“Arunachala!”
She exclaimed, “May the blessings of the Vayu Lingam be upon me!”
Dipika raised her
hands together in salute, in prayer, gesturing towards the Vayu Lingam
temple as she approached. She had walked swiftly with her son and daughter
since the morning, not stopping at any of the ashtalingams on the Girivalam
path. This was her normal routine, once in two months, to journey in from
Tirupati by the night bus, visit the Annamalai temple for a quick prayer,
do a rapid 2-3 hour pradakshana, go into the temple for a relaxed
darshan, and take the night bus for the return journey. An athlete by training,
as were her children, and in excellent fitness, she was content to complete the
pradakshana as a personal goal, every two months.
Usually accompanied
by her adult children, Dipika could outdo both of them at speed walking even at
51 years of age. Her daughter was getting slower each year, she had remarked,
since dropping out of competitive hockey. Her son was a total non-athlete now, she
thought. IF not for the bi-monthly compulsory rounds around the sacred Arunachala,
they would be too happy to avoid any form of strenuous walking. Speed was a
qualifying factor for her. Dipika measured her status in life by the speed and
stamina that she demonstrated in walking on the Girivalam path. Once in
a while, if she were to be accompanied by newcomers to Tiruvannamalai, she
would take them into each of the ashtalingams on the path for a quick
prayer, or a brief spot of rest, while she would fume impatiently to herself.
It was only 8.00
a.m. and she had started from the temple at about 6.30 a.m. The clouds had
hidden the sacred peak of Arunachala, preventing her from gazing upon
her beloved Shiva as she would often on earlier pradakshanas. As
she approached the Vayu Lingam temple, Dipika’s daughter asked her to
stop for a while as she was thirsty and wanted to get a tender coconut.
Instantly, her son also declared that he was tired, so the three of them could
get tender coconuts and take a break at the Vayu Lingam temple. For
Dipika, this was akin to inefficiency. It was only a fifteen kilometer walk,
and one should just complete it. That was that. Thirst or tiredness was not
part of her routine. But since it was to be a break at one of the ashtalingams,
she could not refuse. Grabbing at one of the tender coconuts, she drank hastily
and went inside the Vayu Lingam temple to worship.
The Vayu Lingam
temple is very unlike the Yama Lingam, Niruthi Lingam or the Varuna
Lingam temples. The outer sanctum area is not as extensive as the others.
There are very few places for one to sit relaxedly. Dipika chose one of the
only two locations in the anterior from where one could sit and gaze at the
sacred peak of Arunachala Shiva. Her son and daughter were chatting with
the tender-coconut vendor. An elderly man, sitting near the small shanty,
possibly the lady vendor’s husband or father or brother, sat nearby, waiting to
pick up the coconut, if Dipika was to throw it anywhere on the temple premises.
Her daughter anticipating Dipika’s impatience came up and took the coconut and
dropped it in a bin near the shanty in front of the temple.
Just then, the
clouds began to move around the sacred peak of Arunachala. They were
moving about, around the peak. The dawn light had come and gone when she had
been walking from the Agni Lingam temple to the Yama Lingam temple.
She could see a number of foreigners grouped together, waiting to get the early
dawn photographs of Arunachala between Sri Ramanashram and the Yama
Lingam temple. They should have been here, she thought, watching the clouds
play about and around Arunachala. The clouds did not seem to want to
move away from Shiva, she said to herself, smiling.
Dipika was sad
within herself, watching the clouds and the sacred peak of Arunachala.
She could sense her thoughts, and she could sense that she wanted to speak
about what she felt at the sight, but who could she share it with? Her children
would mock her. They would get back to Tirupati and tell the 200 or more
relatives in her very extended family that their mother was getting poetic or
crazy while on the Girivalam path. She looked around, and there were
only one another in the temple. The priest at the Vayu Lingam temple was
the only other person, and he was busy. Whom could she talk to? Her daughter
came up to her and said that she would take a quick nap now, since they seemed
to be resting. Instantly, as always, her son also declared his intention to
take a nap. Dipika was irritated but she understood their plight. They must
have stayed awake in the bus journey through the night and must be very tired.
Whom could she talk
to? The lady coconut-vendor was busy and she would not move away from her shop.
There was only the elderly man sitting at the shop, silently, watching out for
people littering at the shop or at the temple premises. There were no other options.
He would have to do, Dipika thought, and gestured for him to get her another
tender-coconut. Smiling, at getting some action, he bounded up and got a
coconut from the lady and brought it over. There! Dipika thought, now she had
him. She asked him, “Enna Periappa, how come I am not able to see the
sacred peak of Arunachala as yet, clearly, though dawn is long gone, and
it is not winter or monsoon days?”
