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Ernest, Ramana Maharshi and MeI am in Tiruvanamalai and you might wonder what is special about this town so that i would decide it to be my first stop after leaving Auroville. Tiruvanamalai is hometown of the Ramanaramam, the Ashram dedicated to Sri Ramana Maharshi. Sri Ramana Maharashi was an Inidan sage that was born in the late 19th century and spent half of the next century meditating on a mountain in Tiruvanamalai.  The man next to Sri Ramana Maharshi is Ernest. I met this Hungarian man at the Ashram on my first morning there. He was just sitting next to main hall of the Ashram and seemed nice so I talked to him, we got along well right from the start and he offered me a tour of the Ashram. The main areas are the Samadhis (tombs) of Ramana Maharshi and his mother. In the main hall, ceremony are held several times a day and there are many devotees coming all day to bow or even lye on the ground before Maharshis' Samadhi. Some people also walk around the sepulture; sometimes for just a few minutes and sometimes for hours. Some walk really verry slow but some others like this Italian man looking like a dynamic entrepreneur walk like if it was a race ! After a quick talk about my own motivations to be here, Ernest takes me on a tour of the initial sacred place that first drove Ramana to Tiruvanamalai : Arunachala, the sacred mountain, believed to be one of the forms Lord Shiva has decided to have on earth. Every month, at full moon, thousands of pilgrims come to Tiruvanamalai and walk around the holy mountain wile a giant 30 meters candle, symbolising the wrath of god, is lit there for several days. We climb on a pass made with large stones, going up the mountain.  The
noise of the city quickly fades away to my surprise and delight. Ernest
and I climb in silence and the sound of the buses horns reaches our
ears again when we arrive at a point giving a diving view on
Tiruvanamalai. From there, we have a wonderfull view on the huge Temple of Arunachaleswarar. After a quick photo, we walk up to the two houses where are the caves where Ramana Maharshi meditated for over 50 years. The places are small but verry quiet. Several person stay there, meditating, most of them are white men. Some Saddus with orange close are also here. Other Indian people also come but don't stay for long meditations, rather they prosternate before a picture of Ramana or a specific Samadhi. After spending a little time in there Ernest and I go down in the city towards Arunachaleswarar Temple. We are back in the noise and dust and movement of the city... We enter the temple by one of the four huge entrances, one for each direction (North, South, East, West)  We
go inside the two main parts one
dedicated to Shiva and the other to the Divine
mother goddess. Pictures inside are not allowed so here are a few
outside pictures. The interior of the temple is pretty dark and they look all the same to me. in this one they even added mettalic barriers to guide the flows of pilgrims wich give a verry poor outlook to the inside of the Temple. the temple are the shelters for verry small rooms where a statue of the god is guarded by a group of priests. The pilgrims come with offerings and pay 20 roupies to enter the temple. Then they wait for there turn to get into the room next to the one where the divinity resides and have an opportunity to look ath her. The priest enters the room with there offerings, if there are flowers, he will dispose them on the statue, if there is coconut he will break their shell before laying it in front of the godhead. All the wile, he is waving a plate with burning fire that he used to carry the offering. He then comes back with this fire and the pilgrims can approach there hands from the fire and then bring them three times towards there face, thus receiving the gods blessing. they also receive some colored powder to put on their forhead as a symbol of their devotion and relation with the divine. The devotees often leave money on the plate. Ernest and I go through all the same process. Ernest seems to worship these divinities in his own way. I don't feel much of divine contact myself but am quite impressed with the setting and the ceremony involved. As we go out, I spot an Elephant. Ernest tells me that for a coin he will give me a blessing. I am not too keen on touristic exploitation of Elephants but I am afterall not much different from the other tourists in some aspects and I step in front of the Elephant to get my boon.  I put the little half roupie coin in his trump. And I Get the promised Elephant Blessing I then take a last picture of Ernest with a pretty flower Necklace and we head up for lunch. I leave you with this picture of my new friend. It is getting late and I'm going to have dinner with him. Kisses to all of you Felix Ajouter un commentaire { Page précédente } { Page 73 sur 104 } { Page suivante } |
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