ARUNACHALA:
The Mountain
"After an all night train journey, I arrived at Tiruvannamalai just as the sun was clearing the horizon. The stars were fading out of the sky and the gopurams of the temple were silhouetted against the perfect cone of Arunachala Hill. It rose three thousand feet out of flat terrain and being so close it completely dominated the scene. The summit was at that moment hidden in a cloud which deepened to a crimson coronet as it caught the first rays of sunlight. Ten minutes later the display was over and the heat of the day began. I had seen the Taj Mahal by moonlight and the vast expanse of the snow-clad Himalayas stretching for a hundred miles, but in all India I never saw anything to equal this first glimpse of the holy hill, rose-crowned by the glory of the morning light."
HUNTING THE GURU IN INDIA by Anne Marshall
Tiruvannamalai is above all its mountain, which symbolizes the pillar of fire from which Siva emerged. This myth has given rise to TWO iconographic representations. One of them is well known: Lord Vishnu. Vishnu is regarded as one of the three major gods in Hinduism and Indian mythology. He is thought as the preserver of the universe, while two other major Hindu gods, Brahma and Shiva, are considered the creator and destroyer of the universe, respectively.
The second iconographic representation is a later development, specific to Tiruvannamalai, where Siva and Parvati are figured on a stele covered with semi-circular incisions to represent the mountain; the rear face of this stele is a linga, which is visible from the rear of the sanctuary. This representation is known locally as Adi Mudi, the high and the low, after the same words in poems by Sambandar and Sundarar, referring to the directions in which Brahma and Vishnu sought the extremities of the pillar of fire.
The mountain itself, a cone standing alone in the midst of the plain, appears on the boundary-slabs of lands dedicated to the Deity of Tiruvannamalai, in the form of a triangle covered with semi-circular incisions, set either above the dynastic emblem of gandabherunda the two-headed bird, or above the vase of plenty.
The mountain symbolically defines different spaces. It is the wild, uncultivated place (Tamil: Kadu) as opposed to the cultivated area. This contrast is marked in the festival of Tiruvudal, when Siva has his jewels stolen on the mountain in the West, and find them again in the East, in landowners villages on the edge of the town, in the locality where, according to legend, the place of King Ballala used to stand.
At first the opposition between the top and the bottom of the mountain seems to be absent, since there is not, as at certain sites a temple at the bottom for the deity with his consort, and a temple at the top for the deity in his yogic aspect. At Tiruvannamalai the single temple, ARUNACHALESWARAR, is identified with the mountain, for which it is the substitute. The opposition is nevertheless marked four times a year by purification ceremonies (prayascitta) for which the priests go up to the summit of the mountain.
First, at the time of the Sivaratri festival, the appearance of the pillar of fire manifests the supremacy of Siva. A few months later comes the marriage ceremony, the Union of Siva with the Goddess. A few months later again, at the Festival of Kartikai, commemorating the appearance of the pillar of fire, there is still, union with the Goddess, as is shown by the procession of the hermaphrodite Siva, Ardhanarisvara. After Karttigai, the fourth and last purification ceremony represents separation from the Goddess and the renewed manifestation of the supremacy of Siva the great Yogi.
Finally, as a symbol of the center, the mountain, like all mystic centers, emanates a space which is cardinalized in the same way as a mandala. The route of 14 kilometers around the mountain and centered on its vertical axis, is oriented to the cardinal points by the distribution of shrines consecrated to the lingas of the directions.
LINGAMS:
---(please click)The first lingam, located due east, is Indra Lingam. Then comes Angi Lingam at the southeast cardinal point followed by Yama Lingam taking up the directly south location. In the the southwest position is Nirutthi Lingam, then Varuna Lingam exactly due west. In the northwest position is Vaayu Lingam followed by the due north linga, Kubera Lingam. The eighth and last is the northeast linga, Edsaanya Lingam. Daily worship is conducted for some, but many are devoid of any worship. Some of them do have a Vimana, Antarala and a Sanctum.
A few Pandya milestones which remain along the route, inscribed with the division to which they belong, have made it possible to reconstruct the division of this circuit into nine stages, each corresponding to one unit of time/distance called a "nail" (24 minutes), equivalent to 1.4/1.6 kilometers. Besides the shrines of the cardinal points, the pilgrimage route is punctuated by small shrines founded by devoted individuals or groups, herimtages, about sixty sacred ponds, wayside resting places for the deity during his two annual processions, by Nandis, and by footprints (pada) of Siva.
