sahiti

Ramana Maharshi says that EVERYTHING is pre-destined and there is nth called “free-will” in deciding the events. He has no intention to elaborate or convince anyone about the same. To take it as it is or to find reasons is left to us. The story of my prev blog illustrates the same. (Sarath says the story may be fabricated, but for me it doesn't really matter! what i see is not the veracity of the story itself, but of the idea that it tries to illustrate)

Though i have faith in Ramana Maharshi’s words, I need to know the reason too as intellect is still not convinced. It still reasons that EVERYTING cannot be pre-destined. If one does not have a choice in their actions, they cannot be held responsible for the same. If it is written that X would kill/oppress Y. Even the oppressor is as helpless and choice-less as the oppressed. It is unjust that he should pay for sth imposed upon him, if he just has as much choice as a gun in the hands of a murderer. So there HAS to be a free-will, to fit the Karma theory.

This takes us to "Everything is predestined, but we have free-will!"

Now, it is getting interesting here. If we call Destiny as Divine-will, where exactly does free-will fit it? I would like to share some of my deliberations about the story. There are different threads i am pursuing as of now, so this post can turn out to be a bunch of muddled thoughts.

There is definitely a Divine-will and there is also a free-will, though a lot weaker than the former. NOTHING can happen against Divine-will. The divine-will was that the disciple should have payasa. The disciple in the story had the hardships because he has used his free-will against Divine-will. If he had aligned his free-will inline with Divine-will, he would have had the paayasa offered in a cup and had it happily sitting at home and not choked to gulp the same forcibly by some dacoits in the middle of a forest. The more he tried to oppose, the greater the difficulty. So the choice(free-will) here that the disciple (or anyone) has is either to align with the Divine-will or to oppose it. A person who does the former is at peace (does not mean material wealth or happiness). The one who tries the later is like trying to outshine the sun with a candle and would be frustrated, restless and defeated. 

The Divine-will is a law of Nature or Dharma, there is no favoritism.  The ships that align their sails with the mighty winds reach the shore and those to don't are overwhelmed in a storm.  In the context of Gita, Pandava’s are examples of the free-will aligned with Divine-will.  Kourava’s are the examples of free-will opposing divine-will. Everybody in the battle-field of Kurukshetra had exercised their free-will in choosing which side to take and had reaped accordingly.

A couple of times, Arjuna exercises his free-will and consciously chooses to go with Divine-will. Once before coming to the battle ground, when he chooses Krishna (with condition that he wouldn't take up arms in the battlefield) over his entire army. Then at the end of Gita, he exercises his free-will and chooses to continue with the battle than walk away. Let me elucidate my point…

When Arjuna suddenly decides not to go for war in the midst of the battle field, Krishna gives him the eternal knowledge. At one point, Krishna says (11:33)

tasmat tvam uttistha yaso labhasva
jitva satrun bhunksva rajyam samrddham
mayaivaite nihatah purvam eva
nimitta-matram bhava savya-sacin

Here Krishna says that it is His will that the Kauravas are to perish. Arjuna should arise for battle and attain fame by conquering the Kauravas and their army who have already been killed even before the battle has commenced by the Will of Lord Krishna. He informs Arjuna that he is nimitta-matram or merely the instrument, for accomplishing this.

In one of the later chapters at the end of Gita, Krishna says “yadechasi tada kuru” - (I have told you all that i had to say) Do as you desire to do.

Which means Arjuna did have a free-will either to do as Krishna directed or not to. What was pre-destined was the death of the kauravas - death of adharma is the Divine-will.

Arjuna could choose either to work for the Divine Plan or walk away.

Aligning with the Divine plan inspite of the hardships and his personal doubts would give fame, wealth and kingdom to Arjuna.

However, Arjuna should not let his Ego of being a good warrior delude him that “HE” is the “DOER” and is in the position to decide the future events!!!

If he had chosen to walk away, the kaurava’s would still have been killed with out Arjuna in the picture. Only Arjuna would have been the loser, in disgrace of being a king who fled the battle-field. As far as Krishna is concerned, they are already dead and it is just a matter of who plays the lead role and takes the fame…the script is already in place!

Going by this logic

a) Events are pre-destined, but our participation in them is our free-will!

