghee offerings to top of Arunachala.

Just after the early morning temple ceremony, five earthern pots were lit. These ghee-filled pots, represent the sacred elements earth, air, fire, water and ether. As these five flames loom up with red-yellow light, the famous festival of Karthigai Deepam officially begins.

A single flame is then taken from the pots and kept burning in the Temple throughout the day as a symbol of the merging of manifestation back into God, the one source of all. This single flame is referred to as the Bharani Deepam.


Five Earthernware Pots














Significance

"There is immense significance in this ceremony called Bharani Deepam. At this time, the universal Lord manifests as the five elements, which will later fully merge to become one when the Krittika Deepam flame is lit in the evening. From one to many and many to one. This is the whole essence of Saivism and the meaning of Krittika Deepam."

Around 10:00 a.m. this Bharani morning, a group of fishermen were blessed by a priest in a ceremony at the Temple. Amidst ringing bells and temple music, the priest gave the fishermen a lamp that has been lit from the Bharani Deepam in the Temple. This lamp, also called Bharani Deepam, is currently being taken to the top of the Hill by fishermen from hereditary fishing families. Others of the same hereditary fishing family will remain at the Temple and this evening light the Deepam flame outside the Arunachaleswarar Siva Sannidhi.

One of the reasons that fishermen and not Brahmin priests are traditionally given the privilege of carrying the Bharani Deepam up the mountain and lighting the Krittika Deepam in the evening both on Arunachala and outside the Arunachaleswarar Siva Sannidhi, is because according to a myth, Parvati (the wife of Lord Siva) was born in a fishing family.

Blessing the Deepam Cauldron

Right click on view enlargements of photographs

Very early this morning Puja was performed at the Arunachaleswarar Temple on the Deepam cauldron with sweet Ruku, the Temple elephant and one of the cows from the Temple goshala in interested attendance.

Many years previously, the Deepam pot used to remain on top of Arunachala throughout the year, and was only replaced after several years of use and weathering from exposure on the Hill, had irreparably damaged it. Nowadays, the pot is carried up Arunachala a few days before Mahadeepam. And after the Festival is over, brought back down the Hill and stored at the Arunachaleswarar Temple.





The pot started its slow ascent up the side of the Hill before dawn. And by daybreak the carriers have already reached nearly half way up the Hill.




Those who have climbed the Hill, from the Temple and Virupaksha side know only too well of the rough, uneven path. Progress is slow, but progress is certain.




Before long the Temple Cauldron will have reached its destination as beacon light on top of Holy Arunachala.

Deepam and Ramana Maharshi

One Deepam Day a disciple wrote the following and laid it at the Feet of Sri Bhagavan with the request that he should write another verse showing the significance of the Beacon that is yearly lighted on the top of Arunachala.

SELF is the centre, e’en the Heart it is
That thus reveals itself, while intellect
And ego both bewail.
This the true meaning of Annamalai,
Amidst Brahma and Vishnu blazing bright,
Who languish because they don’t know the way
To realize Him.

The Hill Arunachala is identified with the spiritual heart of creation of God. This appeared to the Gods, Brahma and Vishnu as a blazing column of fire. They wondered what it could be and started in competition with each other to find out its source. Brahma flew up as a swan and Vishnu started to burrow down in the form of a boar. But the search was endless. Vishnu came up again admitting his defeat. On his way Brahma caught a flower that was falling and taking it down to Vishnu pretended that he had reached the top and had there picked this flower. Suddenly Lord Siva, who had taken the form of the column of fire, appeared to them. He condemned Brahma for his deceit and said that as a punishment he should have no temple dedicated to his honour. As a reward for his honesty Vishnu was told that he should receive universal worship.

Striving to reach the end of the column of fire signifies the search in the Heart for the realization of the Self and all the difficulties thus entailed.

Bhagavan said in explanation that the ‘I’-sense was Vishnu and the intellect Brahma, they both turned outward and that is where they failed.

The Significance of the Beacon

Sri Bhagavan wrote: -

To make the intellect rid of the sense
‘I am the body’, and to introspect
By fixing it securely in the Heart,
And so perceive the true light of the SELF,
The one ‘I-I’, which is the ABSOLUTE,
This the significance of witnessing
The Beacon Light of Arunachala,
The centre of the earth.

