ARUNACHALA
Lucia Osborne
"Arunachala! Thou art the inner Self who dances inthe Heart as `I'. Heart is Thy name, O Lord!"
(Five Stanzas to Sri Arunachala, verse 2.)
IN THE PURANAS Arunachala is referred to as the oldest
Hill on earth and is regarded as the heart of the Universe.
Scientists have also pointed out the eastern ghats of the Deccan
plateau as the oldest land. Arunachala has many names: Arunagiri,
Sonagiri, Sudarsanagiri, Annamalai, to mention but a few and
is also referred to as the Tejolingam -- the lingam [?]of effulgence
-- which is the formless emblem of Siva.
The form of the Hill is said to resemble Sri Chakra, the
emblem of the Cosmos with its substratum, and shaktas regard
this Hill as Sri Chakra itself. Bhagavan took an active part in
the installation of Sri Chakra in the temple dedicated to the
mother.
Devotees of Siva consider this divine Hill as the form of
Siva, who appeared in the midst of Brahma and Vishnu as a
column of fire without beginning or end in order to dispel
their ignorance. Both failed to realise his presence by their
physical efforts. This signifies the inability of mind or intellect
to go beyond itself. Arunachala is traditionally identified with
Sudarsana (a form of the chakra [?]or discus of Vishnu). In the
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form of a deity, Sudarsana appears in a fierce aspect, armed
with weapons of destruction. When a seeker penetrates beyond
the semblance of the terrible, while struggling to overcome what
seems terrible in himself -- namely, the dark downward
propensities of his own psyche -- grace reveals itself as love and
compassion. This, according to Dr. Mees, an authority on
symbolism, is the etymology of Sudarsana which aims at the
destruction of these propensities, so as to reveal love and beauty.
Many saints and sages have sung and composed songs in
praise of Arunachala and its import, and some have attained
enlightenment here. Shankara also seems to have visited
Arunachala. In one of his compositions he calls this Hill `Meru'
and says, like Bhagavan, that Siddha Purushas are found here.
Saint Namasivaya lived in one of the caves, which is still called
by his name. His disciple has written the well-known Annamalai
Venba, a hymn in praise of Arunachala. Another well-known
Saiva saint, Virupaksha, also lived in a cave higher up on the
slope. It is said to be in the shape of OM -- and some devotees
have heard there, the sound of OM in silent meditation. The
saint's tomb is also there and this cave bears his name. Bhagavan
spent seventeen years in it and later moved up to Skandashram
where a trickle of water changed overnight to a perennial stream
whose water, like that of the Ganges, does not deteriorate with
time. Arunagirinathar, another notable saint, is also celebrated
for his songs of praise after he received illumination through
the grace of Muruga in the Arunachala temple.
When mention was made one day of the tank adjoining
the Ashram being called Agastya Thirtam, the Maharshi was asked
if that sage ever visited the Hill. Bhagavan remarked "Yes, of
course, everyone must come here eventually", meaning that
everyone must eventually return to the source -- Arunachala.
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Sages have said that one can attain salvation by being born
in Tiruvarur, by dying in Benares, by worshipping in
Chidambaram and by merely thinking of Arunachala. "So
worship Arunachala of shining golden lustre for mere
remembrance of Him ensures deliverance,"1 Bhagavan also
affirms.
Bhagavan mentioned that the Hill is one of light.
Sometimes one can see manifestations of lights on the Hill.
In the early years, a French devotee, Sujata Sen, once spent
the night on the Hill in protest against an order of the
management not allowing women devotees to remain in the
Ashram after dark. This was the most wonderful time for many
devotees when Bhagavan used to sit with them for an hour or
so in radiant silence. Sujata dwelt on her grievance one-
pointedly. Next morning she told me that she was taken inside
the Hill and found a whole world in it, which she described. I
did not pay much attention to this, dismissing it as a dream or
imagination. Strangely enough many years later, in 1970 to
be precise, another devotee, Mr. S. N. Tandon, had a similar
experience which he described in detail in the April 1970 issue
of The Mountain Path in 1970, that year. It is reminiscent of
Dante's inferno, leading by stages to light, in which all
manifestation disappears in the feeling of pure I-Am-ness.
Sri Visvanatha Swami, who from his adolescence spent many
years with Bhagavan, shares with us the following account.
