1-Tiruvannamalai

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to

wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”--Albert Einstein

Man’s greatest breakthrough in the many thousands of years of his journey around the sun has been the ability to create and utilize fire. The early man’s glee when he was able to create fire by inducing friction using stones is yet to be surpassed.

There is no better place to see the manifestation of the supreme power of fire than in the Arunachaleeswara Temple located in Tiruvannamalai. Fire (one of the panchabootha’s) will be the source of the travel this time.

The town of Tiruvannamalai is situated around 187 kms from Chennai and this virgin experience hinges around the concept of Girivalam in Tiruvannamalai.

Going round the hill - Girivalam or Giri Pradakshina or circumambulating the Holy Hill of Arunachal is a tradition followed from times immemorial.

The scientific part of the mind told me that the hill Arunachala was probably made out of a Volcanic Eruption and is made of Igneous Rocks. But the spiritual part of the mind kept reminding that Arunachala is believed to be the very incarnation of Siva’s own Body!

We were four of us – friends of course planning to converge in the Koyambedu Central Bus stand in Chennai at around 6.00 p.m to start the journey to Tiruvannamalai in a Government Bus.

We had to go through a 14 Kilometer journey by walk around the hill in Tiruvannamalai and so we tried conserving energies by using bus service and eliminated the choice of two wheelers for travel. Also, using a Car was out of question as the expected crowd on this day –a full moon day will be too high and the onward journey in the highways, that too in the night time will be too risky!

It was around 6.30 p.m when we arrived at the bus stop(one of my friends justified the half hour delay to reach the bus stop by saying that “one hour delay in timings is always allowable even in a business scenario”).

I wanted to ask why one hour is allowed and who gave my friend this foolhardy statistic, but the impending task of getting bus tickets focused my attention on buying tickets first.

There was a massive crowd (around 1500 people at least) waiting in disorderly queues to buy tickets to board buses to Tiruvannamalai and our spirits took a nose-dive seeing the

crowd .We estimated that to get the bus tokens and enter the bus it will take another 1-2 hours atleast.So, probably we would start the bus journey around, say 8.30 p.m only.

God! There will be another 5 hours of travel by bus and we would start the Girivalam only by 1.30 a.m.Our worry was that the Full moon’s presence closes by 5.42 a.m (the next day) and we have to complete the girivalam by that time to grab the full benefits of the “full moon day girivala”.It will take four hours roughly to walk around the hill, so we felt that we needed to rush to complete the journey.

While we were evaluating the time constraints, the percentage crowd increase to get tickets was moving up steadily. We luckily found a known contact at the succeeding end of the queue (at the front end of the queue) and we sent out one of our friends to beg him as decently as possible to get tokens for us too. Our friend came back triumphant with necessary tokens in his hand and we parted the queue feeling much relieved.

Chaotic queues, middle class looks and manners, the smell of  one flower or the other  from women’s hair, the newly opened hot chips shops and the equally competent samosa shops, the anti-love between the tea cups and the waste bins, bright colored advertisement paintings, yellowish white toilets and their stink, retirement aged bus status announcers and their almost broken mikes, recently born internet shop ,the old looking government buses, the khaki uniformed drivers and conductors – this whole setting our minds have got used to in Chennai Bus stands  seemed to bid a nostalgic bye to us when we started off in our allotted bus at around 7.15 p.m.

We were told that the goddess Parvathi performed the penance of Girivalam and claimed the left half of Shiva's body. People from all walks of lives - Kings, saints and devotees earlier and now - Politicians, Actors and others inclusive do this penance especially during full moon nights.

Being the first for me, i was expectant of what’s in store for me from Shiva and Girivala!

The vehicle smoke clouded the bus till we were within the city limits. But, when we zipped past the city limits we were hugged by the fresh, nippy highway winds suddenly without notice. Inside the bus, we began enthusiastic conversations on cinemas, studies, politics and happenings.

I found Hercule Poirot’s (the fictional detective in Agatha Christie’s novels) words “"If you let people talk about themselves for long enough, sooner or later they give themselves away” true during our discussions. Each one of us after talking for the next 2 hours slowly turned inward and let out some of the inner truths about ourselves flow out.

Our discussions slowly changed to sleepy mumble and my friends slept off. I looked at the watch kept in the bus and the time was 11.40 p.m.There were another 75 kms to cover atleast.My mind had a lot of time for itself and it slowly turned in to a state of static silence…I was holding the window seat and as we moved along I saw a couple of lean, dark figures sitting in front of some mild fire some 10 feet away from the highway

road...The thoughts of fire now entered the mind and i thought  incongruously of the actor Tom Hanks (regarded as the world’s greatest actor as anybody) and his film “Cast Away”. My mind floated to the scene in which Tom Hanks struggled to create fire in an estranged place. Fire is such a basic but an amazing thing! We’ve trapped its powers inside even a matchbox but the struggle of the early man and his victorious cry whenever he created fire stayed as happy recollections always. We have come a long way from that time on as a Species really.

My thoughts moved to my visit to Arunachaleswarar Temple recently. The visit was the one and only visit I have had to this temple so far and truly, it is one of the best of the temples in the World for sure.

The giant main tower (Raja Gopuram) in the east, the five enclosures (prakaras) housing several shrines, the tanks and halls (mandapams) and the scenic view of the temple with the hills in the backdrop is a joy to watch. This great temple of Tamilnadu is said to spread over an area of 24 Acres and houses sports pavilions, several subsidiary shrines, thousand pillared mandapams, Hundred pillared mandapams, sacred tanks, gopurams, etc. When I went around that place i felt that it’s a culture out there and its here to stay forever!

I felt that by just being inside this temple one could move on to greater heights in life...With great love there is always a great silence and immense inclination to perform unending service. This temple subconsciously triggers love (silence) and action in everyone. Thoughts like passing across the Sivaganga Tank, the Vinayaga Shrine and approaching the beautiful Mandapa with a big Nandi (the bull 6ft long) triggers so many deep processes within the self and gets the person internalized and ready for the visit to the Agni (fire) in store shortly!

The Gopura IIayanar Koil opposite the Nandi mandapam (it is in this place that Lord Muruga gave darshan and blessed the poet Arunagiri), the Kala Bairava possessing eight arms, armed with Udukkai, Kapala, Sword, Sheild, Parrot, Bell and Sulam spreading his legs and having tongues of Fire, protruding teeth, anklets, and third eye; the scenes of churning the milk ocean painted in series in the puravi mandapam; the nadambasudani giving darshan with 8 arms – all these scenes gets one sort of a Visa to travel backward in space and get merged with the intelligence and the purpose with which our ancestors worked.

There are an increasing number of people today calling themselves “forward looking” and ignoring these idols as rubbish saying that such Gods never existed in reality .Their idiocy pains one really. It has never been the question of the existence of these gods

which is important but the understanding of the intelligence behind the institution of them.

Great effort has been put by our forefathers to express the vital concepts of life in simple ways through these images and associated stories. A small example is the Vinayaga picture in which there is a mouse sitting and looking at the laddus and other eatables near Vinayaga.A mouse personifies greed to the core (a mouse usually gets whatever it could grab and stores it in its abode) and the image of the mouse sitting quiet without touching the food around implies the CONTROL OF THE GREED. The big ears of Vinayaga instruct the devotee to hear a lot and the long mouth (trunk) symbolizes the need to choose words/things intelligently among alternatives.

My limited knowledge could not unravel the logic behind each story and statue but I was more than convinced that each of these gods symbolized ways to succeed in life and also coupled it with the possibility of generating an ever present silent joy.

God is something that is timeless, ageless and ceaseless. These idols help one meet the necessary intellectual and experiential conditions to welcome god in to one’s heart. The science clad people of today need to understand that “science is just the rationalization of sense impressions (as said by Einstein himself)” and there is something which is beyond rationalization but within one’s experience which is called God.

God is just pure unending experience of joy and the temples are storehouses which give this experience of joy. That’s why temples are so important. Statues are information capsules and their purpose is to induce faith first in the disciple. The goal is to reach a state where there is no difference between the experience and the experiencer. God cannot be explained and probably that’s why our ancestors used the concept of information hiding to hide the logic behind the idols and instructed the disciple on lessons of faith first.

Thoughts broke at this stage and the mind flew back to Pathala Linga inside the temple where the great saint Ramana Maharishi stayed for several years and did penance. This enlightened being’s ways to god were simple. He asked the question “Who am I” again and again for years together and arrived at a place within himself which could be only experienced.

My mind briefly came back to the Bus and I looked at the time. It was around 12.30 p.m and the bus was nearing Tiruvannamalai limits now .My friends were still asleep with awkward positions for their necks which were shaking in sink with the movements of the bus.

My thoughts raced on to Annamalaiar temple again and focused on the several bronze idols in the temple which are many centuries old. One understands the contribution of

various rulers towards this temple. Rulers like Cholas, the Pallava, Pandayar, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara Rulers, Krishna Deva Raya, Tanjore Nayak Kings etc are said to have contributed to the growth of this temple.

The bus jolt had become steady and the roaming mind finally freezed on the central deities – the Annamalaiar and the Unnamalai Ammal.The feeling one gets in their presence was something like standing in the midst of a huge, uncontrollable fire along with the feeling of unlimited security, joy and inexplicable association with everything and everyone. It is wise not to attempt to describe these scenes and thereby demean what they have to offer.Annamalaiar has unlimited love (and unlimited responsibility) in store and let him be experienced by everyone in his own way. Perhaps one’s duty is to tell people of the limitless possibility existing in front of these deities and encourage travel to this place.

Deep inside something got stirred which could never be explained through words .I thought that this Annamalaiar could be found within all creatures but not restricted to them; he could be found outside all creatures, but not excluded from them. A tear drop enquired the health of the eyelids at this moment and the thought that god is experience and not knowledge reappeared in the mind. For those who believe, no proof is necessary, for those who do not believe, no proof is possible. Oh! Annamalaiyaanaee! You are the entire universe. You are in all, and all is in you. Sun, moon, and stars revolve within you.

Belief creates the actual fact. God Exists! God Exists! He exists in our experience of him. I wish I could say it a million times.

The Bus jerked and stopped in front of a yellow board indicating that we have now entered Tiruvannamalai limits. The time was around 1.10 a.m and the weather was chilly. My friends were awake too and we were adviced to get down from the bus at this place. We noticed huge numbers of passengers getting down from other buses too (almost stopping in rows one after the other). The buses could not get on further as the entire road in front of us was blocked with people strewn everywhere.

We got down and started walking. Cold wind hit us from all sides and we started shivering mildly. I looked at the sky above and noticed the beautiful moon with its cousin star nearby staring at us with flashing eyes. The look of the moon seemed to be a welcoming one to my heart. Thoughts of the existence of trillions of stars in this cosmos came to the mind and I wondered whether life existed somewhere else too and what the concept of God would be to those beings in their planets.

Kalpana Chawla came to mind. She would have completed 30 -40 trips around the earth (atleast) within the time I finish this 14 mile girivala tonight. It was hard to digest that she was no more. My mind looped around the question “Where would she be now?”  And I asked this question (still looking skyward) to the friend walking closest to me. He gave a surprised look and kept walking silently. As per Upanishad “It is from from bliss all

beings are born; by bliss they are sustained; and into bliss they again return”. For sure she has returned to bliss! Bye Chawla.

Is there a possibility of her returning back? Is she in someother distant planet in someother form? If matter can neither be created nor destroyed but can be only converted from one form to another, does the matter which’ve held this soul still support her in someother unknown form or state?

Certain questions can never be answered and as Carl Jung says “as to the ultimate things we can know nothing, and only when we admit this do we return to equilibrium”. Realizing this I thought that it is better to avoid these questions and accept the limitations as such and looked ahead.