Bhagavan used to declare that Arunachala was the spiritual axis of the earth. So definite was he that he once made someone get an atlas and see if there was not some other mountain, the other end of the axis, corresponding to this Hill on the other side of the world.

Maharadham Day

Right click on all photographs to view enlargement

To get a sense of the excitement and colour of today and Maharadham, read the below narrative written about a previous Deepam.

“Three days before the lighting of the Light, it is Big Car Day.

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.



Carrying Babies on sugarcane poles

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.



Gods in procession inside Temple

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.


Vinayagar Radham

Years ago we used to walk in to watch the Big Car come up the incline of one main street around midday; 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.


The Great Maharadham

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 the 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.”

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

Rishaba Vahanam, 2011 Karthigai Deepam

Right click on all photographs to view enlargement

The silver Rishaba Vahanam is regarded as one of the more important processions over the Karthigai Deepam Festival. It generally occurs on the fifth night of the Festival, and as you can see from the huge crowds thronging the streets outside the Arunachaleswarar Temple, is very popular and is always well attended.

The Silver Bull

Lord Annamalaiyar

Huge crowds outside Temple

Wishfulfilling Cow and Tree

One of the most popular of the processions over the Deepam Festival, is that of the Kamadhenu, the wish fulfilling cow, and the Kalpavriksha, the wish fulfilling tree. Both of which emphasis the wish fulfilling aspect of Arunachala.



Kamadhenu, Wish Fulfilling Cow

The Kamadhenu is a divine cow-goddess described in mythology as the mother of all cows. She is the giver of plenty and provides the owner with whatever he desires.

Theories as to the origin of the Kamadhenu are two-fold. One scripture describes her as the daughter of the creator god Daksha, and another narrates that Kamadhenu emerged from the churning of the cosmic ocean.



Kalpavriksha, Wish Fulfilling Tree

The Kalpavriksha is a mythological divine tree said to fulfil all desires. Its mythology narrates that the wish-fulfilling tree also originates from the churning of the ocean of milk afterwhich the god Indra, returned with the tree to his paradise.



Kalpavriksha

Karthigai Deepam Festival 2011, Day 4

Throughout the 10 day Karthigai Deepam Festival, there are constant pujas of the Gods inside the Temple and circumambulation of the Gods both around the outside perimeter of the Siva Sannidhi, and around the outside of the 26 acre Temple perimeter.

The programme during Karthigai Deepam follows a specific order, with the Gods being carried in procession on various vahanas (vehicles) on certain days.

As well as pujas and processions, there are also daily cultural programmes throughout the Festival period, that take places inside the Temple Compound. Definitely a thrilling time at Tiruvannamalai.


Right click on all photographs to view enlargements:

Lights at Deepam Arunachaleswarar Temple

Throughout the Deepam 10 day Festival, the Arunachaleswarar Temple is lit up inside and out. When it becomes available I will post the Temple with all its light photographed from the top of Arunachala. But for now, we can enjoy the excellent displays the Temple are putting on both inside and outside the Compound.

So, eager were the town to have a successful Deepam Festival, that we had about two weeks of radical power outages to allow for extensive electrical maintenance to be performed in connection with the Festival. And now it all seems worth it:


Right click on all photographs to view enlargements:

Mother Amritananadamayi at Karthigai Deepam 1982

The below narrative tells of Mother Amritanandamayi who with some 50 devotees visited Arunachala to attend the 1982 Karthigai Deepam Festival.

The story goes thus:-

"At the end of November 1982, Mother and a group of us went to Tiruvannamalai on a ten-day pilgrimage. This was the first time that Mother had left Her village for such a long time, and also the first time that the Krishna and Devi bhavas would not be held since their inception in 1975. We took a train on a Monday morning after the Sunday night bhava darshan and arrived the next day. There were about 40 or 50 of us, and we all stayed in the two houses I had built when I had earlier resided there. Mother gave darshan in the house in the daytime. Many devotees who were living in and around the ashram came to see Her. In the evenings She sang devotional songs in Ramanashram in front of Ramana Maharshi's tomb, or samadhi shrine as it is called.

