arunachala pilgrimage

[Guest guest]

My trip to Tiruvanamalai, 1974

 

 

Arunachala

 

The time had come for the trip to Arunachala and the ashram of Ramana

Maharshi. I discussed this with Lynne. I had this strong feeling that I

must go there alone. I don’t know what it was that made me feel that

way. She was understanding and agreed that she would stay in

Pondicherry. I have often felt bad about this in retrospect, but it felt

necessary to approach the sacred mountain on my own without any

distraction at all. And so it was.

 

Tiruvanamalai is a small sleepy town at the base of a small mountain

named Arunachala. To say mountain is to exaggerate, for it is really a

very large hill. And as the bus made its way there I could see other

hills far away dotting the utterly flat plain. Were these cone-shaped

hills the result of ancient volcanos? It was a mysterious landscape,

primordial.

 

When I arrived and saw the Arunachala hill I was very happy. I had been

reading about this place and its famous sage for several years now. The

small town at the base included a huge and ancient temple to lord of the

hill, Sri Arunachala. And to lord Shiva, who is considered the residing

deity of the hill. I had brought a letter with me from Nagaraj, Swami

Chidananda’s assistant, stating that I was known to Chidananda and

requesting lodging at Ramanashram. There was a room was available for

three days and I was given the key. I settled in and then went into the

main darshan room where Ramana had met with his devotees and given his

silent teachings.

 

I bowed down in front of the couch where the Maharshi used to sit and

asked the spirit of the great sage to bless me in my search. I sat down

then, near to the couch, on which was sitting a stunningly beautiful

photograph of Ramana Maharshi which was at least three feet wide. It

portrayed him seated on that very same couch with his legs stretched out

straight and absolutely beaming with that inimicable kindly smile. As I

gazed upon his face all the many hours I had spent just staring at his

face seemed to come to focus and it was as if he himself were there. So

what if it was a mere photograph? He was an illuminated human being: was

not the full force of his presence still here even now? When his

devotees had pleaded with him, during his final days, not to leave them,

he had simply said “Where can I go?”

 

I just sat there for awhile and looked at the picture and sensed a very

white light which seemed to penetrate through everything. It was the

same light I had seen all through the room when I had darshan of

Anandamayi Ma. It was not the ordinary light in the room, coming through

the windows in rays, it was finer than that. Maybe it is light from

another dimension, a higher dimension than this one, or maybe it is

consciousness itself. But I felt bathed in it for a long number of

minutes. I bowed down again to the feet of this enlightened one with no

doubt whatsoever in my mind that I had just had darshan of Ramana

Maharshi himself, and that he was what he said he was, the universal

Self of all things, the supreme consciousness which we all share. I got

up to take leave for now. I didn’t know what I should do. He had shown

me his grace, welcomed me to the ashram, and now that spirit which was

there seemed to grab my whole attention and focus it on the door, and

through the door, to the whole mountain lying just beyond. And it seemed

as if that enlightened one I had just met, whom I had verified was truly

there, was now gesturing to his beloved hill, Arunachala. As if he were

saying, “Don’t mind about me, but behold this mountain of light!” I was

in love with his human form called that had been called “Ramana,” but he

directed my attention to the sacred hill just outside the door and

seemed to be saying that behind the form was the light itself. He bade

me explore this hill that had loved so much nearly all his life.

 

I walked through the door and started up the pathway to approach the

mountain. One could not see its top. A feeling started to surge up in

me, a wonderful feeling of suddenly being like a child again, of being

free, just me and the mountain. What if the mountain really is alive?

For I, too, really loved this mountain. I had been reading about this

hill and all the wonderous things that had transpired here and all those

feelings of devotion and love swelled up in my heart again and I felt

like a kid again playing in that wider world before the mind got filled

up. I walked up the path onto the lower part of the hill itself,

curious, excited, anxious to see what it looked like around the bend of

rocks and the few trees. I walked quickly. It was dusk and I dared not

go too far lest I get lost in the dark. I looked up to the upper part

which was still bathed in orange rays. I knew that I would go to the top

the next day. I felt welcomed by the hill and had great faith that I was

on truly consecrated ground. I went back to my spartan room of concrete

to ponder my good fortune and went to sleep very happy.

