Arunachalam Aug 2014

My Experiences- Arunachalam Aug 15 2014

1. Thirty of us went to Tiruvannamalai in mid August to visit Ramanashram, Arunachaleswara Swamy temple and the holy hill. This was my fourth visit in the last twelve months and the need & expectation for a fulfilling experience was as high as the first one!

When asked about places of high significance for meditation, a local guide hesitantly told us about a secret place somewhere near the hill. According to him, this place is the abode of many Sidhas and Rishis (people who have attained Sidhi) for penance. I felt an intuitive connect with this place as he was describing it – so much that I could describe the rest of it to him! The guide then somehow seemed convinced that he can take us there. He also said that one can’t sit and do meditation there for more than 10-12 minutes as it creates some kind of vibrations on the body and mind, making the doer uncomfortable.

Having climbed the hill that morning and the energy draining Abhishekam at the temple and Giri Parikrama scheduled that evening/ night, our ‘body consciousness’ was forcing us to preserve the energy by relaxing for the day instead of visiting that ‘secret place’.

We somehow motivated each other and pulled out of the slumber and nine of us, along with the Guide started that afternoon. This place is around 2 kms inside the forest area, from one of the spots of Parikrama

road, towards the hill. It was a winding walk between the trees, with no sign of any habitat. In couple of places along the road we encountered temporary road-blocks in stones and thorns – a polite gesture for ‘someone’ to say – do not come any further!

The guide was moving briskly forward and all of us were following him, excited with unexpected expectedness.

The guide turns and says to me as if to create more excitement – ‘I don’t know why I am taking you all there. This requires forest office permission. Also there will be Yogis in tapas there and they can be upset if they see you all! I don’t know why I am taking you all’.

He then sternly said – ‘I won’t take you all again ever, please don’t ask me again.’

After 20 minutes walk we reached the place. Per mythology, this place is where Lord Shiva gave his darshan to Parvati, who was doing penance for his darshan. A small lake there, called Shiva Kolanu (Shiva’s Lake) stands silent witness to this event.

As we approached the place saw some sanyasis (ascetics/ monks) sitting near the lake performing ablutions. Thankfully they didn’t seem in any confrontational mood with us. Some of us saw them meditate on the hill

and do some kind of rituals. These were not the Sidhas that the guide was referring to! We exchanged pleasant salutations and finally saw a dilapidated construction with a very small entrance.

The guide turned to me and so – ok here we are, you can go in! He apparently was not eager to go first. He had been inside a few times but, for some reason, he dint want to go today! The entrance was really small. Only half a lanky man could have gone in with ease. I was certainly not lanky, nor half!

As I moved in the entrance the fear of the unknown really got on to us there. I dint know what to expect at each step. Only way to get in was to crawl in with the body frame turned in a 45 degrees angle while staring at the darkness inside. The journey to the room inside was a short one with only 6-7 steps downwards underground. These steps led to a room which can accommodate 3 people to sit. This room had another really small entrance leading to another room which can seat 4-5 people. The second room had card board remains on the floor, as if someone was using them to sit on, for meditation. That room also had pictures of Sirdi Sai Baba, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and few Gods and Goddesses.

Once I sat in meditation the first feel was that or calmness and peace. It almost felt like home-coming for me – felt I have been there earlier. I then instructed the rest of the team to come in one by one. Each of them came in, one at a time, sat for few minutes with me and went back.

I was there for around 35-40 minutes in all, in complete focus. In one of the moments of meditation, involuntarily, I saw the hill in its full might, full of trees, rocks and mud – as we all see, and then it slowly started transforming into light, top down. Starting from the peak of the mountain to all the way down there was nothing but bright golden light. This view redefined the word ‘brightness’ for me. I had never ever seen such a light with so much intensity and glow. Along the left side of this hill shaped light (right of the hill and left in my view), I saw a Trishul (Shiva’s weapon) appear, in the same golden color. Now all I could see was a bright light in a hill shape and form, and a Trishul – nothing else.

