Table of Contents
Tiruvannamalai -- Ramana Ashram
Coming Home
Final Thoughts
NOTE: Sorry for the delay - I've been back for a few weeks, and re-entry into the western world was a bit rough, and I wasn't ready to communicate for a while.
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Tiruvannamalai My final destination, Ramana Ashram!
My trusted taxi driver and I set out from Pondicherry to the town of Tiruvannamalai, which is one of the great temple towns of South India as well as the site of various Ashrams, such as Ramanasramam (they stick an extra 'am' at the end of 'ashram' in the native tongue of Tamil).
The drive was beautiful, through many villages, sugar cane and rice fields. The rice field were especially beautiful, with the brightest green foliage I've ever seen in the rice shoots. The scenery was one of rural beauty, only diminished a bit by the cloudy weather and threat of rain. The drive was easy, in fact most of the traffic was coming the other way - there is huge, huge festival in Thiru that culminates on the full moon in the Kattika (Nov-Dec) month, which this year was Dec 3rd in India. In fact, I booked my reservation at Ramanasramam many months ago by email, and the manager said that the earliest I could get in was Dec 5, when the town emptied. The festival celebrates the sacredness of Arunachala mountain as a physical manifestation of Lord Shiva. Apparently hundreds of thousands of people cram into town for the festival, which must be a true madhouse, even for India!
One point of interest on the way was the town of Gingee (pronounced 'Shinshee'), a temple town amidst huge boulder structures similar to Joshua Tree National Park in California. Passing through Gingee, the flat landscape changed into one of distant mountain chains, isolated mountains and hills, all very unique and of a distinctive character. At this point, I could start to feel the 'field' of Arunachala, a force that was distinct and real, which made me very happy. I never thought I would get to see the place, the mountain, where Ramana Maharshi, 'the sage of Arunachala', practiced in cave, blessed devotees and benefitted all mankind spiritually.
Upon coming into the outskirts of Tiruvannamalai, it became clear which mountain was Arunachala, out of the various mountains dotting the landscape. For me, it was a kind of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" kind of feeling, seeing the mountain, like it was a home or place of enormous significance, not only for me, but for many. Arunachala towers over the town like some big, big brother, and the town comes right up to the base of the mountain. Thiru is just another town, in terms of structure, but it is a spiritual vortex (or near one), and it contains numerous ashrams, sadhus and temples.
We pulled into Ramanashram in the mid afternoon and the manager, Dr. Shiva, gave me the key to my dorm room, which lies in an area away from the main buildings. In order to get there, I passed by the samadhi site of Ramana Maharshi and another of his mother. Ramana's site is in a huge marble hall that is served by a number of priests and pujarists.
Past the samadhi site hall is a large building containing the dining hall. Walking towards my room, past the dining hall, into a large courtyard, I noticed small shrines to several animals that Ramana was fond of, such as Valli, a deer, a crow, and Lakshmi, a cow. On my way to my room, a family of monkeys were playing in the trees and on the ground, looking for food and playing around. And to my surprise, there were two beautiful peacocks just near my room - they make this wonderful, haunting call when they cry out.
My room was simple, an iron bed with a small mattress, and a nightstand. The toilet was Indian style, of course, which by now, I found to be superior to western toilets - but it's more difficult to read magazines while squatting! No shower or bath, just a bucket for bathing (the women however, could order hot buckets of water). The room came with broom and the mandatory ceiling fan for South India.
To my surprise and annoyance, who do I see on the ashram grounds but Kumar Iyer, the young fellow whom I met in Madras. He told me that came here often and that he wanted to see me again - I felt a bit suspicious, but he is harmless, and offered me to show me around the area.
One of the most important forms of worship (or sadhana, depending upon your point of view) is 'pradakshina', which essentially is circumambulating a holy site, such as Arunachala mountain. In the Ramana Maharshi samadhi site hall, it is a common practice to encircle the samadhi altar, which is an area of around 50 by 50 feet. People circumambulate 3 times or more, while priests are doing pujas or attending to the altar area. I did my first of many pradakshina around the hall.
