I approached the Ashram cautiously. I am not inclined to gurus. There is a hierarchy there that disturbs me. Some people need to follow someone, to be led. I am not one of those people .
Even so, I am always interested in new experiences and being in India for the first time afforded me the opportunity to visit an ashram, which I did in Tiruvanamalai at the ashram of Sri Ramana Maharishi .
A peacock in flight.
The grounds were a calm and pleasant reprieve from the busy Chengam Road. There was a large tree and peacocks, monkeys and chipmonks roamed freely. The people were friendly. We had researched this ashram before we came and had applied via email. They invited us to stay free of charge for three days. The room was nice and one of the few we have had in India with hot water and was about a half a kilometer from the Ashram. Apparently they have various guesthouses in the area and many people come to stay here, Indians and westerners alike.
There didn't seem to be much of a program, aside from morning and evening chants, which consisted of verses taken from the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi who is the one whose teachings the ashram is founded on. He came to the holy mountain of Aranchala, which was known as a holy place for many hundreds of years before, at the age of 14 and he attained enlightenment apparently in one fell swoop at the age of 16. He spent most of his years in silence and his teachings are taken from the few conversations he had during what is known as Satsong. The basis of his teaching is that you don't need to go outside to find God. You are one with all things and with God and that any religion which tells you that God is "outside" of yourself is likely cheating you. This man lived and meditated here from 1898 until his death in 1950. May other people came to receive his teaching including Ghandi, Sai Baba and Mooji.
Inside the meditation hall
Outside the meditation hall
The large tree at the entrance greets visitors with welcomed shade.
We have been very careful about the food we eat here in India and have remained healthy for 5 weeks. We take acidophilus and Grapefruit seed extract tablets and drink lots of water. Here at the ashram we had our first experience of eating off of banana leaves with our fingers. The ashram feeds 400 or 500 people everyday, breakfast, lunch and dinner. From the time the doors open, people are seated, served and finished in 30 minutes. I know many a banquet kitchen that could take lessons from these people. Men walked by with buckets of food and loaded up the banana leaves with VERY delicious dishes. Rice, dahl, cabbage and other, more mysterious foods were served from buckets. They served tea and coffee, pouring from pitchers high above the cups, rarely missing. It was never clear which was which and the servers did not talk or answer questions which made getting the beverage of choice a bit difficult. It didn't matter I suppose as everything was so sweet it was hard to tell if it was coffee or tea anyway!
The dining hall
Here we are in the dining hall awaiting our meal.
For myself, I have not been one to sit and meditate. I have tried it over the years but have found that painting is a perfect form of mediation for me. Still, I tried it and sat Indian style for hours at a time, but not for too long and turned my energy inward as best I could with the array of noises from both inside and outside the meditation hall. As with all holy places of worship, I felt more of an onlooker than a participant. When I saw westerners with the red dots painted on their foreheads or the white stripes of Shiva I thought it looked a bit silly but, who am I to judge? I do my thing and everyone else is free to do theirs. As there was no particular program at this ashram, which I was thankful for, I was free to come and go as I pleased and others did the same.
During the chanting, the lingom of Shiva was cleaned with what looked like oil, mud and yogurt before being re-wrapped in clean cloth and adorned with flowers. This was done by one man every day as several others led the chants and others rang bells chaotically. The whole ceremony took about an hour.
The town of Tiruvannamalai is a spritual hotspot of sorts and there are many ashrams and satsongs (which is a discourse or conversation led by a guru) to be found there. We spoke to others who had tried them out, and there were many who had been coming there for many many years and who had tried the gambit of options available and we also researched it on the net as well. One man who was recommended by many was the nephew of Sri Ramana Maharishi and, although he used to give satsong, he no longer did so but it was possible to request a private audience. We decided to do this and he accepted our request.
We were invited to his home and met him there on his large shaded porch along with one other couple. I had come with a question, which I squeezed in at one point but which he did not answer. That was, how can I best utilize what I do, my talents, to benefit others? Instead he gave a monologue which was more or less basic and told several stories which I had heard before in various forms. Still, it was a very pleasant experience.
The core message that he wanted to convey to us this day was that words are only words. We are the one who is behind the words, reality is beyond words, we are the seer and it is behind our interpretations of the world that we will find peace, God. As a writer I found this amusing. He spoke for an hour about not using words and most of that time he maintained direct eye contact with me. I liked him. There was a good energy there and he was, to me, clearly sincere and loving. When the hour was over he gave us some literature from his uncles teaching and dismissed us pleasantly, "Forget the words, the truth is beyond words."
Another local guru was a woman by the name of Siva Shakti and she gave dashan every morning at 10 am. She has her own ashram which was close to our guesthouse and we decided to go see what she was about.
We came an hour early and when we arrived there was about 6 or 7 people already sitting and mediating. I sat on one side and Nanne on the other as it seemed to be divided male/female. I sat along the back wall next to another man and he asked me if I could move closer. "Closer?", I asked. What is going on here? The room was big and there was plenty of room. "Yes, closer", he said in a quiet, kind voice, " So nobody squeezes in here. It will be very crowded here today." Hmmm. I moved a centimeter or two closer and waited. The energy here was very calm and peaceful and the hour passed quickly. I had gotten quite deep into my mediation and when I opened my eyes, right about 10 O'clock, the room was full, packed, and people were lined up outside and peering in the windows. They had entered silently. Siva Shakti had also quietly entered the room and stood at the front where there was a chair for her and many offerings of flowers lay on the floor.
She moved slowly, very slowly, with a pronounced grace and made eye contact with each and every visitor. She said nothing as she made her way around the room, silently acknowledging everyone. I enjoyed this and noted how peaceful it was. I kept waiting for her to say something but after 15 minutes she had said nothing. Through the crowd seated on the floor I could only see one face clearly, off to the side and I looked at her. She was about to cry. Tears came to the woman's eyes and she began to sob. First she tried to hold it in and then she let loose, sobbing loudly and this gave way to a wails and screams.
"Good God", I thought to myself and immediately felt that the screaming was some sort of therapy that she had undergone previously. A real show. She clearly was experiencing some deep emotional pain but still, I found it annoying. Maybe that was my test, I don't know. Everyone looked at her including Siva Shakti. The woman continued, taking all of the energy in the room for herself, and Siva Shakti turned without saying a word and slowly, smiling, made her way out of the room. Eventually, after some minutes of this her wailing turned to laughter and several others joined in the laughter. I looked over at Nanne and she motioned for us to leave. "Yes please", I thought thankfully.
We spoke about this, how the wailing woman had taken all of that nice energy and disrupted it and in spite of that unfortunate incident, we decided to go back a few mornings later. The procedure was the same. No words, only gentle peaceful feelings and the quiet recognition from the kind face of the Indian woman who called herself Siva Shakti. for 15 minutes she smiled and gave acknowledgement of those who came to see her and then, without a word, she left the room.
"Forget words, the truth is beyond words."
The white peacock.
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