1-10-09

Sorry I am once again behind.
Today, we began the day bright and early. Actually, it was too early to be bright. We met our guide at six o’clock to take us around the base of Mt. Arunachala, which means we had to rise considerably before six in order to wash up, get dressed, and walk to the ashram. Mom and dad arranged for the guide last night. His name is Saran and he came well recommended by both the ashram and Santosh, the young man who’s name I couldn’t remember before, who hiked to the top of the mountain with us. Unfortunately, also waiting for us at the ashram was Jodhi. We had met him on top of the mountain before and he had offered to give us a guided tour, but we had decided to go with an official guide. His presence made for a somewhat awkward situation.
We took the inner trail around the mountain, and I’m really glad we did. The outer circle, although it leads past many more temples, is in Tiruvanamalai itself and therefore is loud, dirty, and crowded. The inner path was peaceful and quite and, while there was only one shrine, led through a beautiful countryside. The first place we visited was the pond where Ramana Maharshi had bathed three times a week. It is supposed to have healing powers. It was a nice cool place for a rest, so we all dipped our feet in, except Patrick. Somewhere between the pond and the Kallapalayalam shrine, the sun rose, bathing the country in sunlight. We saw the five peaks which represent the five elements: fire, air, earth, water, and ether. There are also five cities representing each element in south India. Tiruvanamalai is the city of fire.
The mountain is supposed to look like Lord Shiva. Sometimes I thought this was a bit far-fetched, but occasionally, I could see part of what was being described, such as Shiva’s head, or his arm. However, I never did figure out which place was supposed to be Shiva Natraja, Shiva in his function as the god of Dance.
The single shrine we passed was dedicated to Kallapalayalam, one of the 63 devotees of Shiva. It is said that Kallapalayalam lived in the forest and knew nothing about Shiva, but one day he came across a Shivalingum. He realized that it was a thing worthy of worship so he cleared away the flowers that had been set there by a Sadu and offered a deer in their place. When the Sadu returned the next morning, he found the dead deer there and thought someone had intentionally defiled the Lingum. So he purified it before performing puja and offering more flowers. That afternoon, Kallapalayalam returned and, once again, cleared away the flowers and replaced them with a deer. This went on for some time. One day, when Kallapalayalam came to the lingum, one of the eyes was crying tears of blood. Without hesitation, he gauged out one of his own eyes and pressed it to the lingum and the bleeding stopped. But when he returned again, the other eye was crying, so he gauged out his other eye. By doing so, he proved his devotion to Lord Shiva.
Somewhere along the trail, we met two women who were begging. I didn’t have any spare change on me, so I wouldn’t have given them anything anyway, but Saran pointed out that they were wearing gold nose-rings and earrings. After talking to them for a while, he learned that they actually owned the property we were walking on! Ah well. I don’t suppose they’re full-time beggars; they probably just saw a bunch of rich, unwary tourists and saw no reason not to give it a try.
The end of the hike was through Tiruvanamalai, which was rather unpleasant, especially after the relaxing morning we had spent hiking, so after walking a bit, we hired a rickshaw. Somehow, we managed to squeeze all six of us into that tiny vehicle; I ended up sitting on Mom’s lap, which I don’t seem to fit into as well as I used to.
Tonight is the full moon, which means that thousands of people go on a pilgrimage around Mt. Arunachala. When Patrick, Dad, and I got coffee in the afternoon, there were already people thronging the streets. After seven o’clock, they close the streets to motor vehicles in order to make room for the people. By the looks of things, it will be neccsary.