On the morning after our arrival, a sannyasi called Kunju Swami came to visit Mother. He had been born in Kerala and was a disciple of the famous saint Narayana Guru, who had lived at the beginning of the century. Narayana Guru had brought him to Tiruvannamalai when he was a young man and had entrusted him to Ramana Maharshi for his spiritual upbringing. He was now in his eighties. But Mother treated him like a five-year-old boy, and he enjoyed it, behaving like a child with his own mother. When he sat in meditation, Mother placed Her hand on his shaved head and danced a little "ditty" while going round and round him.

A friend of mine in Tiruvannamalai told me that when I had left to stay with Mother in the beginning of 1980, Kunju Swami had said, "Nealu would never have left this place until his death if the Mother there in Kerala were anyone but Parashakti (the Supreme Power)." And you could see in his expression that he indeed looked upon Mother as the Goddess incarnate.

It was the Karthigai festival day at Tiruvannamalai, and it was customary for the devotees who had come to take part in the festival and circumambulate the holy hill Arunachala. To complete the circumambulation of Arunachala, one has to walk more than 12 kilometres. It was only the day before that we had climbed all the way up and down the hill with Amma, and thus that day all of us were feeling tired. So none of us stirred to do the circumambulation.

That day Mother suddenly bolted out of our residence all alone. This was obviously an escape; She clearly did not want anyone to follow Her. Since I was the only person who saw Her leave, I immediately grabbed some bananas, cookies, and drinking water, put them in a bag and ran after Her. Having witnessed Mother's lack of body-consciousness, I knew that She might very well get lost. I followed Her from a distance as She walked around Arunachala Hill, obviously in an intoxicated mood. Seeing me running out of the house, all the others followed on my heels. Mother was walking at a very rapid pace and gradually She disappeared into the distance, leaving us behind.

We immediately hired a horse-cart and started driving around Arunachala Hill, looking intently for Amma. The previous day, while climbing the hill with Her, we had come across many caves on both sides. Amma had gone into some of them to meditate and it was only after much urging that She could be persuaded to come out. While descending from the mountain, Amma had said, "I don't feel like coming down, but thinking of you children I am restraining myself." So we guessed that Amma might be sitting in one of those caves. But how to find Amma among the numberless caves on this vast hill? Everyone was worried.

The horse-cart finally reached the hill. After travelling a few miles, we suddenly caught a glimpse of Amma's form, walking far ahead of us on the road. When we had driven up fairly close to Her, we got down off the cart. It was a glorious sight to see Amma. She was swaying to and fro while walking, as if drunk. Her whole body was vibrating, and Her hands were forming sacred mudras (mystic hand poses). Her eyes were half closed and a blissful smile glowed on Her face. It looked as if the Goddess Parvati were circumambulating Lord Shiva! We followed Amma and instructed the horse-cart to follow us. We began chanting Vedic mantras and loudly singing bhajans. The hills echoed with our chanting. The bliss of samadhi that radiated from Amma, together with the joy of singing and chanting, blessed all of us with a sublime experience.

After we had followed Amma for some distance, She turned round and cast a glance of indescribable love at us. Her gaze held so much compassion and power that it seemed she was burning away all our karma and vasanas (deep-rooted tendencies). Slowly Amma came down to our level. Soon She was laughing and talking with us affectionately. A little tired by the long walk, She sat down under a tree at the roadside for a few minutes. Despite our suggestions, She refused to get into the horse-cart, and was soon up and walking again. Thus we all walked for the full eight miles around the hill.

Towards the end of the circumambulation, we saw a snake charmer playing his flute by the side of the road. Amma went and sat before him, watching with great interest as the snake danced to the music of the flute. Like a little child, Amma asked, "Children, why don't snakes have hands and feet?" Her innocent question made us all laugh. She Herself then gave the answer: "In their previous lives, they may not have used their hands and legs properly. Children, keep in mind that such a birth could come to anyone who misuses what God has given him."

