ARUNACHALA RAMANA - Achalam to Arpanam – A Silent journey towards Self (Six days and six nights of solitude and peace)

Achalam to Arpanam – A Silent journey towards Self

(Six days and six nights of solitude and peace)

a.     I was aspiring for a long time to be away from the hustle and bustle of LIFE for uplifting my low spirits and regain some good health.  Initially I thought of going for a rejuvenation camp at Ujire – Naturopathy hospital; later decided that the mind is the one which require more of attention than body. This made me search for an opening.  My next thought was to join a third Vipassana course for full ten days and I started scouting for good centers.  Dharmashala was very inspiring and another center in Sikkim attracted me.  But the cost and time effectiveness was an issue.  When I saw that there is an active Center near Tiruvannamalai, I decided that this is THE place which I was longing for quite some time. I had planned a family visit to this divine place blessed with the presence of Shri Ramana Maharshi and could not make it for long.  During a recent visit to Bangalore, Veenu bought a book written by Arthur Osborne – Teachings of Ramana Maharshi and this actually kindled my silent quest with life. 

b.     The very purpose of visit to Ramanashramam was to get the required equilibrium in the presence of Master of Silence and to continue with the practice of Vipassana at Dhamma Arunachala. One good old friend came very handy to get an accommodation at Ramanasramam and the name of the Guest house was “ACHALAM”.  During our last visit (more than 12 years ago) we could not stay in the Ashram and were very disappointed.  It also occurred to me that Chinmaya would love this place and made him join me for this journey. Time was a serious constraint with two Charges to handle.  The moment I could finish an urgent work at Office, booked early morning flight to Bangalore to save time and took a bus to Tiruvannamalai.  I was worried about Chinmaya getting bugged with journey and my plans of not planning anything did not happen !!!  This was deliberately planned to be one aspect in developing acceptance to the circumstances making ourselves stronger.   But I had to restrain myself to give this experience to Chinmaya.

c.     We landed at Ashram at around 4.30 pm and to our great disappointment the request for stay was denied.  After much persuasion and talk, we were allowed to stay.  As per Ashram rules, one should send a mail and after getting a confirmation only we are allowed to stay.  This is to avoid tourists, visitors and not so serious devotees from thronging and disturbing the serenity of Ashram.  Moreover, there was also a serious water crisis in Tamilnadu.  We immediately went to Achalam and get ourselves ready for a visit of Ashram as the time was very less.  We took a list of activities and scrupulously followed.  The first thing which attracted is Veda parayana by cute little boys in the Gurukul.  

We had a short talk with Shri Srinivasa Murthy, an erstwhile Doctor from Bangalore and presently a permanent resident of Ashram and in charge of stay.  He could give a glimpse of the teachings and life story of Sri Ramana Maharshi and also present activities of Ashram.  It was fascinating to listen to his composed voice about the teachings of Ramana and his life story.  Our journey towards Self had begun with a little conversation with this nice gentleman.

d.     I had already started reading a book written by Arthur Osborne – Teachings of Ramana Maharshi and I found that the teaching is entirely based on Advaitha, which was quite close to my heart. The direct method of Self enquiry taught by the Maharshi was a mesmerizing thought and I got deeply immersed into it.  This was also a triggering point to visit Ramanashramam. I had to postpone my solitary internal journey as I had an obligation to take care of Chinmaya.  End of the day we were so hungry and had to retreat to the benches of Lunch hall.  After eating to the brim, again it was paining to walk back to the guest house.  When we were hungry there was pain-ache, and when we loaded our stomach, there was again pain.  I told Chinmaya that as per Adi Sankara, hunger is a disease and the food is its medicine !!  The context with which it was told could not be elaborated as we were also sleepy after a long journey.

e.     Next day early morning our quest continued to test physical stamina as we undertook “Girivalam” literally meaning “Giri Pradakshina” – a walk around the sacred hill “Arunachala” which is about 14 kms.  Started at around 4 a.m. and Chinmaya did not really like it due to sprained ankle.  We stopped several times and I was trying to encourage him that it is a test of stamina and many devotees were doing rounds.  Due to his injured angle joints, he got exhausted after about 10 kms and I saw no further point in continuing.  Took an auto and went to Arunachaleshwara Temple – one of the largest Shivan – temples in South India. 

This temple is known to be Agni Lingam and we actually experienced the heat inside sanctum sanctorum. It was just like entering an Oven and heat penetrating from all sides at 360 degrees.  It was fascinating to see so much heat generated only at this place and we enjoyed morning serene Darshan of Lord Shiva.  By this time, it was time for breakfast and before that we had to visit his better half which we did quickly.  After coming out, we had temple prasadam – Puliyogere, Sakra Pongal and there was no need for any other breakfast.

f.     This is a very ancient and sacred temple where Ramana Maharshi came in his younger days from Madurai.  It’s a huge temple with four entrances with the majestic background of Arunachala hills.  Ramana renounced everything in the pond and became a saint in this holy place.  It is said that he sold his ear rings and took a train and later walked upto Arunachala only to contemplate on SELF.  As an young boy, he had a near death experience and got self-realized in the intensity of his experience.   His teachings were mostly based on noble SILENCE and many foreign devotees carried his message across the country.  His diect method of Self enquiry based in Silence was the precursor to my next part of the program at Dhamma Arunachala. I may be too small and beginner to write about his teachings and can only boast that we took our life turning decision in Ramana Ashram in Bangalore.  (This is where myself and Veenu took an instant decision to get married!! It all started here.)