May be, getting the opportunity to participate is also pre-destined. But whether to “act” or not at the right moment is the free-will of the soul. The future and maturity of that soul depends on that one moment of action or inaction

Whether YOU come forward and do a good or righteous act or not doesn't matter for the Divine. If it is destined, someone else would definitely do it. If u do not live up to the occasion and do the good deed, it is only YOU who is going to lose! 

b) Events are pre-destined, but our attitude towards them is our free-will. Karma is accumulated because of the attitude with which we do an action and not the action itself!

These days i seldom get time to read a book from cover to cover. Whenever I was greedy enough to start from the beginning, I left the book mid way, incomplete, for want of time. To avoid the remorse, now i have made a habit to randomly open a page and start reading for the short period of free time and leave it at that.  (The kind of books that i read are no suspense thrillers and hence the order of the chapters really doesn't matter!)

So on one of our later visits to Ramana ashram (Note 1), I randomly opened a page of a free booklet and started reading. It was a story about a conversation between a guru (Not Ramana Maharshi, but some sage, may be mythical) and his disciple and i jumped out of my skin on reading the first sentence. (Note 2)

The disciple asks his Guru, "Is everything pre-destined or is there free-will?” 

 The guru replies saying that EVERYTHING is pre-destined and there is no free-will. Now, the disciple, in the story contests the guru’s claim! He says, “ If there is no free will and if everything is pre-destined, what is the point in living the life?! What is the point in working hard? Nothing matters! So logically, there should be Free-will”

The all smiling guru says “Son! I say again, Everything is pre-destined”

Now the disciple, just like the Guru is adamant. He says, “Ok, in that case, tell me something that i am going to do in the next 24 hrs. I will exercise my free-will and NOT do that! Will you then agree that there is free-will?? “

“Yes, of course!" said the Guru. Saying so he meditated for a while, opened his eyes and said “Son, you are going to eat paayasa (Kheer) before tomm morning!” and left the place

The disciple was very excited. Eating payasa? that is an easy target, isnt it? After all what you eat is under your control. So he already started whistling and rehearsing what he would say to his Guru, when he returns victorious the next day.

He goes home quickly and without talking to anybody (why, someone may offer payasa!) he finishes his daily chores in a buff, packs a little food for the night and goes to the forest. There in the middle of the forest he climbs a tree by noon and starts waiting for the dusk. The idea is to spend the night in the middle of the forest, on the tree, where no one even knew he existed! He can get down the next morning and go straight to the guru. Hence thinking he dozes off smugly.

Suddenly he is woken up by some commotion, when it is just about to get dark. He sees a marriage party crossing the forest. They are discussing whether they should stop for the night and put up the tents there. Finally they decide to stop there, cook and eat the dinner, rest for the night and continue with the journey the following day. The tents are put up, the cooks put few boulders together, gather wood and starts cooking. The marriage party had to make at least one sweet in the food and after a little discussion, Lo! it is payasa that is being cooked!! As the fragrance of payasa touched the disciple, he is a bit rattled. But he still reasons, there is no worry as nobody knows i am here.

Few hours pass. Just when the food is ready and everybody is about to eat, dacoits attack and loot the marriage party. Everybody runs helter-skelter. After gathering all the valuables, looking at the ready-to-eat delicious and sumptuous meal with all varieties, they decide to have the meal as well and carry on. Our hero was observing all from the tree top with great curiosity and praying that they should leave fast. But one doubting Thomas among the thieves says “what if they mixed something in the food before they fled?” More arguments and counter arguments followed and finally it was decided that if someone mixed sth in the food, hoping that the dacoits would eat and die, they would be hiding somewhere around to come back and take the valuables. So it was decided to go around searching if somebody was hiding. On listening to this, a chill ran the spine of our dear disciple and true to his fears; he was discovered and dragged down!!  

Now, the doubting Thomas is all beaming…”See! Did i not tell you! this fellow must have surely mixed something in the food” 

The disciple pleaded that he was not one of the marriage party and he should be left. The more innovative of the dacoits (may be the one who really still wanted to eat!) comes up with an idea that the disciple should be made to eat the food first and if nothing happens to him, all of them can have it.

Everybody agrees with the idea. The fear stricken disciple is also a bit relieved for a moment, but then he remembers payasa and blurts out “I will eat everything except the payasa!”

Now, all the dacoits get doubtful and say “Then you MUST have surely mixed something in the paayasa. So eat THAT first!”

The disciple tries to explain, begs and tries to run away, which only makes the dacoits persist. They unanimously decided that something is really mixed in paayasa, the disciple is the one who did it and hence the punishment would be to make him have it.