The Shiver had stopped now after we’ve walked in the cold for sometime. The body had got used to it. Such a responsive mechanism this body is. It works without any orders involuntarily and sets balance as far as possible. It is only when things go out of “natural limits” it throws warning signals to us. Such a miracle in itself –the functioning of the body. This had never struck me so forcefully so far. I heard Einstein muttering from within “There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.” True! Everything is a Miracle in a way or other. This miracle body houses the soul which in itself is a most lovely and perfect image of God who is the miracle of all miracles. A sudden respect for the body came in and I looked up again at the sky, this time at a star which twinkled its eyes as if it gave its approval for my thought. Miracles Everywhere!

One of my friends said that Tar Roads are laid now in the Girivala route but earlier it used to be difficult to undertake the journey. I looked around at the contemporary edifices like the shops, cinema halls, clinics, houses etc dimly lit and mostly closed at this hour in the night. Tea shops were actively doing business but. We also found several shops which volunteered to safeguard our shoes and sandals for Rs.3 each. According to tradition the Girivala needs to be completed barefoot and I thought that this was the reason why there were unusually high “Chappal Guard” shops like these in the sides of the roads. Full moon day is definitely a very special day for spiritually inclined people of the South. The massive crowd ahead and behind us confirmed this.

The time was around 1.45 a.m now. A cool breeze greeted us as we took a right bend to come directly in front of the glorious Raja Gopuram.The sandal colored, eleven tiered temple tower was a joy to the eyes. Some brownish black birds were sitting on top of the tower (217 Feet High tower) and gazed at the huge crowd in procession deep under.

Amidst the cold I got a strong urge to take bath before moving further. A Sadhu with very dirty and coiled hair looked eagerly at us with mugs of water. I took 3 mugs of water

from him and poured them on my head. The water chilled the body further and when I was about to get the fourth mug, one of my friends stopped me and asked me to move on. Later he said that a mug of water cost Rs.1 and I was shocked knowing the price but still the sadhu’s entrepreneurship made me laugh.

There was a huge fire lit with thousands of “karpoorams” offered by devotees in front of the temple tower. We huddled in front of the fire and offered our Karpoorams too. The fire reduced the cold in the body and gave a welcome warmth to it. We took sacred ash and quickly applied it (using three fingers) in our forehead and began our Girivala proceedings.

 As we moved on, we decided to walk slowly but steadily together. I noticed some people holding thick and long agarbathis in their hands and walking focused without looking around. The flame and smell from the agarbathis enveloped us whenever we crossed these people on the move.

I looked at the moon again and the lovely luminous moon seemed to bring with it a magical sense of spiritual awakening. The moon lit the roads with creamy white light. The full moon seemed not only to engorge the seas but the minds of us as well. An inexplicable current flowed in me and I started loving this feeling.

The walk slowly started giving a sense of detachment from the bothers of daily life. On the way, we visited the Seshadri Swamigal Ashramam (popularly known as ‘Thangakkai Swamigal' – Golden Arm Swami) and found a group of foreigners silently standing inside. The spiritual pull of the south attracts innumerable minds from far away like the bees getting attracted towards the nectar of the flower. My mind got filled with a sort of pity for them and I wished that they should be guided by the right gurus always.

When we came out of the Ashramam we noticed that the crowd looked continuous and never ending and made a lot of noise. Yet, one got the feeling of deep silence amidst this multitude of voices everywhere. Some people seemed to have a family outing, some uttered the manthra “Om Arunachala”, some groups did bhajans, and everyone moved on just like us.

We knew that there were eight Lingams in each direction in the Girivala route and we decided to offer our prayers from outside the temple of each Lingam (instead of entering each one) for want of time. When we reached the first of the lingams, the INDRA lingam (East) which is said to bring a healthy and wealthy life i was mentally smacked by the row of lepers sitting outside. Such a contrast it was and I concentrated on offering something to these unfortunate beings. Logically, when they are near the Indra Lingam, they get wealth (from people like us) atleast to buy food but I was not sure of the Health Promise of Indra Linga.Carl Jung came to mind again and I decided not to question the ultimate things.

We moved on and I found one of the many red clad Sadhus approach my friend and say in Tamil “Sivaaa...Give me Rs.10. Iam hungry”. I looked at the so-called sadhu and

smiles came to my face seeing the sadhu quote the amount he wanted. Begging had become a full time profession by now here. We laughed at his request, gave him a rupee (primarily to avoid his chasing us if we don’t offer him anything) and went on.

One other voice on the sides of the road kept shouting “look at this sick figure here and give some alms ayya”. The beggars, the tea shops, the innumerable siddha outlets, the noise of the moving crowd and spiritual book outlets continually caught our eyes together with a consciousness of the moon moving along with us from above.

Ramanashramam is a great crowd puller. The ritualistic “Kolas” were being drawn by some women outside the ashramam in these early hours of the day itself. We went inside the ashramam and a sudden silence hooked us all. I peeped in to a room (locked) which is said to contain some articles/utilities used by Ramana through the half open window and observed the articles used by Ramanamaharishi in his living days, smelt the fragrance from the Agarbathis lit inside the room, fixed my eyes for a minute at the the steady light generated from the oil lamp inside, and looked on at other things while a feeling of actually having this enlightened being around started setting in. We came out of the ashram in total silence and as I looked back again before moving on, the moon was bathing the whole ashram and its entire mass was visible as bright white layers trapped in between the huge leaves of the coconut tree from within the Ashram. A sense of longing to see the Maharishi in flesh occupied the mind now and I sort of moved along with a heavy heart.

 We were adviced to constantly view the peak of the Arunachala hill during the

circumambulation and I adhered to this code half of the time. The hill resembled a huge

Sivalinga and I noticed people around admiring its beauty as they moved along. The time

was around 4.20 a.m now and we had crossed the Agni Lingam (South East –

worshipping this lingam is said to retrieve us from all diseases and help us face

challenges of life), Yema Lingam (South –Said to solve Economic Problems), Niruthi

Lingam (South West –Worship relieves one from difficulties of life) and Varuna Lingam

(West – Worship of this temple retrieves one from crucial diseases and promotes ones

social status).

We had covered around 8 kms in all by now and we decided to get a tea break. Seeing us

look around a Sadhu who was engaged in a passionate love affair with his Beedi threw it

away in a second and looked at us with a childish face. My memory cells trapped this

scene and I offered him a rupee for business reasons (I have caused loss to him by

looking at him when he was with his beedi and he had to throw it away in expectation for

“returns” using which he can get many more beedis).

After a break of 10 minutes used for having tea we started moving on further and I

queried a friend on what sort of life “Vallalar” led. My friend said many things like his

insistence on Vegetarianism but the point which struck me most was that”Vallalar

attained Samadhi and diffused his body in thin air”. At this hour of the day with chill

wind blowing  around and a spiritual inclination in the mind, my mind freezed on the

picture of the Holy man wearing white clothes which covered his head too. Mysterious

country ours really! The following Upanishad text came to mind:

“It is not outer awareness,

It is not inner awareness,

Nor is it a suspension of awareness.

It is not knowing

It is not unknowing,

Nor is it knowingness itself.

It can neither be seen nor understood,

It cannot be given boundaries.

It is ineffable and beyond thought.

It is indefinable.

It is known only through becoming it”.

Perhaps Vallalar had “become” it…

As we moved further, we visited the Vayu Lingam (North West –Said to confer boon on

women and children) and we discussed about the numerous Yogashrams and Temples in

this Girivalam Route. No wonder why this Spiritual Business has become one of the Top

revenue earning businesses in the country today with a turnover of around 3000 Crores

per year!

I noticed a very old lady about to see the sunset of her life standing outside her hut and

watching the procession of thousands of men and women around the holy Hill. My Mind

wondered whether she stood and gazed like this for the many years she has crossed in her

life, thought about the life of her, her formative days with improper education, her

evenings without the numbing instrument called television and the limited scope she

would have had to see the world.

So many people in this country. So many life styles and yet so much unity when it comes

to spirituality. This is the best country in the world for its culture and tradition for sure.

Such a pleasure to be part of this country –Our Country!

I was not able to take count of the other temples I crossed but Adi Annamalai Temple and a beautiful Lord Muruga temple entered safe memory routes enroute.

The Seventh Lingam –The Kubera Lingam (North - Worship of this lingam grants economical growth, and promotes peace of mind) had a very huge (uncontrollable) crowd and almost everyone paused to visit this temple and there was a “Static Jam” this Kubera was inducing in the route. We laughed at the sight and I understood where the worries of most of our people were – MONEY!

Many of the worries in this truly great but still poor country circled around money and the Kubera Lingam crowd stood testimony to it! Money had never been the centre of attention for us earlier but over a period of time and that too even more quickly after the globalization money has become the central theme and God for many.Vikekananda’s words started coming to mind “…..Brahmanism has lost something - that reforming zeal, that wonderful sympathy and charity for everybody, that wonderful leaven which Buddhism had brought to the masses and which had rendered Indian society so great that a Greek historian who wrote about India of that time was led to say that no Hindu was known to tell untruth and no Hindu woman was known to be unchaste” .Principles of truth had taken a backseat for sure but more or less the chastity principles of our women are definitely intact. I offered a sincere prayer to Kubera that the changing times should not atleast change this strength of ours.

We were nearing the close of our Journey and by this time our legs had started paining (not used to walks of this sort till now) too. I kept looking at the moon and the Peak of the Hill which continued giving lessons on silent joy.

We visited the final lingam –the Esanya Lingam (North East - For peace of mind and ability to concentrate one’s mind on God) and the time was around 5.40 a.m now. We witnessed the moon slowly starting to hide itself behind the Annamalai Hill (these scenes were towards the rights side of us) bidding bye to us.

We stood there looking at the splendid sight of the moon going to sleep behind the hills and slowly moved on to the Rajagopuram again and offered our prayers and completed our journey.

The silence triggered by the moon, the free association with people around, the sense of accomplishment at the end of the journey, the understanding of the silent language of

god, the millions of prayers offered from various devotees and the many many small and sweet events during the journey filled our minds on our way back to Chennai.

The ultimate work of civilization is the unfolding of ever-deeper spiritual understanding and Annamalai is one of the best of the existing Civilizations ever helping the devotee towards deeper spiritual awakening.

My mind asked this final question of the trip: Is God’s Universal language British English, Tamil, Sanskrit, Urdu or anyother language in the world? The answer my experience gave was No. His Language as I understood that day is the language of silence and one is able to really speak to him during these journeys.

2- Kalahasthi

“We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil, committed for our safety to its security and peace, preserved

from annihilation only by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we give our fragile craft”.

- Adlai Stevenson

Some days are never the same! They seem to carry with them a silent call from within. Attending to this call for the day, getting away from social pressures on this day when the inner phone rings is sometimes very crucial for the self. It is in these days the travel instincts get triggered heavily. Travel has always been one good way to address this silent call. Perhaps since what lies within also lies without, to better know the "within", reaching out to some place in the "without" is essential.

Siva is one God who seems to be the silence puzzle trigger master. Today is one such day when the Puzzle Master has to be visited.Kalahasthi, the abode of Lord Siva in the South (Takshina Kailash) is one place one would want to experience in these travel moods. This will be the first of the many many visits for me to this wonderful abode of Siva.

The day outside was a bright sunny day and an inviting one. The time was around 9.50 a.m and I decided to pick a friend who will not talk much and will also know the route to Kalahasthi well. I found one after some thought. For the entire day about to unfold, he learnt to remain a silent shadow without uttering a word after the initial attempts he made to hit free conversation. This was not the day for free speech. He understood it and got to the silence gear pretty soon.