The elderly man
looked up at the sacred peak and the clouds covering the upper slopes, and
said, “That is the magic of Arunachala! HE decides if HE wants you to
see HIM or not! It is that simple. It has nothing to do with the monsoon or
winter, day or night. On some nights, I have seen the sacred upper slopes of Arunachala,
glistening in the moonlight. On some stormy days, when I could not see the Girivalam
path, due to heavy rain, I could only see the uppermost peak, dry and clear in
the noon sun that struck it from above. How would we know why HE stays hidden
or decides to come out and show HIMSELF?”
As he stood
patiently near her, waiting for her to drink all the tender coconut water,
Dipika asked him, “But, there is no wind out there, at all! The clouds are not
moving and not going away. Look at the trees, the coconut trees. They are all
still, absolutely still. Why is it so strangely quiet? I cannot hear any birds,
not even crows. Even the dogs are in hiding. There are not many devotees
walking about today! Have you seen such a day, Periappa? You seem to be
very old and wise, old man, and you must have lived all your years in the shadow
of Arunachala. Do you feel blessed enough to know why it is so quiet?”
The elderly man sat
down near Dipika, resting himself against one of the pillars of the Vayu
Lingam temple. He said, “Blessed? Blessed, did you say? I have never
noticed if we are different from those who are as poor as we are, from those
who live in other places and sell tender coconut water. Somedays we are happy
and somedays we are sad. Sometimes we have very bad problems. Our son is in
Chennai, and he sells flowers near the Parthasarathy temple at Triplicane. He
is married and lives in a small hut that he has made for himself behind his
shop. At night, his children sleep in the shop. We must be blessed, we feel, on
some days. Then I see you and other devotees walk here on the Girivalam
path. I see your devotion and I see the intent on the faces of old and young. I
do not understand it myself.”
“Somedays I think I
should go on a pilgrimage somewhere else,” he continued, “I want to understand it,
that brings so many people here to Arunachala is. Every day is the same for me
here, and yet, every day is different. I have begun to recognize some of the
regular devotees over the years now. I have seen you before. This is the first
time that you have stopped to get tender coconut water from us. There is one
man who gives me a hundred rupees, each time that he comes on the Girivalam
path. I had picked up a coconut that he had thrown. Since then, he gives me a
hundred rupees each time that he comes. Because of him, I know that the month
has gone by, for he comes only once in a month. I have never noticed that the
wind has stopped moving about on Arunachala. I do not notice things like
that.”
Dipika was happy
just to listen to him speak. She felt the same at Tirumala and Tirupati. So
many hundreds of thousands of pilgrims came to Tirupati every day. They came to
see the deity for a view of less than five minutes, or 2-3 minutes for some. It
was merely the journey, she thought. She came here, each month, just for the
journey, to visit the temple and walk on the Girivalam path. She had
never had any exclusive prayer or special requests to Arunachala. To
give credit to her children, they had never questioned her for her journeys to
Tiruvannamalai, and they had never refused to accompany her on the pilgrimage
or on the Girivalam path. The elderly man must also be feeling the same
sort of thoughts that she and others felt at Tirupati and Tirumala.
She asked the
elderly man, “How can you not notice the wind, Periappa? You are at the Vayu
Lingam temple! If there is any place in the world where you must absolutely
notice the presence or absence of wind, it must be here! For, this is the Vayu
Lingam temple, where the god of wind, Vayu, himself, is supposed to
have rendered prayers to Lord Shiva. He is one of the strongest
guardians of the directions among the eight dikapalas. We cannot even
live if there would be no wind!”
The elderly man
laughed and said, “Yes! You are correct! How can we search for the wind when we
are already at the Vayu Lingam temple? I have never thought in this
manner. We are here, every day, in service to all the devotees and pilgrims who
come walking on the Girivalam path. For us, the sacred peak of Arunachala
is in front of us all the time. There are clouds in the upper slopes on some
days, and on other days, there are none. Does it make Arunachala any
different? Do you get any special blessings if you can see HIM, and do you get
denied from blessings, if you cannot see HIM? I have never thought like this.
For me, and my old lady, and for those like us, from this land, HE is there.
That is absolute. Why do we need to question that just because of clouds, rain,
wind or lightning?”
Dipika looked at
the elderly man with respect. He spoke so profoundly and with such splendid
clarity. Yet, he spoke in a very simple language. She thought back to all the
great vidhwans who came to Tirupati, including sages and seers who spoke
for hours at the special sessions organized by the local institutions. They
wore special dresses, and were given tremendous respect, and there would
usually be very restrictive protocol about them. There were some who disliked
being touched, and there were others who would actually keep a ring of junior
sages around them to prevent close contact. They explained godly matters using
very complicated verse. This elderly man was very different, simple and direct.
This was the magic
of Arunachala, she thought to herself, and the joy of being on the Girivalam
path. You could speak to anyone and one could learn about various aspects
through simple anecdotes or statements. She spoke again, to the elderly man, “You
are very correct, Periappa. A few clouds cannot hide Arunachala.
