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The grand festival of Navarathri has just begun. It is a time of worshipping the Goddess Parvathi in all her different forms notably Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. Navarathri is celebrated elaborately in the big temple of Arunachaleswara, in Ramanashram and Yogi Ram ashram as well as in a few Goddess Shakthi shrines on the girivalam. In some brahmin households, they hold a Golu which is an exhibition of statues of all the gods and goddesses of the hindu pantheon displayed according to mythological order on a range of wooden steps called the Golu padi which often number 5, 7 or 9. Children are usually on holidays at this time and take a lot of interest in this arrangement. They go about dressed as Radha or Krishna to participate in different Golus and sing bhajans in favour of the Goddess. The traditional prasad distributed is Sundal, a dish made of  many sorts of grams and pulses cooked and seasoned tastily.

In Ramanashram, on the evening of Mahalya Amavasai, the goddess Yogambika was taken out of the Mother’s shrine and borne in procession around the shrine and the samadhi hall of Sri Ramana. Then She was borne outside to take darshan of Arunachala after which she was brought inside the Mothers shrine through the main entrance and installed in a splendidly decorated shrine right in front. Here she will stay for the next nine days and nights and be decorated differently each evening according to the legendary form that she chooses to manifest on that day. Hundreds of devotees throng the ashram already in eager anticipation of the next nine days.

Navaratri is a festival of nine nights dedicated to the Goddess Shakthi (Parvathi or Amba) in her different manifestations. The legend of Navarathri starts with the penance of the Goddess on the slopes of Arunachala. Separated from her Lord (due to having playfully closed his eyes with her hands), the Goddess yearns to be reunited with Him. The great sage Guatama advises her to perform penance on the slopes of the holy Hill Arunachala and accordingly she comes here and sits in Tapas (penance). She follows the various scriptural injunctions and exhibits her devotion to the Lord in various ways. During the nine days of penance she manifests  herself each day in one of her different forms. On the tenth day she assumes a terrifying form of Mahishasura Mardhini, slayer of demons and vanquishes the evil demon Mahisha on the slopes of Arunachala. Thus this festival is of particular significance in Tiruvannamalai since it was here, millions of years ago that the first Navarathri actually happened.

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The cycle of the waning moon in the month of Puratasi or Aswayuja (September-October) is known as the Mahalaya Paksha or the fortnight specially sacred for offering oblations to the departed ancestors. The last day of this period, the new moon day, Mahalya Amavasya is considered as the most important day in the year for performing obsequies and rites to departed souls.

According to hindu mythology, the renowned hero of the Mahabharata, Karna, after his death ascended to the higher worlds. Here the great charity and punyas he had done here bore fruit and were returned to him hundredfold. But the reward was all in gold and silver and precious stones; there was no food, as he had not done any food-offerings ! Therefore He prayed to the god of death and received the boon of going back to the earth for fourteen days, to make up for this deficiency.

For fourteen days, he fed Brahmins and the poor, and offered oblations of water. On his return to the higher regions, he had food in plenty. It is these fourteen days that are commemorated in the Mahalaya Paksha. Due to the grace of Yama, the god of death, it was thus ordained that offerings made during this period benefit all the departed souls, whether they are connected to you or not.

In Tiruvannamalai, plenty of food distribution and sadhu feeding take place during this time mostly on the girivalam road. Also there takes place a lot of brahmin feeding and rites to departed souls on the banks of the Isanya theertham which is near the cremation grounds at the end of town. Moreover, on the fifteenth day which is the night of Mahalya Amavasya ,the festival of Navarathri commences and the Goddess Parvathi is brought outside in procession and installed in a special pavilion where she is worshipped for the next nine days.