g.     Back in Ashram, we meticulously planned to attend all the daily activities and attended one by one.  Ashram has a definite schedule from 4.00 am in the morning till 9 pm.  They follow strictly all the programs and we couldn’t miss any.  It includes chanting of Vedas twice a day, Puja followed by Narayana Seva (poor feeding)  reading from the teachings of Ramana, Tamil Parayana and selected Sanskrit Compositions of Adi Shankara.  There’s an Ashram Gurukul where they teach Krishna Yajurveda to young lads. There will be a sumptuous lunch at 11.30 sharp and only Ashram invitees and residents are allowed to take food.  Chinmaya was fully satisfied with the variety and quality of food served and again stomach got filled up till the brim which made us sleep for more than an hour in the guest house.

h.     We came back to Ashram to climb the hill which involves about 1.4 kms trek uphill to reach Skandashram and climbing down to Virupaksha Cave.  Earlier days, we used to visit a number of caves in the deep forest area which is now prohibited by the Department.  This is where Ramana stayed for more than 17 years and occasionally used to visit Ashram when his mother insisted to come and see him here.  It was an interesting story that one sage from Karnataka named Virupaksha came here more than 400 years ago and the villagers were taking care of him on the hill side cave.  They bring food every day and have darshan of this saintly man.  One day  he said not to come for a day and next day when they visited, it was only a heap of ashes in the cave and the man has disappeared.  It is believed that he left his body in the form of ashes and there is a mound in the cave where Ramana meditated for long.

i.      It’s now time to explore Ashram book depot where we could get food for thought.  The atmosphere in Ashram is so serene and peaceful that we could see a number of peacocks walking along with us within Ashram premises.  It was photography time and they were posing well to the DSLR.   Chinmaya had never seen such a calm and peaceful place and he thoroughly enjoyed its serenity and tranquility.  Surprisingly, when we sat for a while in meditation hall, time flicked away like anything.  He thought that it is about 10 minutes and it was actually more than 35 minutes.  It was an amazing experience just to be in this place doing nothing visibly, but it greatly enhanced our energies and mental composure.

j.      With peaceful and pleasant memories, Chinmaya left alone to Bangalore and I continued my solo journey to a place called Perumbakkam (10 kms from Tiruvannamalai) to reach Dhamma Arunachala, an organic Vipassana Center.  Co incidentally the cottages were beautifully named as Achalam, Anuttaram, Anantham and finally “Arpanam” where I stayed in solitary confinement for three full days.  This is where theory followed with practice of Silence.  When I was reading the Book mentioned earlier, I could find references to other practical methods of self-realization which included a practice of observing breath as a means to contemplate Self, as explained by Maharshi.  There was a direct link with this method and the teachings of Buddha which came in the form of Vipassana as a tool to eradicate deep rooted Sankharas (habit patterns) to purify the mind.  The teachings focused on a method of observing the sensations caused by the defilement's of mind and allowing them to evolve and evaporate as we keep observing with a Sakshi bhaav (witness-state).

k.     For the next three days, it was noble SILENCE which gave us company along with organic food (Red rice, mint tea, totally unpolished cereals used for preparing food).  The entire structure is mostly made up of mud and bricks made locally, and of course Mangalore tiles used for roof.  There was also Pagoda halls for serious meditators in the background of Arunachala hills.  A complete plan of rainwater harvesting and no wastage is allowed.  We are not allowed to use detergents and the likes to spoil the environs.  The place was very windy and hot but natural atmosphere without any disturbance from outside world, except honking of a bus at a gap of every one hour.

l.      Experiences of a short course in Vipassana only enhanced my understanding of human nature and my own Self.  It used to be around 13 hours of meditation in a day with complete silence.  It was a refreshing observation of the Self for three days, including my own low back pain which kept on bothering me throughout the sitting.   Of course, it also helped me to observe some deep-rooted defilement's coming to the surface and passing away.  Nothing stays for eternity and the principle of “Anicha” (a Pali word for impermanence) got deep rooted in the mind.  Back to Bangalore, I could read some more teachings of Maharishi and they just Silenced my mind without further doubts and queries.  This all looked like a new beginning and we came back Home with bodies energized and mind refreshed with Silence. 

m.    It is said that solitude is an attitude of mind and the real silence is in achieving a still mind. A detached man is therefore, always in solitude and he need not be running away from the hustle and bustle of LIFE.  As per the teachings of Maharishi, the abstract knowledge is transmitted through EGO in the form of thoughts and words.  Words are the great grandsons of this original source and if words can produce an effect of this proportion, how much more powerful preaching through silence might be.  The inner silence is self-surrender and means living without the sense of Ego.  Silence is said to be perennial and speech is only an interruption.  All these gems of thoughts got correlated in deep contemplation and we returned ourselves to Home. These words are not exactly mine and liberally picked up from the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.  To look deeply into the eyes of Ramana itself gives us a sense of silent introspection and a re-assurance that we all can remain in long lasting eternal peace through silencing the mind and making a self-enquiry as to WHO AM I???, which is the very essence of teaching of Ramana Maharshi.