This image stayed in my mind for several minutes while I experienced immense bliss. The feeling was so overpowering that it consumed my mind fully and I lost my body consciousness – a feeling of disassociation with one’s body & mind, and feeling of oneness with the universal consciousness – a sense of Sivoham, the pure unbounded all-pervading consciousness (the transcendental self or Atman, the Absolute).

The guide and others waiting out got restless with my prolonged stay there and sent in a word for me to come out. Thus ended the physical part of the journey when we returned to our guest house, but the vision stayed in my mind and is as fresh even today. Over the past few weeks the image seemed dynamic, constantly growing during my meditation sessions – so much that there seems nothing else in the universe except this, and we all are in it! Sense of duality seems fictitious.

The guide later validated my experience by narrating his conversations with Sidhas and Yogis who saw the same vision while meditating at that place. I know I’m no yogi, but the feeling is real.

2. Same day later that evening we all gathered at the Arunachaleswara Swami (Shiva) temple to view the abhishekam. For those who have seen the Shiva Linga here – it is fairly long and majestic to look at and being an Agni lingam it emanates tremendous heat. Anyone who has gone close enough to the garbha gudi (sanctum sanctoram) can vouch for the heat they feel.

I have viewed the abhishekam here 3 times earlier but this one stood out. Once the abhishekam started, I saw – like always, a naturally formed circle on the linga – few inches down from the top of the linga. In the circle there was a shape of a human sitting majestic like a king – left leg on the right and both elbows placed on the knee, hands in chin-mudra. My first and hundredth reaction was – this is imaginary, I am hallucinating.

I did all possible to divert my mind by looking around, blinking and refocusing on the image. But the image was unchanged. I began to enjoy this image like a small child being fascinated with a new found toy – with all the excitement – and then my heart missed several beats with what I saw next. The moment the pujari started asbhishekam, I saw the man’s image move. He put his left leg down, raised both his hands up towards the water being poured and closed his eyes as if enjoying the bath. He then shook his long hair to shake off the droplets. He was obviously enjoying the bath so much that he was participating in the bathing (abhishekam) ceremony fully. Even the water drops and flow was behaving differently – as if it was touching the body of a man and moving all over. This enormous grandeur of abhishekam lasted for around 20-30 minutes. My mind constantly questioned what I was seeing, with my limited knowledge and experience, while my heart was enjoying this magnificence.

Once the ceremony was completed and the Shiva linga was being wiped dry, the man sat back in his original posture – left leg on the right and elbows on both the knees, back straight. Interestingly the pujari then applied a circle shaped Chandanam (sandalwood paste) to the circle on the Shiva Linga I mentioned earlier where I saw the man’s shape. A horizontal striped silver metal (namalu which people apply on forehead) was also placed on that spot and rest of alankaram was done.

I narrated this incident to few people in the trip and also cautioned them to take it with a pinch of salt, and not to get carried away with my interpretation.

The following day all of us went to Ramana Ashram and a friend of mine excitedly came and took me to the Ramana Mahashri’s mother’s Samadhi mandir. He pointed me to an idol behind the Samadhi mandir which had a Shiva linga and Lord Dakshinamurty’s (Shiva) form sculpted inside the Shiva Linga – just as I saw in the circle of the Shiva linga in the temple.

I said to myself - either the sculpture too hallucinated like me and built this or this is real. Just then, a lady walked in and asked me who’s idol is that. I said it looks like Dakshinamurty – she sternly looked into my eyes and said - believe that it is Dakshniamurty and walked away!

I firmly believe it was him. It’s not my qualification to have seen him – two times the same day, but his grace to have revealed himself to me – one in a light form and the other in a human shape.

I do feel these incidents are a pat on my back that motivates me to become more compassionate to people and nature around me and aim for higher results – both material and spiritual.