We started at around 10.30 a.m from Chennai. Our route was to hit Poonamallee, Tiruvallur, and Oothukottai (if possible visit Suruttapalli - temple of Siva on the way), Nagalapuram, Pitchatur and then Kalahasti.My estimate was 100 Kms of travel and 2 - 2 1/2 hours to reach the destination. Preference always goes to a two-wheeler than a car and a bus for these travels. A bus is a crowd - creates dissonance and hinders silence. A car is a closed system...A feeling of getting locked sets in. This may not help the silence to grow and unfold. Prefer a car for a family outing than for silence trips.

I felt that the bike too seemed to be all too eager to reach its destiny. In a world of silence everything seems to glow with life and everything seems to communicate. This bike had ways of communication definitely. I had done my part to make this bike want “Moksha” for sure…No service for a long time and rough use has made this "functional guy" look old and wanting Moksha or Freedom from me. Maybe Siva will give Moksha to this Splendor 2000 Model too. Kalahasthi is said to have given Moksha for even a Spider,

Snake and an Elephant. The name Sri-Kala-Hasthi denotes the conjoining of the Spider (Sri), the Snake (Kala), and the Elephant (Hasthi) thus becoming Sri Kalahatheeswarar.

Moksha for Splendor? Why not? It has done its KARMA so well for these 3 years and we are heading to a place where there have been instances of 'freedom" for beings lower than human. When God is around everything is possible and everything is doable!

Luckily I hadn't updated my friend who accompanied me about this thought on "Splendor Moksha Possibility”. Smiles came in of what he would do if he gets to know this current mental state of mine. He'd surely run away without coming with me! So, silence is good for me and for him too today.

We are slow travelers. Zipping ahead is of no use according to us. A steady 50-60 Kms will do fine for us.

We crossed the muddy and bumpy roads near Porur and entered Poonamallee route. As we were traveling, my friend kept admiring the accuracy of milestones kept alongside the roads. He was doing a cross check with the bike meter often to check the accuracy of milestones and opened up related topics. He did not get replies and so had to exponentially decrease his inquiries and admirations. Poor Soul! He should have spent his day somewhere else!

The sun was beating from directly above the head...The time was nearing twelve noon and our stops to fill petrol and getting basic checkup of the vehicle cost us 30 minutes or so. My friend quipped that we could have planned better looking with squinted eyes at the sun. But once we crossed Poonamallee and entered the Tiruvallur village route he got excited again and the breeze from fields around proved to be a real blessing in the heat.

The Siva lingam in Kalahasthi is said to be a 'Vayu Lingam' representing one of the five elements –“THE AIR” and is one of the Panchabootha Sthalas of Lord Shiva. My mind prompted that there should definitely be immense purpose behind the institution of these Panchaboothas as we made our way through the small villages on either side of the road.

We noted that seventy percent of the fields around were growing dry for want of water.Cauvery Water issue tried to gain entry in to the mind but I shoveled it away. This one Cauvery issue will eat the whole day if it enters the mind. Get away cauvery...

The time was well past 12.00 noon now and we were getting near Tiruvallur.My friend was from a nearby village in Tiruvallur and he was quoting about the water problems when he looked at the sorry state crops bent in disappointment around. The life of these

crops requires good soil to settle in. The soil requires water. The water requires the sky to be willing and sun (fire) and air to coordinate too. It’s all interrelated. A life depends on the balance of these elements. Be it a crop or a 'functional life" like a splendor or a human life (on top of this evolution cycle), these are the secret keys for propelling life further. These five secret keys are what are addressed in five Panchaboothasthalas.

And we are moving on to see one of the secret keys -The Air!

At around 12.30 p.m we reached Suruttapalli and spent half an hour with the World’s only lying down Siva. We coupled this with a brief Tea Session and my friend liked the break and stretched out in the coconut hut teashop. An old man who coupled up for both service and collections donned the shop. We proactively got directions to our further travel and checked whether the temple will be closed in the afternoon."The temple opens its doors usually in the morning at 6 am and closes at 9 pm", said the old man. While he said this, his lips caved in exposing the "capitalist few tooth" which created monopoly in his mouth. Should be a 70-80 fellow this! He would have met so many travelers over the years. I wondered what he thought about us.

We moved on and entered the well-laid, very wide Andhra Pradesh (AP) Highway route. Our next milestone was to reach Pitchathur via Nagalapuram.The fields around were healthier in this place and we noted occasionally some pitch black children carrying some wood, sometimes school books going on the sides of the road. The sun kept following us and was moving steadily towards the front of us with an intention of seeing our faces directly. We crossed Nagalapuram and reached Pitchatur Road aided by these smooth AP Roads. A sign board indicated that, travel towards the left led to Tirupathi and to the right led to Kalahasthi.Obviously, we turned to the right.

The road narrowed down and we were entering sort of thick fields. We got an inkling of the existence of a lot of villages in and around this place. We had an estimated 30 kms left to reach Kalahasthi and i was thoroughly enjoying this ride. I was able to notice the thoughts that entered my mind breezing through silently without making much impact.

From nowhere, suddenly entered the thoughts of the recently deceased Uncle. He was such a fanatic of God. There was never a day he used to miss his Poojas and never an occasion he missed visiting holy places. Ironically he died a very painful Cancer induced death, was operated all over in the stomach region and stapled up many times over during his last days and passed away with pain all the way. During the funeral many guests quoted that "God had been so cruel to a very sincere devotee like my uncle". They said that they are really unhappy with God's ways. His death was like a puzzle and black mark on God's actions towards his devotees.

Why did this God do this to him? Is it Karma or is it a fault in prayer strategy of my Uncle?? The point many missed when they commented on God was that "God Never intends to bring happiness to us. His only intention is to bring lasting joy". Happiness is time bound, cancer bound and always fleeting. Joy is a permanent thing. Joy requires no circumstances to work in one's favor. Joy dose’nt come and go. Joy is a state of "being"!

All the prayers, visits to temples etc are the keys, which open the doors of silence and joy. This joy -this God is like this breeze, which flows continually towards and around us now...It is we who add the emotional speakers and create "happiness and pain”. This nature seems to be an unlimited broadcasting station, through which this Joy called God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in!

God has always been an expression of the experience of limitless joy. While all of life is knowledge based it is the purpose of these temples to underline the importance of the underlying joy of the "being”. To understand this joy, silence becomes a prerequisite in a way. Since joy is not knowledge it does not require communication through a language. Just like there is more clarity in a still pond, in this still mind (silent mind) comes in the clarity of joy's existence. Many of us try to enter a house when we are already inside it. Joy is already there. The only act that is required is to realize that it is already there! These temple visits are meant to disclose this truth to the bent devotee.

The custom of having to sit in the temple for sometime before leaving a temple came to mind. This well designed custom is intended to give an opportunity to the devotee and to the visitor to let the silent joy speak to him without words. But the staining of this custom seen today, the way people bend their backs as if there are on the verge of running a Olympic 100 Metre Final and the way they rush out immediately after their backs touch the floor highlights the “comedy of errors” and the receding understanding of our valuable customs recently.

Going to a temple even ten times a day will not help if God and temple are used as a waste dump station. God is not an ONYX company representative to get in all our rust and dusts...God is not a multipurpose service officer either.

Going and requesting god for help in handling daily chores is "relieving” in a way but that is not "realization". Going before God for relief is like thinking that the purpose of the SUN is to dry one's wet clothes only. The sun is there for a larger, bigger purpose. The purpose of the Sun (God) cannot be explained. It needs to be understood. All the actions performed by a human are an effort to understand this purpose. This is why KARMA or action is important.

My friend announced that we have reached the destination and will be near the premises of the temple in another five minutes. Faces, Buses and shops reappeared suddenly and we turned to the left side of the road and took another left immediately. There stood before us - some 100 meters away the beautiful temple tower welcoming us to Kalahasthi (We later found that the temple occupies an area of about 5 acres and the tall towers are visible from miles around actually). The huge gopura we noticed on the eastern bank of the Svarnamukhi with seven tiers is said to be built by Krishnadevaraya in the year 1516.There was also another Gopura used for Entrance in to the Temple standing a few meters from the Huge Gopuram.I felt like there was a sense of getting welcomed and a feeling of command and domination these Goupras imposed on the visitors and on the vast skies above. Beauty in action! Such a pleasure being there.

We parked our vehicle in the allotted place and I looked at the bike. It seemed to be very happy for performing the Karma of getting us there. A newly married couple crossed us (the girl was wearing a Yellow Mangal Sutra which was unusually thick and round) and my mind grazed over the thought of having a wife. Such a beautiful responsibility this for a person.If a "functional bike" can communicate so well with one and show love -imagine the presence of a living (In context), lovely woman trying to facilitate your life's activities through love. Such a great gift indeed!

We witnessed a lot of yellow clad Swami's (yellow meaning burning of desires) briskly walking around begging everyone who crossed by. There will definitely be some Swamis here who have dedicated themselves to realization of Siva. Identifying them and servicing them is the key but. We washed our legs (a sacred act before entering temples) and went straight to the Pathala Vinayagar (small shrine to Lord Vinayagar that is reached by descending steep steps through a narrow opening. As the deity is installed below ground level the deity is known as 'Pathala Vinayagar'). We were in worshipping mood but the sight of fat people trying to enter and exit the small entrance of Pathala Vinayagar made us smile. The thought that “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh” came in when seeing these comic incidents.

We bypassed visiting the Navagrahas inside the temple for want of time (also we had less money for the day and wanted to use it to handle on-road risks if any instead of buying tickets for Navagraha Worship), which is said to clear up any mistakes in "Jathakas". I noticed a huge pile of people buying "Agal Deepams" and entering the Navagraha location.

As we walked towards the main location, my friend said that Maha Shivaratri which occurs in the Tamil month of Maasi (Feb 15 through March 15) is one of the greatest festival seasons here, and the celebrations are marked by processions of the deities. The fifth day of the festival in the month of Maasi coincides with the Maha Shivaratri.The rush of devotees as he said would be unimaginable here. But on this day the rush was a little lesser and I preferred it to be that way. When we entered the Main Location of the

temple, a strange silence crept on me.Everytime in a shrine this happens to one. This silence entering one’s mind when he is nearing the Central Diety.Strange yet so true in experience.

I noted that the temple walls were in close touch with the adjoining hills. This sight was a joy to the eye. The vast west facing Kalahastiswara temple is built adjoining a hill, and on the banks of the river Swarnamukhi. At some points, the hill serves as the wall of the temple. The temple Prakarams follow the contour of the adjoining hill and so the temple plan is relatively irregular.  North of the temple is the Durgambika hill, south is the Kannappar hill and east is the Kumaraswamy hill. It is said that this temple developed over a period of time from a jungle shrine to its present imposing size.

We prayed and got sacred ash from the Chengalvarayan Deity and moved in to the central Siva Sanctum Sanctorum. This place was fully air-conditioned (I did not know why) and we heard "Sivayanama"chants reverberating in this place.

My first short and quick glance at Siva as we moved towards the diety showed sacred smoke and some twists of something in the form of a snake. We circled the holy place and came in direct view to Kalahatheeswarar.Words have very little power when a mind takes over… Such was the power of God in that place. Tears expressed their eagerness to see god too and we wished we had a million eyes to see this living presence of God, this love showered from a Temple of Choice. God is an experience. It is always so, It is always so. I trapped those precious moments in my mind and moved on with great satisfaction.

We also placed our heads in the silk sofa close by (we can call it a thottil in Tamil) and as the Iyyer incharge had advised, we placed a wish we wanted to get realized. One of the families who’ve used the “Special Darshan Queue” looked frustrated and down at us for interfering in their chorus beggary and joining the queue with them. They kept their faces as if God owed them something in return to their “commitment” in seeing him by spending money for special darshan!If God lived on earth, people would break his windows for sure for Financial reasons alone. I casually remarked to my friend that “The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart”.

