In Search of the Monsoon: Tiruvannamalai

[continuation of July 11, 2004 email]

Tiruvannamalai

After 10 days in Chennai I felt that I'd accomplished as much as I was going to with my yoga study in the limited time I had and needed to be moving on. I decided to go next to Tiruvannamalai, where one of India's most well known saints during the twentieth century, Ramana Maharshi, lived in a cave on the holy Mt. Arunachala for 17 years and taught the world from his experience of Self-realization. I'd read some of Ramana's teachings a few years ago--he taught a method of attaining enlightenment called Self-inquiry where one seeks to relax into a nondual state of consciousness (where there is no longer a sense of separation between oneself as subject and the external world as object) by finding the source of the mind's sense of "I-ness", the Self: non-personal, all-inclusive awareness). I was excited to be getting a chance to visit the place where he'd spent most of his life.

My seat on the bus from Chennai to Tiruvannamalai was right next to the driver (and his radio).

My ride from Chennai took about 5 hours on a government Indian bus that made all the local stops, cramming many patient Indians in for standing room only during the course of the ride. The driver had a speaker hooked up to a radio in the front which blared really loud Tamil music all the way; sometimes it sounded good to me--more often it sounded way too loud.

Mt. Arunachala, seen from the ashram I stayed at.

Finally approaching Tiruvannamalai I couldn't help but notice Mt. Arunachala. It's not a very big mountain but it's a powerful presence here--you really can sense an energy radiating from this piece of the earth. It was a holy place long before Ramana Maharshi arrived; it's regarded by the faithful as the body of Shiva (actually his lingam), the powerful destroyer god of the Hindu pantheon. In the Hindu trinity of the greatest gods Shiva is the destroyer of the world, Brahma is the creator and Vishnu the preserver, after which Brahma again creates the world and so on. The positive aspect of Shiva's destroyer role is as God of Transformation, since he is often associated with creation that comes out of destruction (he's often represented by a phallus, known as the lingam, because of his association with the creative force). Shiva is also seen as the god of meditation and asceticism. Unquestionably this part of south India is Shiva's world.

I enjoyed a pleasant stay in Tiruvannamalai at the Nanagaru ashram.

A peaceful place to stay in Tiruvannamalai: The Nanagaru Ashram (no devotional activities are required of the guests in order to stay there).

Looking out over the courtyard of the Nanagaru Ashram at sunrise.

I often saw this shy little girl, who was part of a poor family who apparently worked in the fields nearby and lived in a hut outside the ashram.

In Tiruvannamalai it's traditional to pay homage to Shiva by walking clockwise around the base of Mt. Arunachala, and this devotional act called "giri pradakshina" is most auspiciously performed each month during the full moon, when tens of thousands of Hindus from the region come to Tiru. It just so happened that my first night in town was the full moon.

Walking around Mt. Arunachala paying homage to Shiva (I deliberately didn't take pictures during the walk as a sign of respect to the Hindu faithful I was walking with; however I did snap this one).

Also took this picture the night I walked around Mt. Arunachala with many Hindu faithful.

It's also considered a sign of respect to Shiva to go barefoot during this devotional walk, and so I decided to at least start my ritual journey by removing my sandals when I joined the Indians to make my pilgrim's walk around 6pm, a few hours after arriving in town. And what a festival-like atmosphere it was! The paved country road continued to fill up with people; the sides of the road were lined with vendors of every kind, selling food, fruit, drinks, and various merchandise. As well a multitude of beggars had assembled on the roadside from all over the land--some displaying some truly horrific suffering. This was obviously a big event that was anticipated each month by all walks of life. There were numerous small Shiva temples along the way and people would stop at each one of them and pray and perhaps make an offering, with local temple priests presiding over fiery urns (fire being one aspect of Shiva). At one point a Shiva devotee walked past the crowd, in ritual mendicant dress, with outreached begging bowl. He carried a sharp metal rod in one hand, which was driven up entirely through his tongue, impaling it--he seemed to be in a devotional trance, without pain, and no blood was visible. I'd heard of people being able to attain altered states of consciousness to do things like this (firewalking being another example) but it's quite something to see.

Shiva, Parvati and Ganesh painting on a roadside shed in Tiruvannamalai.

This concrete lion statue was just across the road from the Nanagaru Ashram and I walked past it every time I went into town.

Coconuts for sale in Tiruvannamalai

As for myself, the soles of my feet started to get sore from walking on the paved road, but having seen the guy with the rod through his tongue and noticing that not a single person of the thousands in the road were wearing shoes, I kept going, not wanting to put my sandals on. Even though I was a stranger to these people, and hardly understood the customs and traditions they were observing that night, I found myself wanting to participate as fully as I could. Perhaps I hoped to receive some special blessing from Shiva himself for my efforts. But after about 5 miles I started to really have problems walking; visions of finishing this pilgrimage walk with bloody feet started to appear and the subsequent practical problems that would cause to the rest of my trip. I hoped Shiva would understand that I tried anyway and I pulled my sandals out of my bag and put them on, grateful to go the last 4 or so miles that way. I ended up with several blisters on the soles of my feet, which slowed me down quite a bit for the next few days, to show for my attempt to pay my respects to Shiva and Arunachala.

Gate to the Ramana Maharshi Ashram where he taught after emerging from seventeen years meditating in a cave on Mt. Arunachala.

The main hall at Ramanashram

Peacock hanging out on the roof of the main hall of Ramashram.

The path up Mt. Arunachala to Ramana Maharshi's cave

View of the Arunachaleswar Temple, one of the largest in India, in Tiruvannamalai from Mt. Arunachala

Entrance to the cave the enlightened Indian saint Ramana Maharshi lived in for seventeen years

This image of Ramana Maharshi and Mt. Arunachala is in the courtyard of the Ramanashram.

While I was in Tiruvannamalai I climbed partway up Mt. Arunachala (sore feet and all) and visited the caves where Ramana Maharshi lived and meditated; there truly was an energetic residue and almost palpable sense of his presence remaining there. I was always near the mountain during the four days I was in town (I stayed at a small, peaceful ashram in the country outside of Tiruvannamalai right at the base of Arunachala), and I saw how powerfully affecting it was. My last day in "Tiru" my sore feet felt up to one more circuit around the mysterious mountain, this time, taking the "inner path," a dirt path closer to the base of Arunachala. I walked alone for several hours this time with only the mountain, lizards, the trees and brush for company. I thought I could understand a little why Ramana never went farther than 2 miles from this place during the last fifty years of his life.

Fire alter in front of the Arunachaleswar Temple.

One of the four towers of the Arunachaleswar Temple seen from outside.

Some of the amazing stone sculpture comprising the towers of the Arunachaleswar Temple.

Setting out on my second walk around Mt. Arunachala. I felt very aware of the power and mystical presence of this mountain while I was in Tiruvannamalai, and I have thought of it often since I left India.

Street scene in the town of Tiruvannamalai observed during my second 14 kilometer circumambulation of Mt. Arunachala. Note one of the towers of the Arunachaleswar Temple in the distance.

Looking out over South India: Scene observed during my second walk around Mt. Arunachala from the other side of of the holy mountain (that's another mountain in the distance).

Sign on the outside of another ashram in Tiruvannamalai with the distilled wisdom of classical Yoga: the eight limbs of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga, along with the Yamas and the Niyamas (moral observances and restraints).

Lovely courtyard of a cafe I took some good meals at in Tiru.

Another street scene in the South Indian town of Tiruvannamalai.

What would an India photojournal be without a picture of an elephant walking down the street in during the day?

Mt. Arunachala at dawn, taken from the balcony of the ashram I stayed at.