Now her facial expression had completely changed, revealing the seriousness and majesty of the Guru. "Children," She continued, "Amma knows that you love Amma more than anything else. You cannot think of any form of God other than Amma. Therefore, you do not really have to circumambulate the hill. However, you must become a role model for society and should set an example for others to follow. In olden days, people were able to see God in their gurus. But in the present age, not many people have that power of discernment. This is why conventional rites and rituals are required for the ordinary person. Society can learn from your example how to follow these practices. So, in the future, always honour those rituals in order to uplift mankind. Amma Herself does these practices to teach you the proper path."

We all sat in chastened silence, absorbing Amma's words. After a few moments, Amma continued, "Children, don't be sad thinking that Amma is always correcting you. Never think that Amma doesn't love you. It is only out of Amma's overflowing love for you that She instructs you. Children, you are Amma's treasure. When Amma renounced everything, there was only one thing that She couldn't renounce -- and that was you, my children. It is only when Amma sees you becoming the Light of the world that She feels truly happy. Amma doesn't require your praise or service. Amma only wants to see you acquire the strength to bear the burdens and the suffering of the world."

"Mother's profound, nectar-like words brought our egos crumbling to the ground. Falling at Her feet we prayed, "O Mother, please make us noble! Please make us so pure that our lives may be sacrificed for the salvation of the whole world."
For the Karthika Deepam, a sacred fire was lit on top of Arunachala Hill, representing the light of spiritual illumination blazing forth in the darkness of ageless ignorance. We all went to the town one morning to see the chariot festival. Images of the local deities were placed in a huge, ornately carved wooden chariot more than 100-feet tall, and a procession was made through the streets with people pulling the chariot by rope. It was a joyous occasion and a sight to behold.

While Mother was standing on the balcony of one of the buildings to get a good view of the chariot, an avadhuta named Ramsuratkumar came to see her. He had been a disciple of the well-known Swami Ramdas of Kanhangad in northern Kerala. Ramsuratkumar was highly revered in Tiruvannamalai for his saintliness. Dressed in rags, he had a long, flowing beard and in his hand he carried a fan. In Mother's presence, he became like a little child, and looked upon her as his spiritual mother. This opened the eyes of the local devotees as to who Mother really was.

After 10 blissful days in Tiruvannamalai, we all returned to the Ashram (in Kerala)."

[By Swami Paramatmananda]

Deepam, a Saint and a District Collector

The below is a very nice story about the famous saint Isanya Desikar, and how he helped his British devotee Ayton, overcome dangers in his efforts to safely attend a Deepam Festival. If you wish to read more about Isanya Desikar, go to this link here.


The story goes thus:-

Isanya Desikar, whose math is located just outside Tiruvannamalai on the old pradakshina road, was a distinguished yogi who, like many before and after him, felt the spiritual call of Arunachala. He was born in 1750 in a small village called Rayavelur in northern Tamil Nadu. He came and settled at the foot of Arunachala only late in his life, but nevertheless, by virtue of his intense and personal relationship with Arunachaleswara, he is regarded as one of the major saints of Arunachala.

Isanya Desikar had a western devotee, who is now recalled by the name of Ayton. He was the then District Collector for the region that extended from Tiruvannamalai to Vriddhachalam. Ayton had heard about the greatness of Isanya Desikar and approached him in the hope of getting a cure from the tuberculosis from which he had been suffering for many years. Isanya Desikar smiled and after a brief pause spat on the ground. The moment he spat, Ayton was cured of the disease. Ayton then spoke to the holy man with both trepidation and devotion. 'Swami, I have recently acquired a large amount of land, I would like to offer your holiness as much as you need. It can be a permanent endowment in your name.'

Isanya Desikar smiled and asked tauntingly, 'Will your land yield crops even during a drought?' Then, pointing his finger towards Arunachaleswara and Apeetakuchamba, he added, 'Here is a householder with two children and a large family. It is proper to give him any amount of land, but it is not proper to gift it to me, a sannyasin.'

