Thiruvannamalai (Arunachala) and Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi’s attraction for it – Part 2

(Click here for Ramana’s attraction for Arunachala hill – Part 1)

Ramana Maharshi reached Thiruvannamalai at the age of 17. In the early couple of years after arrival at Thiruvannamalai, he remained mostly in deep Samadhi, totally drawn inwards, with little inclination for communicating with others. To avoid disturbance from eager beavers and young boys who made pranks at him, he hid himself away from the crowd in the Pathala Lingam cave situated in the thousand pillared hall at the temple. He was absorbed in deep Samadhi for several days without food and drink. His body became food for insects.

Thanks to the efforts of Seshadri Swamigal, another famous Gyani of Thiruvannamalai, Ramana was forcefully brought out of Pathala Lingam enclosure and he was taken care of by some sadhus residing in the temple complex.

After staying at a few places in and around the temple and then at a place called Gurumurtham for a period of about one and a half years, Ramana gradually became a little more communicative with the eager spiritual seekers who could grasp the greatness of this young Brahmin saint. From the year 1898 onwards, Ramana shifted his stay to the hill of Thiruvannamalai. A sadhu by name Palaiswami, who was much older to Ramana, became a self-appointed attendant to Ramana and he started staying permanently with Ramana right from the days at Gurumurtham .

Ramana stays at the Hill

From the year 1899 to 1915, for 17 years , Ramana stayed in the Virupaksha cave, up in the hills. Ramana was in his prime youth and after the first couple of years of extreme austerities and silence came to an end, his health and fitness became better; he roamed around all over the hill, sometimes alone and sometimes with his companions.

In later years Ramana recalled “I used to roam around all through the hills; there is virtually no place in the hill that I have not set foot on. There are innumerable medicinal plants in these hills; it is said that this hill is the residence for so many Siddhas (saints who attained oneness with God).”

The ageless hill

Scriptures related to Arunachala claim that the hill was existing from time immemorial and its ancientness is beyond comprehension. Ramana was in agreement to these scriptural statements. He once said “A few years back, geologists from abroad, who visited this place, wanted to scientifically cross check whether the statements found in the scripture about the ancientness of the hill could be true. He wanted the locals to send him some samples of the stones from Arunachala and it was done. After subjecting them to scientific tests, he had declared that the stones of Arunachala were older than those of Himalayas; he had written this fact to our ashram too”.

While the above statements of Ramana were to do with the gross aspects of the hill, he shared his experiences of having a few super-natural visions about the “hidden treasures” of the hill too, that he had experienced in meditative state. While Ramana, as a typical gnyani, would not attach too much significance to such visions and he would never confirm whether such existences are true or dream-like, he had nevertheless shared these details in his conversations with his devotees. They have been recorded by Suri Nagamma, a devotee of Ramana, in her “Letters from Ramanasramam”

The mystical and hidden secrets of Arunachala

He said “One day, may be during the period when I was residing at the Virupaksha cave, I was sitting with closed eyes and I had a vision as though I was walking up the hills in north –easterly direction. Suddenly I saw a beautiful flower garden at one place; there was also a big temple, beautiful prakara (space around the temple for circumambulation) and a large Nandi (bull). The whole place shown with an extraordinary aura. Very beautiful. As I was looking at them, a bell rang, indicating that formal worship was about to begin; I immediately opened my eyes”.

Siddha Purusha – Arunagiri Yogi

Ramana also mentioned about a large cave that he saw one day as he was roaming around the hills aimlessly one day. He said “In a meditative state, I saw myself entering into the cave and I saw deep canals, beautiful gardens, tanks, wide streets and so on; they all glowed with a wonderful brightness. As I walked further, I saw a forest and a tank. Under one tree there, I saw a Sidda Purusha (a realized sage) sitting, surrounded by a few disciples and it looked as though I was seeing Lord Dakshinamoorthi. I felt as though all those places were known to me for long; then I opened my eyes”

Ramana did not share these mystical experiences with his devotees in earlier years. During the year 1915, In the Adiannamalai temple situated at the western side of Arunachala at the foot hills, temple renovation work was undertaken. At that time, workers engaged in some digging work discovered the existence of a tunnel at the eastern side of the temple that led into the Arunachala hill. The news about the discovery of the tunnel was brought to the attention of Ramana. Bhagwan, on his Giripradakshnam the next day, visited Adiannamalai temple to inspect the tunnel. He was very surprised to see that the exterior side of the tunnel resembled what he saw in his divine vision a couple of years ago. He did not reveal it to anybody at that time too. When the temple authorities asked him what to do with that tunnel, Ramana advised them “This has some divine association. It is not right on our part to explore this tunnel. Better close it permanently” . The tunnel was closed as per his advice and the temple renovation was completed.

