Kartigai Deepam

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

tonight the deepam fire will be lit on top of Arunachala.

 

In Arunachala Purana (Part of Skanda Purana) the story about

the origin of the hill is told. If looked upon what happened

to Vishnu is exactly the same what we are searching in self

enqury. So the deepam day may bring us that in mind.

 

In Sri Ramana

Gabriele

 

This here is a snip out of A.Osborne:

 

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"Once Vishnu and Brahma fell to disputing which of them was

the greater. Their quarreling brought chaos on earth, so the

Devas approached Siva and besought him to settle the dispute.

Siva thereupon manifested himself as a column of light from which

a voice issued declaring that whoever could find its upper or lower

end was greater.

Vishnu took the form of a boar and burrowed down into the earth

to find the base, while Brahma took the form of a swan and

soared upwards to seek its summit.

 

Vishnu failed to reach the base of the column but "beginning to

see within himself the Supreme Light which dwells in the heart

of all, he became lost in meditation, oblivious to the physical

body and even unaware of himself, the one who sought".

 

Brahma saw the flower on a nountain tree falling through the

air and, thinking to win by deception, returned with it and declared

he had plucked it from the summit.

 

Vishnu admitted his failure and turned to the Lord in praise and

prayer:

"You are Self-knowledge. You are OM. You are the beginning and

the middle and the end of everything. You are everything and

illuminate everything."

He was pronounced great while Brahma was abashed and

confessed his fault.

In this legend Vishnu represents the ego or individuality and

Brahma the mentality, while Siva is Atma, the Spirit.

 

The story continues that, because the lingam or column of

light was too dazzling to behold, Siva manifested himself

instead as the hill Arunachala, declaring:

"As the moon derives its light from the sun, so other holy

places shall derive their sanctity from Arunachala. This is

the only place where I have taken this form for the benefit of

those who wish to worship me and obtain illumination.

Arunachala is OM itself.

I will appear on the summit of this hill every year at Kartikai

in the form of a peace-giving beacon."

 

This refers not only to the sanctity of Arunachala itself but

also to the pre-eminence of the doctrine of Advaita and the path

of Self-enquiry of which Arunachala is the centre. One can understand

this meaning in Sri Bhagavan's sayings, "In the end every one must

come to Arunachala."

 

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A. Osborne: Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge

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