Holding down the disciple to the ground by his limbs, they pour the paayasa in his mouth. The disciple, still using his “free-will” tries to spit it out and not swallow it. This infuriates the dacoits further and with a few blows they manage to make the disciple gulp a good amount of paayasa. Thus satisfied, they leave the place jubilant with their own clever ways.

Next morning, the disciple visits the ashram dejected, accepts his defeat and apologizes to the guru.

The story ends there. This as such did not answer my doubts instantly. The story does say something more but the logic is not yet complete.

One negation is enough to disprove. But one success is not enough to prove!

True, the disciple has lost, but has the Guru really won?

Even if we assume so for a moment and accept that “Everything is pre-destined”, then what is the role of Free-will!?

Where does Free-will fit in the scheme of Divine-will? I kept pondering over the same and something close to the answer dawned upon me after a few days.

Note 1: We have been to Thiruvannamalai and Ramana Ashram 6-7 times after our first visit that I wrote about

Note 2: Now, did that book come to me by chance or was it predestined- I did not buy it, it was a free booklet in my mother tongue (Telugu) given by an old man in the Book Store on knowing that I am from Andhra Pradesh!

Did i open that page by chance - Except for those 5 mins and for that one story I couldn't get time to read that book again!  

It happened at the same place that i contested the claim of Ramana Maharshi on previous visit! That adds one more parameter to the “by chance” list!!!  )

( I have been extremely busy to write anything these days. But the following article was so very exciting that i HAD to share it!!! I hope to post my views/opinion/study on the same a little later, but for now i post the article as it is….)

Nov. 19, 2008: An international team of researchers has discovered a puzzling surplus of high-energy electrons bombarding Earth from space. The source of these cosmic rays is unknown, but it must be close to the solar system and it could be made of dark matter. Their results are being reported in the Nov. 20th issue of the journal Nature.

This is a big discovery,” says co-author John Wefel of Louisiana State University. “It’s the first time we’ve seen a discrete source of accelerated cosmic rays standing out from the general galactic background.”This is a big discovery,” says co-author John Wefel of Louisiana State University. “It’s the first time we’ve seen a discrete source of accelerated cosmic rays standing out from the general galactic background.”

Galactic cosmic rays are subatomic particles accelerated to almost light speed by distant supernova explosions and other violent events. They swarm through the Milky Way, forming a haze of high energy particles that enter the solar system from all directions. Cosmic rays consist mostly of protons and heavier atomic nuclei with a dash of electrons and photons spicing the mix.

To study the most powerful and interesting cosmic rays, Wefel and colleagues have spent the last eight years flying a series of balloons through the stratosphere over Antarctica. Each time the payload was a NASA-funded cosmic ray detector named ATIC, short for Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter. The team expected ATIC to tally the usual mix of particles, mainly protons and ions, but the calorimeter found something extra: an abundance of high-energy electrons.

Wefel likens it to driving down a freeway among family sedans, mini-vans and trucks?when suddenly a bunch of Lamborghinis bursts through the normal traffic. “You don’t expect to see so many race cars on the road?or so many high-energy electrons in the mix of cosmic rays.” During five weeks of ballooning in 2000 and 2003, ATIC counted 70 excess electrons in the energy range 300-800 GeV. (”Excess” means over and above the usual number expected from the galactic background.) Seventy electrons may not sound like a great number, but like seventy Lamborghinis on the freeway, it’s a significant surplus

The source of these exotic electrons must be relatively close to the solar system?no more than a kiloparsec away,” says co-author Jim Adams of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Why must the source be nearby? Adams explains: “High-energy electrons lose energy rapidly as they fly through the galaxy. They give up energy in two main ways: (1) when they collide with lower-energy photons, a process called inverse Compton scattering, and (2) when they radiate away some of their energy by spiraling through the galaxy’s magnetic field.” By the time an electron has traveled a whole kiloparsec, it isn’t so ‘high energy’ any more.

High-energy electrons are therefore local. Some members of the research team believe the source could be less than a few hundred parsecs away. For comparison, the disk of the spiral Milky Way galaxy is about thirty thousand parsecs wide. (One parsec approximately equals three light years.)

