Arunachala

Thiruvannamalai

There is a Puranic story about the origin of the hill. Once Vishnu and Brahma fell to disputing which of them was the greater. Their quarrel brought chaos on earth, so the Devas approached Siva and besought him to settle the dispute. Siva thereupon manifested himself as a column of light from which a voice issued declaring that whoever could find its upper or lower end was the greater. Vishnu took the form of a boar and burrowed down into the earth to find the base, while Brahma took the form of a swan and soared upwards to seek its summit. Vishnu failed to reach the base of the column but “beginning to see within himself the Supreme Light which dwells in the hearts of all, he became lost in meditation, oblivious to the physical body and even unaware of himself, the one who sought”. Brahma saw the flower of an alse plant falling through the air and, thinking to win by deception, returned with it and declared he had plucked it from the summit.

Vishnu admitted his failure and turned to the Lord in praise and prayer: “You are Self-knowledge. You are OM. You are the beginning and the middle and the end of everything. You are everything and illuminate everything.” He was pronounced great while Brahma was exposed and confessed his fault.

In this legend, Vishnu represents the intellect and Brahma the ego, while Siva is Atma, the spirit.

The story continues that, because the lingam or column of light was too dazzling to behold, Siva manifested himself instead as the Arunachala hill, declaring: “As the moon derives its light from the sun, so other holy places shall derive their sanctity from Arunachala. This is the only place where I have taken this form for the benefit of those who wish to worship me and obtain illumination. Arunachala is OM itself. I will appear on the summit of this hill every year at Kartigai in the form of a peace-giving beacon

Arunachala also known as Thiruvannamalai houses the temple of Arunachalesvarar.The temple houses the Jyothi lingam Arunchalesvara.

There is a Puranic story about the origin of the hill. Once Vishnu and Brahma fell to disputing which of them was the greater. Their quarrel brought chaos on earth, so the Devas approached Siva and besought him to settle the dispute. Siva thereupon manifested himself as a column of light from which a voice issued declaring that whoever could find its upper or lower end was the greater. Vishnu took the form of a boar and burrowed down into the earth to find the base, while Brahma took the form of a swan and soared upwards to seek its summit. Vishnu failed to reach the base of the column but “beginning to see within himself the Supreme Light which dwells in the hearts of all, he became lost in meditation, oblivious to the physical body and even unaware of himself, the one who sought”. Brahma saw the flower of an alse plant falling through the air and, thinking to win by deception, returned with it and declared he had plucked it from the summit.

Vishnu admitted his failure and turned to the Lord in praise and prayer: “You are Self-knowledge. You are OM. You are the beginning and the middle and the end of everything. You are everything and illuminate everything.” He was pronounced great while Brahma was exposed and confessed his fault.

In this legend, Vishnu represents the intellect and Brahma the ego, while Siva is Atma, the spirit.

The story continues that, because the lingam or column of light was too dazzling to behold, Siva manifested himself instead as the Arunachala hill, declaring: “As the moon derives its light from the sun, so other holy places shall derive their sanctity from Arunachala. This is the only place where I have taken this form for the benefit of those who wish to worship me and obtain illumination. Arunachala is OM itself. I will appear on the summit of this hill every year at Kartigai in the form of a peace-giving beacon

Advaithic simplicity

To be frank all this advaitha talk without a deep conviction of the truth behind it can be the worst bane. There are many who just read JK and Uk and don't understand a fig about the reality behind it , so it becomes a play of words like there is no you, no me everything is bliss etc., Major waste of time.

My Master explains Advaitha simply by way of this parable.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa taught through simple stories and parables, the loftiest truths for an easy grasp of it.

One such story was about a clever villager. One of the common trades in the Indian villages in those days was dyeing. One takes a white cloth to a dyer and has it dyed in the desired colour by having the cloth dipped in the mixture of the respective vat.

One day a dyer who travelled from place to place set foot in the village. However this dyer sought to a strange way of dyeing. He just had one vat but produced multiple colours according to the preference of the villagers. It was supposed to be a magical tub in which he soaked the cloths. People were amazed with the same tub producing different colour cloths. One clever villager approached the dyer with his piece of cloth and asked him to colour the cloth according to the colour of the dye in his tub!

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa using the above story said that God gives everyone different things according to their preference. However if one would want to know Him, one would have to be intelligent like the clever villager.

God has no Name Or form or Colour. He does not belong to any relegion,caste or creed. He can not be known by the intellect or dissected by the mind. He is pure consciousness,Awareness and bliss.

You can feel him and grasp him. If you try to know him through your mind alone you will fail. That is why even great seers like Ramana Maharishi kept the fire of devotion intact in them as without that the heart will not have the mosture of Love for the seeds of Advaitha to germinate.

Arunachala Pancharathna

The fifth hymn, ‘Five Stanzas to Sri Arunachala’ (Arunachala Pancharatna), is of a different nature to the first four. The great Sanksrit poet and devotee Ganapati Sastri, who was a follower of Bhagavan, begged him to write a poem in Sanksrit. Bhagavan replied, laughing, that he scarcely knew any Sanksrit and no Sanksrit metres. Sastri, however explained a metre to him and repeated his request. When he returned the same evening this hymn had been written in perfect, flawless Sanskrit.

Devotee: I have been reading the Five Hymns. I find that the hymns are addressed to Arunachala by you. You are an advaitin. How do you then address God as a separate Being?

Maharshi: The devotee, God and the Hymns are all the Self.

Devotee: But you are addressing God. You are specifying this Arunachala Hill as God.

Maharshi: You can identify the Self with the body. Should not the devotee identify the Self with Arunachala?

Devotee: If Arunachala be the Self why should it be specially picked out among so many other hills? God is everywhere. Why do you specify Him as Arunachala?

Maharshi: What has attracted you here to this place? What has attracted all these people around?

Devotee: Sri Bhagavan.

Maharshi: How was I attracted here? By Arunachala. The Power cannot be denied. Again Arunachala is within and not without. The Self is Arunachala.