Later we moved on to worship Gnana Prasunambika. If anybody wants a definition of BEAUTY, he/she has to see this goddess deity. This name was given to her for receiving the 'Panchaksara Manthra' from the Lord himself. Before receiving this hallowed and potent ‘Manthra’, she had to undertake severe penance and meditation. She arrived in Kalahasthi and started her penance. Pleased with Her penance Lord Shiva imparted to her the supreme knowledge and the 'Panchaksara manthra'.

Goddess Parvathy who was in the mortal form then attained her original form and stayed in Sri Kalahasthi as Gnanaprasunambika.

We visited other deities including the Bhairava God (which reminded me of the beloved pets back home) and came out of the temple recollecting the School day lessons on Kannappa Nayanar. Kannappan was a hunter but an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. He never failed to perform his daily worship and brought water from the river in his mouth and 'bathed' the image of the Lord by emptying his mouth on the lingam. He would chew bits of meat to ascertain its suitability and offer it to his deity and only proffer the choicest pieces of meat.

One day he saw a discharge from the left eye of the image. He in his deep devotion wanted to cure the defect in the eye of his Lord. So he gouged out his eye from its socket and put it on top of the eye of the idol. He then noticed the same discharge from the other eye. He then decided to offer his other eye too, to the Lord. He realized that he would not be able to see once he had pulled out his other eye. So he put his shoed leg to mark the spot where the other eye would go and was about to pull out his eye when the Lord appeared and stopped him from self-mutilation. The Lord pleased with his devotion granted him eternal bliss.

The same story was written in one of the walls outside. We studied the same patiently, sat in a corner and took some rest. I tried recollecting the origin of this temple. I had read that the temple is of very ancient origin which was clear from the fact the Nakkirar, a Tamil poet of the Sangam Age, has sung of it. Sri Sankara and three of the four great Tamil Saivaite saints, called the Nayanmars, who lived in the seventh and eighth centuries, worshipped at the temple and the fourth, Manikkavachagar has sung of it.

All this time we never realized that we skipped lunch. My friend hinted about this and we slowly walked out of the temple and had food in a nearby hotel. I let my eyes look around and I saw tired faces and there was a general feeling of "the poor" around. I got a strong feeling that even all the riches in the world or even all the knowledge in the world cannot bring peace or happiness to a person than what was offered by Kalahatheeswarar's sheer presence in one's mind.

I heard from a Hotel server that Sri Kalahasti town has been famous for its manufactures of "Kalamkari", or temple clothes and hanging. These clothes are said to be made in the freehand style, without the use of blocks. This craft was facing severe danger of extinction but is said to have been revived now.

The time was around 5.00 p.m now and we realized that we have to travel in the dark highways if we delay further. We got to the bike and I looked at it enquiringly. A strange compassion crept in and I felt that I need to take care of this "engineering utility" to

enable it perform its Karma well. We started back with a state of fulfillment (and with a lot of sacred ash in the forehead).

While I turned back to look at the temple one last time for the day, I felt that religion in itself is not a necessity to move to a state of joy, but it is a necessary facilitator.

Most of the external sounds died away during the return, except for the smooth piston sound from the engine. We crossed some small mountains and darkness was fast catching up. At certain places, we were hit badly by group of flies flying towards us. I was not able to note what they were, but I guessed that they should be mosquitoes because these hits occurred near stagnant waterlines mostly during the travel.

In this age rush and restlessness, time for introspection seems to be missing always. Foreseeing this, our forefathers had given places like this to get to know oneself. In front of God, the feeling that the journey of life is a journey of joy and not a journey aimed at small and hampering "so-called successful destination" comes in.

In the presence of God, the understanding that the universe conspires against us only to free us comes in…

Theism and Atheism has nothing to do with God. God is something which personifies endless joy and something which invites everything, living and non-living to be part of that joy…

We rushed back crossing the village roads and I frequently switched off the Headlights of the Bike to enjoy the complete darkness of the road. We had the moon above for company, which was traveling along with us parallely. When a man takes one step toward God, God takes more steps toward that man than there are sands in the worlds of time. I wondered what an acceptable step forward towards God really is while we entered with shivers (gifted by highway winds) in to the Chennai City Limits. It was around time for the famous (killing to some) 9.00 p.m serials of the south when we reached our homes. As a token of remembrance, I had bought a framed photo of Kalahatheeswarar and kept it at home.

Every time I looked at the photo, the thoughts of that day came in like a cool breeze filling the mind with joy.

Every travel is unique just like every life is. I closed that day hoping for more "quality travels" like this in the times to come.

3 -Egambareeswarar

“Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person materializes. Every day you are alive is a special

occasion. Every minute, every breath, is a gift from God”--Mary Manin Morrissey

Amidst the Pressing needs of daily life sometimes we just have to let go. It was one such day for me that day. With the torture of the fever for the day looming large, i decided to move on, to travel some distance, “some inner distance" the whole day.

With worn out tires of a weakening splendor it was a risk at 10.30 a.m in the morning to decide on a trip from Chennai to Kanchipuram. A known friend will trigger a known pattern, a known set of discussions and it may all end up as just another day, so i just looked forward to start alone. But there was one good friend in the vicinity who could be such a good company in these moods and I picked him. By around 11.00 a.m when i was getting out of home the two half-sleeping pets at home looked enquiringly (maybe thinking where the hell is he going today) but gave a tail wagging bye...

Had been on a longer trip to Kalahasthi (representing Air) earlier and so the confidence to travel was within and also a resolution to cover all the five "Pancha Buthas" represented by Siva was a real good trigger for the day...This time the target was Ekambareshwar Temple in Kanchirepresenting EARTH.

I had an inkling that many of the software buddies subconsciously decide, "it is not a trendy affair” to go on temple trips and so left the mobile back so that if and when someone calls during the day, one need not lie to them on where he is heading. We took the route to Kanchi via Poonamallee -Sriperumbudur and got message that it will be 65 -70 odd kilometers from where we've started. It was a surprise to know that it is only such a short distance to a beautifulTemple city like Kanchipuram.

The transit was mostly a silent and internalized one. That's the way we've wanted it to be too. We noted that The full route was least representative of a regular highway. There were lots of vehicles going on at close distances and to go with it the roads were bumpy and dusty at many places. Everyone was speeding away as if they all have to attend to a nature call in another second. Such Hurry!

We were slow and mostly in the 50kms margin throughout. The silent ride was a joy to the mind. Occasional discussions got triggered though. Like for example when we crossed the Hyundai showroom we turned to discuss the Magnanimous success of Hero Honda Splendor; the features of this bike in General; the bullets, the RX-100 and the

latest Fiero's all suddenly filled our memory cells and triggered patterns of discussions. The decision of Honda to stick with Hero because they didn't want to lose the Splendor Market (Hero Honda Splendor rights are sort of held by Hero) gave silent smiles in a way. Good vehicle this. Makes Less sound. Ideal for these travels but a long way behind Bullets when it comes to marathon travels.

When we took a left turn from the Highways at last at around 12.50 p.m to get in to the limits of Kanchi we were wonderstruck by the magnificence of the Temple tower of Egambareshwarar welcoming us in to the city from a distance!

Green patches and fields returned to memories after quite sometime and a sudden thought poured in. Chennai, a real "Dry land" got its artificial beauty and importance due to the transit needs getting satisfied. Sea Shores are the reason for the evolution of this city maybe. Perhaps the Britisher has built more things near these transit keys and hence the importance.

We were in to the actual Kanchi now and decided to enquire in a teashop nearby on how to reach Ekambareshwarar and we got a real shock learning that all the temples would be closed around afternoon time. The temple timings are b/n morning 5.00 a.m - 12.00 p.m and evening 4.00p.m - 8.00/8.30 p.m.The Tea Master looked mockingly at us and with the dust gifted by the highway all over and the beating sun around, we decided to get to the temple and wait there till it opens. I was mentally cursing myself for not having planned my visit. We are here at 1.15 p.m and have to wait till 4.00 p.m. But the whole objective of the trip was to have everything unplanned and go as per the wind, so got back some heart on the matter and got to the temple.

What brilliance! The old, sky high, many centuries old Raja Gopuram or the entrance tower to the temple which rose to a height of 172 feet and built by the Vijayanagar Monarch Krishnadevaraya was a real tribute to the Hindu tradition. It was real joy watching the temple tower dominate the skies of Kanchi this way. Honey Bees had built a Very Huge Honey Comb inside one of the inner layers of the tower and were busy storing honey and zipping around. When we parked the vehicle in the custody of a "Dates (not lion dates) seller", my thoughts went back to a close Software Friend. Recently me and this friend were to a temple together in Chennai, and this guy was standing erect and looking puzzled (in a strange way) at the sanctum sanctorum. I laughed loud uncontrollably when we came outside the temple commenting on his histrionics inside. He doesn't even know how to bend and look at the image of god. While I said this he recited a poem in Sanskrit and said he used to be a very bent devotee earlier.Yeah! Perhaps the city and the Software Job which suddenly pushes one in to Upper Middle class from lower middle class adds friction in to the backbones too as a bonus maybe.

We go to a temple to measure silently and inquiringly how short or long the distance from the "me outside" to the "me inside" is. A visit to the temple is a password which establishes connectivity to the inner me and bridges the gap between the outer me and the inner me. It is a pity that a pious Hindu when turning in to a software cityite loses his

prayer instincts this way. Maybe it’s not a trendy thing for a software guy to frequent the temples. Pubs are more like what one wants perhaps - Trendy!!!

The time now was 1.30 p.m.We went in to the temple but were blocked entry beyond a point owing to the closure hours between 12.00 p.m -4.00 p.m. We were allowed to sit and wait in the vast space available immediately before the entry gate but. We sat in a muddy but soothingly shady place. There were around 7-8 sorry figures begging for money near the entry and some very old women selling "rice flakes"(what we call porii in Tamil) which can be fed to the fishes in the temple Thepakulam once we get in. I wondered whether there will be any water atall in the thepakulam and so abstained from buying anything to feed the fishes.

Like most temples, the place was shady and quiet and welcoming too. Behind the place we sat, there was a Pepsi Cola Shop with old wooden doors painted in full red .The shop was closed for the temple break b/n 12.00 -4.00.While a strange silence started creeping in, I noted a group of "pony tailed" Brahmin kids in white dhotis playing cricket merrily using one of the inner walls of the temple as the stumps. This game has got so deep in to the country (A gentlemen game given to us by the British but loved more these days by the 'outlet seeking" Indian class than the British themselves). I earlier felt very sad for the pony tailed Brahmins and usually thought that they are damn poor. But recently after knowing the Salary rates of the Devasthanam iyyers of various temples (a handsome sum) and the amount of incentives (collections may be a more appropriate word) they get during the prathoshams and other important days I've changed my perception of them. I see them now as a happy lot. A famous iyyer in Chennai who is a "Homam Specialist" I know now carries 4 cell phones in a white bag and earns a sum which only he can compute. More than a software director of a company for sure!!!The iyyer race is a surviving race. They prove it everywhere they spread.

We were lucky to meet Mr.Murugan, the security in charge (night duty on the day we went) who was sitting near us. He discussed with us a lot, most of which were shocking facts which I don't want to write out. He was a very genuine guy; a young guy who narrated his experience with the Sanyasis who visited this place.Murugan also gave us a list of 6 most famous (and big) temples in Kanchi which we could cover b/n 4.00 - 7.00p.m.During our wait there he advised us on when to switch places to avoid the heat of the sun by utilizing the shade of the temple tower which was turning direction slowly.