Ayton took leave of him but returned on many occasions. He got into the habit of addressing him reverentially and affectionately as 'Tata', which means 'grandfather'. It is said that before he began any new project he would always mediate on Isanya Desikar and invoke his blessing by saying, 'Tata, please lead me in this work. It is your work.' At Deepam Festivals Ayton would take the lead in dragging the huge temple chariot through the streets of Tiruvannamalai. However, before moving the chariot for the first time he would pick up one of the ropes and exclaim loudly: 'Tata, you hold the rope and lead us!' The local people were all astounded that such a prominent British official should have such devotion towards a naked sannyasin.

Ayton made it a point always to attend and lead this annual festival, but one year he found himself stranded by floods on the southern side of the River Pennar just before the beginning of the festival. Knowing that he was expected to be at Arunachala to start the chariot on its journey, he called out to his mount: 'Horse, I must see Tata and I must also get the Deepam Festival started. Think of Tata and cross the river!' Without a moment's delay or hesitation, the horse leapt into the raging torrent of water and effortlessly waded to the other side. None of the other people who were stranded dared to follow for they were all convinced that it would be suicidal to enter the surging waters.

At the moment when Ayton put his faith in Tata and leapt into the water, Isanya Desikar opened his eyes after a long meditation and stretched out his hand in a southerly direction. When one of his disciples asked what he was doing, he replied, 'If someone falls into a river, should we not save him?'

Ayton arrived safely and took Isanya Desikar's blessings to start the festival. When the news of Ayton's spectacular river crossing and Isanya Desikar's role in it spread among the Deepam crowds, many of them came to the north-eastern side of the hill to see the man who had been responsible for the miracle. Several of the new visitors turned out to be mature seekers who were looking for guidance from a Guru. Isanya Desikar accepted some as disciples, had a small thatched shed built to accommodate them and gave instruction by writing a guide to liberation entitled Jnana Kattalai.

Deepam Festival Night 29th November 2011

Right click on the below photographs to view enlargements.


The below are photographs of the First Night of the 2011 Karthigai Deepam Festival. In the afternoons and evenings of every day up to the lighting of the Mahadeepam on Arunachala on 8, and for three days thereafter, various processions take place in the streets surrounding the perimeter walls of the Arunachaleswarar Temple.

Flag Hoisting - Deepam Festival Day One

The days before the Flag Hoisting at the Arunachaleswarar Temple marking the start of the Deepam Festival, the streets around the Big Temple, get a quick make-over in preparation for the many upcoming processions. In the below photograph, the surface of Thiruvoodal Street is being readied for the various radhams (cars, chariots) that will be circumbulating outside the Temple's massive perimeter.









Hosing the Radhams




Organising the Murti's umbrellas




29th Day November, 2011
Morning: Dwajaroghanam (Hoisting of festival flag)


Tuesday, 29th November marked the Flag Hoisting on the first day of the 2011 Karthigai Deepam Festival as celebrated at the Arunachaleswarar Temple. The previous three days involved celebrations and processions originating at the Durgai Amman Temple, which is the only Temple other than Arunachaleswarar Temple which is officially connected to the Karthigai Festival.




Circumbulation of the Siva Sannidhi




The God and his Consort



Hoisting Festival Flag



Flag Hoisting




Darshan of Murtis outside Temple



Circumbulation of Gods
outside Temple Perimeter

Kalia Nayanar and message of the Nayanars

Nayanar’s Message
[By Swami Venkatesananda]


"There have been many ‘intellectuals’ even in India who have looked down upon the path of Bhakti (devotion) as something inferior to Jnana (wisdom). Their short-sightedness becomes at once apparent when we study the lives of the great Four Teachers (Appar, Sundarar, Manickavachagar and Sambandar) and realise that these great Jnanis, too, were great Bhaktas who loved to visit Temples and sing the glories of the Lord. Look at the humility of Appar who carried Sambandar’s palanquin. It is not born of the weakness of the ignorant: but it is the culmination of true knowledge!

How shall we understand the wonderful spirit of renunciation that characterised the lives of many royal Nayanars, if we regard them as weaklings? They had understood the true nature of the world, and wanted only God . . . This great truth has been beautifully brought out again and again in these lives — love of God completely removes the devotee’s attachment to his own body.