Kumar asked me if I wanted to do a circumambulation of Arunachala mountain that night. I hesitatingly said yes, wondering if I could handle the walk at night. And usually one does pradakshina barefoot, but this tenderfoot could not handle that. Kumar told me that it was most auspicious to first go to the large Arunachleswara temple before circumambulation. This is a huge temple upon which the town of Tiruvannamalai is built around, comprising of approximately ten acres. It has 9 towers of varying sizes, the tallest, being the main gate, is a least 7 stories or more. Each tower is magnificently carved with various gods and goddesses of India. The back of the temple is the base of Arunachala mountain, which towers over the city.
There are actually two routes to circumambulate Arunachala mountain - one is the main route, which consists of walking down several roads that circle the mountain. However, over the years, Thirumvannamalai has experienced a urban sprawl like many cities in India and the world, and can be a very noisy and annoying place. So many people take the roads at night to minimize the loud and obnoxious local busses, pissing out streams of diesel smoke, crazy taxi and autorickshaw drivers. It can certainly cut into the experience, so night time is best to do the pradakshina. There is also an inner route for circumambulation, but the final quarter of this route dumps you in downtown Thiru, which is much, much larger than what I had expected.
Right across the street from the ashram was a sign for the Ram Surat Kumar ashram. Ram Surat Kumar was a sadhu for many years in Thiru, then he began to generate a following, which included the American teacher Lee Lozowicz, and now he is greatly revered in the area. There was a 4-6PM satsang that night preceded by a darshan of him, as he is driven from his house nearby to his new ashram site. Kumar and I walked down the streets, and he seemed to know a lot of people, until we arrived at the road leading to his ashram. We were just in time to see Kumar's Ambassador taxi come by. He was in the back seat looking up at the sky as he passed by me. There was no experience that occurred for me, and basically I felt that I was there for retreat at Ramana ashram - this particular teacher was not someone I had much interest in right at that point. We also looked into another famous teacher in town, Nana Guru, but he was out of town in his other ashram in the neighboring state in India.
We were to do the main road route for the evening, but not before a stop for chai at a small restaurant across the street from the ashram. This restaurant, which is basically a large circular thatched patio, is run by a German man who apparently has 4 wives from four different states of India. I don't know if that's true, and didn't know polygamy was allowed in India.
Arunachleswara Temple
So at dusk, we start out towards Arunachleswara temple in downtown Thirumvannamalai (notice how South Indian names are reallly long?!). And I quickly discovered that Thiru is a lot bigger and noisier than I had thought. When we got to the temple, it's size really hits you - it's like a large fortress to the Gods of Hinduism. So we checked our shoes in at the temple shoe place and proceeded to go inside. Kumar gave me a tour of all of the various temples inside the complex, and there were many, dedicated to numerous Gods, such as Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Lord Muruga (Shiva's other child, in addition to Ganesh), and so many others that I cannot recall. The temple complex also has a large water tank for bathing/purification and also has an elephant on the grounds - it's not often one stands next to an elephant, though this one was on the small side.
One temple of note was an underground chamber that seemed very potent, and it was here where Ramana Maharshi meditated for 20 days straight with no food or water, with ants eating away at his skin. The temple priests, recognizing that this was no ordinary yogi, proceeded to take care of him.
Arunachala Mountain
The temple was a bit overwhelming, and I didn't feel at the moment very connected to the Hindu pantheon. So finally, after a bite to eat we began circumambulating Arunachala mountain. Once we got outside of downtown Thiru, the roads became very quiet, much to my relief - the tooting of bus horns can really get to you, not to mention the pollution. But as we walked, the quietness of the night was comforting, and I found myself becoming very joyful.
Along the roadside, there are many small temples which Kumar stopped to say a prayer. And I kept looking at the mountain, but it didn't seem to change much in the dark, though it felt blissful. At one point, I realized that I had horrific blisters on my feet, from my mediocre quality Indian sneakers. A circumambulation of Arunachala is supposed to be done in one's bare feet, but this tenderfoot didn't think he could handle two hours of skin to tarmac. But, nevertheless, I stilled paid a painful price in blistering feet.