CIRCUMAMBULATION:
-----------(please click)Religious devotees should bathe, go barefoot, repeating sacred hymns, meditaing on Annamalaiyar -- considered the traditional ritual for making a circuit of the hill.
When one circumambulates the hill of the Lord who was the Prime cause of a duspute between Brahma and Vishnu who were unable to fathom the beginning or end of Him, it should be borne in mind the Devas and Saints also follow invisible. Naturally one should have a pure mind and start the circuit from the East.
While thus coming round we see the Indra Lingam at first. Nearby is Indra Tirtham (holy tank, sacred pool, etc.). Next is Agni Lingam with Agni Tirtham close by. Nearby is the ashram of Seshadri Swamigal (#19 on the Map link below).
Adjacent to this are the Ramana Ashram (#20 on the Map link below), the places where he sat for penance, the seats he occupied while meditating, are all there. Close by is the newly constructed ashram of Sri Yogi Ramsuratkumar as well.
Sadasiva Murthi with five faces is enshrined in the north street abutting the hill. Proceeding further we come across Isanya Mutt and Isanya sacred pool. The first seat of Deivasigmani Desika Paramacharay Swamigal, places connected with Guhai Namasivayar, and Guru Namasivayar, Pavazhagiri Nadha and Muttambikai are housed under the slope of the hill.
All round the hill are Lingas, eight Nandis, more that 360 holy tanks, many mandapas and Ashrams.
The mountain rises up with an elevation of 2665 ft. (800 M). The road encircling the hill where devotees circumambulate is 8 1/4 miles (13 kms) long.
THE RAZOR'S EDGE:
-----------(please click)For those of you who may have come to this page in relation to, or about any other aspect related to or regarding Larry Darrell, the main character that experienced the Absolute in The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham, it should be noted that Darrell, even though he studied under a venerated Maharshi thought to be Sri Ramana --- and experienced Enlightentement under the holy man's auspices --- Darrell's Enlightement DID NOT occur at the Ramana Ashram or Arunachala.
Maugham has Darrell travel clear to the south of India, meet the Maharshi --- who has been given the name Sri Ganesha by Maugham in the novel --- and invited to stay at the ashrama. However, he also writes that Darrell did not stay at the ashrama continuously. He had met a man that was a forestry officer and devotee of Sri Ramana who would spend a few days at a time at the ashrama. The forestry officer gave Darrell a key to a secluded forest service bungalow that was a two-day journey by bus followed by a long hike high into the mountains. It was in that isolated area that Darrell had his Awakening experience, which means his Enlightenment did NOT occur on or about Arunachala or at the ashrama like one might expect. It just isn't feasible that Maugham would concoct such a scenario out of whole cloth, especially so for how important it should be, you would think, to have had Darrell Awaken under the direct auspices of the Maharshi. True, Ramana played a major role and directly responsible for setting the environment for the Awakening to transpire, but to have Darrell go off and self-Enlighten on his own is even too much for Maugham to think of.(source)
As a young boy, the Wanderling, whose mentor was the same person Maugham used as his role model for Larry Darrell, visited the ashram of Sri Ramana. While there he met another anglo boy his same age that eventually grew up at the ashram by the name of Adam Osborne. The following is what Osborne related to the Wanderling regarding walking around the holy mountain when they met in later years as adults:
"Although I was truly not able to recall anything he (i.e., Adam Osborne in the original text) told me about the two of us being in India together as kids, he said he remembered me quite well because I was the only anglo boy his age he ever really met in his early years. He said he could not remember if our time together was long or short, if it lasted just days or stretched into weeks, but he did remember, even though he was not doing meditation specifically like I was, the two of us still found time to run all over the place getting in trouble --- even to the point of being admonished by the Maharshi. He also told me we had participated in Giri Valam, circumambulation of the holy hill Arunachala, although he did not recall if we completed the walk or who we went with. Neither too, did he remember if the two of us ever climbed to the top or visited the caves." (source)
GASSHO
(please click)
Walking Around the Holy Mountain. Map with list of holy sites.
Pradakshina -- Giri-Dakshina -- Giri Valam A devotee writes about her walk around the Holy Mountain.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi The holy sage of Tiruvannamalai.
Sri Ramana Maharshi Timeline Important dates related to the Maharshi and the Mountain.
Here Lies the Heart Mercedes De Acosta's meeting with Ramana
The Last American Darshan A young boy experiences the Grace and Light of Sri Ramana.
THE MEETING: An Untold Story of Sri Ramana A highly unexpected event with the Maharshi unfolds
Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.
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RAZOR'S EDGE
