The Dancing Baba and Ananda

This is an entry I started to work on a few months ago . I never got around to putting it up because I was eager to trace a photo of the dancing baba I came to see around Arunachala. On the 16th of December I received news of his passing and that he was struck down by a motor bike as he was giving Giri Pradakshina . A note from a friend announced that the other sadhus there where singing beautiful renditions of Aksharamanamalai, he was seated in lotus position with open eyes with an expression of ease . He never ate food always drinking milk that was offered into his coconut cup and he always walked the distances never taking any form of transport . He could always be seen here on the festival days and I felt very happy to see him whenever he came dancing down the dusty Chengam road , yet somehow inconspicuously .


The dancing no talking swami as he is called stayed in my mind the day I left for Pondicherry (I call him the coconut baba or dancing baba ). His dancing gait of pleasing happiness and his smile a joy . The first time I saw him he was practically dancing right next to me outside Joyti's chai shop, I sort of waved my arms imitating him abit and got a little jolly as he came closer while the locals came to touch his feet and scoffed at my irreverence - I smiled . Little did I realise that I would come to have a smattering of love for him and his dance , around Arunachala . I once grabbed a camera and managed to take several photos of him , and as I spoke to him he gestured suddenly towards the mountain with a bright expression .Those photos are in some lucky girls files somewhere at the time I did'nt think to get a copy of them .


I managed to find some entry about him by Ganeshan who is Ramana Maharshi's great grand nephew . It is said that Sri Nisargadatta on hearing of Ganeshan's visit promptly gathered all the cushions laying in his loft and piled them up high , made Ganeshan sit on top of all these cushions and said something to the effect about his reverance to the Maharshi and that this was his chance to pay obeisances to Ramana, so he gave full prostration . Sometimes Ganeshan can be seen at his home just off the Pradakshina road .I have sat there a few times; he offered me a copy of his book as I left one of his Satsangs .

This entry on Coconut baba goes as follows;

"There is a person whom I call the walking no talking swami who goes round Arunachala whenever he happens to be there .It is a pure joy just to look at him. Alone he dances around the mountain day and night !

Once , I confronted him saying"Swami, You are ever immersed in ananda . Why don't you give us the perennial ananda in which you are always soaked and saturated?" He burst out laughing.Then he gesticulated in a powerful way, pointing his hand towards Arunachala, as if to convey, "What else is there, except ananda? That which IS, is only ananda . Everyone is submerged only in it, as if under a deluge of water. Also who is to give ananda and to whom?" He laughed again .

Waves of ecstasy reigned and looking at him , instantly filled me with bliss! This experience of bliss was the direct blessing of the walking no talking swami. And it happened without a word, sans explanations or discussions."

I am Another Yourself

Came across this speech with a broad Australian accent . Great to hear! And a good meditation to reflect upon , to inspire Atma Vichar .

Healing with Heart

Sitting here quietly , I have no idea what I am going to say . Over the last few months I have been organising, arranging, clarifying , ordering , changing and making better in any way that I can , and making the best for myself here in Perth .It comes like two steps forward one step back .......Along with this has come some seeing , understanding , loving , healing and being . Many subjects have crossed into my field and all to do with healing and discovering new ways to see things , and in a new light .





I followed up best I could by aquiring, ingesting and experiencing before saying too much; then I must admit that I felt at times like I had said too much when sharing . One thinks that I have lost my faith , one thinks that I have gone astray , and another cannot relate at all, missing the point altogether in making a cursory comment. Yet still within is a fire that is burning from the place I call , well what do I call it ? How can I call it a name , my mind just stops at the impossibility of naming, " My Heart " , and it is the same heart that you are . Together we will find that it cannot be named nor grasped. Yet we SEE in this that even we are not together in this . How can we be together when we are 'one ....without a second' .



