Guest guest Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 OM Arunachaleshwaraya Namaha OM Om Namo Bhagavathe Sri Ramanaya On this auspicious day of 'Annamalai Deepam ' , salutations to Lord Arnachaleshwerar residing in the holy mountain of Annamalai ! There is a tamizh saying which goes like this " 'Ninaithaalae mukthi alikkum Annamalai" (the very thought of Tiruvannamalai will give mukthi)!! In this holy town, many sages and saints like Arunagiri Nathar , Seshadiri Swamigal , Sri Ramana etc attained jivan mukhthi . Annamalai means an 'inaccessible' mountain? There is alegend associated with this sacred sthalam. Maha-Visnu and Brahma puffed up with arrogance sought to perceive the end and beginning of Siva. Visnu took the form of a boar and started searching Siva's terminal, while Brahma assumed the form of a Swan and commenced seeking the head of Siva. Siva, stood in the form of light - Fire just to snub their vanity. Thiruvannamalai, is the sthala Where the Lord Siva took the form of Fire! Adi shankara in his Lingashtakam salutes this 'jyothirlinga' of Lord Siva thus : Brahma Muraari Surarchita Lingam Nirmala Bhaashitha Shohitha Lingam Janmaja Dhukha Vinaasaha Lingam Tatpranamaahmi Sadaaashiva Lingam I bow before that Sadasivalinga, which is adored by Brahma, Vishnu and the other gods, which is praised by pure and holy speeches and which destroys the cycle of births and deaths. Annamalai is also called Arunachala - aruna means 'red' and 'achala' means 'immovable( mountain.) Since Fire is 'red' or crimson in color it is red mountain! This is also one of the panca bhoota sthalams where Lord shiva is worshipped as the 'jyothirlinga' - the fire element! The other four shiva sthalams are Tiruvanaikkaval (Water), Chidambaram (Space), Kanchipuram (Earth) and Sri Kalahasti (Wind) respectively. Thousands of Devotees visit this sacred sthala during 'Annamalai Utsavam' and go around the seven hills during their visit in this holy pilgrimage city! . It is a grand festival lasting 10 days and on the 10th day of Mahotsavam , a huge cauldron is rolled on top of the mountain to hold about 2000 litres of ghee and the gigantic circular metal vessel is five and half feet in height and five feet in diameter. For making the wick, 30m of 'Ghada' cloth is used and is burnt with 2 kilos of camphor on the night of 'Karthigai Pournami'. The Jyoti can be sighted from nearly 35-km around. The lighting of the beacon on the top of the hill is the culmination of ten days of hectic activity in the temple town. The lighting of the Maha Deepam will take place simultaneously with "Deeparadhanam" to the five deities in the temple at the foot of the hill. Sri Ramana bhagvan Bhagavan composed a stanza of four lines in which he says, "The truesignificance of the Karthikai Deepam festival is that it turns the intellect inwards and having fixed it in the Heart merges it with the indweller of the Heart". Devotees when they see the 'deepam' recite in a devotional bhava ' Harohara' and worship the 'light of lights' Lord Arunachala , the tejolingam! On this day of 'Annamalai deepam' , "get rid of 'egoism' and burn in the fire of knowledge of the self or Shiva-Jnanam. Attain full illumination and behold the light of lights, which illumines the mind, intellect, sun, moon, stars, lightning and the fire. This is real Kartigai Deepam." Bhagwan sri Ramana sings in his Marital Garland of Letters Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala! Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who dwell on their identity with Thee, Oh Arunachala! Sri ramana who normally does not believe in rituals recommended 'giri valam' to all devotees. It is also believed that people who do 'girivalam' get rid of diseases afflicting them ! Thiruvannamalai, is a sthala without beginning or end, shines with its own effulgence, that burns the ego afflicting human beings. Thiruvannamalai - THE sacred hill where Lord shiva is worshipped as a formless Hil and a lord with form as Jyothirlinga at the foot of the Hill! Join me in saluting Lord Arunachala along with his divine consort Apitakuchambaal ( the goddess with the big breasts) ! Join me in saluting Sri Ramana Bhagwan ! OM Arunachaleshwaraya Namaha Om Apitakuchambalaye Namaha OM Namo Bhagavathe Sri Ramanaya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 adi_shakthi16 <adi_shakthi16 wrote: OM Arunachaleshwaraya Namaha OM Om Namo Bhagavathe Sri Ramanaya On this auspicious day of 'Annamalai Deepam ' , salutations to Lord Arnachaleshwerar residing in the holy mountain of Annamalai ! There is a tamizh saying which goes like this " 'Ninaithaalae mukthi alikkum Annamalai" (the very thought of Tiruvannamalai will give mukthi)!! In this holy town, many sages and saints like Arunagiri Nathar , Seshadiri Swamigal , Sri Ramana etc attained jivan mukhthi . From sankarraman There lived a great saint by Annamalai Swamy in Tiruvannamalai, who was one of the foremost disciples of Bhghavan. Annamalai swamy totally abided in the Self, having lived a totally anonymous and solitary life, not having left his place of abode for the last fifty years of life, as advised by Bhaghavan Ramana. There is a beautiful account of the swamy by David Godman in his work, ' Living by the words of the Master', being an English translation of the reminiscences of the swamy with Bhaghavan, containing accounts of his early days in the Ashram, the various vicissitudes through which he passed in his contemplative life mixed with work. At the behest of Bhaghavan, the swamy left the Ashram to lead a totally contemplative life, not having left his small ashram for the last fifty years of his life, this, too, being based on the advise of Bhaghavan. During the last period of the life of Annamali Swamy, a lot of Westerners used to frequent the ashram seeking advise from the swamy in respect of subtle matters relating to self-enquiry. The Swmy like his Master used to be in a state of silence most of the time. The swamy was very catholic and broad-minded in his outlook not wishing to convert anybody into his ways of thinking. The swamy had great reverence for the Tamil saints, especially the devotees of Siva, such as saint Manickavachakar, Thayumanavar and Pattinathar. The swamy respected also the world views of the Vaishnavite theologians. The swamy used to say that among the Alwar mystics, saint Nammazhvar's utterances had an advaitha slant. When some Westerners referred to the teachings of J.Krishnamurthy, the swamy used to say that Krishnamurthy also talked of only Advaitha, except that he did not accept the authority of the Vedas, that being his uniqueness like that of the Buddha, what was important being the transcendence of the mind. The swamy attained Siddhi in 1995 at the age of ninety. The swamy was blessed also by Paramacharya of Kanchi, when the swamy was proceeding to see the great sage of Arunachala. The swamy was a classic example of how a man without the labour of learning the texts of scriptures could come upon the highest state of realization through devotion to the guru coupled with intense vairagya and passion for liberation. The swamy did not believe in the concept of sanyasa being the sine qua non for liberation. Sankarraman Shopping Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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