Ramana Ashram visit #2

[Guest guest]

******* Courtesy of Phil Seredvio

 

Tiruvannamalai My final destination, Ramana Ashram!

 

Upon coming into the outskirts of Tiruvannamalai, it became clear which mountain

was Arunachala, out of the various mountains dotting the landscape. For me, it

was a kind of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" kind of feeling, seeing the

mountain, like it was a home or place of enormous significance, not only for me,

but for many. Arunachala towers over the town like some big, big brother, and

the town comes right up to the base of the mountain. Thiru is just another town,

in terms of structure, but it is a spiritual vortex (or near one), and it

contains numerous ashrams, sadhus and temples.

 

We pulled into Ramanashram in the mid afternoon and the manager, Dr. Shiva, gave

me the key to my dorm room, which lies in an area away from the main buildings.

In order to get there, I passed by the samadhi site of Ramana Maharshi and

another of his mother. Ramana's site is in a huge marble hall that is served by

a number of priests and pujarists.

 

Past the samadhi site hall is a large building containing the dining hall.

Walking towards my room, past the dining hall, into a large courtyard, I noticed

small shrines to several animals that Ramana was fond of, such as Valli, a deer,

a crow, and Lakshmi, a cow. On my way to my room, a family of monkeys were

playing in the trees and on the ground, looking for food and playing around. And

to my surprise, there were two beautiful peacocks just near my room - they make

this wonderful, haunting call when they cry out.

 

My room was simple, an iron bed with a small mattress, and a nightstand. The

toilet was Indian style, of course, which by now, I found to be superior to

western toilets - but it's more difficult to read magazines while squatting! No

shower or bath, just a bucket for bathing (the women however, could order hot

buckets of water). The room came with broom and the mandatory ceiling fan for

South India.

 

To be continued