We managed to have an okay lunch with the help of Murugan’s suggestion somewhere outside the temple. When we came back after lunch at around 2.30 p.m, I noticed Murugan sitting alone in the same place and looking at the shades of the tower with a questioning mind. I wondered what went on in his mind at that moment. Nice person. This guy Murugan has cleared a bachelor's degree and said that he is about to get a government job in a wine shop owned by the Government (he said that this blessing of a Government Job was predicted earlier by a Sanyasi who visited this temple earlier). I felt very strange hearing this but didn't utter a word. For the suffering race like him it is better that we don't expose a lot of facts about the city and the software job. My mind

whispered that the haves and the have-nots of the world will ever exist and with this I tried diverting the mind to more decipherable topics.

In the meantime a foreign couple (tall, lean and wearing sun glasses) entered the temple and was literally forced to donate by some beggars.Infact one of the old beggars pulled the lady's hands and the lady shook off her hands in frustration. It was really painful to note that in the most admirable places of this country like this one (which we proudly present to the world), we also demean ourselves by showing that there is in us a "begging race”. The outsider gets a picture of this country by what he sees and if we go by his experiences in the temples in India it is going to be a real tough job to even convince the world that we do better job than begging..

To beg is to demean oneself thoroughly. There were some people in the past who renounced everything and moved on to places of worship like this and lived by what was offered to themand concentrated on” Siva” all the time. People loved donating to them and serving them. It would be ensured that the giving hand would be at a lower elevation and the receiving hand would be at a higher elevation when such dharma were made to these beggars (as said by one of my Muslim Friends).The giver would not have the ego of giving and the receiver would not feel the embarrassment of being in the receiving end. Such were the principles earlier. But the entire concept has turned in to a menacing routine today!

Another Interesting character crossed us by this time. A Cycle propelled “Mobile Sukku Coffee and Tea” sales person in white and white, black complexion and thin total surface area spoke unusually neat Tamil. Murugan introduced him as a man of great intellect. I was actually mocking internally but I realized that iam making a mistake soon. This tea man was a very practical person. He had run away to Kedarnath/Badrinath Caves (he said he tackled the cold by the Army provided clothes and boots given for free to him) and spent a solid 10 years in the caves. He opined that most of the Swami's - a good percentage of them were fakes who used Ganja and simply killed days without getting involved in any Search Process. The tea man narrated a poem of Thirumoolar on who a Swami is really. He said that one of the genuinely true Swamis in the caves said that he is destined to live a family life and had asked him to go back. Now, here he is selling tea and have become a father of two daughters too! He showed one of his daughters standing some 10- 12 feet away from us and called her by her name –“Selvi”. She was a very cute child indeed and unusually beautiful for a poor family like his. Maybe his Tapas in the Caves had given him this gift for life I thought. Selvi brought back Tagore’s saying to my mind: “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man”. How true! There is always love when there are children...Ever and always for sure!

He seemed outwardly happy to me but I saw him as a person who's caught up somewhere. Perhaps he never realized that SANYASAM IS ONE WAY TRAFFIC and if one comes back to normal routines sometime later, he is usually not skilled enough to handle the world. Me and

my friend found him to be a man of great courage subconsciously. We later confirmed our ideas about the tea man. We also got news that the there are a lot of fishes in the pond and so we quickly bought some "rice flakes".

The time was around 3.45 p.m now and the iron gates blocking entry to the temple were opened. Cool breeze welcomed us inside and as perceived it proved to be a very vast temple with many an endowment from the Vijayanagar Rulers, as seen in the long corridors, towering gopurams and mandapams.The setup looked very old and I got an inkling of neglect of this Historical Epic. We walked on and sat in the steps of the huge Theppakulam containing refreshingly high volumes of water. Fishes were aplenty and the way they approached the points where rice flakes were thrown brought back happy memories of childhood days when I used to sit for hours together watching the ten or fifteen fishes restricted in Fish Tanks at home.

Several Kids probably studying 5th or 6th standard in Government Schools with Khaki Trousers and White Shirts played in the steps of the theppakulam unmindful of the repeated grumbles of the Temple Workers. The time was past 4.00 p.m and we got instructions that the deities can be worshipped now. The covered places of the temple were very dimly lit and we moved on eagerly past the long corridors and in to the main Sanctum Sanctorum. There stood before us the lovely Egambareshwarar also called the tazhuvakkuzhainthaar bestowing his grace on everyone who visited him. We closed our eyes and silently prayed for sometime thoroughly pleased for being present before the creator of all creators who is both static and dynamic; who is the oldest and the youngest; who is the eternal youth as well as the infant; who is the source of fertility in all living beings and is the greatest of renouncers as well as the ideal lover.

This “prithvi lingam” made a silent enquiry, giving a personalized response to everyone who were around. This Shiva-the Greatest of all Psychiatrists listens to the problems of all his devotees silently and blesses them with hope to face the inevitable and courage to face the tides of life .A deep seated feeling like something as big as this Universe looking at one came in as we came out of the sanctum and my eyes fell on the Nandi (the bull) facing the sanctum. What Grace! What Intelligence! The Nandi symbolizing the human soul “Jeevatma”yearning for realizing its oneness with “Paramatma”, the ultimate reality is facing the God with fixed eyes for many many centuries together now. An overflowing sense of affection came up as we touched the Nandi and sought his blessings too. We eagerly moved on to visit the “Stala Vruksham” or the Temple Tree, which is a mango tree said to be 3500 years old. The mango tree is said to be the embodiment of the four Vedas and the tree is said to bear fruits of four different tastes each season here. According to a legend, Parvati, once in Kailas, playfully closed the eyes of Lord Shiva, plunging the entire world in darkness. An angry Shiva cursed the Devi to turn dark like Kali. The Goddess descended on this place and did penance under this mango tree, making a Lingam out of earth. Hence, much significance is attached to this shrine and the mango tree, situated within the temple.

The tree was infact very old and an old man in khaki uniform volunteered to explain the history of the tree and narrated a lot of miracle incidents associated with eating the fruits

of the tree. At the end of his speech he asked for some money .I pitied his battered soul and we gave him something before moving on.

The temple is said to cover an area of 40 Acres and we decided to circumambulate the temple. Thoughts of the increasing number of Flats in the becoming “Concrete Jungle” alias Chennai came to mind. The flat system has helped many people find their own roofs (at the cost of killing the groundwater capacity) but this inner excitement,this pleasure of walking along without constraints in this earth(which iam getting in these vast places inside the temple) is missed in those cramped BHK Flats which are ever increasing like a Virus in the City.

Near the giant back fence of the temple we noticed two young guys studying their lessons on history for the oncoming exams (a guess).The Mobile Tea Man kept circling the temple premises in his old cycle looking for "external customers” for the day as his search for an "internal customer" had got over sometime back in the caves in Kedarnath.Multitude of people and habits. That’s what really makes India Great!!

I understood one thing better in Ekambareshwar temple. Even God Requires Marketing. I got it later confirmed when I visited other temples in the evening. The more you market and project, the more the faith and the maintenance.Funds are a problem even for God!!!

It was getting dark now and we moved on next to the Kailasanathar Temple. It was Architectural beauty at its best out there. We noted that the “Lingam” was a highly polished one in this temple and unlike the “Suyambu” or “self-made” lingams witnessed in most Siva’s Abodes. Near the Sanctum Sanctorum, the doors of the heaven (Suvarha Vaasal) opened for Rs.5/- to each to us. We went in to a small opening and came back through another on the other side. My friend said no to taking the "doors of the heaven" first but seeing me opt using the doors of heaven he too somehow fought in to it. I laughed at him and remarked "you are very afraid that you'd miss heaven is it???"

We found a lot of terrible things done by us humans in this temple. Someone loved someone and the same was shown in the temple walls with an arrow piercing a heart scene. It really pained us. The beauty of this place was getting killed badly. The statues were withering away at places too. We later calmed down when we read a board that the temple has now been brought under Government Custody.

We moved on to Kumarakottam, Ulagalandha Perumal and then to Kamakshi Temple. Being a very famous temple and also getting maintained by Kanchi Mutt, Kamakshi Temple had more crowd understandably than the rest of the temples.

The time was now past 6.3 0 p.m in the evening and we had "Varadharaja Perumal” to Visit for the day. It was around 4 + kms from the Meenakshi temple and we started rushing for the first time in the day. The call from the city and the comforts of the home began playing tricks on the mind and body. We reached the Varadharaja Perumal Temple, had a good darshan and bought "Sweet Rice "(supposed to be give for free) for Rs.2/- each and had it. It was a very different experience touching the golden lizard in

this temple. Curious faces awaiting their turn to touch the lizard were in queue when we came out of the temple. This is a terrific temple too!

When we began our transit back to the city, this time via the Wallajabad -Chennai route we understood that we were a little restless to get back home. The cold wind gave a killing beating all the way and the night sky with the stars above and empty highways (in contrast to the highway used in the morning) tied one in to knots internally. Thoughts started racing forward and backward again. The "real world", the real routines we've been used to for so long has waited patiently the whole day but now it pulled a coup.

The following reading came to mind as I crossed the misty highway roads and led our way back in to the city: “Every path may lead you to God, even the weird ones. Most of us are on a journey. We’re looking for something, though we’re not always sure what that is. The way is foggy much of the time. I suggest you slow down and follow some of the side roads that appear suddenly in the mist”.

When I reached home the two Pets welcomed me back but this time they seemed to lookapprovingly. They jumped with joy on me. Perhaps they too liked the space i've given for myself that day. I felt very thankful for this space, this time with myself.

Life is a race against time. Against this race, create your own moments of “personal space" once in a while. The inner you needs you to take him out.

Good luck to your oncoming appointment with yourself!!!

4- Chidambaram Nataraja

“We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not

know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranges and obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that moves

the constellations.”--Albert Einstein

The Heart of the Universe is about 235 kilometers South of Chennai and I planned to visit the same on an auspicious Friday. The entire secret of the Universe is said to be held in the heart of the Universe – the Chidambaram Nataraja Temple and I wondered what that secret is!

The Nataraja Temple represents one of the Pancha Bootha’s of Siva representing Akasham or Sky and represented by Akasha Lingam, an embodiment of Siva as formless space.

We started on a Thursday night when the weather was murky and the humidity was menacingly high at even 11.00 p.m in the night. We walked towards the bus stand and so had an opportunity to look at the houses and shops around unhurriedly. The street lights were throwing bright white light while our shadows were walking slowly with us. Mosquito families crowded near the Street tube lights just like the people who crowd the bus stops and made occasional enquiries to us by biting us. Three years ago if someone carried a baggage and walked at this time of the night near Koyambedu the passerby would look curiously at him but now since the Central Bus Stand has moved here ,late night travels towards the bus stops and baggage were expected signs. So nobody bothered to look at us curiously.

We crossed a rare free ground which had a small hut for the Watchman. A locally famous flat constructor’s name and address board were kept with dim lighting near the entrance. We noticed a Lord Muruga Picture inside the hut lit by a wick lamp radiating steady light. The inside of the hut was totally dark except for the area covered by the lamp’s light (which was very small anyway).This Light is worshiped as the Lord himself by many of us. Light symbolizes knowledge and darkness, ignorance. We light a lamp to bow down to knowledge as the greatest of all forms of wealth. Though a tube light or electric lamp too would remove darkness we use the traditional oil lamp for lighting Pooja Rooms for its spiritual significance. The oil or ghee in the lamp symbolizes our negative tendencies and the wick, the ego. When lit by spiritual knowledge, the negative tendencies get slowly exhausted and the ego too finally perishes. The flame of a lamp always burns upwards and likewise we should acquire spiritual knowledge and take us towards higher ideals. Symbolism is the root of Hindu Intelligence on Gods – be it lighting a lamp or anything! Such an Intelligent religion this. My thoughts raced forward to try and imagine what’s in store in Nataraja temple and what intelligence is hidden in the temple.