The interesting aspect of these visions of Ramana was that he came to know much later, when he happened to read Arunachala Purana (a holy mythological scripture related to the history of Arunachala purportedly narrated by lord Shiva) that there were indeed passages narrating about the cave, the existence of enjoyable places inside the hill and the saint sitting under the tree! Ramana felt very surprised: “Ah! What I have seen in my visions is indeed mentioned here!” He immediately made a translation of the Sanskrit sloka in to a Tamil poem. Here is the poem that Ramana translated from Arunachala Puranam:

The meaning of this song, which comes as a statement from Lord Shiva is “Though this hill, in its true form glows like fire, it stays looking like just a hill devoid of any glow, because of divine compassion to take care of the world. Here, I reside as a Siddha Purusha (Arunagiri yogi). Inside me (the hill) there are caves brimming with divine light, and there are numerous objects of beauty and enjoyment inside”.

The forbidden search for the mystic yogi and the banyan tree

Aside from “seeing” the Siddha Purusha (Realized sage) that scripture mentions as “Arunagiri yogi” in his divine vision, did Ramana have any urge to physically look for such a yogi in his wanderings around the hill? Yes. Ramana did stumble upon such a possibility, but, as though by divine dispensation, he was frustrated from going ahead with any such adventure. Ramana explained what happened:

“One early morning, with no scheme or plan in mind, I stepped down from the Virupaksha cave and went around the hill. Suddenly, I thought of taking a short cut to return to Virupaksha cave, by climbing up the hill somewhere between Pancha Mukha Darshan and Pachaiyamman Temple. It was a dense forest. There was no proper passage to take. As I was climbing, I saw a very large Banyan leaf that a wind blow brought near me. That leave was extraordinarily big, almost as large as the stitched leaf platen that we make. As I saw it, I suddenly remembered a sloka (verse) in Arunachala Purana that mentions about the banyan tree under which the Siddha Purusha sits.”

“In this sloka, it is said: ‘The tree whose shadow is widely spread, the tree which is gazed with wonder by men and celestial Gods alike, is seen at the northern peak of Arunachala. Under it resides Lord Shiva, in the guise of a Siddha Purusha’. The moment I remembered this verse, I felt an urge to travel in the direction from where the leaf came, so as check whether the Banyan leaf could be from the tree that scripture talks of.

“As I was climbing up, I had a glimpse of a massive tree at an elevated spot; I started to proceed in that direction. Then my thigh rubbed at a bush on the way. Suddenly, several bees came out of the bush and started stinging at my thigh. I thought ‘this is the punishment for my thigh for disturbing them’ and I stood standstill. The bees concentrated only on the spot of my thigh that rubbed on the bush and they came one after the other to sting there, till their stings got entrapped in my skin. They did so till their anger subdued. Once they left me, I started walking again. But, in this process, surprisingly, I totally forgot about my quest for finding that Banyan tree!

“I thought of walking towards the “Seven Spring” area, but three deep mountain streams crossed my There was pain and swelling in my thighs, but I somehow managed to reach Seven Springs and then from there walked down to reach the cave where Jatai Swami was staying, by evening. Till that time of the day, I had not eaten anything. He gave me a glass of some mixture of milk and fruit to drink and I consumed it. After taking some rest, I came down to Virupaksha cave by night. Jatai Swami did not notice the swelling in my thighs, but Palanisami noticed it and inquired what happened.

“The next day, Palaniswami applied some oil to my thigh and also carefully removed the stings that the bees had planted deeply in my thigh, one by one using a pincher . It took three to four days for the swelling to subside”.

It is all beyond human comprehension as to why a realized soul like Ramana was not allowed to go near something whose existence is explained in the scripture and was shown to him in the divine vision. Several years afterwards, a group of devotees of Ramana including Kunjuswami, Munakala Venkata Ramaiyah, Muruganar and a few others who heard of these stories, started out to explore and locate the Banyan tree, without informing Ramana. In their adventurous journey up hills, they lost their way, got trapped in a place from where they could not find their way out. They got battered and bruised and after lots of suffering, pain and wounds, they somehow managed to return to Ramanasramam.

There are indeed mysterious things hidden from the eyes of people in the wondrous divine hill Arunachala!

References: “Ramanasiramathilirunthu Kadithangal” (Suri Nagamma) – Tamil

                     “Enathu Ninaivugal”  (Kunju Swami)  – Tamil.

                      “Ramana Nootrirattu” (collected works of Ramana) – Tamil