Unfortunately,” says Wefel, “we can’t pinpoint the source in the sky.” Although ATIC does measure the direction of incoming particles, it’s difficult to translate those arrival angles into celestial coordinates. For one thing, the detector was in the basket of a balloon bobbing around the South Pole in a turbulent vortex of high-altitude winds; that makes pointing tricky. Moreover, the incoming electrons have had their directions scrambled to some degree by galactic magnetic fields. “The best ATIC could hope to do is measure a general anisotropy?one side of the sky versus the other.”

This uncertainty gives free rein to the imagination. The least exotic possibilities include, e.g., a nearby pulsar, a ‘microquasar’ or a stellar-mass black hole?all are capable of accelerating electrons to these energies. It is possible that such a source lurks undetected not far away. NASA’s recently-launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is only just beginning to survey the sky with sufficient sensitivity to reveal some of these objects.

An even more tantalizing possibility is dark matter.

There is a class of physical theories called “Kaluza-Klein theories” which seek to reconcile gravity with other fundamental forces by positing extra dimensions. In addition to the familiar 3D of human experience, there could be as many as eight more dimensions woven into the space around us. A popular yet unproven explanation for dark matter is that dark matter particles inhabit the extra dimensions. We feel their presence via the force of gravity, but do not sense them in any other way.

How does this produce excess cosmic rays? Kaluza-Klein particles have the curious property (one of many) that they are their own anti-particle. When two collide, they annihilate one another, producing a spray of high-energy photons and electrons. The electrons are not lost in hidden dimensions, however, they materialize in the 3-dimensions of the real world where ATIC can detect them as “cosmic rays.”

“Our data could be explained by a cloud or clump of dark matter in the neighborhood of the solar system,” says Wefel. “In particular, there is a hypothesized Kaluza-Klein particle with a mass near 620 GeV which, when annihilated, should produce electrons with the same spectrum of energies we observed.”

Testing this possibility is nontrivial because dark matter is so, well, dark. But it may be possible to find the cloud by looking for other annihilation products, such as gamma-rays. Again, the Fermi Space Telescope may have the best chance of pinpointing the source.

“Whatever it is,” says Adams, “it’s going to be amazing.”

source : http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/19nov_cosmicrays.htm

pic: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1693

PS:: Umm! I am like “Fasten your seat belts, the show has begun!”

Lot of people (including yours truly) are struck with a profession which is not their passion. It is not what they love to do. They still do it because it gives “job security” or “good pay” or both.

I love kids and i enjoy teaching. Teaching kids would have been my ideal profession or starting a school my dream.

What prevents me from going after my dream? The same, “insecurity about future”. The thought “What if suddenly i become unwell or there is an emergency and i dont have money?”

So let me earn and save while i can. Dreams can wait!!!

Really???

When one knows that he has got only limited time to live, one does what he loves the most without a second thought. There is no reason for any compromise. “the time is running out. Do it NOW. else you never know” will be playing in the back of your head. You do not postpone doing what u love to do. You live life the way it should be, NOW, in the present! (This reminds me of Sarath chandra’s blog “Me? I was finel” )

Is it only people with terminal illness that have got limited time?

No!

It holds good for everyone. All of us have got only limited time! A terminally ill patient atleast has a notice period. Others dont even have that! The unexpected visitor, Mr Death, can come knocking any moment! So, isnt that a stronger and more urgent reason to live the present moment to the fullest?

What prevents man from living in the present and reaching for his dreams? Why does he compromise?

what is man really afraid of?

Of death?

Or of Outliving his resources?? (and hence long life?)

“Only a lighted candle can lighten another one” is what they say, about the importance of Guru. The fact that i am yet in the mire of ignorance says for itself that i am still searching for my Guru! (May be i already met him, there is no way i would know untill the ignorance is removed!)

I have read about many Gurus and their teachings. Read about Ramana Maharshi, C.V.V, Pandit Sriram Sharma Aacharya, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Paramahamsa yogananda, Shiridi Sai, Satya Sai. Also read J. Krishna murthy, Ohso, U.G Krishna murthy and Ekkirala krishamacharya, ekkirala bharadwaja …etc and I am still reading. They all seem to talk about the same thing. “Happiness is within” or “You are are Brahman” Whether it is the self-analysis of Ramana Maharshi or the Gayatri Sadhana of Sriram sharma aacharya, the aim is to reach the core, to know the knower! But then, they also say that no amount of reading, imagining, analysis and contemplation would be equal to the real “knowing”. That moment of knowing is just a snap away at any moment. So near yet so far.