Yesterday I had coffee with some people I have known for some years , and it was just like being in a bubble ..... mummblings here , mummblings there ........ an experience I have had before with them .Russell says " Just be present when you cannot hear" .......and good advice it is . I remember when I started to live another way of life,many years ago , and a good friend said , "your friends are now playing another card game now , you have only changed games , thats all " . Someone brushed aside my attempt to really get across the feeling of being in India; especially in Tiruvannamalai .





I could undoubtedly feel not only the present surroundings but also the mountains power and the imprints of centuries of Nayanars ,not only of one man who will be there in time, soon. Yet ALL of time there; while standing looking up to the fiery mountain top, all swallowed into this very mountain presence . Brushed off with a " oh, well I can do that here"....... in the context of such a place this is not so "here" , but if you really see this , truly and honestly, then it is so. There is no need to wait calculating for a 'special' someone to help you switch on the light.

Over the last few months I have been working on some healing for myself , this body and on others . Though it may sound like it is a straying away from Vedanta .... in that it is involving a 'Me' and " another" , in Vedanta they speak of the dehatma budhi idea which is the body mind thought .Questing what is at the root of the body mind is Atma Vichar . A business man once told me that if I go into healing that it did'nt make sense after doing all this inquiry .As long as one knows he is not doing it , then he can proceed otherwise he will be entangled with doership. Healing has opened my eyes a bit to see that we can change and affect - through the surrendering of the limitations that are presently believed in . Through giving up the ego and it's stories; they are not mine or yours but like pictures painted as a 'me' which is limited, standing in front of the skylike nature looking bigger than the sky.

That true nature is powerful and healing, because it is whole and complete with fullness and abundance . The healing results that I am witnessing with my mother are become more evident , now that others see what has been happening as a result of this .But it is not "I" that has done this , because I am not here to do these healings , yet the body is recieving this light, this awareness which is in all bodies , move one part of the pattern you affect all parts in the pattern , add the feeling of love in the pattern then in the entire pattern comes love .





Together with a tool , the same tool used to discriminate between what is real and unreal, one can invite and recieve grace and love that is unconditional healing.

Early Morning Note

I don't know who comes here , but it's early morning and something inside me is alive . Without knowing what it is , it is . What I call unknown is known yet remains openly silent without any doing on my part or on anybodies part . Is'nt that wonderful ? To see this is to just remain without any coming or going . Still it is here , in me , and in you and in all things , yet when we reach out to it , it is like water off a ducks back . Easy, yet if we try hard to understand it, it will cause strain and effort which just makes it hard to recognize . Who is to recognize cannot recognize cause he remains empty of recognition and in that recognition is no one .How this is , is like a clear vessel disappearing into the water it is holding . No outline can be seen - yet it is .

joymarcoarunachala

Here is a film a good friend made by the mountain . With the lovely people I met and showing the fun and joy in their laughter and love; being together with the Mountain of Grace , Arunachala!

Bhagavan says eloquently how Arunachala works on the mind rooting out the ego of those who dwell upon it's name and form .

"I have seen a wonder, a magnetic hill that forcibly attracts the soul. Arresting the activities of the soul who thinks of it even once, drawing it to face itself, the One, making it thus motionless like itself, it feeds upon that sweet [pure and ripened] soul. What a wonder is this! O souls, be saved by thinking of this great Arunagiri, which shines in the mind as the destroyer of the soul [the ego]."

The Hunted - Advaita Comedy On The Mountain

Here is some spontaneity that happened when I walked up to the cave one day with Sven .I had no intention of making a story with an ending but this ending is like teaching some karma yoga ; no expectations for the results to be either way , it's all prasad ! A gift from that Mystery.

From Tiru to Horroville

Chatters at Tasty

Hard at work

My living room

A build up of energy was coming to a point and intensity,it was pushing me in a direction of going . Having given up the smokes I tended to walk around Bhagavan and watch the emotions come dancing up .It was too much at some point ,as I sat outside the Hanuman temple one evening . I had to go somewhere , anywhere .

Walking around Bhagavan

I found this skull on the road next to the smashan , obviously placed there just after being burnt.