Let us also never forget that in the case of all the Nayanars devotion invariably meant expansion of the heart, and, therefore, service and charity. It is essential that, in our study of these great lives, we take them as a whole: the sixty-three blending into one marvellous scripture on devotion. . . . Nayanars have to be read with this caution: we have to take them as allegories exhorting us to rout out the inner obstacles to our Sadhana, ruthlessly. The story of Eripatha Nayanar, for instance, should be taken as an exhortation for us to kill lust, anger and greed, the powerful impediments on our spiritual path which, in the twinkling of an eye wreck our worship of the Lord.

If we approach these saints with faith and devotion in our hearts, we shall grasp the message they have for us. We shall also understand why they gave such a great place to externals like the sacred ash, Rudraksha, etc. These symbols remind one constantly of God: and, when they are said to remove our sins, they remove our sinful tendencies, too, by constantly reminding us of God, and keeping evil out of our mind."



Kalia Nayanar


Kalia Nayanar is another of one of the 63 Nayanars whose story is associated with deepams and lamps maintained in praise of the Lord.


“Kalia Nayanar was an oil monger of Tiruvotriyur. His adoration of the Lord, to who he was highly devoted, took the form of lighting the Temple lamps daily. The bhakta was rich. But, in order to reveal his greatness the Lord impoverished him, so, Kalia began to work as a labourer in order to earn money to purchase oil for his worship. But even this became impossible. His depths of poverty were so dire that the bhakta even tried to sell his wife, but no-one would buy her.






At last, in despair at his plight at not being able to maintain the Temple lamps, Kalia decided to cut his own throat and use the blood instead of oil, to burn the lamps. In his attempt to do this, Lord Siva caught hold of his devotee’s hand and blessed him.

What greatness, and what intensity of devotion is portrayed in this simple life! Self-forgetfulness is the key-note in devotion. Remembering God always, the devotee is so thoroughly absorbed in Him, that nothing but God and His worship matters to him. By all means His worship must go on: no obstacle shall stand in the way. The devotee’s heart and mind are always positive, never letting a negative thought enter them. He sees opportunities in difficulties and is never beaten by any obstacles which serve him as steps to God!”
[By Swami Sivananda – abridged]

Another Deepam Festival

The following fascinating narrative of a previous Deepam Festival was written by a lady from Australia who spent many years living in Tiruvannamalai with her adopted Indian daughter.


“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.

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."

[By Apeetha Arunagiri]

Other Beacons

My favourite part of the movie trilogy, ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ is the lighting of the beacon on the mountain which starts the lighting of a series of seven mountain beacons calling for help in the upcoming battle. When the beacon is lit, Gandalf say, ‘Hope is kindled.’

Its impossible for me to see the below excerpt from the film, without immediately thinking of Arunachala and Karthigai Deepam.







A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location, and in the case of Karthigai Deepam, the beacon on top of Arunachala, is also used to observe and celebrate a vast amount of mythology associated with the Hill. One could also say that the Deepam, also serves as a metaphor of guidance in our own spiritual quest.

Nami Nandi Adigal

Another Saivite saint connected with lights and deepams, and mentioned in the Peripuranam, the book of the lives of the famed Shiva devotees, the 63 Nayanars, is Nami Nandi Adigal. His story recounted by Swami Sivananda goes thus:-

“In Emaperur in the Chola kingdom there lived a Brahmin called Nami Nandi Adigal. Daily he used to go to Tiruvarur and worship Lord Siva, his sole refuge. One day, he felt an intense desire to light many lamps in the temple, which is an act highly extolled in the Siva Agamas. So, Nandi Adigal went to a near-by house and asked for ghee to light the lamps with. It was a Jain’s house: and the Jain said scornfully: ‘I have no ghee: if you are so eager, you may as well use water, instead.’ Nandi Adigal was filled with anguish to hear this. He went to the temple and prayed to the Lord. He heard a voice: ‘Don’t grieve. Bring water from the near-by tank and light the lamps with it.’ With great joy Nandi Adigal did so. Through the supreme grace of the Lord, all the lamps burned brightly! All were amazed to witness this miracle. Nandi Adigal did so on several days continuously and many people embraced Saivism in Tiruvarur.







