Arunachala the Place of Shiva - Shakthy Iykyam

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In India there are countless holy places (kshetras) that are sacred to Lord

Siva or to some other name and form of God, and many of them are more well-known

and popular than Arunachala. Yet there is a verse in the Arunachala Mahatmyam,

which has been selected and translated into Tamil by Sri Bhagavan, that says:

Arunachala is truly the holy place. Of all holy places it is the most sacred!

Know that it is the heart of the world. It is truly Siva himself! It is his

heart-abode, a secret kshetra. In that place the Lord ever abides the hill of

light named Arunachala.

 

Whenever Sri Bhagavan asked about the special sanctity of Arunachala, he used to

explain that other holy places such as Kailas, Kasi and Chidambaram are sacred

because they are the abodes of Lord Siva whereas Arunachala is Lord Siva

himself.

 

The unique sanctity and power of Arunachala-kshetra was once confirmed by an

incident that happened in the life of Sri Bhagavan. Because of his great love

for Sri Bhagavan, a certain devotee wanted to take him to his native place,

Chidambaram. But rather than directly ask Sri Bhagavan to come to Chidambaram,

he began to ask him if he had ever been to see Lord Nataraja in Chidambaram

Temple. When Sri Bhagavan replied that he had not, the devotee began to describe

the greatness of Chidambaram, saying that it was the most sacred Siva-kshetra in

South India, that so many saints and sages had lived there and had sung in

praise of Lord Nataraja, and so on and so forth. Sri Bhagavan listened to all he

said with patient interest, but showed no signs of wanting to visit Chidambaram.

 

Seeing this, the devotee at last said, 'Chidambaram is even greater than

Arunachala, because among the panchabuta lingams [the lingams representing the

five elements] Chidambaram is the space-lingam while Arunachala is only the

fire-lingam. Since the four elements, earth, water, air and fire, finally have

to merge in space, space is the principal element.'

 

Hearing this, Sri Bhagavan smiled and said, 'All the five elements come into

existence only when Sakti seemingly forsakes her identify with Lord Siva, the

Supreme Self (Paramatman). Since the five elements are thus only the creations

of Sakti, she is superior to all of them. Therefore, more important than the

place where the elements merge, is the place where Sakti herself merges. Because

Sakti is dancing in Chidambaram, Lord Siva has to dance before her and thereby

make her become motionless. But in Arunachala Lord Siva remains ever motionless

(achala), and hence Sakti automatically and effortlessly merges in him through

great love. Therefore, Arunachala shines as the foremost and most powerful

kshetra, because here Sakti, who has seemingly created all this manifold

appearance, herself merges into the Lord. So for those mature aspirants who seek

to put an end to the false appearance of duality, the most powerful help is to

be found only in

Arunachala-kshetra.'

 

Sri Bhagavan summarized this reply of his in the form of a verse, which later

became the first verse of Sri Arunachala Navamanimalai. In this verse he says:

 

Though he is truly motionless by nature, in the court [of Chidambaram] Lord Siva

dances before Sakti, thereby making her motionless. But know that [in

Tiruvannamalai] Lord Arunachala shines triumphant, that Sakti having merged in

his motionless form.

 

Sources:

 

1) Arunachala's Ramana Volume 1 Book

 

With Warm Regards

 

 

Ganapathy -- Vijyalakshmy