15th October 2009 - 26th October 2009
Day1 : Took CSTM Chennai Express at 6:10pm
Day2 : Reached Chennai Central at 5pm, crossed main road to reach Park town station,took a local train towards Velchary, and got down at Kasturbhai Nagar. Sriram picked me up around 6:30pm. Spent the night at Sriram's flat. Parents and G.Mom took circar express to Chennai at 3:40pm.
Day3 : Parents and G.Mom got down at Gummidipundi(50km from Chennai) around 5am, took local train to Anupambattu(30km from Chennai), spent the whole day at Meher baba Spiritual Centre.
I took a local train from Kasturbai Nagar at 11am to Central and from there took a train towards GummudiPundi and reached Meher Baba centre to meet my family waiting for me at Anupambattu by 1pm. We had lunch at the Ashram, and spent Deepawali with Baba lovers who assembled there to celebrate the festival of lights. We were given accomodation at a nearby house.
Day4 : We woke up at 4am and accompanied by Mr Kanaka Raju who is incharge of the Ashram, went to the railway station, took a train to Chennai. Sriram arranged a driver who would drop us along with the car at Tiruvannamalai(180km from Chennai). On the way we visited AdiParasakthi temple at MelMaruvattur(90km from Chennai). We reached Arunachalam by 1:30pm. To reserve accomodation at Ramanashramam, the procedure is to send an email to ashram@sriramanamaharshi.org or call +91- 4175- 237200, +91 - 9244937292 fifteen days in advance. The accomodation provided to us was a 2-bedroom(with attached bathrooms and 4 beds on 4 cots). It also had a broom for cleaning the rooms. It was more like home. At Ramanashramam, accomodation and wholesome food is free of cost. We visited the Ashram and had a delicious dinner at 7:30pm.
Day5 : We woke up at 4:30am and visited Arunachaleshwara temple. The lingam here is Agni lingam(represents Gnanaagni). Shiva abides here as Sri Annamalaiyar. Ambha is called Unnamulai
amman.http://tiruvannamalai.yogiramsuratkumar.net/Arunachala_Temple.htmlWe had darshan and visited pathalalingam where Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi did penance. We also visited a hall with pictures of postures of Nataraja swamy, Kartikeya temple, Koneru and other lingams. We took lunch at Ramanashram around 11:30am. took some rest and started for girivalam.The circumambulation of Arunachala (Giripradakshina) has been prescribed as a panacea for all the ills of life. The Maharshi encouraged all of his devotees to make the nine-mile circuit, even those who were infirm, knowing for certain that the spiritual benefits of giripradakshina far outweighed any physical hardships. He said, “The greatness of this giripradakshina has been described at length in Arunachala Puranam. Lord Nandikesa asked Sadasiva about its greatness and Sadasiva narrated
as follows: “To go round this hill is good. The word ‘pradakshina’ has a typical meaning. The letter ‘Pra’ stands for the removal of all kinds of sin; ‘da’ stands for the fulfillment of desires; ‘kshi’ stands for freedom from future births; ‘na’ stands for the granting of deliverance through jnana. One should go round
either in mouna (silence) or dhyana (meditation) or japa (repetition of Lord’s name) or bhajan (singing praises) and thereby think of God all the time. One should walk slowly like a woman who is in the ninth month of pregnancy.”
Mom,dad and myself started Girivalam at 4pm and completed by 10pm.
Day6 : We woke up at 5am and visited Ramanashramam at 6:30am. Attended various programs at the Ashram and spent the whole day at the ashram. On entering the ashram, we find a 400 year old Iluppai tree. The New hall has a life-sized statue of Maharshi on a couch. The Matrubhuteswara temple contains a sacred Siva Linga and a Sri Chakra Meru sanctified by Sri Maharshi’s own touch. Adjacent to this is a large, marble-floored meditation hall that encloses a shrine built over Sri Maharshi's tomb. A lotus of white marble adorns the center of the mantap and over it is installed a sacred Siva Linga. A large, marble-floored meditation hall encloses this shrine. The Old Hall remains a favorite place for meditation of visitors and inmates alike. The dining hall accommodated with a large kitchen can accomodate nearly 800 people. Nirvana Room is the room in which the Maharshi spent his last days. A shrine is erected over the samadhi of Sri Niranjananda swami(the Maharshi's younger brother). Shrines are also erected over samadhis of cow Lakshmi, deer Valli, dog Jackie and the blessed crow. Skandashramam and Virupaksha Guha are on the path to the Sikhara from Ramanashramam.
Daily Schedule of the Ashram
6:30 a.m. Chanting and Milk offering to Sri Bhagavan in the Samadhi Hall
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Chanting of the Vedas in front of Sri Bhagavan's Shrine
8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Puja at the Shrine of Sri Bhagavan followed by Puja at the Shrine of Mother
11:30 a.m. Lunch
4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m Tea or hot milk served in the dining hall
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Reading in Tamil and English in the Samadhi Hall
5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Chanting of the Vedas in front of Sri Bhagavan's Shrine
5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Puja at the Shine of Sri Bhagavan, followed by Puja at the Shrine of Mother
6:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m Tamil Parayana on Monday through Saturday
7:30 p.m. Dinner
Day 7 : We wokeup at 5am went to the Ashram. After lunch we hired a driver and started towards SreePuram(Narayani Peetam) golden temple of Lakshmi Goddess which is carved in the shape of a SriChakra in 7 years. The golden temple of Sripuram is a Spiritual park situated at the foot of a small range of green hills in a place known as "Malaikodi" in the city of Vellore in Tamil Nadu, India(75 km from Chennai).
The temple is located on 100 acres of land and has been constructed by Vellore-based Sri Narayani Peetam, headed by spiritual leader Sri Sakthi Amma also known as Narayani Amma. The temple, covering 55,000 sq ft (5,100 m2), has intricate carvings and sculptures in gold. The lighting is arranged in such a way that the temple glitters even during night. The temple construction was completed on August 24th, 2007.
We also visited the 1000year old Jalakanteshwara temple at Vellore.We reached Kanchipuram by 8pm took accomodation at a TTD cottage.
Day 8 : We visited ekambareshwara temple(shiva kanchi). Here, Mother Kamakshi did tapas under a mango tree and married ekambareshwara. We visited Kamakshi temple, Vamana temple, Varadarajaswamy temple
(vishnu kanchi), narasimhaswamy temple, kumarakottam, sree kanchi kamakoti peetam (which has brindavanam of Sri Chandrasekhara Paramacharya Swamigal). We shopped some Kanchipuram sarees and reached Sriram's home in Chennai(75km from Kanchipuram) by 8pm,
Day 9 : We took rest till afternoon. We started around 4pm at Sriram's home at Kasturbai Nagar to Astalakshmi temple and spent around 3 hours at the beach, did some shopping.
Day 10 : Mom,dad and GMom embarked circar express at 5pm. I waited for Chennai Express at Chennai Central. from 6pm.
It was scheduled at 10:50pm but was rescheduled at 03:30am. Had to spend the whole night at chennai central alone trying hard not to sleep.
Day 11 : Reached pune at 02:20am. Back to office work after a refreshening tour to Arunachalam.