We boarded the concerned bus at around 11.45 p.m and took tickets to Chidambaram. Inside the Bus Old and New Tamil songs were alternating from Suryan FM Radio and I noticed a set of 7-8 faces resembling students involved in active conversation (I easily guessed that they are heading

to Annamalai University in Chidambaram).During the course of the journey their conversations were so loud and animated and we understood from their discussions that they were going for Convocation Ceremony in Annamalai University. There were alternating talks and laughs when they spoke about the interviews they’ve attended so far. Most of them seemed to be trying for Software Jobs .True! Almost students from all the branches go and merge in the sea of software jobs these days for obvious financial reasons.

I did not know when I fell asleep after the intermediate stop for dinner in a most untidy Motel at around 1.00 p.m.I woke up only when the conductor’s words “temple stop has arrived” pierced me. My friend also seemed to get up only around this time and as we got down from the bus I noticed the clustered sleep of the just finished college mates .Their golden, carefree days have gone when the colleges got over but atleast through these minor meets they would get back and look at the most lovely days of their lives.

We were the only two to get down at the temple stop. The time was around 4.50 a.m in the morning and we looked for a cheap lodge to get a wash and proceed with attendance to the first pooja at the temple. We found a cheap lodge and checked in.

The local daily had news about a Dance Artist who has done her PhD in Dance and Music and who is going to give a performance in Chidambaram the same day. I wondered what the “Cosmic Dancer” Nataraja could be awarded for his AnandaTandava.

As we walked along towards one of the Entrance to the temple I noted some very old homes –dusty, paintless and about to breakdown. I tried to imagine how this place would have been 300 -400 years before when there was perhaps total focus on religion and culture. The origins of this vast temple are buried in antiquity and we have less information on the actual time of the origin of the temple but the contributions of the various rulers to this temple and its culture came to mind. No one is able to trace the exact origin of the temple but Literature talks of a tradition of Shiva (Nataraja) worship in existence even as early as the Sangam period (very early on in the Christian era), and the Tamil Saints have sung its fame when an established worship tradition was in place.

Many kings who ruled at various times made lasting contributions to the Nataraja Temple.Chola Kings (Aditya I and Parantaka I) adorned the roof of the shrine with gold. The Pandya Kings who followed the chola kings and the later Vijayanagar rulers made several endowments to the temple too. We also noticed a stone image of Krishnadevaraya in the North Gopura when we visited the North Gopura inside the temple later which made his presence felt in one’s mind. It is also said that during the wars of the 18th century, this temple was used as a fort, especially when the British General Sir Eyre Coote unsuccesfully tried to capture it from the Mysore Kings.

Apart from these historic counts we recollected, I was not able to project anything on what this place would have been many hundreds of years back and how Nataraja Temple will look like in my mind. But as I walked towards the temple, a gripping sense of something very great residing and happening in this place entered my mind!

Old Ambassador Cars were parked in lines on the sides of the road expecting tourists even at this early hour of the day. Chidambaram with its rich tradition and culture seems to attract people from all over the world. It is one of the five dance Halls of Shiva (Kanakasabhai) and to dance in the pre-eminent temple of Nataraja is every Bharata Natyam dancer’s ambition.Bharatanatyam

being one best way for self-expression, it is said that the best of the best dancers danced in the Nataraja Dance Halls and expressed their fullest self and witnessed bliss through dance.Ironically, the hip beats and the hippie moves on the films of today occupied the mind suddenly. There seems to be one essence in anything and everything our forefathers performed which could be summarized in one word as “Purpose”.

We approached one of the Rajagopurams (East Entrance) of the temple which pierced the walls of the outermost Prakaram –a gigantic masterpiece with seven tiers which had a lot of figurines sculpted beautifully with various mudras which was a real treat to the eye! I got a thought that our ancestors are the greatest scientists in the world – mind scientists! They’ve risked putting the Pranayamas and Asanas in their body which they used as testing grounds, even died in the process of finding the right combinations and finally gave certain great answers for uniting the mind, body and the soul. I felt really proud of them that moment. A thing of beauty is joy for ever and the Nataraja Rajagopurams with the 108 dance postures sculpted as seen in the Natya Sastra (North and South Gopurams) and the architectural beauty these four towering gopurams represented was a real joy to the mind for sure.

I stood gazing at the Rajagopuram when my friend reminded me of the need to be present in front of the central deity during the first pooja of the day. The first Pooja in the morning involves the waking up of Shiva, and the transport of the padukas of Siva (footwear) to the main shrine, followed by fire rituals and ablutions to the crystal Shiva lingam. There are totally six worship services offered in this temple as prescribed by the great Guru Pathanjali.

We walked in through the Rajagopuram and noticed vast spaces enclosed by huge walls inside the temple. Each of the four most revered Saivite Saints (Appar, Sundarar, Sambandar and Manikkavacakar) has worshipped at Chidambaram, and their images are placed in the temple entrances corresponding to their points of entry into the temple. (Sambandar - South, Appar - West, Sundarar - North and Manikkavacakar - East).I wondered whether we would see any more saints like them known for their total devotion and and dedication to god in our times.

We concentrated on getting to the innermost sanctum of the temple which housed the grand images of Shiva (Nataraja) and Parvati (Sivakami).On my way in I noticed a lot of pillared halls and very beautiful carvings throughout.

The innermost sanctum which housed Siva was covered with curtains and was getting ready for the First Pooja of the day very shortly. We climbed some steps to get in to a position directly in view of Nataraja but after climbing the steps I was stunned on coming in direct view of the shrine of the “Govindaraja Perumal”facing the East and in the South West of Nataraja Shrine. The Govindaraja Perumal in Lying down pose was simply superb and one of the most graceful things I had ever witnessed. An overflowing sense of emotion and devotion came in.Aradhana was getting done in the shrine and we offered our prayers sincerely.

There were a lot of people sitting in the raised platform directly opposite to the Nataraja shrine. We sat along with the crowd and I noticed the Main Shrine. The main shrine is called the ChitSabha or the Hall of consciousness, adjoining which is the KanakaSabha or the Golden Hall, both these structures resting on a raised platform. The chit sabha is said to have 21600 golden bars representing the average number of breaths we take each day and 72000 pins which represent the Prana Channels in the Human Body!

The glorious Chitsabha, the holiest shrine in the temple, is a wooden structure supported with wooden pillars, with a hut shaped roof. It is in this hall, that the images of Nataraja and Sivakami are housed. The Golden Hall or KanakaSabha is immediately in front of the ChitSabha, both being on an elevated platform with silver paneled doors in front. The ChitSabha itself is a meter or so higher than the Kanakasabha (Golden Hall) and is reached by a flight of 5 silver plated steps, marking the five syllables of the Panchakshara Mantram (the five syllabled “na ma si va ya”) which is said to hold the entire secret of the Universe. The Panchakshara Mantra is chanted by almost all the Saivite Hindus at some point of time or the other in their lives to elevate them spiritually.

I noticed a lot of smart young Brahmin men in white loin cloth moving around briskly in the Kanakasabha.They had a peculiar hair style with most of the hair shaven from the head and with a pony tail. They were mostly fair complexioned with sharp features and a thin body. Their presence and their briskness enthralled me.

We got tickets to visit the revered ‘Chidambara Rahasiyam too”. The curtains opened after sometime and there stood the Nataraja amidst the flame of the Agarbathis and the beautifully lit lamps in his famed Ananda Tandava Pose. The crowd uttered the Mantra ‘Om Namasivaya” in raised tones and we stood there speechless admiring the beauty of all beauties and I prayed like never before. The namasivaya mantra caught us up involuntarily and we uttered the same continually while inwardly asking for the grace of the Nataraja to fall on us. An ocean of strange emotions (still uncoined through a word in any language for sure) started waving deep inside and we looked at Nataraja fixatedly and I felt like I wanted this moment to continue forever.

Our senses were tantalized further by the exemplary ceremonial music starting to radiate from the various instruments which were played in a perfect chord. The rings of the two giant bells to the left side of the Chitsabha reverberated in the ears and gave a mild shiver to the whole body. I looked at Nataraja and imagined how it would be seeing the most perfect dancer of the Cosmos in action.Nataraja is Terrific! Exemplary! Fantastic! Wonderful! Thrilling! Exhilarating! All Pervading! Hail him! Hail him!

Someone was singing a verse in Tamil “Sing the praise of Siva, who lives in the South and put him in the centre of your mind for now and forever. When he is around nothing is impossible.”True.Very true!

The dance of bliss or the Ananda Tandavam of Shiva is said to symbolize the five divine acts (pancha krityas) of creation, sustenance, dissolution, concealment and bestowment of grace. The significance of the Nataraja sculpture is said to be that Siva is shown as the source of all movement within the cosmos, represented by the arch of flames. The purpose of the dance is to release men from illusion, and the place where it is said to have been performed is believed to be Chidambaram called the centre of the Universe!

The Scientific evaluation capabilities of my mind resisted accepting that Chidambaram is the Centre of the Universe but I mentally whacked it by saying that the Centre of the Universe is in reality the Centre of the mind –The heart! And Chidambaram is a representation of the same.

Nataraja dances from deep within us, from the centre of the hearts of us with the sole purpose of relieving us from Ignorance. The gestures of the dance represent Siva's five activities: creation

(symbolized by the drum), protection (by the "fear-not" pose of the hand), destruction (by the fire), embodiment (by the foot planted on the ground), and release (by the foot held aloft). The upper right hand holds a hour-glass drum which is a symbol of creation. It is beating the pulse of the universe. The drum also provides the music that accompanies Shiva's dance. It represents sound as the first element in an unfolding universe, for sound is the first and most pervasive of the elements. The story goes that when Shiva granted the boon of wisdom to the ignorant Panini (the great Sanskrit grammarian), the sound of the drum encapsulated the whole of Sanskrit grammar. That’s why the Language Sanskrit is said to be so very unique!

Having known this interpretation already I looked at Nataraja again and felt an overwhelming sense of love for the symbolism of Gods in Hinduism. My mind summarized like this: The innermost part of me is God known as the Siva. The body is the Shrine housing the God.Iam timeless, ageless and ceaseless. I exchange bodies, take births but iam always present and the moment I realize this through my experience(realizing omnipotence through knowledge is helpful but not useful ultimately)I become free.Nataraja dances on the figure of a dwarf, the Apasmarapurusa (a symbol of man's ignorance; purusa meaning "man," and apasmara "forgetfulness," or "heedlessness"). The Nataraja represents our innermost consciousness and nothing else! Hinduism and its intelligence -Hats off to you! One truth struck me fiercely that moment. Deep within each heart lays the God. Each one’s deepest being is God and but one’s life and emotions are different. Each person is so very unique. Considering this uniqueness, there should logically be as many ways to realization of God as there are as many people. Each one has his own route. That’s why Hinduism offers only a means to an end, and all means which will ultimately lead to the end are equally approved. The religious hospitality of Hinduism is proverbial! Hinduism is extremely catholic and liberal! This is the fundamental feature of Hinduism. And now look at what we’ve done to Hinduism. Debates on locations of temples, tussles on which caste can get closer to God, numerous killings of men (and thereby killing the God in them) in the name of God. What nonsense. Hinduism does not talk of a Hindu. It talks about a human being. Period and Simple. Hinduism addresses one God and ours is the only country in the world which is known for its Religious Toleration. Toleration is the very essence of Hinduism. If iam a true Hindu I should respect the God in the minds of the Christian or the Muslim for sure. Different religions have different routes to God. But the end is the same. All human rivers merge in to the sea on one God! So simple a concept. Yet it has become so difficult when it comes to application.

Wow! Superb. So far so good. I felt like a huge load getting relieved from my mind. My mind slowly came out of the limitations of the religions and started understanding the Universality of God. Such an enlightening temple this. Many may not express this feeling of one God but they will surely experience this oneness when in Nataraja temple! That’s one great point about this temple.

