Posts from Arunachala-live

Yama is the hindu god of Death. He is the son of Surya and Sanjana. According to the Vedas, Yama was the first man who died. He presides over the resting place of the Dead. Due to his unswerving dedication to maintaining order and justice and his adherence to harmony, Yama is known as Dharma. Believed to be wisest of the Devas, Yama is revered as the teacher in Katha Upanishad. He is also supposed to be the one of the most ancient beings of the world. However even Yama is subordinate to Shiva and this is brought out in many hindu legends. Whereas Yama is called Kala or Death, Shiva is called Maha Kala or Great Death.

Yama is the deity governing the southern direction and the Ashta Lingam of the South is of course the Yama Lingam. The shrine of Yama Lingam is located appropriately beside the cremation grounds and cemetery on Chengam road about 2 kilometres after Ramanashramam. Every time there is a death, the mourners offer an Abhishekam to the Yama Lingam after cremating the corpse. This is a usual practice. Apart from funerals and the full moon crowds, this Lingam does not seem to have any regular devotees and presents quite a deserted appearance at other times.

The Yama Theertham is a large pond of water situated behind the shrine and is set in a very beautiful scenic place with an abundance of flora and fauna all around. The waters of the Theertham are perennial due to the efforts of the ARS (Annamalai Reforestation Society) in having desilted and unblocked the water channels from the Hill which flow into the Theertham and having constructed culverts under the Chengam road to enable the water to flow in freely.

During our next giripradakshina, while we pay our homage at the shrine of Arunachala-Yama Lingam, may we all learn to embrace Death fully in the way Ramana taught and remember that “True Death is Eternal Life” !

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Sri Vidya Havan was celebrated in Ramanashram on Friday 18th March this year. This is a grand fire ceremony puja performed in order to re-consecrate and re-sanctify the Sri Chakra Mehru which was installed by Bhagavan Ramana himself inside the sanctum-sanctorum of His Mother’s shrine. During the Havan, Sri Vidya or Saraswathi, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom is invoked and worshipped with special rituals and chanting according to ancient vedic doctrines. Towards the culmination of the Havan, silk saris, gold ornaments, money, coconuts and lotus flowers are offered into the sacrificial fire. The fires of the homam then seem to leap up with greater vigour and engulf everyone in a tremendous wave of sacred energy.

Here is an excerpt regarding Bhagavan’s views about the topic of Sri Vidya and Sri Chakra taken from  “Letters from Ramanasramam” on 21st May 1947:

This afternoon, during a conversation regarding old Sankara Vijayam, Bhagavan asked one devotee whether it was not a fact amongst all books on the life of Sankara, Sankara Vijayam of Vidyaranya was the best. Bhagavan said with a smile, “Yes, his mental powers were very great. He was a great votary of Sri Vidya, you see. He therefore wanted to create a city in the shape of Sri Chakra and started doing it in Hampi but could not complete it. So he said that an emperor in future would rule the country and would be able to build a city in the shape of a Sri Chakra. When I told Nayana about this while i was on the hill, he made a peculiar comment, namely: ” Sri Chakrariti sona saila vapurusham, sri shodasarnatmakam occurs in Arunachala Ashtaka Stotram written by Sri Sankara. Besides this in Arunachala Purana, it is stated that this hill is reputed to be in the shape of Sri Chakra. Hence without searching for it, we have been lucky in getting this place which is in the shape of Sri Chakra. Bhagavan is the Chakravarthi (Emperor) ! If about ten houses are built around the hill, this itself is a great empire. Sankara must have intended this only …

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The word Isanyam in tamil means North-East. The Lord of Isanyam is one of the 7 seven Rudras of Shiva. He is described in the puranas as being covered with ashes and surrounded by ghosts, he has matted locks and fierce eyes and is seated on a tiger skin. He holds the crescent moon and the river Ganga in his locks. His body is adorned by coiled serpents. In his hands he holds the mortal drum and the trident of Shiva.

The shrine of Isanya lingam is situated on the old girivalam road to town, beside the  main cremation grounds. It is one of the most popular Ashtalingams and apart from the general pilgrims, it has its own group of regular, local devotees who come daily morning and evening to participate in the pujas and make offerings of flowers and fruits to the deity.

In spite of its sinister location, that of being right beside the crematorium, people are not put off in anyway, and so young and old alike come eagerly at all times to take darshan of Lord Isanya Shiva. The inner sanctum is an underground chamber and after entering the temple one needs to descend a flight of steps which lead to the inner sanctum. This seems to be a special feature of this shrine and it is quite thrilling to stand on the threshold and bend your head really low in order to take a glimpse of the deity shining brilliantly deep down inside.

The Lingam itself is huge and very ancient and the alamkaram or the decoration of the Lingam is surpassingly beautiful and takes hours and hours of work by the priests who do it daily twice, morning and evening with great devotion and taste. One can stand for hours just gazing at the Lingam and not want to move away, such is the power and beauty of the Lord here! The Isanya lingam by virtue of its location and external aspects stands as a reminder to all of us of who we are in reality and how this body which we falsely deem to be ourselves is nothing but dust and ashes.

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Hundreds of devotees came to Tiruvannamalai to celebrate Maha Shivarathri on the night of 2nd March this year. Maha Shivarathri is a very important and spiritually significant festival that commemorates the legend of Brahma, Vishnu and all the other gods bowing to the supremacy of Lord Shiva who manifests as the infinite column of effulgence, after having earlier humbled the pride of Brahma and Vishnu. At their request, Lord Arunachala out of compassion, takes the form of a Linga and this is known as Lingodbhavamurthy.

Tiruvannamalai is one of the Pancha Bhootha Sthalams of Lord Shiva where the Lord manifests Himself as the Agni or Fire element. Therefore Maha Shivarathri has a special significance here. The Arunachaleswara temple gates open at around 2 in the morning on that day and after the initial abhishekam and puja, laksharchana (chanting the Lord’s name one hundred thousand times) begins and continues till late afternoon. The temple is open the whole night with pujas at three-hourly intervals, the first of which is held at six in the evening. This year too, the temple was filled with devotees praising and worshipping Lord Shiva. Many were engaged in making enormous colourful designs (kolams) on the floors depicting various forms of Shiva. Thousands and thousands of fire lamps were lit everywhere. Every stone vibrated with the tremendous Shiva energy which was descending like an avalanche from the Heavens. Giri Pradakshina was performed by many all through the night and the Hill of Arunachala radiated with a Divine energy which seemed to engulf everyone and everything.

The true meaning of Maha Shivarathri was expounded by Sri Ramana Maharshi on a Shivarathri night many years ago. When one of the sadhus sitting in the Maharshi’s presence requested him to explain Adi Shankara’s Dakshinamurthi stotra (hymn), He said, “Yes, sit down”. Devotees eagerly awaited to listen to His exposition, but Bhagavan maintained his usual posture and a steady silence. The clock ticked by and hours passed. There was a spellbound silence. Everyone present was deeply absorbed within himself. With the break of dawn people began to regain their body consciousness. Bhagavan graciously asked the questioner whether he understood now the significance of the hymn. the sadhu and the others nodded and made their grateful obeisance to the Master. Thus the real significance of Shivarathri as demonstrated by Bhagavan Ramana was that, whatever the body might be doing on that day, the mind must merge into its source.

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