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In the year 1896, on the first of  September, Sri Ramana as a young lad of sixteen, arrived at the feet of the Holy Mountain. About a month earlier, in mid-July, he had already had his first death-experience and attained the highest truth which he called later ‘Self-Realisation’. After this he became indifferent to his boyhood life, studies, play etc and began to seek solitude. Due to this, his elder brother taunted him and the young boy Ramana understanding the truth behind his brother’s rebuke, left his parental home leaving a note that he was going in search of his father. With this farewell note he left Madurai for ever.

Right from the time he left his house, a series of miracles took place and Arunachala mysteriously guided the youth to his final destination. It was Arunachala who delayed the train’s departure so that Ramana could board it and later on appeared in the form of a Maulvi in order to give the lad directions to reach Tiruvannamalai and then, lo and behold, actually granted divine dharshan to the boy in the form of a column of effulgence in the temple of Ariyanainallur.

Not many people know that the doors of the Arunachaleswara temple which were closed habitually at the time of his arrival, started to open one by one of their own accord just as Sri Ramana entered. Indeed is there any doubt left that the Son had thus returned to his Father’s house?

Who can describe what Ramana felt when he saw the Hill for the first time? In his own words: “I came up here and saw, and found thou stood as a Hill, But who then is the seer … no seer then remained. No mind survived even to say that I saw this, or even to say I didn’t.”

Like last year, this year also, on September 1^st in Ramanashram, the Madurai Ramana Kendra conducted a series of parayanams (religious chanting) at the Samadhi shrine and at the Mothers shrine, as a way of commemorating Advent. Devotees participated in the chanting and thanked the Gods for bringing them to the Abode of the great Master whose Eternal Presence continues to thrill millions…

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Vinayaka Chathurthi is the birth anniversary of Lord Ganesha and is celebrated in a grand manner all over India and in Tiruvannamalai also. All over the town, there were idols of Ganesh installed in special shrines and worshipped with pujas and loud chanting in praise of the favorite elephant god. This year, Ganesha Chathurthi fell on the 31st of August. Hindus believe that Lord Ganesha is the God who has the power of removing all obstacles and making one’s path clear whether it be worldly or spiritual. Any new undertaking, either at one’s place of work or at home, always starts by reciting a mantra invoking his blessings. He is also known as the God of good luck and prosperity.

The most popular legend associated with Lord Ganesha can be found in the Shiva Puranam. Here it says that Lord Ganapati was created out of the dough that Goddess Parvati used for her bath. The Goddess wanted a gate-keeper, to keep visitors away while she took her bath. So She created a male doll from the dough and breathed life into it. The day she did this came to be known as the birthday of Lord Ganesha, which we celebrate today as Ganesh Chathurthi. One day while Goddess Parvati was taking her bath, Lord Shiva came to visit her. Ganesha did not know him, so he did not allow the Lord to enter the house. This made Lord Shiva angry and he cut off poor Ganesha’s head. Later, when he came to know the truth, he replaced Ganesha’s head with the head of an elephant. After this, the appearance of Lord Ganesha changed and he became the elephant-headed god.

There is yet another popular legend associated with Ganesha Chaturthi, from Skanda Puranam. According to this one, Ganesha was once invited for a feast in Chandraloka (the Moon’s abode). Our Ganesha being quite fond of sweets, ate Laddoos till his stomach bloated,  so much so that as he got up to walk after the meal, he could not balance himself because of his huge stomach and he slipped and fell. His stomach burst and all the laddoos came rolling out. Seeing this, the Moon was highly amused and burst out laughing. Ganesha got angry and cursed the Moon that it would vanish from the universe. Because of the Moon’s disappearance, the whole world began to wane. The gods asked Lord Shiva to get Ganesha to revoke his curse. The Moon also apologized for his misbehavior. Finally, Ganesha modified his curse saying that the Moon would be invisible only on one day of the month and would be partially seen on Ganesha Chaturthi. He also added that anyone who looked at the moon on Ganesha Chaturthi would face a false charge. This is the reason why, even today, it is considered inauspicious to look at the moon on Ganesha Chathurthi.

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