 

The next morning I made my obescience to Ramana, and packed a small

backpack for my climb to the top of the hill. I felt like a happy child

on his way outside to play. I followed the ancient path which led gently

up the side of the hill, up and down. There was various vegetation here

and there, but overall the hill was dry. A kind of tall scrubgrass grew

in places, and there were large boulders strewn about as if at random.

Parts of it were strewn with a rubble of rocks. The way led steadily

upward at a gradual incline until I reached a place where there was a

tiny stream running with fresh water coming from somewhere, out of the

mountain itself I guess, right out of the hill. Up a short way further

was was a cave

which was called Virupaksha Cave where the Maharshi had stayed for some

period. I sat down to rest in the cave, which was small and wondered at

the fact that I was there. I reached out in my mind and heart toward the

mountain and felt its embrace coming in return. I realized that the

mountain was alive somehow, and was aware of me. This was an exciting

feeling. Further up I scrambled through the rocks and tall grass, and

the big boulders that were all around.

 

Although the hill is not really big enough to call a mountain, it is

nonetheless a very very large hill. This I realized in my climbing. I

had run out of pathway and was just moving upward through the rocks and

brush. I thought I saw the top a couple of times, but when I would reach

that place there would be another “top.” When I finally stood upon the

top I had such a rush of gladness I cannot describe. I took deep breaths

and made obescience in my heart to the unmoving mountain of the sun, and

to lord Shiva. I sat down and sang the mantras of Shiva in the blaze of

the south Indian noon sun. I could feel the consciousness of the living

hill and I communed with it in my spirit somehow. I went into an ecstasy

of love for the mountain. Wonderful sacred mountain! I talked to it on

and on like a kid. I just talked on and on to it in increasing

simplicity.Again there was that same high white light that seemed to

penetrate everything like a shine. I was bathed in the blessings of the

higher consciousness for about an hour. How glorious it was. It seemed

the center of everything.

 

One might think, from the association of this hill with Sri Ramana, that

I might have been quiet in self-inquiry, but I found myself there at the

top as a devotee, one who loves, who wants to adore something and then

worship it. It is what came naturally to me. I thought to myself, the

other stuff I can do later, the taming of the mind, but for now let me

worship this mountain in my heart, this mountain that has been

worshipped for millenia. The mind did not mind. It could afford to wait

and catch me later. This was my pilgrimage to the hill which had been

calling for me to come.

 

The sun was headed lower in the sky and I knew it was time to start

heading back down to the village, which looked so tiny far down below. I

saw what appeared to be another way to go down, different from the one

before. Should I take it? It looked more direct. I had already seen the

other side coming up, I was curious what the hill looked like down this

other path, so I took it. I was amazed by all the different rock

formations and the great beauty of the place and the “complexity” of it,

which makes it so easy to go astray and get lost. That particular way of

going down led out onto a small plateau with scattered bushery and the

sun was getting very down. On every side I looked and I could not find a

way out of there. I stood on this plateau completely puzzled by the

surroundings. It did not look anything like how it had appeared from

above or from a distance. And no matter which way I looked I could not

see a way to go on. The mountain seemed to have become much more

complicated than it had seemed from afar.

 

By this time the gold colored dusk was fading toward evening and it was

noticably darker now. I had no choice but to go back the way I came, all

the while talking to the mountain like a child, as if it were a living

consciousness being that was aware of me. I did feel a little afraid of

getting lost in the dark for a while, but I knew that it was the spirit

of Shiva himself that was shining in this magical mountain and though

while Shiva may sometimes appear scary, he is, an Indian worshipper once

told me, the kindest of Gods. And besides, it is hard to get lost on a

small mountain: you just keep going down, one way or another.

 

I found my way back around the hill to the side I had come up, and came

down through the strewn boulders I had come up to begin with, and

eventually the path back down to the ashram. In my room by the yellow

glow of a small lightbulb I meditated on the mountain and replayed the

day’s experience in my mind, and pondered the new knowledge that a hill

can be a living conscious higher presence. I knew that I had communed

with something beyond myself and beyond “this” world. Or perhaps it was

the very Self that Ramana had spoken about, a true Self beyond the

spacetime-bound ego. I felt incredibly young, and that a deep wish had

been fulfilled.

 

The next morning I set out to do the traditional “pradikshanam,” the

clockwise circling of a sacred object or being. This is meant to convey

salutations and honor to the object, as well as to incur blessing upon

oneself. All around Arunachala there is a simple circular road and

pilgrims have done pradikshanam to the mountain here for untold

centuries. I set out like a kid on a summer’s day to worship closeup

this entity which I had loved from afar.