Something is standing in between! “Ya, It's the Ego! Snub the ego and Drop the “mind” pat comes reply from the much read “intellectual” mind in me! That's the whole point! While on one hand, the teachings ask us to snub the ego and drop the mind, continuous reading and intellectualization only does the opposite. One gets a feeling that he “knows” and has all the answers. One takes pride in the process of search and looks down upon others who are unlike him to be lesser mortals. One starts to identify himself with the search so much that he refuses to stop the search and refuses to grow beyond!!! Some people even attribute “insult” and “prestige” to the guru himself and drag him down to their level. (After all who can “insult” the ABSOLUTE?! )

Some argue about the need for the search. Some say you need not run around searching for any Guru. When the time comes, the Guru will find you. You need not read any books. The entire search is futile because it is not going to take you to your goal of knowing the ABSOLUTE. So if it is going to ”happen” when the “time comes”, why search!? 

I agree that the search through the study of various teachings, concepts, however earnest it may be, cannot make one enlightened. But it is nevertheless indispensable part. It is the process of getting ready to be “lighted”. It is like drying the wick and keeping it ready so that it can get lighted when it comes in touch with a lighted candle!  When exposed to the same fire, a piece of wood that is well dried catches fire easily than a one soaked in water!  An earnest and effective search, sadhana or self-study, does just the same to a person. When done truthfully and earnestly, it gets him ready for the final show.

 I would be thirty this year. Which means going by the current Indian life expectancy, i am some where in the middle. Whether the glass is half full or half empty has always been a matter of perspective, so lets not debate on that. one should also know that a glass can break any moment! When one adds that dimension, it doesn't really bother whether it is half full or half empty!  While the clock ticks its way to eternity, my search continues.

My Musings: Some people like UG, OSHO deride the conventional methods of worship. UG even derides the Guru-shishya hierarchy. They may be true to a certain extent. The conventional religion, worship etc may be crutches. But infirm people do need them. My opinion is that a person who has learnt to walk independent of them shouldn't deride the crutches or the ppl who still use/need them. It would create confusion. If an infirm person tries to leave the crutches without gaining the ability to walk, he would fall and there would be more confusion!!!

Even Aurobindo is supposed to have said that everything that has ever been said or written about the ABSOLUTE is a lie, including the Vedas. Who can ever claim to have described the indescribable? All those have been just attempts to raise the curiosity; they are like trying to explain what “light” or “color” is to a blind person. The experience can never match the words or the imagination they create!!

Thousands have pondered over it, yet only very few reached anywhere near the answer. Going by the hypothesis that there is indeed a purpose for life, I started pondering over mine.

There are certain moments in everybody's life, moments of purity, I would call them. They are the moments of utter delight at something natural, something simple like the freshness of spring morning, the beauty of a sunrise or the innocent smile of a child!  That particular moment, you do not need anything external to be happy. It just flows out of you, naturally. They are the magical moments when you are happy in spite of the world! They are the moments of purity, trust, innocence and love, the moments of real learning! The more one observes nature, the more often would such moments happen. The purpose of life then would be to carry back these moments and learning into the daily life and to let the purity enter the thoughts, words and actions, into every aspect of day to day life. Then there comes as spontaneity in whatever one does, certain freshness in every action. Being accepting, loving and giving, always and unconditionally would be the outcome of such purity. Becoming a reflection of that purity found in nature and being able to weave those magical moments such that they occupy ALL the moments seems to be the purpose of life, at least for me, for now!

PS: By spontaneity I don't mean randomness.  There is an unmistakable rhythm in the spontaneity of nature! Sun raises everyday, seasons occur and re-occur, but no two sunrises are the same! Nor are any two springs!

Hit Counters

This seems to be a year of travel! At least for me it has been so till now and i hope it remains so for the rest of the year. In January we have been to Sringeri, Udupi, Murudeswar, gokarna. In Feb we went to Thiruvanmalai, the place where Ramana Maharshi’s asharam is located. Then we came to know that there is something called Girivalam or Giripradakshina, the circumambulation of the hill arunachala that is done on every full moon and we planned to do it “soon”. Miraculously we did it the very next full moon, this march on 21st!!