We passed numerous groups of people doing the same circumambulation, and due to nighttime disorientation, it didn't feel to me that we were walking in circles around the mountain. I was also getting very tired and worn out, though blissed out at the same time, which kept me going. Finally we arrived back at Ramana Ashram, and I swear there was some kind of time/space warp - it just didn't seem that we walked around the mountain, but apparently we did! I bid Kumar a goodnight and headed straight to bed.
Ashram Food
I awoke the next morning at 6:55AM, just in time for morning breakfast, which was to be my first meal a Ramana Ashram. Meals are provide free to residents and guests, and the food there, I was told, was great. And breakfast didn't disappoint. How meals work at Ramana ashram is that banana leaves are laid out on the floor, along with a stainless steel cup of distilled water. People are ushered in and take their places in lines, sitting at each banana leaf/cup placement. Everyone washes the banana leaf with some of the water from the cup, and the food detail comes around with large pails of food of various kinds, and slaps the food onto the banana leaf, kinda like sloppin' the hogs. But the food is excellent, and you can eat as much as you want. There are different foods prepared for Indians and westerners, and the servers come around and say, "spicy!", and you have the choice to take it or not. I took the spicy food on several occasions and it wasn't that bad. There are no utensils provided - in South India, all foods are eaten with one's good old hands, but a few folks brought their own utensil, which I did on subsequent meals. When one is done eating, one folds the banana leaf in half and walks out. On the way out, I looked at numerous pictures of Ramana, his mother and various disciples throughout the years, which decorate the walls.
Skandashram
After my first cold bucket bath and a lunch that was more like a feast, I proceeded to the back entrance of Ramana ashram, past the peacocks and monkeys playing in the trees. There is stone filled path leading up to the two places where Ramana did much of his sadhana for over three decades, Skandashram, a small cave about 800 feet about the city, where he spent 6 years, and Virupaksha cave, where he meditated for over 18 years. Virupaksha cave is named after a great yogi and saint of Thiru who preceded Ramana. He had a large following and one day, he told his students that he wanted to be alone in the cave for some time. After a while, the students started to wonder and when they entered the cave, all they found was a pile of ashes. Ramana subsequently took over the cave and formed the ashes into a tall pile. Virupaksha cave is about 200 feet below Skandashram.
I proceeded to the back gate of Ramana ashram, past a group of villagers working on a small stream bed that flows through the back area of the ashram. These folks live in a village just behind the back wall of the ashram, and are employed as manual laborers. Just as in so many places, the men shovel out the dirt, place it in a small bowl, which is placed on one of the women's head and they cart the dirt off to parts unknown. Their neck muscles must be so, so strong. One of the women has a yellow face, which is a common phenomena in South India. At first I thought it was some strange Hindu ritual, but someone eventually told me that it was just a beauty secret of the women -they spread tumeric on their face for healthy skin! It does make the women appear a bit ghostly, in comparison to the dark brown skin of the average South Indian.
After I passed through the iron gate of the ashram, a cross road is encountered which leads to several residential villages along the base of Arunachala mountain. At the crossroad (rather 'crosspath') is a nice old mud pit which a family of piggies were enjoying in the midday sun. The actual path up the mountain is laid out quite nicely, a stone path that took quite a bit of work. As I walked up the path, I ran into several men and one of them seemed to start looking after me, as if he was trying to be my guide, which basically means he wanted money from me. I mean, this is a well defined rock path, how much guidance do you need? But he kept ahead of me up the mountain, like he was doing me some big favor.
We passed a sign for a very worthy cause for Arunachala mountain - a reforestation program that has been started, since the mountain has been stripped almost barren of trees, being used by the folks of Thiru for firewood. The program was started by a westerner and takes donations to sponsor a group of trees, each of which is numbered and has a rock wall around it for protection. Apparently the whole area around Arunachala mountain was once a fairly dense jungle, and circumambulating the mountain was a very dangerous journey, with the possibility of encountering a large jungle cat or snake. But nowadays, the most danger is from vehicular traffic.
