Trips to Arunachala

The Trips to Arunachala

K S Kanakasabapathi

My first experience of Ramana Maharshi was on the day he left this material world back in 1950. I was

a boy of about 12 walking on the road to meet my brother who was running a small restaurant. The

time was in the early part of the night on April 14. I suddenly noticed a “Jothi” rising in the sky. It was

very much different from an aircraft or a meteorite. I got the immediate feeling that a great soul had left

this world.

The next day's newspapers carried the news of Maharshi shedding his material body and of the “Jothi”

rising up in the sky, witnessed by many all over the country. I was then too young to realize the greatness of the man fully and the incident only just remained in the back of my mind. Years later, I happened to read Somerset Maugham's book “The Razor's Edge” which was partly influenced by the author's stay in Ramanashram. Later, a friend of mine loaned me a book by Paul Brunton “A Search in Secret India”, which I found very interesting. Later I was presented the same book by the management of Shanthi Malai Trust.

A couple of trips to Tiruvannamalai and a visit to Ramanashram later brought me closer to the Ashram

and a latent desire to spend time at the Ashram was developing. I was able to get permission to stay in

the Ashram last September and we all (I, my wife, son daughter-in-law and grandchildren) went over to

Tiruvannamalai, spending time on the way at Senji Fort. We had the darshan of Arunachaleswara and

other deities in the temple. My daughter-in-law Vidya and grandson Skandan sang Thiruppugazh in the

Sannidhi of Murugan and also sang devotional songs in the main Sannadhi.

We all then moved to the Ashram, where I was provided a room to stay for three days.All of us had

dinner at the Ashram and leaving me, the rest returned to Chennai.

During dinner, I made acquaintance with another visitor from Chennai, who was interested in doing the

“Girivalam” next morning. Balaji gave me company to do the fourteen kilometres starting at 4 Am next

morning. I was a bit diffident about doing such a long stretch in one shot at my age, but found it possible without too much strain. We could complete the walk around in about four hours, taking rest

whenever required. Balaji, a few years younger than me said he had done it quite a few times. I had a number of opportunities to meditate in the Meditation Hall and I used them in full. I had bought some books in the book shop and started reading one of them.

When I was meditating on the second day. I suddenly received a flash; an answer to the question”Who

am I?” (I was not contemplating on this during the meditation.) I was somewhat taken aback when I

went back to my room and read the next chapter which had elaborated the same.

Balaji and I made a bus trip to Thirukovilur the next day to have darshan of Ulagalanda Perumal or

Trivikramaswamy. The temple is huge with gopurams on four sides covering an area approximately 800 metres x 800 metres. However, the area between the outer gopurams and the inner ones is completely covered by

commercial establishments with the result the temple has shrunk to about 10% of the original intended

area. The temple premises were extremely dirty and totally uncared for. The main deity is a huge one with one leg on the ground and the other pointing to the sky. This temple is one of the Vaishnavaite “Padal Petra Sthalams”

The afternoons were reserved for the library which has a good collection of books, pertaining to

Ramana, Arunachala as well as others. The evenings were spent in meditation, listening to discourses

and veda recital as well as prayer.

We decided to climb up to Skandashram and Virupakshi cave where Maharshi had meditated for years.

I had done this climb once but I had forgotten how steep it was. When we started, Balaji, who is

younger than me, suddenly lost confidence and opted out. He told me not to proceed to Virupakshi

Cave as the climb down is very steep and at my age it is risky. I went up to Skandashram, meditated for

some time and on the spur of a moment, decided to go down to the cave.

The climb down was extremely steep and I had to take support of tree branches or rocks on the side to

maintain my balance. I reached the cave without any mishap. The effort was well worth the risk. This is

one place not to be missed by any visitor.

The cave is small and one has to bow down to enter. The inside is dark and the eyes take some time to

adjust the very low level of light. Meditating here is highly rewarding and I made a decision to visit

again in future.

My second visit to Tiruvannamalai was in February last with my wife. We had again been permitted to

stay in the Ashram for three days. The routines of meditation, Girivalam and temple visit were part of

the stay. My wife particularly enjoyed the Girivalam which we did starting at 4:45 am culminating with

darshan at the temple. Somehow we could not go up the hills and visit Skandashram and Virupakshi

Cave and I felt sad about the omission.

We took a car to visit Thirukkovilur and Thiruvennainallur. This small town is about 25 kilometres

from Thirukkovilur and the road was passing just along the river Pennayaru. We had some difficulty

locating the temple. The road was extremely bumpy. Approaching Thiruvennainallur from Villupuram

would be more comfortable.

This temple has the legend of the Lord enlightening Nambi Arooran also known as Sundaramurthy

Nayanar. The presiding deity is Kripapuriswarar or Thaduthatkondanathar or Arulkondanathar. His

consort takes the name Mangalambikai.

