Trip to Tiruvannamalai (Thejosthalam - Fire one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalam)

It is said that Thiruvannamalai is one of the most sacred place (Ninaithale Mukthi Tharum Thiruthalam) for Salvation. 

Have visited Tiruvannamalai a couple of years ago, I chose to revisit the temple on a auspicious full moon night (Chitra Powrnami night) to pray for my dear one(s).

Thanks to KSRTC  online reservations have made our life easy. Bangalore to Pondicherry via Tiruvannamalai  through Volvo  at 8.30 am takes about 4 hours. The road till Krishnagiri is great, after which I not the best.

Since it was a crowded day, I had booked a room at Hotel Arunachala, which is just opposite the main temple which was clean and comfortable. 

 

  

  Lord Arunachaleswarar and Unnamalai Amman

 The main deity is Lord Shiva or Arunachaleswarar and Goddess Parvathi or Unnamalai Amman.  Thanks to Sri Shankar Guru, I was blessed to spent some time to watch the pooja near the sanctum sanctorum  which is indeed  magnificent.

Poojas are conducted six times a day. Moreover the special poojas to be carried out in Lord Siva’s Temple are also performed regularly.

 The structure of the temple well planned and built with many pillars and sculptures. The temple has seven prakaras and nine gopurams. The tallest gopuram was built by king Krishnadevaraya in the fifteenth century and it is believed to be the second tallest gopuram in the world. This tower is called as Rajagopuram located on the eastern side.

 

It the entrance

GIRIVALAM
Girivalam or ‘circumambulating’ the ‘the mountain of fire’ is walking barefoot around the hill on this day in a distance of 14 Kms which takes about close to 5 hours and visiting eight shiva lingams around the hill.

It is followed that the pradakshina around the girivalam makes a person healthy and the mind attains the peace.
Girivalam is an extraordinary sadhana.

 

Walking for the hill

 Around the Girivanam

  Lamps are lit on the tank

 

BAGAVAN SHRI RAMANA

He was born on Dec 30, 1879 at Thiruchuzhi near Sivakasi, south of Madurai; he was fascinated by Arunachala from an young age; reached Thiruvannamalai temple on Sept 1, 1896 when he was 16; he realised that when one dies, only the body vanishes and not the spirit; he sat near one of the lingams (now called the Paathala Lingam situated near the huge Nandi in the temple) in bliss for three continuous years, prayed Shiva without food or water; ants and rodents bit his body all over, termites built a huge mount around him and finally he was recovered by Sri Seshadri Swamigal who put him up in Virupaksha caves on the eastern slope of the Arunachala hills; he gave mukthi to his mother Alagammal in 1922, buried her in the hills and built his Ramana Ashramam; he finally gave up his body on April 14, 1950 when he was 71 years. He has a big group of devotees including many foreigners who congregate in his Ramanashramam today.

Sri Ramana Maharishi Ashram

There are accommodation facilities for the devotees of the ashram.