 

The walk takes most of the day, about 5 hours or more, depending on

stoppages. And I had a lot of stoppages. For one thing the hill kept

changing its appearance totally as one views it from different angles,

which was quite amazing to me. At certain points one wants to just sit

and ponder it for a while. There are stone and concrete tanks along the

way where the faithful bathe to purify themselves. The occasional tea

shop is there for the refreshment of the pilgrims. I took in the beauty

of the mountain with childlike gladness, and spoke to it, as a friend

would speak to a friend. Somehow it knew me.

 

I made pradikshanam the next day as well, and soon it was time to return

to Ponicherry. Somehow it had worked out that I had but three days in

Tiruvanamalai, but they had been almost timeless days in communion with

a mountain of light. And I had promised lord Shiva at the top of

Arunachala that I would return before my death as a kind of vow, for I

felt that my staying only three days might be an insufficient honor to

bestow.

[Guest guest]

Hi Bill,

 

I have a friend who was transformed after his visit to the ashram of

Ramana last year. Did you ever read the book by David Godman

called " The Power of the Presence " which is about the transforming

encounters devotees had with Ramana Maharshi? You can find more on

this book at http://www.davidgodman.org

 

Hur

 

 

Nisargadatta, Bill Morgan <wmorgan@n...> wrote:

> My trip to Tiruvanamalai, 1974

[Guest guest]

The ashram of Ramana is such a wonderful place.

I was there this Feb, though only briefly.

 

Have you been to the ashram Hur?

It has " the taste of things that are REAL " .

 

s.

 

 

Nisargadatta, " hurg " <hurg> wrote:

> Hi Bill,

>

> I have a friend who was transformed after his visit to the ashram

of

> Ramana last year. Did you ever read the book by David Godman

> called " The Power of the Presence " which is about the transforming

> encounters devotees had with Ramana Maharshi? You can find more on

> this book at http://www.davidgodman.org

>

> Hur

>

>

> Nisargadatta, Bill Morgan <wmorgan@n...> wrote:

> > My trip to Tiruvanamalai, 1974

[Guest guest]

For me the experience of walking on the Mountain

 

has more of a feeling of the Real.

 

Since Sri Ramana Maharshi has always been my Sadguru,

 

I am suprised I have never felt much there at Sri Ramanasramam.

 

The only thing I notice is the awe of being in the place

 

where Sri Bhagavan lived.

 

Maybe if I spent more time there I would have a different experience.

 

Maybe someday they will provide chairs there, and I will stay for

 

a while.

 

I did rather enjoy sitting on the steps that lead to the book store

 

as monkeys wandered close hopeing someone would hand them some food.

 

That was rather peaceful.

 

It is rather amazing to be in the old hall and to contemplate

 

that Bhagavan Ramana sat on that couch for so many years as one

 

gazes at his picture sitting on the couch.

 

Take care,

 

with Love,

 

Sri Arunachala

 

SriArunachala

 

 

 

 

 

Nisargadatta, " i_wish_2b " <i_wish_2b> wrote:

> The ashram of Ramana is such a wonderful place.

> I was there this Feb, though only briefly.

>

> Have you been to the ashram Hur?

> It has " the taste of things that are REAL " .

>

>

> s.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Sandeep,

 

I have not been to the ashram of Ramana. I hope to go there

someday.

 

Hur

 

Nisargadatta, " i_wish_2b " <i_wish_2b> wrote:

> The ashram of Ramana is such a wonderful place.

> I was there this Feb, though only briefly.

>

> Have you been to the ashram Hur?

> It has " the taste of things that are REAL " .

>

>

> s.

>

>

> Nisargadatta, " hurg " <hurg> wrote:

> > Hi Bill,

> >

> > I have a friend who was transformed after his visit to the ashram

> of

> > Ramana last year. Did you ever read the book by David Godman

> > called " The Power of the Presence " which is about the

transforming

> > encounters devotees had with Ramana Maharshi? You can find more

on

> > this book at http://www.davidgodman.org

> >

> > Hur

> >

> >

> > Nisargadatta, Bill Morgan <wmorgan@n...> wrote:

> > > My trip to Tiruvanamalai, 1974