Bhagavan said to him one day in the early twenties, "Innumerable
are the visions I have had of this Hill, Arunachala. I have seen
beautiful groves of trees and fine palaces inside it. Once I saw a
large tank and a big congregation of rishis and yogis seated on a
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wide plain around it. Every face was familiar and so were the
surroundings. A dais was there and I went up and sat on it with
my right hand held up in Chin-mudra. It seemed my usual place
and my usual pose." Chin-mudra is a pose in which the right
hand is held up with the thumb and forefinger joined and the
three remaining fingers straight up. It is the pose of Dakshinamurti.
It denotes the unity of the individual with Brahman, the
transcendental Reality beyond the three gunas.
It is said in the puranas that a Siddha Purusha, the ancient
teacher in the form of an eternal youth, is present higher up on
one of the slopes seated under an enormous banyan tree,
diffusing his spiritual radiance in silence.
In the early days Bhagavan used to roam a good deal
on the Hill. One day he found, in a dried up watercourse, a
banyan leaf of such enormous size that it set him wondering
what tree could produce such a leaf. Proceeding further he
saw from a distance a huge banyan tree growing on what
looked like sheer rock. Going closer, Bhagavan inadvertently
put his foot in a hornet's nest and did not withdraw it until
the hornets appeased their anger for being disturbed, by badly
stinging his leg.
Bhagavan did not go near the tree but returned to his
abode. Subsequently he firmly discouraged devotees from trying
to find the place saying that it was inaccessible and not advisable
for them to do so. "It is impossible. I know it!" he told them,
"For there shall no man see Me and live." (Exodus 33, 20).
The finite ego must die before it can behold and merge
with infinity. Once a whole group of devotees, obviously
unaware of Bhagavan's injunction, set out to locate the place
but they found themselves in such distress that all they could
pray for was to be able to return safely!
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Any endeavour to write about Arunachala is like `painting
the lily' -- to borrow an apt expression. It is impossible to
present it better or more clearly than Bhagavan himself and in
this case there is no distinction between them. Arunachala in
the form of Bhagavan speaks about himself! Like Bhagavan, the
Hill comes to life and can appear to us as the beloved of our
heart as an indescribable tenderness. What could be nearer and
dearer than one's own Self, Arunachala?
"O nectar springing up in the heart of devotees .... haven
of my refuge. . ." (Arunachala Padikam).
"The one Self, the sole Reality alone exists eternally. When
even the youthful teacher of ancient times, Dakshinamurti,
revealed it through speechless eloquence, who else could convey
it by speech?" (Ekatma Panchakam).
Bhagavan explained that the Universe is like a painting on
a screen, that screen being the red Hill, Arunachala. That which
rises and sinks is made up only of what it rises from. The finality
of the Universe is Arunachala. Meditating on Arunachala or
the Self, there is a vibration `I'. Tracing the source of `I', the
primal `I-I' alone remains and it is inexpressible. The very first
sloka in the Marital Garland of Letters expresses this tersely:
"Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate
on Thee in the Heart, O Arunachala!''
Bhagavan, who scarcely ever gave advice to devotees unless
asked, wholeheartedly approved and encouraged their going
round the Hill as conducive and very beneficial to progress in
sadhana [?]. He himself set an example by doing giripradakshina
countless times. Worship is expressed by going around the object
of worship in silent remembrance or singing bhajans -- and
not giving way to stray thoughts. One usually goes barefoot.
The most auspicious times are full-moon days, Sivaratri (the
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night of Siva) and Kartikai, the night when the beacon is lit on
top of the Hill. It is said that the pilgrim is accompanied by an
invisible host of siddhas and rishis. On festival days, the stream
of pilgrims in white and brightly coloured clothes resembles
garlands of flowers, strewn around Arunachala, wafting their
scent in the way of bhajans.
Among the many holy places in India, representing
different modes of spirituality, Arunachala stands out as the
centre of the most direct path, guided by the silent influence of
the guru. It is the centre and the path where physical contact
with the guru is not necessary. The silent teaching acts and speaks
directly to the Heart. There was something essentially immutable
and rocklike in Bhagavan, although he had a thousand faces.
He spoke and explained when asked, but his greatest and most
inspiring teaching was, like the Hill, like Dakshinamurti, given
in silence. Through Bhagavan, the immense potentiality for
spiritual regeneration inherent in Arunachala, with which he
identified himself, was brought to life and into focus.