The path to the caves is steep at the beginning, but not that steep as to make it difficult for a non-hiker. Some people do the hike in their bare feet. About 10 minutes into the ascent one is given a wonderful view of the lands around Thiru - one can see individual mountains and hills dotting the landscape - it seems very unusual to see scattered non-connected mountains, no semblance of a mountain range. And many of those mountains have a small village at its base as well as a temple on top. However, the town of Tiruvannamalai is hidden from view until one is almost at the caves. The mountain itself is fairly nondescript, with a few rock walls, and a light on top at night. In addition to the reforestation program, there was an aggressive drive to keep people from living on the mountain over the years, which for the most part has been successful.
But there are a few sadhus and yogis who do make the mountain home. One famous Baba lives near the top of the mountain, spending most of his time in meditation, and apparently only drinks one or two glasses of milk a day for nourishment. That's it. People can climb to the top to get his blessing, but if you disturb him in meditation, he apparently can get quite upset and will throw rocks at the trespassers. I didn't get a chance to climb to the top, so I do not know if these rumors of his moodiness are true.
Just before reaching the first cave, known as Skandashram, the vista opens up to the entire town of Tiruvannamalai. The huge Arunachleswar temple stands majestically just below you, near the base of the mountain, its nine towers of various heights overshadowing the rest of the town.
Arriving at Skandashram, it is really a small building built into the side of the mountain, with a small courtyard and two inner chambers. After taking off one's shoes, one can sit in the outer chamber and look into the small 5 foot square inner chamber, which can hold at most two or three meditators. Fortunately when I arrived, there was an open pillow in the inner chamber, and I proceeded to sit for a while. It was, needless to say, a very powerful place. Some places are so imbued with spiritual force that it can be felt as a pressure on the body, and this place is certainly one of them. I noticed that discursive thoughts disappeared easily and one could sit free of thought generation, to enjoy that or to take on any practice as desired, such as the "Who Am I" enquiry that Ramana gave to the world.
I stayed for about a half hour in the inner chamber as people came and went, mostly European westerners, here to visit or permanent residents of South India. Afterwards, I went out of the courtyard and just hung out on a rock overlooking the town below. I did notice that the noise of the town drifted up to this area, which to a small degree ruined the peacefulness, with honking horns abounding. But the mountain itself is a powerful place, and the same freedom from discursive thought could be found just by being on the mountain - it is a very wonderful place and a great advantage for meditative practice. On the way down I passed a couple of young men selling small statues, a bit of commercialism that has infiltrated the mountain, but not to an annoying degree, thankfully.
I made it a goal to go to the Virupaksha cave in the next day or so. It is situated just below Skandashram about 700 feet above the town, a place in which Ramana meditated for 17 years.
The late afternoon was spent in the large hall that houses Ramana's samadhi site. I would circumambulate the large altar at least three times and then take a seat while an hour's worth of Vedic chanting occurred, in which men and women would alternate reading a verse - it became very hypnotic and conducive to simply being still. And not long afterwards, it was time for another wonderful dinner in the dining hall. At night, I would spend a some time in the adjoining meditation room that held the couch that Ramana sat on for years.
Circumambulating the Inner Loop
The next day I did a circumambulation of Arunachala mountain on the inner loop, which for the most part frees one from having to walk on paved streets. After padding my blistered feet, I took a left after the back entrance of Ramana ashram, and moved through various fields and pastures. The going was difficult at first, in the sense of trying to stay on the path, which was not clearly marked. But after a while, the orange and white markers were easily found. Even though it rained that morning, it was very hot (I went just after lunch), and it was a bit of a workout. I passed many a goat and cattle herder, sometimes stopping for pictures or giving out pens, and of course, a rupee or two. Everyone has a hand out it seems.
