It is exactly a week since I ticked off something from my bucket list – a trip to Thiruvannamalai and completed the Giri Pradakshana (Giri Vallam; Parikrama) around Arunachala Hill. Also, was eagerly waiting to visit Ramanashram and meditate at the place where Ramana Maharshi spent most of his time.
As told by Ramana Maharshi, Arunachalam is Lord Shiva himself, & the positive energy you feel all around is quite evident. The Pradakshana, best done on Purnima, is a 14km barefoot journey around the hill. We embarked on this journey knowing it would not be easy. We reached Thiruvannamalai on Friday, 9th Sep in the assumption that the full moon day was on the 10th and that is when we would undertake the Pradakshana. However, Pournima began on the 9th at 1800. We then modified our plans and around 1730 , we made our way from the hotel to the Ganesha temple which is regarded to be the starting point. Once we began our journey after taking blessings from Lord Ganesha at 1900 I saw a sizeable crowd but still did not realize what I would encounter. We were told the number would be around a lakh!
The barefoot walk was quite demanding but what kept us going, was the crowd around us completely immersed in devotion. I must say that our young kids who accompanied us walked along in a relatively non-fussy way. It took us 6 hours to complete the journey and though our legs were gone , it was an exhilarating feeling. While I would not know the exact number of people who had undertaken the journey, I do think that a lakh may not be as wild a number as I had thought. If one were to be conservative, we could say that it was a few tens of thousands. At 0100 when we completed the Pradakshana so many people were beginning their journey and the whole atmosphere of faith and devotion needs to be seen to be
The next morning, I sat down to view Arunachalam from the comfort of our hotel & found myself transfixed at the sight. I sat there for over 2 hours, simply contemplating & it was one of the most calming feelings. The serene feeling continued with our visit to Ramanashram. There is something magical in the ashram and one can sit there in contemplation for hours.
There was positivity all around and this trip was an absolute blessing. After a tiring schedule, guess I deserved to rest on an easy chair in the afternoon. And as I write this post from my home in Bengaluru just today morning we were discussing about when the next trip to Arunachalam should be planned for…
Nidugondi Speak 