However sine we are here at the Vayu Lingam temple, and Vayu is
one of the eight guardians of the directions, I wondered if there was anything
significant in the aspect of the absence of wind on the higher slopes. My
questions were merely in humour. How would it matter to the aspect of the Vayu
Lingam temple and his prowess and strength? Yesterday, I was at
Tiruvannamalai, and I saw an old sadhu near the Agni Lingam temple being
given some food by a foreigner. For him, it was the only thing that mattered. Whether
he got any food for the day or not? Would he wonder if he would get food
because there were any clouds, or if there was any wind? Certainly not, I
guess.”
The elderly man
smiled and pointed at the priest at the Vayu Lingam temple, and replied,
“What do you think that the priest sees? From where he stands, he cannot see
the upper slopes of Arunachala. Each time he turns around, he sees the
inner sanctum of the Vayu Lingam, and he sees the Lingam, and
nothing else. His entire dedications, all the prayers that he recites, are all
in appreciation to Shiva. But, each time that he turns away, he sees the
devotees standing there, trusting him to convey their prayers to Shiva.
He sees the Vayu Lingam, multiplied in the eyes of every devotee. But,
do you know the unique mathematical riddle that he wonders about every day?”
Laughing heartily
to himself, the elderly man continued, “You and other devotees on the sacred Girivalam
path certainly do proclaim that Arunachala Shiva is within the heart of
every devotee. That HE is deep within us, when we are in HIS shadow, below the
sacred peak. If that is to be true, then how does the priest at every temple
resolve the riddle of seeing the Shiva Lingam reflected in each eye of
every devotee facing the inner sanctum? If one sees Shiva in each eye of
a devotee, is he twice-born within each devotee? These are questions that we
make up for ourselves, and these are questions that do not have answers. We
make up these questions and we will look wise only if we give complex answers.
For me, HE is there, and HE is here, with me and with you. That’s all that
matters.”
Dipika smiled in
acceptance. How could one agree or argue? It was just a simple statement from a
person who was not dismayed that years of presence in the shadow of the sacred Arunachala
had not resulted in any exceptional material benefits. He simply accepted Shiva
without any question and without any demand. There was no dilution. Again, she
thought back to her children. They had never argued with her on the occasions
that she brought them with her to Tiruvannamalai or took them along to Tirumala
or Shirdi. They did not seem to get excited or content or blissful during these
pilgrimages. She had herself never thought about any significant change that
had come over her due to these journeys. Perhaps her children were also as
minimalistic in their dedication to deities, as was this elderly man.
At that moment, two
cars drove up speedily and came to a halt at the Vayu Lingam temple. A
group of 7-8 men, dressed in visibly stylish all-white clothes stepped out,
decked in gold necklaces, gold wristwatches and thick gold rings on several
fingers. Must be a group of rich businessmen, she thought. They rushed into the
temple, worshipped at the Vayu Lingam, touched the sacred ash to their
foreheads, placed considerable amounts of money on the plate containing the
sacred ash and rushed out to their vehicles and were gone. Their entire visit
must not have been more than 2-3 minutes.
The elderly man
sighed, and spoke, “What would you say to this? They come on this extra super
fast visit, going to all the ashtalingams on the Girivalam path,
worshipping Shiva in such a rapid manner. They come every month and they
do not spend any additional time on the path. Once, one of their drivers said
that they were all from Puducheri, but had businesses all over Tamil Nadu. They
had come together on the first occasion on a surprise visit, while driving
through Coimbatore or Salem. Subsequently, their businesses began to prosper.
They meet up somewhere and they drive in, visit all the ashtalingams and
Annamalai at the big temple and they get back to wherever they came
from. Why do they benefit and become very rich when they do not contemplate on the
sacred Arunachala in a peaceful manner? Why does my old lady continue to
sell coconuts in spite of being here, in the shadow of the sacred Arunachala
for all her life? Should I place the blame on Arunachala Shiva?”
Dipika nodded in
agreement, and thought to herself, ‘He is so correct! I have been an athlete
over so many years. Have I won races or matches only because of Shiva’s
blessings? If it were to be so, would he not be wrong to bless only one player
or one team? Gazing at the higher slopes of the sacred Arunachala, she
said, “You are very right, Periappa! It does not matter if we are going
to prosper because of Shiva’s blessings. It is sufficient for us to retain our
belief in HIM and ensure that we come back to HIM, whether on the Girivalam
path, or in our homes, or within ourselves. Our defeat to HIM is our victory. I
come back on the path, again and again, not knowing what to expect. I come,
carrying all my burden of troubles, worries, fights and all the bad events that
have occurred to me. I come here and hand them over to Arunachala. HE
takes them all away from me without any question.”
“I think that is
the only guarantee. That HE will be here, that as we go around HIM, I know that
I have to only turn towards my right, and I can see him all the while. I can
tell him to take away all my troubles. Beyond every single day, is the aspect
of Arunachala Shiva, and I know that he will call me, to come to HIM,
and take me in HIS embrace and forgive me, nurture me and allow me to live in
his shadow, in only one single relationship. Me and HIM. That is the only
truth.”
Vayu