I made an effort to see how the mountain would change as I walked around it, and try to feel if I was walking in a large circle. But it always seemed that I was walking in a straight line and I wondered if I heading towards Madras or parts unknown. It still confounded me that I was actually walking around this mountain. The path, being clearly marked, led me through various types of terrain, now mostly rocky and shrublike terrain, till about 2 1/2 hours into the journey, one is dumped onto a paved road leading into downtown Thiru. Every so often, I would look at the mountain to keep attention to the reason why I was doing this "hike", and I employed the "Om Namah Shivaya" mantra often, as this mountain is worshiped as a seat of Lord Shiva.
After being alone in much stillness for most of my trip, the last thing I wanted was to negotiate the noisy downtown area, but I had no choice. The last part of the journey leads one right past the walls of the Arunachleswar temple then towards the other side of town, where Ramana ashram was situated. On the way I stopped for a refreshing coconut drink - vendors simply chop off the top of a coconut with a machete and stick in a straw for a most delicious drink of coconut milk. I also encountered two very young and charming school girls around 6 years of age, who charmed several pens and pieces of candy off of me. They were so cute that I took pictures of them.
Virupaksha Cave
On my last day at Ramana Ashram, I took the rock path to Virupaksha cave, just below Skandashram. Between Skandashram and Virupaksha is a small stream from which I took the opportunity to receive a blessing - a holy mountain must have holy water! I drenched my head with water from the stream and proceeded the steep path to Virupaksha cave. But when I got there, it was closed, but fortunately the priest who takes care of this cave came about 10 minutes later. This cave is really not that far up the mountain, and there is a small family living just below the cave.
The cave itself is created by a huge boulder, which is now surrounded in part by a building and courtyard. It is much larger than the inner Skandashram cave, and also very powerful, a great place to sit and meditate, and I took advantage of being the only person there for a long time. The cave itself can seat about 10 people. Again, the spiritual potency of the cave easily brought attention to rest and the cessation of discursive thought. I also took time again to just be on the mountain - in comparison to the noisy downtown, this place was heavenly, such a sanctuary. I watched as two men went past Skandashram to climb to the top of Arunachala mountain, in sandals, no less. Though the mountain isn't huge, somewhere about 2700-3000 feet high, that's a call for good footwear in my book!
Doing a similar routine, of circumambulating the mountain, visiting the mountain caves and spending time at the samadhi site, not to mention the wonderful meals, the 5 days I had a Ramana ashram went quickly. I packed up my room, and donated a lot of my leftover food, medicine, clothing and assorted items to Ramana ashram. They are not only an ashram for residents but a place where all the poor and sadhus of Tiruvannamalai can receive a free meal at 11:00 A.M. as well as medical care. The 11:00 A.M. lineup of saffron robed sadhus is quite a site, many carrying the traditional small metal pail in which water or food is carried. Some of these sadhus just look so cool, with long flowing white hair and such.
Dr. Murthy booked me a cab to Madras - Ramana ashram has its own taxi service - for about $30 US you can go to and from Madras to Thiru, which is a four hour cab ride. Quite a service. I gave a donation for my time at Ramana ashram, since they do not charge for a stay there.
Coming Home
I looked forward to coming home, and seeing my wife Annie for the first time in weeks, but also felt a bit apprehensive about going back - I felt like I really was absorbed into the psyche of India. But I did look forward to a place where things worked reasonably and efficiently!
Before I left Tiruvannamalai, I asked my driver to stop at this special 'tank' that was good for purification, which was along the circumambulation route. He replied that we could do another circumambulation by car for an extra 100 rupees. I said sure - I was told that it was auspicious to circumambulate Arunachala three times - OK, so once was in a taxi, is that so wrong?
