9 Feb 2024, from Shantivanam
As I sat down on the granite floor in the eating hall at Sri Ramana Ashram, unfolded my banana leaf and washed it down with a few drops of water from the little metal cup, I was surprised by how familiar it all was to me yet, even my body somehow knew what to do, in spite of not having been in India for 12 years now. I noticed that my ankles don’t bother me as much as they used to when I sit directly on the unforgivingly hard floor. I had already been in the country for 24 hours but when I tasted the biryani that was slopped on to my “plate” from the bucket with the sambhar and a little bit of pickle it was one of those perfect culinary moments. Maybe I was just extra hungry, but though it was no doubt nothing special it tasted like the most delicious Indian food I had ever tasted.
After wandering Arab Street on my own looking for breakfast (wound up very Western with a raisin scone and cappuccino) and packing up, Mark picked me up, and brought me to Changi good and early. They have marvelous food courts there and we enjoyed a delicious vegetable udon in a Japanese restaurant and one last long conversation before I went through security and waited out my flight to Delhi.
I didn’t know exactly what my plans were going to be for my time in India and so, with the thought that I might go north for a bit, I booked my arrival through Delhi. And also with the thought that I might stay with Michael Christian at Sri Ramana Ashram in Tiruvanamalai, as I did many time in the past before going down to Shantivanam, I then got a quick flight down to Chennai where he, as always, arranged a car for me. As it turns out, our brother monk Jeremias from Germany was also there at Tiru on retreat at the ashram where he goes once a year, and he and MC both wanted to go down to Shantivanam by yesterday in time for an ordination which will take place today. All that to say, it would have been a lot easier to fly directly to Trichy from Singapore and I would have been here two days ago instead of an extra flight, a three-hour drive from Chennai to Tiru, one night there and then another four-hour drive down here yesterday.
The flight into Delhi was uneventful and I easily (with Devin’s fine instructions) got myself a pre-paid taxi (though I figured out later I paid twice as much as I should have) that took me to my hotel, the Hotel Shanti Palace, near the airport (again with Devin’s help; I had gone through two other failed bookings already). It was not quite as nice as it appeared on Expedia, but it was cleaner and quieter than I expected. So I got a good night’s sleep, headed back to the airport and flew down the Chennai, where I met my driver, Ramesh, who carted me east to the ashram at Tiruvanamalai.
This time it struck me more than ever the contrast as we headed inland from Chennai. I was feeling rather under-dressed at the airports in Delhi and Chennai, both of which places all very sophisticated and modernized. I was struck by the variety of cars as well. When I first started coming to India there was only one model of car in the road, the 1958 model Ambassador left behind by the British, always white in color. And a few assorted SUV-truck type vehicles. Now there are cars of every shape and color and brand, and many with air-conditioning. (I only found out much later that car services charge more if you use the AC.) All evidence of the burgeoning, or burgeoned, middle class. But as we drove east into Tamil Nadu, the garb became more traditional, lungis and saris, and the poverty was more and more evident. The roads, on the other hand, are vastly improved almost everywhere, smooth and wide.
Tiruvanamalai was as chaotic as ever, dusty and loud and churning with activity. As we got closer to the ashram there were more and more non-Indians since the ashram is a destination spot for many spiritual tourists.
For those reading who don’t have the context, Tiruvnamalai is the home of one of the four great Hindu temples in south India, the Arunachaleswarer Annamalaiyar Temple which is built at the foot of the holy mountain Arunachala, and which is considered to be a symbol of Shiva. The great saint Ramana Maharshi, after his enlightenment experience at the age of 16, traveled and settled there in the early 20th century, first to the temple, then in a cave on the mountain, then in a small ashram halfway up the mountain, and gradually a large ashram was built at the foot of the mountain where he spent most of his life, and where countless people came through the years to receive his darshan. The ashram also now houses a large Brahmin community and a training ground for young Brahmin priests. Our Abhishiktananda spent a considerable amount of time there in the 1950s, in the presence of Ramana himself, but also living in a cave on the mountain for a time, and then with his own guru, Gnanananda, at another nearby ashram. Bede Griffiths also visited there, though it didn’t have the significance for him that it did for Abhishiktananda. Because of all that it is a well-known place for our lineage of monks in India, a significant part of our history. I had been there many times, I think every time I came to India, and had also done some work with JP, a Lutheran pastor who runs an interfaith center called Quo Vadis, and through him met the Danish Lutheran group, Danmission, there as well, who then brought me to Denmark, Lebanon and Syria. I did what I think of as a “famous” concert there in 2006, the first time I had performed in India, at an outdoor theatre, also the first time I worked with a tabla player, the young Theophilus Gnananavaram. But I have written about all the before––now years ago!
I was a little sad that I had so little time at Arunachala. But I did get to do almost everything that I was longing to do. I got up early and first sat in the meditation hall and then in the large samadhi hall. But most of all I got to climb up the mountain to my two favorite spots, which is something I did pretty much every single day that I had been there in the past. The first spot was Skanda Ashram, that first little place that was built for Ramana before the ashram below was built. I had forgotten how long a climb it was to get up there, so it was great exercise too. And then from there one descends down to Virupaksa Cave. That is a place that remains in my mind, along with the Western Wall in Jerusalem, as the most powerful energetic place I have experienced on earth. Especially in 2005 I spent hours in that cave until I was dripping with sweat. I was reminiscing about a Japanese sadhu named Nyogi that I met there that year and spent hours with, particularly at Virupaksha cave and looked back at my travelogues from that time. Here's one paragraph.
I headed back up to the cave for the rest of the afternoon. After a false start or two I wound up beginning up the mountain just as Nyogi was going and so we walked up, pretty much silently, together. At Skanda ashram Nyogi turned up to climb to the top of Arunachala to see Shiva’s footprint, and I headed down to the cave. It is my favorite place here. … Meditating in a cave in the heart of a mountain that is supposed to be Shiva himself; meditating on the cave of my own heart to hear the OM that sounds there like a shruti.
In the back half of the cave there is a wide shelf built up, in the middle of which is a reproduction of the mountain done in clay or cement, covered with khavi cloth and topped with two garlands. At one point shortly after I got there a young devotee came in, hopped up there and sat perfectly upright immediately next to and facing the mountain reproduction, and stayed there for as long as I was there, so attentive and yet so serene in meditation. I was thinking yet again about the purpose of yoga, to train the senses and still the mind so that the real yukta(union) can take place, the union with the Atman, the union of indwelling Spirit with our own spirit. To predispose the body to be a place of encounter with the divine, a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, I was wearing my hiking shorts that morning and when I got to the cave there was a sign clearly warning that entering the cave in shorts was a sign of disrespect. So I sat out in the courtyard for a bit of time and headed back down the mountain to shower, pack, and then lunch and the drive here. My plans for the second half of this stay in India are a little fluid at present and as we drove off, I kept thinking that perhaps I’ll go back to Tiru before I leave for Singapore for some more time on and in the mountain.