The Chola king, hearing of Nandi Adigal’s greatness, appointed him as the head of the temple. He used to celebrate the Panguni Uttaram festival on a grand scale. The Lord would be taken to a place called Tirumanali where people of all castes would flock around and worship Him. On one such occasion, after finishing his duties, Nandi returned home. Feeling that the touch of people of all castes had polluted him, he did not enter the house and do the usual worship before he went to bed. He asked his wife to bring some water so that he could bathe and then enter the house. But, before the water came, he was overpowered by sleep. In a dream, Lord Siva said: ‘Oh Nandi! All those who are born in Tiruvarur are my Ganas (servants). They cannot be regarded as impure. You yourself will see this with your own eyes.’ Nandi Adigal woke up from sleep and told all this to his wife. He repented for his wrong thinking and at once performed the worship. In the morning he went to Tiruvarur. There he saw that all people born there had the same form as Lord Siva. Nandi Adigal prostrated before them all. Afterwards all resumed their original forms and Nandi Adigal understood it was the Lila of the Lord.

Then, Nandi Adigal settled down in Tiruvarur. He served the Lord and His Bhaktas so well that Appar praises him as ‘Anipon’ (pure gold). Ultimately he attained the glorious realm of the Lord.”

2011 Karthigai Deepam Invitation

I previously posted a leaflet issued by the Arunachaleswarar Temple, giving details in Tamil (with my own English translation) about the 2011 Kathigai Deepam Programme.

Subsequently the Temple has issued another leaflet with more information about the programme, and importantly details for devotees wishing to purchase ghee to be offered in the Deepam Cauldron, and thereafter to receive prasad from the Cauldron (which will be posted from the Temple in mid-January). The prasad is a black sticky residue packed individually in small plastic sleeves.

I have often participated in the Ghee Pot scheme, however I have never done so by post, so cannot give any specific information as to how efficiently the Temple runs the prasad postal scheme. But the ghee will be purchased and offered into the Cauldron.

Am posting this information because I know many readers will wish to make a ghee offering to the Deepam Cauldron, and thereupon receive prasad taken directly from the inside of the Deepam Pot, after the Festival is concluded.

At the very bottom of the below leaflet (right click to view enlargement), there is information in Tamil regarding the purchase of Deepam Ghee Pots, the English translation follows below:



2011 Deepam Invitation


“Devotees are welcomed to pay and send their offerings towards "Ghee Pots". Devotees can arrange Rs.200/- for a half kg (500gms), Rs.100/- for 250 gms and Rs.50/- for a small offering, in person or through DD (Demand Draft) or MO (Money Order) or Bank Cheque in favour of; "Executive Officer, Sri Arunachaleswarar Temple, Tiruvannamalai" Landline: (0)4175-252438.

The devotee should include their proper contact address. Devotees who send a Ghee Pot offering will receive the Deepam Cauldron prasad through the post after the Aarudhra Festival which is celebrated during the Tamil month Maarghai (i.e. will be mailed around mid-January).

Devotees who are interested in offering for "Kattalai Archana Scheme" are also requested to send their offering to the same address above in the sum of Rs.200/- for one year and Rs.5000/- for life long. According to the scheme a special Archana (offering) will be carried out in the name of the devotee or in the name of a person who they like on the dates as per the devotees’ preference e.g. birthday or marriage anniversary etc. The prasad will be sent to them by post.

Devotees who are interested in offering "Nithya Annadhanam" serving food to devotees are also welcome. As per request the devotee should pay Rs.20,000/- which will be held as a permanent deposit, and the interest will be collected for the amount and food will be served on the date of the devotees’ preference. Interested devotees can send their offerings to the above-mentioned address, through the post, or come in person.”



Top of Arunachala near Cauldron
surrounded by Ghee offerings



Wick coated with ghee



Cauldron packed with
ghee coated wick



Cauldron preparations complete



Deepam Cauldron 2010

A Visit to Karthigai Festival

The below video is part of a BBC series entitled ‘The Story of India’. In this video, the lady the narrator interviews, talks about Karthigai at around the 2.20 minute mark. Thereafter the narrator boards a bus with the lady and heads for Tiruvannamalai to witness the Karthigai Festival.

To read more about this T.V. series, go to this link here.