The ride back to Madras was somewhat difficult. First off, my driver had a cold, and was hawking loogies out the window for the first hour, and was constantly picking his nose. Yecch. Then it started raining, and raining real hard. At one point we stopped for a train - the crossing guard rail is lowered manually and can take a painfully long time to be raised (since they do not have communication apparently, they lower the bar when they think the train is coming, and often the train is late or very late). During this wait, a poor young girl of nine was selling snacks in the pouring rain, sans umbrella or any other form of protection - though it is stays fairly warm in South India, wet is wet, and it felt perverse and ironic that I was nice and dry in the taxi while this girl was exposed to the elements. But that's the way it is for untold numbers of people.
As we reached the outskirts of Madras, with the new Ford plant, it began to rain extremely hard, and I notice numerous trucks that skidded off the road into the wide grassy area between the lanes of the highway. They looked like dead elephants. Many trucks were being unloaded by replacement trucks. In other areas, various brutal car crashes were left to display the nastiness of two metal machines smacking into each other. Apparently, since there is no concept of AAA or any kind of road service, these vehicles are left to rot on the side of the road or in the road itself. Often a broken down truck is being fixed right in the roadway, simply blocked off by piles of rock, so that other vehicles do not smash into it. I think a few drivers died or were seriously hurt during that rainstorm.
After a seeming eternity, I was dropped off at the Hotel Chandra, next to the Imperial Hotel. This was a 3 star hotel, and I would have stayed at a fancier one, but it was 7:30pm already and my flight was leaving at 2:00AM. So it seemed a waste to spend all that money for a place to rest and take a shower. I felt burnt already and had not even started to do my plane thing.
I was going straight from India to California, which by the way, is exactly on the other side of the earth as India. My taxi driver from Thiru stayed around so he could take me to the airport (and get a good tip from a westerner, methinks), and I started my journey home.
The first flight was 9 hours, to Frankfurt, and I managed to sleep for over half the time, but when we arrived in Frankfurt, it was in the midst of a major snowstorm. Oh shit, I just wanna get home! And it was so cold in the airport, and many flights were being cancelled. But the big 747s weren't being cancelled, and after a 3 hours wait, we taxied out fairly on time. But we waited in the plane for another 2 hours to get de-iced, as only one runway was open. We finally took off for the longest 10 hours of my life - there were moments where I wanted to scream and open the damn door, but cooled down eventually. After another seeming eternity, I saw the beautiful San Francisco Bay area, and felt re-energized. Home!
Final Thoughts
I could write a lot about how my trip to India affected me, but suffice to say it had a deep, deep affect on me, and it will take more time for me to assimilate the changes. India humbled me, inspired me, gave me a much, much greater perspective on life, death, existence, pain, suffering and compassion. It showed me the gaps in my own spiritual evolution, and proceeded to do the work to fill those gaps. It broke my heart, in a way that was not superficially emotional, but very deep way - somehow, the spiritual blessings I received and the almost constant association of poverty, disease, over population, filth and limitations broke a band of hardened immunity around my heart and gave me a visceral lesson in the Buddhist concepts of impermanence and dukkha (suffering). Living in America and especially one of the many wealthier suburbs, the subtle idea that one could stay at distance from the suffering of others was smashed. Here in America, our dark side is tidily tucked away in the inner cities and 'bad' neighborhoods that we cautiously avoid.
And the utter shock of going from a land of innumerably impoverished people to Christmas time frenzied holiday shopping was like going from one form of chaos to some other form of perverted chaos. As I said, the re-entry into this culture was much more difficult than the entry into India. I read somewhere in India that the number of natural resources that are used by one American can support 200 - 300 Asians. I don't know if those figures are accurate, but even if they are off by 2/3 or 3/4, this is still a sign of a bizarre disparity that may be considered appalling.
In India, I saw most people bound to a certain destiny, with few choices in life due to poverty, while in America (or the west in general), we are often tortured by the choices and possibilities in life, and unsatisfied by what some would say are excesses. But at the same time, we are also given the opportunity, like our fellow Indians, to take up spiritual practice and discover the nature of cultural chaos that we live in.
So let me say to anyone out there reading this, thanks for your many replies to this travelogue, and may you discover the nature of self and existence, and be an embodiment of wisdom and compassion. And all the while be kind to others and most of all, to yourself.
-Phil
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