Now my mind moved away from the logic behind the religion and moved to what man actually has to do and understand regardless of the religion he adopts to be god.

Do we have any tools which help us know God??Yes.Prayer, Pranayama, Yoga etc all Tools to know God but it needs to be firmly understood that they are only tools and not an end in itself. Some Swami clads who bring Vibuthis (Sacred Ash) and Lingams use minor tools and should be regarded as no more than simple trick players.Enroute to God there are so many traps and it’s necessary to be aware of the same!

The hour-glass drum in Siva’s hand underlines the importance of a man and a woman being together. It represents the male and female vital principles; two triangles penetrate each other to form a hexagon. When they part, the universe also dissolves!

From Man and Woman the mind moved to what we need to do to experience and know God within us constantly. Perhaps the secret of the Universe “the Chidambara Rahasiyam” might have some answer in store!

We removed our shirts and climbed the Chitsabha. We were able to see the sanctum of Sivakama Sundari clearly now which lay to the left of Natarajar Sannidhi. The images of Ratnasabhapati (Nataraja of Ruby), the Spatika Lingam of Chandramauleeswara, Swarnakarshana Bhairavar, Mukhalingam were also found in the Chitsabha.

To the right of Shiva, was the revered Chidambara Rahasyam - or a representation of emptiness garlanded with golden vilva leaves. The curtain in front of the Chidambara Rahasyam, representing Shiva (and Parvati) in the formless form (Aroopam) is lifted ceremoniously during worship services, with offerings of lamps.

One of the Young Iyyers explained in Tamil the Chidambara Rahasiyam as God being present in formless form. There was a huge competition to see the place which held the Chidambara Rahasiyam and we were literally pushed along. My mind got extremely silent even amidst the minor chaos around and I awaited my turn to view the Rahasiyam with my eyes. When my turn came in I witnessed that there was no Lingam, but we are made to believe that there is an invisible Lingam, with golden vilva garlands, i.e. stressing the belief that there is everything in nothing.

I felt as if a huge light as big as the Sun was suddenly turned within myself. THERE IS EVERYTHING IN NOTHING! How do I understand this now? We slowly stepped down from the Chitsabha and sat in a relatively quiet place and my mind brooded over the concept of having everything in nothing. Scott peck came to mind! Einstein came to Mind! Herman Hesse came to mind and also Robert Pirsig! All of them have confirmed this one way or the other from their experience. I’ve read them well and that’s why my mind went to them for solution.

How do we solve this puzzle of having everything in nothing? Let’s start analyzing from the beginning of a life now:

Consider a new born baby. As science has proven, for the first few months the mind of the baby can not see itself separate from the Universe...according to it, if it's hands move, the world moves...if someone else moves, the world moves...it's hunger is the world's hunger...it's mentally part of the whole universe...Slowly as it grows, it begins to differentiate itself from the world. For example the child gets to realize that its hunger is only it's own. During this period, what we call the ego boundaries begin to appear for the child which was actually not there earlier...The Process of sketching the Ego Road Map (an interpretation of what the World is) of the child begins now...The child cries and sees if people attend to it. It tries methods...and observes every bit of what's going on around it...This way, it mentally defines itself certain boundaries to work with the world...This growth of ego boundaries goes on and during some point of adult hood the ego boundaries are set and the road map is  more or less complete for that Human. A way of seeing the world and people is formed! The rest of the entire life is said to be mere preservation of these mental patterns or ego boundaries. For example a person may have witnessed severe cruelty in

his early part of life and he prepares a Map that the world is cruel and goes on living till the end believing that the world is a cruel place.

So the idea on who we are and what the world is is more or less formed for all of us by adulthood. The absolute problem here is this past till adulthood acts as a sort of trigger or routine for us henceforth. Whenever a situation occurs for us later in life, we call the previously stored program about a similar experience and execute it unconsciously. This is said to be true with most of the humans.So, our road map of life ends there. We never grow after that. I mean growth in terms of the search for what we truly are.Iam not talking about the growth in terms of the eyes of society (more education, more money, beautiful woman, good friends etc).We all grow to an extent in this way, but growth in terms of truth or the search deep within is the problem. If we touch our hearts and feel deeply and do some back tracking, we might feel that we feel some strange emptiness at times within.Parallely we should also note that by this time in adulthood an individual has come a long way from his initial idea that he is one with the universe .But, deep within the human knows that he is part of the universe and one with it because that is the very first thought he had during birth probably. So, the search for truth on who he is, why on earth he is here etc appear at times and disappear, but this question is always there.

Man tries to search and find who he is, but lo!!His pre-programmed mind and Road Map doesn’t let him do so. The mind jumps in to conclusions with the available logic already...and he has no time. He will have to attend to the daily chores which is part of the social set up and he proceeds, but there is pain deep within in not able to solve the mystery at all. That’s one reason why most humans are unhappy regardless of what they have.

There are some misconceived shortcuts to meet Mr. Nothingness or Truth or God .One way is Dope. Through Dope a man may see Nirvana, but for just a split second and it is not lasting. Gone case this habit continues. You can not injure the shrine (the body) in search of the God (the soul).Foolish this!

Other common way is falling in love. When we fall in love with someone, we feel one with him/her and our tight ego boundaries seems to expand a bit...It joins with the other's boundary and is perceived to grow and evolve. We perceive to be part of the infinite when near that person. But, the absolute truth is falling in love is not LOVE. Love requires Effort. Love as defined by Scott Peck (one of the best definitions ever) is the “act of extending oneself for the spiritual growth of the other”. The nature's set up to perpetuate life is very high and probably because of this genetic programming many fall in love blindly. Most of us do...Consequently, after this feeling of love ends up in marriage, the ego boundaries of the partners slowly snap back to their places rather than evolving after some time...The partners begin to see reality...Probably, at this moment most of us take the effort to love and adjust and survive the failure of what we unconsciously believed will be an answer for search of nothingness or truth. But, we still haven’t got the answer.Sex seemed to provide it, but it didn’t. Many people get in to a fed up state and start seeking other things. Only a conscious effort to love and understand and help the partner grow till the time one gets in to earth underlines truly successful marriages. Marriage can be such a strong relationship between two individuals, if they take the effort and pain to contribute to each other's search and evolution. Two people in search are better than one, that’s why marriages help a lot...But, the roadmaps and earlier programs oppose this and instead of being a limitless ocean as true marriages should be, it ends up as a lake...

Can’t we live happily without searching for truth in life? The answer is NO. Once when the limitless soul has got trapped in to this limited body, it seeks expansion and nothing can satisfy it.

That is why continuous mental and spiritual growth is required all the time. We were part of this “nothingness” and as children we have experienced limitlessness and this taste will chase us for ever...Executive, Housewife, Professor, Engineer, Lover, Doper, Drinker...no one will be left out. We will have to Search. That’s part of the plan of Birth and Death.

There is a lot of spice added and varieties of searches depending upon the road maps, but we all search...At one point or the other atleast.The most encouraging thing is that we can search for God from anywhere - from any job -from any background or society -from any social position or whatever. That is the whole idea behind Circumambulation. We circumambulate God in temples with God as the centre. This procedure is devised in Hinduism to show that in the eyes of God every one is at an equal distance just like all points in a circumference are equidistant from the centre. Such great logic. Simple yet stunning Hinduism!

Now, since no one has a definition for Nothingness or Truth, what shall we do then? Some daring individuals, the finders of some part of the truth or the solution, start with a workable definition, go to prove it and then iterate further and the loop is never ending. But, they pass their results to others before leaving. This is the best available way. Take for example Technology. If we have to define all basic laws, since the people who defined them didn’t expose it out to the society we'd all be in deep caves and clinging to trees still. Be it Science or Art or whatever, one has to leave the results and fruits behind for others to proceed with it. This is a sort of contribution to truth search ultimately. One interesting observation is that the search in technology is going probably meaningless today as it has started to be an end in itself. I believe that there is Buddha in the statues and as well in the electron inside an atom or the coming Nanotrons of the future. But science should be a subset of spiritual search and not get away from it. The day we deviated we started getting in trouble.

Also, interestingly it is believed that once when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the “Tree of Knowledge”, they started falling down from their state of bliss and entered the pain and pleasure cycle. Ironically this knowledge though serves no purpose when it comes to the realization of God still stays as a very important search tool for knowing God. We need to take the effort with continuously updated knowledge of ourselves and the world to move towards understanding of God. As only children are allowed to enter the kingdom of God (children meaning a person with no cunningness and the one who is not trapped in his Ego), we have to shed the entire ego and the knowledge of whom and what we are to reach a point where God will opt to communicate back to us.

My mind was getting nowhere and I tried to summarize things at this stage itself without further analysis. I summarized like this: To know God, the first step is to know that there is this unlimited God in every one of us. Second step is not to get stuck in our Egos and revise the road maps continuously. We should flow continuously like a River without getting trapped by our Ego’s till we merge in to the sea of God. This could be achieved by continuous service and devotion in whatever field one is. By doing this we have an opportunity to welcome the grace of god within us. Continuing this way, perhaps one day we would be blessed with the experience that there is everything in nothing!

Seemingly Complex but simple Process to understand. Putting this in to practice is the real challenge but. Long way to go for anyone and everyone for sure! This Nataraja temple is literally a store house of infinite knowledge. Perhaps by continuous visit to this temple and reflection one’s picture of truth would be refined. But the more important thing is not the knowledge of what lies in this temple but the experience of Siva one gets in infinite quantities here.

I wondered whether the Top Colleges of the World which have recently brought in courses on Master’s in Consciousness studies know about the Chit Sabha or the Consciousness Hall. The underlying logic of this temple has many Thesis possibilities for sure to the best minds in this world.

We moved on to other places now. Across from the Nataraja shrine in the second prakaram is the Nritta Sabha or the hall of dance with some fine pillars, housing an image of Shiva in the Urdhva tandava posture, winning over Kaali in a dance duel, and an image of Sarabheswara, another form of Shiva. The Nritta Sabha with fine pillars is in the form of a chariot drawn by horses.

The outermost prakaram is home to the grand Sivakami Amman temple, the Sivaganga tank (known to cure incurable diseases) and the 1000 pillared hall or the Raja Sabha, where Nataraja is brought during two annual festivals. The vast Sivakami Amman shrine is a temple in its own right. Ceilings on the mukhamandapam of this temple have paintings from the Nayaka period. This hall is also designed in the form of a chariot. Its entrance features two elephants.

The 100 pillared hall, also in the outermost prakaram is also of artistic value, as is the shrine of Subramanya, which dates back to the Pandya period. The Subramanya shrine is also in the form of a chariot, and is referred to as the 'Pandya Nayakam'

The Vinayaka idol blowing a conch caught my mind and also the huge Ganesha in the outer prakara considered to be one of the biggest in India.

We noted throughout our stay inside the temple the iyyers enquiring the visitor whether they are localites or from other places. For people from other places the Pradad will be sent for a nominal amount and this transaction seemed to happen in huge numbers.

We sat for a long time brooding over the architectural perfection and preciseness of things in this temple and wondered how on earth our ancestors had so much dedication and intelligence when we even struggle to construct stable Flats in our localities.

Moving further, we visited the famed Kali Temple a few kilometers away and I was caught totally in the beauty and fierceness of the Kali. The Kali was covered in full red using the holy Kungumam except for the eye which was strikingly black. The legend commemorating the dance duel between the doyens of dance Shiva and Kali came to mind. Shiva is said to have lifted his left foot towards the sky in the Urdhuva Tandava posture, a definite male gesture, which out of adherence to protocol, Kaali could not reciprocate, thereby causing Shiva to emerge victorious, delegating Kaali to the status of a primary deity in another temple in the outskirts of Chidambaram.