The benedictory verse adopted as an auspicious
introduction to the Five Hymns to Sri Arunachala was rather
puzzling as it was not clear who actually wrote those words "the
Paramatman, who is the same as Arunachala or Ramana." Sri T.
P. Ramachandra Iyer, one of the oldest devotees, who gave up
his practice as a lawyer to serve Bhagavan, was consulted and so
was Sri Visvanatha Swami. Their account of the matter is that
one day, when Bhagavan went out of Virupaksha Cave for his
usual morning walk, one Amritanatha Yati put on Bhagavan's
seat a piece of paper on which he told in a Malayalam verse, of
his great longing to know who Bhagavan really was, "Are you
the manifestation of Lord Vishnu, or Siva, or the great
grammarian Vararuchi, or the greatest of yatis (renunciates)?"
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His question was couched in classic form and script. When
he returned a little later to the cave, he found Bhagavan already
back from his walk. On the reverse of the piece of paper was
Bhagavan's reply, also in verse and Malayalam script, rendered
with mastery. On reading it, Amritanatha Yati felt shaken and
in all humility fell at Bhagavan's feet "like a tall coconut tree
cut even at the base", to use his own words.
The reply was as follows: `In the lotus-shaped Heart of all,
beginning with Vishnu, there shines as absolute Consciousness
the Paramatman [?]who is the same as Arunachala-Ramana. When
the mind melts with love of Him and reaches the inmost recess
of the Heart wherein He dwells as the beloved, the subtle eye
pure intellect opens and He reveals Himself as pure
Consciousness."
"Through the potent grace of Bhagavan", wrote Osborne
"the path of Self-enquiry was brought within the competence
of men and women of this age, was indeed fashioned into a
new path that can be followed in the conditions of the modern
world with no form or ritual . . . . This creation of a new path
to suit the needs of the age has made Arunachala the spiritual
centre of the world. More than ever, now that he has shed his
physical body and is one with Arunachala, the grace and
guidance that emanates from him to those who turn to him
and seek his aid is centred outwardly at Arunachala, to which
many are drawn, both those who were disciples of Bhagavan in
his lifetime and those who have come later."
As in the lifetime of Bhagavan, so also now one can turn
and speak to Arunachala-Ramana far more effectively than in
one's own words, by repeating an appropriate verse chosen from
the Five Hymns to Arunachala which Bhagavan wrote on behalf
of his disciples from whom he was not separate. The individual,
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being only a mode of absolute Consciousness, struggles against
his finitude to regain his primordial state of absolute freedom
through grace. These verses come from the devotees' own heart:
"Even when the thieves of the five senses break in upon
me, art Thou not still in my Heart, O Arunachala?"
"On seeking Thy real Self with courage I lost my moorings.
Have mercy on me, O Arunachala!"
"Unless Thou extend Thy hand of grace in mercy, I am
lost, O Arunachala!"
"Unlovable I am to look at now, yet ornament me with
Thy grace and then regard me, O Arunachala!"
"Thou hast administered the drug of confusion to me, so
must I be confounded! Shine Thou as grace, the cure of all
confusion, O Arunachala!"
"Lord! Who art Consciousness itself reigning over the
sublime Sonagiri, forgive the grievous wrongs of this poor self,
and by Thy gracious glance benignant as the rain cloud, save
me from being lost once more in the dreary waste, or else I
cannot ford the grim (stream of universal) manifestation."
"Lord! Deign to ease me in my weariness struggling like a
deer that is trapped. Lord Arunachala! What can be Thy will?"
"O pure One! If the five elements, the living beings and
every manifest thing is nothing but Thy all-embracing light,
how then can I alone be separate from Thee . . ."
Bhagavan has given many indications of his continued
presence. Ever-present, all-pervading, where could he go?
Outwardly manifested and visible as the Hill, he will remain
here always, guiding as before. "Only the body travels the Self
just is", Bhagavan used to say. His body travelled and disappeared.
He just is as he always has been and the visible support of grace
is Arunachala. It is a great blessing to be able to come here, to
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stay here. After many years, every day still seems like a gift.
One cannot help feeling the living presence, radiation and
powerful spiritual help accorded to those who seek it, and above
all are humble enough to surrender to this influence of faith!
"The Hill which draws to itself those who are rich in jnana [?]
tapas [?] (those who are ever intent on gaining wisdom) is this
Arunachala" (Annamalai Venba).
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