First about the legend associated with the place: Vishnu and Brahma once got into an argument as to who was greater among them and they go to Lord Siva. Lord Siva then takes the form of a giant flame and tells them that the one who finds the origin or end of that flame would be the greatest. Vishnu takes the form of a bore and goes digging to find the origin. Brahma flies on his swan to find the end. They both fail. Vishnu comes back humbled, apologizes for his audacity and says that he has realized that there is someone greater than him. Brahma, on his ascent meets a certain kind of flower (don't remember the name) and asks it from where it's coming. It replies saying that it has fallen from one of the jatas of lord Siva. Brahma then conspires with the flower and asks it to bare false witness that he has collected it from Siva’s head. The flower complies. However the truth is already known and they both (the flower and Brahma) are cursed. The curse is that Brahma wouldn't be worthy of worship and that the flower should not be used for the worship of any God either.

That is the legend and the location where that flame has stood on earth is supposed to be the hill of arunachala. The legend also says that the hill was in the form of fire during satya-yuga, transformed into crystal and then by kaliyuga it took the form of rock. All this is unverifiable and is just a legend which we hope to believe. It is just for information that i mention it here. Coming to whether i believe it or not, I just read it and think “May be, may not be. I am not in the capacity to accept or reject.”

It is not this legend that has pulled me to the place. It is Ramana Maharshi who did it. Sri Ramana is hailed as the greatest of the sages of the modern times by one and all. A sage without any controversy! None at all!!!! He came to arunachala in his teens and stayed there till he passes away at the age of 60+. All the while he remained the same, simple and calm, wearing just a loin cloth. One glimpse at the ashram and one would get a feel of the simplicity of the man.

Sri Ramana had come to Thiruvanmalai in his teens. He first meditated for 15 years in a cave atop the hill called Virupaksha cave. When his mother joined him, he moved to a little more flat/spacious cave called “skandashramam”. When his mother expired, he built her samadhi at the foot of the hill, built a Matru bhooteswar temple on it and stayed there till the end. This is the current day ashram that everybody visits. The ashram consists of just 3 rooms. One room where he used to meet ppl, that currently has the couch that he used to sit on. Another, the samadhi mandir, called the meditation hall. Another 10X10 room where the maharshi used to stay. The scarce items used by him are on display there. That's it! The ashram ends! The place is absolutely filled with pleasant silence, situated right at the foot of the hill.

Sri Ramana never gave any discourses or collected disciples. He became famous worldwide when Paul Brunton, a western journalist wrote about him in his book “A Search in Secret India..” Brunton claims that his search has ended at Arunachala where he found the Maharshi. I bought the book and it is very well written. He is not an Indo-phile who drools over anything and everything about India. He is a rationalist in that he does not accept anything unless experienced/seen first hand. At the same time, he has the grace to accept the limits of his capability in understanding the esoteric and readiness to learn/accept something totally irrational by western standards, if given adequate proof. He does the tight rope walking with grace and I would recommend the book as a “must read” by all, believers and non-believers. The later more so

Ramana Maharshi’s was the path of “Self-enquiry”. He did not recommend the guru-shishya path and used to claim that the guru is within everyone and there is no need to go around search. When people came to him with certain intellectual questions in their mind, he would ask them “Who is asking the question?” the answer would be “I am” He would then say “Who is the “I”, find him and all your questions would be answered”. His initiation was the initiation of silence. He would never speak. Ppl would just come, sit near him, with their heads full of Qs for the master. But in his presence, all the questions would seem irrelevant and meaningless. A forceful yet pleasant silence would permeate their being and they would find peace!

To Quote from wiki “The mind will subside only by means of the enquiry ‘Who am I?’. The thought ‘Who am I?’, destroying all other thoughts, will itself finally be destroyed like the stick used for stirring the funeral pyre.”

A Brief outline of his life and teachings can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi

About the Giri-pradakshina

Sri Ramana is supposed to have given great importance to the hill arunachala. He said that the hill was personification of lord Siva himself. He used to do pradakshina of the hill very often. One circumambulation would sometimes take a day, week or even month. He declared that there is not even an inch of the hill that he has not set foot on! He advised that every man should do the predakshina atleast once in a life time. He insisted even the old and the infirm to do the same and said that the physical pain is nthing compared to immesurable gain which is difficult to perceive. He did not encourage any other ritual, mantra or practice. It is the fact that the pradakshina was recommended by such a person that made me take up the strenuous walk, barefoot, for about 17kms.

The pradakshina is supposed to be done on the full moon day. In the month of march, full moon lasted from 20th(Thurday) nite to 21st (friday) nite.

