Ramana Ashram! #1

[Guest guest]

******* Courtesy of Phil Seredvio

 

Tiruvannamalai My final destination, Ramana Ashram!

 

My trusted taxi driver and I set out from Pondicherry to the town of

Tiruvannamalai, which is one of the great temple towns of South India as well as

the site of various Ashrams, such as Ramanasramam (they stick an extra 'am' at

the end of 'ashram' in the native tongue of Tamil).

 

The drive was beautiful, through many villages, sugar cane and rice fields. The

rice field were especially beautiful, with the brightest green foliage I've ever

seen in the rice shoots. The scenery was one of rural beauty, only diminished a

bit by the cloudy weather and threat of rain. The drive was easy, in fact most

of the traffic was coming the other way - there is huge, huge festival in Thiru

that culminates on the full moon in the Kattika (Nov-Dec) month, which this year

was Dec 3rd in India. In fact, I booked my reservation at Ramanasramam many

months ago by email, and the manager said that the earliest I could get in was

Dec 5, when the town emptied. The festival celebrates the sacredness of

Arunachala mountain as a physical manifestation of Lord Shiva. Apparently

hundreds of thousands of people cram into town for the festival, which must be a

true madhouse, even for India!

 

One point of interest on the way was the town of Gingee (pronounced 'Shinshee'),

a temple town amidst huge boulder structures similar to Joshua Tree National

Park in California. Passing through Gingee, the flat landscape changed into one

of distant mountain chains, isolated mountains and hills, all very unique and of

a distinctive character. At this point, I could start to feel the 'field' of

Arunachala, a force that was distinct and real, which made me very happy. I

never thought I would get to see the place, the mountain, where Ramana Maharshi,

'the sage of Arunachala', practiced in cave, blessed devotees and benefitted all

mankind spiritually.