Tag Archives: Tiruvannamalai

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Living in the embrace of Arunachala: By Richard Clarke

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Most posts have been about the new life in India that my wife and I experience. There is so much that is new to us that this is easy to write about.

I have written less about the main reason that we are here, Arunachala, the holy mountain of South India. We live so much in its presence each day. It is like the ever present ‘background’ of life here. It is so present that one could forget about it, like the young fish that asked the queen fish, “What is water? I have heard about it all my life, but I have never seen it.”

Here is Arunachala from the rooftop of our house (Yenga Veedu in Tamil):

Arunachala from Brindavanam, Tiruvannamalai

Arunachala has been an holy mountain since the dawn of India life. It is written about in the Rig Vedas, purported to be the oldest of the Vedas, which would make it the oldest religious book there is.

That is the holy place! Of all Arunachala is most sacred. It is the heart of the world! Know it to be the secret Heart-center of Siva! In that place He always abides as the glorious Aruna Hill!

Skanda Purana

For many centuries there have been many Indian sadhus and sages associated with the “Red Mountain.” The most well known of these today is Sri Ramana Maharshi, who arrived here in 1896 and never left until the death of his body in 1950. Ramana, who had remarkably few claims of personal actions wrote:

Oh Arunachala, I have exposed your secret doings. Do not be angry. Let your grace be on me.

Necklet of Nine Gems

When we first came to Tiruvannamalai, a small city that has grown around a major Siva temple, Arunachaleswara Temple, over the last 2000 years, I would rise before dawn and go up to the rooftop and just sit and meditate with Arunachala until dawn. I would then watch for a while as the city awoke. After just a few days of this I said to Carol, “We could live here.” She did not treat me like was crazy, though she probably thought I was. Now, several years later I have retired and we have uprooted our nice life the the USA, gotten rid of almost everything we owned, and moved to South India to be with Arunachala.

In the last ten years spiritual practice has become the most important thing in our lives, and we want to use this part of our life where practice is the main focus. Now we are here, ‘living in the embrace of Arunachala.” I still rise before sunrise and go up to the roof, now of our home, named “Brindavanam” by the previous resident who put in the wonderful orchard and garden that surrounds this house. Carol and I are up on the roof with Arunachala several times each day. Even when not on the roof, Arunachala is the dominant presence for miles around. It is always present.

Here is a short poem I recently wrote:

Arunachala,

Silent, still, unmoving.

Arunachala,

Ancient One,

In the form of Dakshinamoorthy

Arunachala,

Quiet this mind.

Arunachala,

Fiery one,

Thy fire burns away ignorance.

Arunachala,

I stand in your Silence.

Arunachala,

Infinite light,

Knowledge of Thee is All.

Arunachala, would that I be as Thee,

Silent, still, unmoving.

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Quality of Life Trust – India: By Richard Clarke

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My wife and I have started working with Quality of Life Trust – India – http://www.qualityoflife.in/.

They are located right next to Tiruvannamalai and working on village issues. India is going through many changes, and the villages are seeing the most change, so we thing this is a good place for our efforts.

There are two projects they are working on. The first is with the elderly in the village. Some have no place to live and are sleeping on the doorsteps of houses, etc. In some cases it is the doorstep of the house they owned. Then their children got them to give the house to them. Then there was a problem like drinking, and the child lost the house, and the parent had no place to live. The Trust is providing meals to these elders, and helping them with medical treatments. They hope to build some kind of housing in the future. My wife has experience working with the elderly and will help this project.

The other project is for composting toilets. In villages many many people do not have toilets. People will go in nearby fields. Sometimes they are bitten by snakes. Always there is the concern for personal privacy, expecially for the women. There are also problems of disease, etc. This project is building a kind of toilet developed else where in India that does not need water or a sewer connection/septic tank. To add to the appeal, and based on what these local vilages said they are also adding a shower room. This trust has gotten funding from another trust, Bless, and has just started a project to build 50 toilets in the village. I am helping them with project management. These toilets seem to meet a real need, and in addition they produce high quality fertilizer that can be used in the fields.

Working with them this week I got a chance to see the excitement that this was creating in the village. As we were at on house, planning for the foundation (and taking down some banana trees) the neighbor got so excited that he had the crew go to his house and see what kind of site that he had to build on.

These are small things that have a real impact on the lives of the villagers. You should see how proud the man was to be involved in this project, and making life better for his family.

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Life in India – trip to Pondichery: By Richard Clarke

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My wife and I traveled to for a three-day trip to Pondichery. The main reason for the trip was to purchase items not available (or much lower priced due to taxes) in Tiruvannamalai – An Air Conditioner to install before the summer heat, better bikes, some more clothes and personal care items, especially more English books.

Pondy is a nice Indian city on the Indian Ocean with a French flavor (in the few blocks near the ocean) and a beautiful Ocean view. Also, the Auribindo Ashram is here, with many visitors. Many Westerners travel here. What we really noticed is that is the Westerners that were there seemed to be there more to ‘see the sights’, to buy things, and to enjoy the tropical Indian Ocean atmosphere and French flavor. In Tiruvannamalai, Westerners are there mainly for spiritual reasons, drawn in one way or another by Arunachala. We feel more connected to the Westerners we meet in Tiru.

After about two days in Pondy my wife and I both missed Arunachala. I also noticed that two days spent purchasing things was moving my attention away from the spiritual activities that are really the center of this life now.

We are back in Tiru now, and have spent some time with Arunachala. It is good to be home.

In Arunachala,

Richard

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Life in India – The Hair Cut: By Richard Clarke

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Today I got a haircut.

Here, even simple things like this are an experience.

First the elderly man who had a cut before me had his shirt off. He got his face and head shaved. When this was done, he had his armpits shaved as well.

Also, kids were going to school Several high school boys stopped by to carefully comb their hair, so they would look just right (for the girls at school). Their primping before the mirror reminds me of what I have heard of the girls bathroom in a US high school.

Life in Tiruvannamalai remains sweet. It is starting to get hotter though.

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Arunachala Full Moon Day January 2008: By Richard Clarke

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My wife and I moved to Tiruvannamalai in November 2007. I had recently retired and felt called to Arunachala for spiritual practice “in the embrace of Arunachala.”

I will be writing from time to time on the experiences of a Westerner in South India, and on my spiritual experiences at Ramanasramam and Tiruvannamalai.

Life in South India is filled with God. Business people perform pujas when they open business for the day. Most people have altars at home and perform daily rites there. Also God is a much more a part of daily life. In the West, God is mainly ‘kept in’ churches. temples and synagogues. In India, God is found on the streets. As one example, during religious festivals, they will put the ‘temple Gods’ on ‘chariots’ and pull or carry these around the town or village.

In this area one of the biggest events every month is the full moon night. During this night usually several hundred thousand people from around the world gather for Giri Pradakahina, where they will walk about 15 km around Arunachala. This is in a town of 100,000, so perhaps three times as many people who live in the town make pradakshina. Most do it in the moonlight, barefoot on the road. Traffic is halted for this night or redirected.

Here is a photo from our house of moonrise the January full moon night.

In Arunachala,

Richard Clarke

Arunachala Moonrise