Posts from Arunachala-live

During the time when Sri Ramana used to sit in the old Hall of the ashram, one day there arrived a sadhu among the gathering. He approached Bhagavan and said, “Bhagavan! It is said that the Self (Atman) is present in everything. Does that mean that the Self is to be found, even in a dead body?” Bhagavan replied, “Oh! This is what you want to know, is it? Is it the dead body who wants to know, or is it you? Who is asking the question?. The Sadhu replied, “it is I who want to know, Bhagavan.”

Then Bhagavan explained: While you are asleep, do you wonder, Am I here or not?. It is only in the wakeful state that you say, ‘I am’. Similarly, the Self is definitely present even in a dead body. But if you enquire further, you will realise that both the dead body and the living body are equally illusory. That which moves, we label as being ‘alive’, and that which is motionless, we say is ‘dead’. The differentiation is only in our minds. In our dreams, we see both the living and the dead. As soon as we wake up, we realise that both the living and the dead of our dreams are but illusions. In the same way, this entire universe is nothing more than a grand illusion. The birth of the I thought is referred to as birth and the disappearance of the I thought is death. Both birth and death are for the ego alone. Neither birth nor death can touch the I which forms the essence of your being. When the awareness of the Self is strong, you are there; you are equally there when the self-awareness fades. It is ‘you’ that is the source of the ‘I-thought”. But the ‘I-thought’ is not you.

Realisation is nothing but perceiving the source of the cycle of birth and death, and uprooting the ego and destroying it completely. That is, you must ‘die’ and still remain aware. He who dies with awareness is transformed into pure Self. That is, when the ego dies, the Self is born. When this happens, all doubts vanish immediately. The veil of illusion is lifted and everything is perceived properly. All confusion is removed. The differentiation between birth and death, living and dead, everything disappears. The Self is all-knowing. The Self has no doubts. It is only the ego that is plagued by doubts.

– (from Cherished Memories by T.R.Kanakammal)

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The Tamil month of Aadi (mid July to mid August) has begun and with it a plethora of religious events related to the Mother Goddess to whom this month is consecrated, have also begun. The Fridays of this month are most auspicious for married women and they perform various rituals and religious customs like fasts and vows for the well-being of their spouses on these Fridays known in Tamil as Aadi Velli.

The Pachaiyamman Kovil, home to the Green Goddess, nestles in the heart of the Arunachala foothills and beckons benevolently to women devotees to come and take her abundant blessings. Goddess Pachaiyamman is a form of Shakthi or Parvathi. Legend has it that Parvathi came to Arunachala to perform tapas during puranic times and settled down in this area. In the beautiful energy created by her devoted tapas, everything around turned green including her body and thus She was given the name of Pachaiyamman, the Green Mother. In later days, a shrine was built here to venerate the Green Goddess at this spot. It is here that Bhagavan Ramana resided during the plague epidemic and tigers and leopards used to visit him here and pay their respects to the Divine Incarnate.

Every Aadi Velli day, women throng to this temple to light lamps to the Goddess and to offer turmeric and vermillon as a homage to her eternal Sumangali-hood. The women also burn lamps and offer rice puddings and fruits to the huge guardian deity idols who stand in array and form quite a majestic arena in the outer courtyard of the temple. After nightfall, the deity of the Goddess is installed in a mantapam and decorated beautifully in silk and gold. Then She is worshipped with camphor Aarthi and borne outside and mounted on a chariot which takes a different form each day (elephant, lion, 5 headed serpent, peacock etc). Finally, She goes on procession right upto the outer girivalam path near the town bus stand and Here She stands for a while granting darshan to all passers by.

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In Sanskrit, the term Dakshinayanam literally means southern journey. In this case, it refers to the Indian Summer solistice, for in hindu puranic yore the Sun is believed to move towards the South at this time. It seems to accentuate the  idea that we are entering the darker part of the year – less sun, more rain, longer nights… As Arunachala is also revered as the Sun mountain, events involving the Sun are celebrated here as a festival.

The Dakshinayanam festival begins in the big temple of Arunachaleswara exactly 10 days before the summer solistice which, in India, falls on the 17^th of July. It follows the traditional course of an Utsavam (temple festival). Each day in the morning at sunrise and in the evening at sunset, the different gods of the hindu pantheon are taken out on procession. The yagasala is opened since the first day and two kalasams representing the Sun (Surya) and his wife, Chaya (the Shadow) are venerated according to vedic rituals during the first nine days. On the tenth day, at the culmination of the festival, the kalasams are brought outside on procession with the gods and taken inside the main shrine. The waters from the kalasams are then utilised to perform a grand abhishekam for the principal deities,  Lord Arunachaleswara and His consort, Goddess Apeethakuchambal.

Even though the meaning of the festival is not very explicit, one can eventually glean the cosmic dimension it represents, for at this time of year this festival apparently tries  to define the auspicious period around which the idea of death leading to ascension is highlighted in a most subtle way.

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In the tamil month of Aani (june-july) there takes place the first of the two important festivals dedicated to Lord Nataraja, the second one being in December. The Aani Thirumanjanam festival is believed to correspond to the period of ‘between two’ which highlights the transition from day to night, the moment called ‘pradosha’. From this point of view, it would mean to herald the coming of a period of longer nights. Nataraja, the Lord of Dancers is the cosmic form of Lord Shiva  (In Sanskrit, Nata means dance and raja means Lord). The ring of fire and light, which circumscribes the entire figure, identifies the field of the Lord’s cosmic dance encompassing the whole universe. The lotus pedestal on which the Lord rests, locates the universe in the heart or consciousness of each person.

In the big temple of Lord Arunachaleswara, the celebration of the Aani Thirumanjanam festival comprises of the following ceremonies: The deities of Lord Nataraja and his consort Goddess Shivakami are worshipped and brought outside of their altar in the main shrine, they are then borne in procession around the firs courtyard and then installed amidst great fanfare in another temporary altar inside the thousand-pillared of the temple. Here the deities are venerated, over a course of a week, with a series of elaborate abhishekams or sacred ablutions followed by karpoora aarathi (waving of camphor flames) and deepaaradhana (waving of lighted lamps).

Simultaneously, there takes place another ritual which is called the Arakattu Utsavam. During this ceremony, the three great tamil Saivaite saints are worshipped in their altar which is the one directly opposite the altar of Lord Nataraja in the main shrine. Devotees crane their necks back and forth in order to get darshan of both the ceremonies as they take place and the priest rush from one altar to the other to do the honours correctly to all the deities. It is quite an amusing sight ! The end of the festival is celebrated at night with a grand Abhishekam and Aarathi to the deities after which they are borne back in procession to their altar inside the main shrine.

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