Arunachala

[Guest guest]

Thank you Alan

 

This is very inspiring for me. I will certainly meditate on these

verses once in front of Arunachala ...soon!

 

Om Arunachala!

 

Jacqueline

 

RamanaMaharshi, "Alan Adams-Jacobs

<alanadamsjacobs>" <alanadamsjacobs> 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 .

>

> Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi

> Translated by Major A,W.

Chadwick [sadhu

> Arunachala]

[Guest guest]

Ocean of Nectar, Full of Grace,Engulfing the universe in Thy

Splendor!O Arunachala, the Supreme Itself!be Thou the Sunand open the

lotus of my heart in Bliss.~Hymn to Arunachala, five Stanzas to

Arunachala

"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."

 

"The end came on the 14th of April, 1950. That evening the sage gave

darsana to the devotees that came. All that were present in the

Asrama knew that the end was nearing. They sat singing Ramana's hymn

to Arunachala with the refrain Arunachala-Siva. The sage asked his

attendants to make him sit up. He opened his luminous and gracious

eyes for a brief while; there was a smile; a tear of bliss trickled

down from the outer corner of his eyes; and at 8-47 the breathing

stopped. There was no struggle, no spasm, none of the signs of death.

At that very moment, a comet (a comet that was seen in the whole

India) moved slowly across the sky, reached the summit of the holy

hill, Arunachala, and disappeared behind it."

"Our happiness in the presence of Sri Bhagavan was comparable to the

joy of the hosts of Shiva on Mount Kailasa. Sri Bhagavan used to say,

"Kailasa is the abode of Shiva; Arunachala is Shiva Himself. Even in

Kailasa things are as they are with us here. Devotees go to Shiva,

worship Him, serve Him, and hear from him the interpretation of the

Vedas and Vedanta day in and day out." So it was Kailasa at the foot

of the Arunachala Hill, and Arunachala Paramatma in human form was

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi."~T.K. Sundaresa Iyer

Bearing and tending me in the worldin the shape of my father and

mother,Thou didst abide in my mind,and before I fell into the deep

seacalled Jaganmaya (universal illusion) and was drowned,Thou didst

draw me to Thee, Arunachala, Consciousness Itself,... such is the

wonder of Thy Grace!~The Necklet of Nine Gems

Bhagavan once remarked, referring to himself, "In this state it is as

difficult to think a thought as it is for those in bondage to be

without thoughts." I also remember him telling us, "You ask me

questions and I reply and talk to you. If I do not speak or do

anything, I am automatically drawn within, and where I am I do not

know."~N. Balaram Reddy, My Reminiscences

"If we progress the world progresses. As you are, so is the world.

Without understanding the Self what is the use of understanding the

world? Without Self-knowledge, knowledge of the world is of no use.

Dive inward and find the treasure hidden there. Open your heart and

see the world through the eyes of the true Self. Tear aside the veils

and see the divine majesty of your own Self."

~Sri Ramana Maharshi

LoveAlways,

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