On the eve of my departure I spotted the dancing baba or the coconut swami gracefully dancing and skipping along near the Agni tirtham , the girl on my bike Clara had no idea why I was pointing him out . The swami looked at me and smiled in the mountains rays. I was fortunate to have this glance again on my return .

Whats left of Joyti's chai shop , the rest was wiped out;Government regulations

The very morning I left I had a quick breakfast and as leaving the parota shop, saw one of the garbage collectors pulling a trolly .A protruding foot with a half missing toe jiggled up and down . I got closer and saw a stick and the body of a beggar, his face covered.In the morning light it was as if everybody was oblivious to this scene of the young man pulling the trolley along towards the cremation ground , it actually reminded me of Monty Phython's "bring out the dead!!!".

Preparing for Shivaratri.

I waited by Nandi in the temple on Sivaratri .

People came to celebrate.


Resting dog.

This place shows you the extremes and in turn the mind seeks introspection . Either you spill into a wishy washy place of mental gibber jabber or you are pulled home close to yourself and only yourself .Whatever, it always brings you back by taking away what was never there .Dreamlike the illusion's reality in its appearing (just like the rope appearing as a snake) vanishes and crumbles, as another mirage appears .

Listening to yourself; Nishant Baba at Kanappa shrine.

I made it to Pondicherry on the bus with Clara . She was quite attractive and we seemed to get on together sitting quietly before we opened our mouths, (sometimes she reacted to my pointed views about reality and Aurobindo). For example I mentioned that it seemed that Aurobindo was aiming to bring a state of higher perfection for humanity . Now if it came to a perfect state of perfection, into perfect alignment with great harmony then everything would collapse and vanish. Why? because there needs to be friction as duality for this world appearance to function .If this becomes neutral then there has to be a disillusionment. This bothered her greatly.......... and so we drank more beer together.Gradually I started
smoking under the influence of Foster's Larger a beer I hardly drink . It all started at the bus stand when she pulled out a beedie and some colourful character, looking very Rajasthanish was harrasing me for baksheesh.Puff, puff ,puff, "oh well", I ended up buying him a chai .


The Ganapati shrine we discovered and where I met the palm reader, who told me that money would come !

On the promenade with Mahatma Ghandi this boy cuts the pineapple .

Fascinated I looked at this temple door.



Pondicherry street scene.

From Pondicherry bus stand we got ripped off and paid more for our rickshaw ride to Horroville !Here is where the sea greeted us after the fiery presence of Arunachala , it soothed me but the beach was nothing like Perth beaches . the locals still in their trousers waded in the browny blue water . The sand was mixed with pieces of burnt wood , glass , plastic and broken shells and something fishy. Eventually I found a good catch of sardines scattered on the beach further up , what a waste ! And that rotten smell gave food for the crows , at least they had it for a feast. My feet got itchy afterwards , what had I walked on ? The better thing about this was the food which came with a great French style the omlette I never had before !

Where I had the Omlette I never had before!



Swimmers ralaxing in their trousers.

Them itchy feet!

So I thought my offering to Shakti Ma made frutition having Clara by my side and so we talked late into the night often with long pauses of silence between our sayings . Nothing happened! After all I came here for a practical reason and that was to get a check up from the doctor for a ear infection . But Clara had appeared like a wish come true , yet it was quickly realized that I was chasing a dream with her . And so Auroville became a Horroville after a few puffs ,a few beers and another Aurovillian , I decided to hit the road back to the Mountain .

From Arrival to Present

On our arrival , Sven and the Ashram dog .

Mani one of my friends working on the hill

Morning News at Joyti's.

I spotted this man in dirty garb and thought of the Avadhuts that keep to themselves, he appears to be partly blind .He is constantly doing Girivalam .

Bumping into Mooji on Pradakshina route .

At the Bangalore road turn off . Behind the Ganapati shrine .

Sadhu and white dog at Sani Theertha , next to Niruthi Lingam



The lotus Lake we came across on the 120 km bike trip I did .




One of the fields looking up to the hills .




It was very bumpy on my Kinetic but I got to see this !