We started from Bangalore at around 9 AM on friday and reached Thiruvanmalai at around 1.30. We had booked the accommodation at Seshadri ashram next to Ramana Ashram. We went there, occupied the rooms, had lunch and started the giri-pradakshina at around 2.30. It took 4 hours for us to complete the pradakshina of the hill, visiting the temples enroute. It took an hour more for the darshan at the temple. (Fortunately, it was quick. We somehow managed to go at lean time. Generally it is expected to take 2-3 hrs on full moon days.) It was almost 9 by the time we reached the cottage and all we could do for the day was to apply balm to the aching legs and soothe the muscles in warm water!

The experience of pradakshina was great, though strenuous for the unaccustomed feet of a software engineer. We could see the local people do it with ease, some, along with their luggage and kids! There are 8 lingas in the 8 directions (agni linga, vaayu linga, varuna linga, kubera linga..etc) in addition to number of other small temples. The place is literally infested with temples and ashrams of holy men. There are so many simple ashrams of so many little known babas there, that u wonder whether the one whom you have crossed just now is one of them!! There is Yogi Ramsuratkumar Ashram, Seshadri ashram to name the bigger ones. There are many smaller ones. There are lot of inaccessible and unknown caves atop the hill where at least one enlightened person stays at any given period in history. (Before Ramana, the cave where he meditated was occupied by a Great sage “Thiru”. He was very famous and ppl thronged to see him. Once he is supposed to have asked everyone to leave, entered this cave and closed it. After certain time, when the disciples force entered the cave, all they would find were the ashes of the sage. Ramana is supposed to have chosen the same cave, made a heap of the ashes and meditated before it for 15 yrs. It is the virupaksha cave. A simple trek on steps made of boulders would take one there. We can even sit and meditate in the same cave for as long as we please. Needless to say, the vibrations are great! The quietness of the hill and the chirpy birds will make one forget the bustle of the town below and make him believe he is meditating at a distant forest.

On day two we visited the Ashram early in the morning, stayed there for the arathi and meditated for some time. The attention span was very less; blame it on my lack of practice of meditation or even sitting still for that matter! I almost NEVER meditated before; by meditation, i mean sitting still and trying to observe thoughts or whatever. But even for me the 20 mins i sat there was absolute peace. I didnt have much thoughts to grapple with or “look” at. The fact that i could sit with eyes closed for 30 mins and not look at the watch even once shows “the proximity effect”. We could not spend much time at the ashram as we had the target of visiting the two ashram-caves skandarshram and virupaksha askram before noon.

We set out on the trek at around 8 am. Sri Ramana, when he came to Thiruvanmalai had darshan of the lord at the temple, climed up the hill to virupaksha cave, stayed for 15 yrs, moved to skandashram, and then to the current ramanashram. Our trek was in the opposite direction. We started at Ramanashram, went to skandashram, virupaksha cave and finally landed near the temple, 2 kms away from the ashram. The beautiful trek and the brief yet fulfilling meditations at the caves left us wanting to visit the place again. This time we had to travel back to Bangalore before dark on the same day as i had left my son with my inlaws. This was the first time that he had stayed overnight without me and he surprised everyone by managing well!

The most remarkable thing about the trip, in addition to the place itself was the weather. It was just fantastic! It was raining cats and dogs while we were driving to Thiruvanmalai. We had apprehensions about having to do the pradakshina when there is down pour. But from our time of arrival till the time of departure, it did not rain! We were outdoors all through the stay in the excellent weather except for the nite, when it had promptly rained!! The area is rocky and even a moderately sunny day by local standards would have left us drained by many more times. This time all we had to manage were just our aching legs and everything else was thankfully taken care of!

I love to travel, but the past one and half to two yrs have been quite sedentary bcos of my son. Now that he is almost two, we ventured out on a long drive in Jan during the extended weekend of sankranti. We went to sringeri-udupi-murudeswar-gokarna, driving through the wonderful Western Ghats and by the beach roads. (round trip around 1100kms)

First destination was Sringeri Sarada peetham. It is the first of the four original maţhas traditionally said to have been established by Adi Shankaracharya.