The temple is fairly big but in a state of semi-neglect. When we went for Darshan of the Lord, there

was no archaka even though it was just around 9:30 am. The archaka was sitting in the outer prakara

idling his time. We were the only visitors to the temple. In front of the temple on the side, is the

“Vazhakkuraitha Mandapam” where according to the legend, Lord Siva claimed that Nambi Arrooran

was his slave and proved it with palm leaf scripts. The famous song “Piththa Piraisudi” was sung at the

Sanctum sanctorum here by Sundaramurthy Nayanar. The lord is supposed to be “Swayambu”. I only wish more people come to know of the heritage of these ancient temples and visit them.

Please see below for pictures of this temple.

Thiruvennainallur Temple

Vazhakuraitha Mandapam

Quest

QUEST

K S Kanakasabapathi

(All rights with the author)

Telepathy

ESP

Clairvoyance

These are but a few of the “Supernatural” expressions we have heard of. In our daily life, we do not experience any of these, but at one time or the other, we wonder whether these are real.

I have also been asking these questions to myself and this article is a product of this state of mind.

Science as we all know is a tool for the search for TRUTH. But we have not yet reached this state where we are sure we have understood TRUTH. Spirituality seeks the TRUTH by taking a different path.

Man has six senses developed and with these six senses, he is able to see, hear, touch, smell and taste things present and analyze things present or past. Future is out of reach for him until it becomes “Present”.

We have been under the impression that these six senses are the ultimate in the process of evolution. We may or may not be right.

Another sense, which could again be called the sixth sense is consciousness, or awareness of oneself. Living things are aware of their existence while non-living things are not. This is how our philosophy defines living and non-living. A famous mathematician Roger Penrose became philosophical in his later years and wrote a book “The Emperor’s new mind” where he argues as to how the known laws of Physics are inadequate to describe a perfectly well-known and real phenomenon such as consciousness. He proves that a computer, however complex it may get in the future, will never be able to simulate consciousness and thus can never become aware of its existence. In other words, even an infinitely complex computer and only be confined to its 5 senses and can never realize that a 6^th sense can exist.
 Similarly, we are confined within our 6 senses and there is nothing to disprove the theory that higher senses are available. There is no sanctity to the number “6” !!

Present day science has told us that the speed of light is the highest possible. Our senses or the instruments we have devised have not been able to perceive any form of energy faster than light. Does this mean that there is no form of energy faster than light? May be we are wrong. Now even this is being questioned by scientists themselves with the supposed discovery of “God Particles”.

Let us assume for a moment that the Universe is also filled with certain forms of energy which can travel faster than light. But only we are unable to sense these forms of energy due to our own limitations. Now we hear of “Dark Energy” to describe such unknown form.

According to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time is relative. Hence if we are able to use a form of energy faster than light, past, present and future become indistinguishable and we can see any of them at our choice.

Possibly this is what our ancient sages had mastered. They possibly had senses more than six – may be seven or eight or even more.

Science has taken us westward and spirituality would take us eastward. But finally east and west are bound to meet.

Reading the future

Reading a distant mind

Transcending time and space in one go

These are subjects which can stimulate anyone to explore.

But there are no scientific tools available for this purpose. Modern science has never shown any deep interest in these topics and any studies have been so far only to disprove their existence.

But what is not proved is not necessarily disproved.

Let us assume for a moment, that these powers exist in some people. Let us call them superhuman. What I mean is that they may possess senses not known to ordinary men. That is seventh, eighth, ninth and so on.

For instance, let us suppose that we have another sense organ that detects ultraviolet or infrared or X-Rays or even microwave radiation. Then our view of the universe will be totally different from what we are able to see with our six senses. If we can hear sound waves beyond the audible range, this will again change our perception. The entire universe will look different to us. Some forms of life are known to have such senses.

Do ordinary men have the capability to understand these? Like the proverbial two dimensional ant which cannot recognize the third dimension, the six senses of human beings are insufficient to recognize the existence of such powers.

We have definitely come across people who, by looking at someone’s face tell things not known about them. This may be about their characteristics, families or even about future course of events. (I do not mix up astrology here. That will be a different topic.)

Then how could these extraordinary people get to know things not known to lesser human beings? Is there something in their brains which is capable of these powers?

Let us then Assume that their brains are also something special. From where does the brain get the information? How is it passed on from the source? And how is time circumvented? Time as we know, though relative, remains a mystery. Future never becomes past until one traverses that moment.

Let us call it the “Third Eye”., which itself is invisible to the normal eye or imperceptible to our other senses.

Some day science will merge with spirituality in its quest for TRUTH.