Haro Hara

Theerthananda

Well this is my first entry since leaving Perth for Tiruvannamalai unfortunately I did'nt bring a digital with me but have taken a few photos with ye old camera from the first week when I went up to the cave on the other side of the mountain and had a bath in one of the pools left there by the rains , when you float in the pool all the little tadpoles come and nibble and have a meal of your skin ,and did I laugh when they all had a go at me .

Yesterday was Deepam which is a huge event here attracting many people and I had the good fortune to witness a beauty on top of mount Arunachala . A light is blazing on the mount and tonight with the weather clearing out we will have more of the fire to see against the night sky .To walk around the mountain with the people is so strong , boys running in groups shouting "Haro Hara !!!! " which is the chant when the fire is lit and other groups of men walking fast and chanting out to Shiva, women holding hands sing 'Arunachala Shiva' continuosly . . Sadhus smiling ,Sadhus begging , Sadhus with pierced tounges ,deformed people lying on the road with a rag for people to drop rupees in , old men and women walk the distance and of course there is the famous chai stop . A good rest makes you realise how strong this Pradakshina is , it is so strong, it is like being inebriated . Literaly as if the road is starting to disappear under your feet and suddenly you are walking in space . A good rest to the phenomenon you are experincing is just to have a chai !

Chaibas

Then you pick yourself up and enter the stream of bodies venerating a mountain in the form of Shiva . When we completed the walk muscles where sore but the rest I had was good .
People say "why worship a mountain? You don't have to go to India for that" . They say this with the viewpoint that You yourself are more important than searching and wandering India . but this (travelling) is still in the play of conciousness and to be in a place of your inner most self is a blessing; Arunachala invokes this in you! It is a living power of Shiva and Shakti that stirs up all the devils and brings them into light so they may be freed . So where else does such a place exist for just this ?