A small legend about the origins of the place

According to legends, Śankara and his four disciples, accompanied by Bharati, an incarnation of Goddess Sarasvati reached Sringeri on an exceptionally hot noon, and as they proceeded to the river Tunga for their ablutions, they saw a frog struggling in the blazing sun to be delivered of its spawn. A cobra, a natural enemy of frogs, had raised its hood to provide the frog with shelter and protection from the ravages of the tropical sun. Śankara was greatly moved by the sight. If there was paradise on earth, here it was, where the lion and the lamb, the tiger and the cow, the cobra and the frog lived in mutual amity and peace. He turned round when, as she had already stipulated, Bharati, known also as Sharada, decided to stay for good at Sringeri on the banks of the sacred river Tunga.

Vishwarupa, assuming the name of Suresvaracharya, was installed here as the successor of Śankarācārya before the latter resumed his tour to found his three pithas at Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath.

For the more enthused: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sringeri_Sharada_Peetham

The highest point in the Ghats is in Agumbe Ghat, which has a sun set point. We happened to be at one such Sun Set point by chance and had the wonderful view of the sun going down the horizon in the valley. From wiki I gather that it was not the famous sunset spot of Agumbe. Itseems from the famous sunset spot of Agumbe, one can see the Sun set over the arabian sea which is miles away!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agumbe

We have missed the Malgudi house too. Hope I had done the homework before. But that doesn't matter. In hindsight even if we had known before I don't think we would have had the time to cover all these enroute.

There were so many imporant places enroute, Kollur Mukambika temple, Jog falls etc, that we told ourlselves "Next time!" and just drove on! J

We actually took a detour to Udupi so as to pass through the ghats for a scenic drive. But at one point we doubted the choice, esp after the scenic sun set at Agumbe Ghat and when it was getting darker, the wonder ful valleys and green ghats looked deserted and scary! The thought "What if we lose our way" was luking in each of our minds, but none of us let it out. The small villages enroute where we were romanticizing to buy a small house and spend a few months, looked scary after dusk. The village roads were deserted and there was no power!!! We could make out that we were passing a village only with some effort! Some of the villages looked abandoned and almost haunted! And to add to the movie effect there was a guy smoking at each sign post who dutifully showed us the way when asked. Only when we reached Manipal/Udupi and saw signs of civilization could we heave a sigh of relief and have a hearty laugh at the whole experience. It was only then we confessed our fears, till then each of us acted brave! J

The temple of Udupi is one of the most spiritually charged temples that I have ever visited! There was a bhajan of Gopala at one corner and recital of the Vedas at the other. Few young girls were singing carnatic on a small dias and few elderly persons reciting the names of the lord. The surprising fact was that all these did not look like cacophony as it would at certain temples. Standing at any one place you would listen to more than stream of songs/recitals. But the added vibrations were so great that it gave me goosebumps! It is a well maintained ' clean temple. The only let down was the darshan of the Lord ' Krishna is to be done through small windows on the main door!!! Only on very few spl occasions in the year full darshan is possible.

From the temple we went to the beach at Udupi ' Malpe. It's a decent beach. With a 1 n half yr old toddler in the tow, I had to stay behind. My son likes water, but he has never seen soo much of it and was puzzled/scared. He got scared and climbed up his dad everytime there was a wave J So his dad carried him and slowly taught him how he should kick the wave and the wave would go back!!! The thrill on his face at the discovery was worth watching. He was really convinced the wave was going back bcos he kicked it!! :o)))) Kids are so innocent that I envy them at times!

The days target was to watch sun-set at Murudeswar. So we wound up quickly, had lunch and left for Murudeswar arnd 2. Enroute to Murudeswar is another famous beach Maravanthe. But the gradient there is steep, so we were advised by locals to give it a slip. The drive from Udupi to Murudeswar was the best stretch of the trip. The road is wedged between the Ghats and the Sea, intercepted by various rivers occasionally. The high point was when we passed through a stretch with a river on one side and ocean on the other! The location called for photos and there were many profile snaps taken ;o)

To be continued.

One needs years of very attentive, very careful, very reasonable,very coherent work, organisation, selection, construction, in order to succeed simply in forming, oh, simply this little thing, “one’s own way of thinking!”

One believes he has his own way of thinking. Not at all.

It depends totally upon the people one speaks with or the books he has read or on the mood he is in. It depends also on whether you have a good or bad digestion, it depends on whether you are shut up in a room without proper ventilation or whether you are in the open air; it depends whether there is sunshine or rain! You are not aware of it, but you think all kinds of things, completely
different according to a heap of things which have nothing to do with you!

And for this to become coordinated, coherent, logical thought, a long thorough work is necessary.

The Mother : The Sunlit Path p.118