Such complex deities and legends behind our temples. It is going to definitely take time understanding the purpose of them but I strongly felt that it is definitely worth it. The dialog the Japanese King utters in the closing stages of the film” The Last Samurai “came to mind: WE should not forget who we are, where we come from and should not ignore our culture.True.We surely have to understand our strengths and our culture. This is one top duty for everyone.

We sat in a shade near the temple tank for a long time looking around at the various shrines housed in Nataraja Temple and left around noon time. As we were packing off from

Chidambaram I understood one thing clearly. There is an ocean of Experience, Culture, intelligence and tradition associated with the Nataraja Temple. One should understand this and do his best to uphold the tradition and culture forever. Bye Chidambaram!

5 – Tiruaanaikal Jambukeswarar

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart... Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens”

-Carl Jung

It was a typical Chennai working day evening with busy tea shops, crowded buses and apparently dull people everywhere rushing to return to their homes to start another routine day tomorrow .A thick layer of vehicle smoke and muddy air hugged the city with eagerness and soaked everyone who were traveling with wet dust.

Pregnant Metro Water Lorries were threatening to bathe anyone getting closer to them by a few feet. Rain water drops are land's life drops ("Vinnin Mazhaithuli....Mannin Uyir Thuli") were the words painted in white at the back of each of these Lorries. The ever-spilling water from the Lorries in exact contrast to what was written at its back was typical of this place we have grown up. It seemed like contrast had become an accepted part of life at least in the Cities to me now. Like the memorized "Thirukkurals "in school which faded to the corner of the child's memory when it finished its exams, a general gap in everything has become part of the social fabric of life itself.

I had one important visit to make amidst the demands of the City life that weekend – a duty and in a way a calling from the Jambukeswarar near Trichy.I had covered 4 Pancha Boothas in quick time and the experiences were incredible. The final Pancha Bootha –the Jambukeswarar in Tiruvanaikkal representing Water was yet to be experienced though. And this was the day the coverage of the Pancha boothas is going to be 100 Percent Complete. The thought even was thrilling to one!

I had heard that the temple of Jambukeswarar is about 320 kms away from the place i stayed in Chennai and decided to use my Hero Honda Splendor (with recently changed back Trye) for the trip. The traffic and speed of vehicles in the highways during night time and the possibilities for Mechanical Failures, Accidents, Minor Vehicle hiccups, Continuous Focus required for driving for more than 20 hours, the body discomfort during travel etc came to mind in a rush and warned me against the travel by Bike.

But seeing the perennial spillage of water from the Lorry burping in front of me and the general GAP I witnessed in things that day, I decided to do something very different and pulled my thoughts up to take the trip by bike. I also decided to take a friend who had already done a trip by bike to Trichy and who knows the traffic nuances of the highways better.

It was around 7.00 p.m and I was held up in the Usual Traffic Jam near the Kodambakkam Bridge with vehicles honking wildly and drivers expressing irritation around. The point I discussed with a friend who has changed job recently and felt instable because of that came to mind: “Life is difficult. When we try for stability in a life which is designed to be unstable by default we hit the bumps of life without gliding through it. Every one of us have a safety zone within ourselves. It is only when we get away from this "safety zone" do we really see healing to move up in all the dimensions of life including the spiritual dimension. Laurels, Money and Position are external things...they may well be achieved by still standing within the safety zone. It is only the WITHIN which knows whether we are questioning the safety zone or not. A sign of stretching the safety zone in job is evidenced when every job we do accompany with it a sense of excitement together with a bit of fear to ensure that we are focused always”. Ironically in trying to convince him to enjoy the new job I ended up confusing him!

But this incident applied well to the trip we are about to take to Tiruvanaikkal.There was both excitement in taking up the trip and a bit of fear too. This meant that I was alert and with the right pulse. My friend confirmed the same feelings and we decided on sticking to some basic protocols throughout the trip like never exceeding 60 Kmph, handing over the riding duty to the other person immediately when one feels sleepy, never getting casual when driving on highways, having basic items like candles, torches, match box and other small things ready incase we had to spend the night due to bike failure on the roads etc. As I neared my friend’s place near Guindy to pick him up for the travel this thought: all men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to and why came in. I did not know whether I was running away from anything in life or I was running towards anything in life and why I did so. The entire motive of my travel was to help me slow down enough to know God’s Presence and to test the belief that in quiet we find the God within us! Let us see…

We started off at around 10.00 p.m in the night after filling 13 Litres of Petrol in one of the trusted petrol bunks in Guindy.I decided to ride till Chengulpet before handing over to my friend for further driving .My friend gave an initial remark that long back he started the trip to Trichy by bike as a pleasure trip but it ended as real pain due to body tiredness and he slept off for 2 days to retrieve his body from travel pain immediately on reaching the place. I thought that to understand the art of long travels we have to understand and make use of the suffering from earlier travels and after some minor analysis we understood that for reasonably long trips like this a break once every 50 -75 Kms is a must.

Almost everyone had been negative of a bike travel and I wanted to ensure that I do not confirm their ideas by doing foolish speed adventures on road and getting hit somewhere. We stopped near the famous Kali temple to offer Lemons in exchange for a safe and secure travel blessing.

As we skidded along the thousands of lemons and their juice on the road near the temple my mind started filling with joy and there was a gush of thoughts on life and things in

general. We discussed a lot of things about life, love, politics,men,technology,importance of marriage, intelligence of Hindu gods, the greatness of the Indian nation, the ongoing historic India Pakistan Cricket Series, the interpretation of the universe by Stephen hawking etc etc.A cold but soothing wind blowed all over and we maintained the agreed steady speed and did not worry about the distance.

We were crossing a point near Chengulpet where there were dark, empty fields in the left and a minor hill on the right.A board on the hill named “Siva Siva (in Tamil)”glowing in Red and White caught our eyes and we gladly said to each other that we were feeling welcomed in to the unknown called Siva.

After a pause for a tea and face wash near Chengulpet we exchanged riding positions and while my friend was driving I looked up at the sky with its infinite stars around in the dark. The more still and focused I looked at the skies the more the number of stars that showed themselves to me. I thought about this universe which is continuously moving at a great speed and about the light from these stars which has traveled several light years to reach my eye. The joy of the moment looking above couldn’t exchanged for anything else. Look above at the stars when in flight and you’ll know what I mean. Precious moment this. Will be able to recollect this moment 25 years down the line for sure.

My friend was a better driver than me and did well moving ahead. There were periods of recollections of various incidents in our lives alternating with periods of silence during the travel. We got to hear the music of the winds when they hit us, hit the trees around and when they swirled around in general. Nature started speaking to us slowly as we moved on. We stopped our discussions for a while and worshipped Adhiparasakthi Temple in Melmaruvathur when we crossed the same. Nostalgic moments hit my mind that moment seeing the route to my college where I studied for 4 years –a carefree, open minded and happy 4 years in life. I yearned for those years as we crossed the temple and hit empty roads again.

We stopped in Tindivanam for dinner at around 1.00 a.m and were surprised to see a very friendly host, very old and happy to serve us at this hour. Perhaps going by his service for over 30 years in life as an employee it is time to believe in his case that he had understood that life is a long lesson in humility. Such a humble host! We tipped him to an above average level for his manners at that time of the night too. I told my friend about V.S.Naipaul, the Great Nobel laureate in literature and his frustration on seeing the untidiness of these Military Hotels. My friend replied back that no one on earth could serve hot, tasty parottas at cheap cost at this hour of the night and we laughed together on the possibility of Naipaul getting trapped while journeying in the south and having to eat in one of these Military Hotels. Who knows he might even like the sweat and the parottas served here!

The entire highway travel was a lesson in commonsense for me. We used the Dim Dip signals when required correctly, allowed the vehicles which gave signals to overtake us by giving signals and way and decoded the dim dip signals of the heavy vehicles coming opposite us. There are many fine points one has to take care while driving and even a

small mistake will surely lead to hell. For an onlooker the entire range of vehicles moving to and fro might seem to create chaos and disorder (I too had this initial thought)but there was a underlying discipline with the drivers and an unshared code everyone followed about overtaking and making signals. We were able to understand the distance of a vehicle from the horn sound and comprehend the personality of the drivers through their signals and the way they used their horns, lights and other possible signals.

At times we were totally blinded by the light of the vehicle directly sprouting from nowhere and approaching us at great speeds but we followed simple rules of dim dip, getting to the most corner part of the road and thereby satisfying his ego to pardon us for having been a rarity in these roads in the middle of the night.

There was risk throughout the travel but we had the discipline to face the same and I frequently put a word subconsciously to the Splendor not to fail on the way. We stopped at Villupuram and by this time my friend had volunteered to handle most of the driving himself. There was a never before discovered truth about two wheeler long drives which I learned from experience. The truth is that it is very difficult to sit in the pillion than driving for reasons like shock from the back wheel, idleness of the mind and the fear of seeing emptiness head on and also the inevitable meeting of one’s own self.

We were approaching Ulundurpet and got silent during this part of the ride for sometime. My thoughts flew to the great man Noam Chomsky a man regarded as next only to Charles Darwin and his speech on Man in Chennai some years back. What he said echoed in my ears with high voltage. I went over the words he spoke like this:”When I look back and observe Evolution, it makes me think that Man could be even a BIOLOGICAL DEFECT. Every species that has come to inhabit this Earth has always tried to preserve its kind, set a balance with the surroundings and evolve higher. But man is the only species who has created all possible ways to wipe himself out from the earth. Nuclear bombs are developed under the pretext of national security and other reasons but when a Plutonium bomb capable of destroying millions can be easily smuggled/carried away in a suitcase from one country's border to the other, the rationale that these weapons are developed for the safety of a nation is meaningless...Man's actions are oriented towards POWER - it is to develop and retain power that man does everything. The one who has power looks at increasing or retaining it. All other things in life are subordinate to power. From time immemorial it could be observed that Power is the factor, which is ruling man. We are doing things today, which our children of the future will never forgive us for!"

How true! What genuinity and clarity of thoughts. I passed on a kiss via air to Chomsky and wished it reaches his feet wherever he may be that moment and looked at the Speedometer reading. We had crossed 150 kms easily and knowing that half of the onward journey has passed gave new life to my “starting to ache” spine. We took a good break at Ulundurpet and moved on.

There were many small towns and villages on the way and the occasional mad men and women who caught our eyes walking on the sides of the road with dirty clothing and self talk. I wondered what they are doing with their thoughts at this time of the hour and my

thoughts raced back to one of the mental characters who tread the areas of Virugambakkam in Chennai. This insane man, lean and holding his chin with one hand walks briskly from dawn to dusk. Iam seeing him walking for more than 13 years now in my area and many a times I have felt an overpowering emotion flowing to talk to him and sort out his problems in life but somehow I couldn’t communicate to him or get his attention. I have seen him walk very long distances per day. I have seen him in Parrys corner roads in the morning and in Saligramam roads the same evening - a definite 35 km walk for him per day. Recently he has got old and got slower in his walk but he is still walking. I like this man-though mad and nothing in the society, I like him considering the pain he is going through and his inability to communicate. These days whenever I go through a period when I don’t see him for a week or so I get worried and afraid that he may be dead. This man was part of my childhood thoughts and emotions and has made me wonder all along till now on whom he is. The whole of Virugambakkam roads would miss him –the ever silent Mr. Walker who seems to approach his end.A feeling of something churning my heart came on and I looked at the skies again. It was starting to get clearer. We were touching around 4.00 a.m in the morning now. I thought of Saradadevi (wife of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) who is said not to have missed getting up at 3.30 a.m and taking bath in the river every day throughout. Her discipline did some more complications to my mind and I tried pulling myself out by hitting discussion with my friend who was riding at a constant speed with concentration.

We crossed a small town, took a very small break and moved straight for around 17 -18 kilometers when we casually enquired to a passerby about the route to Trichy.The passerby remarked with surprise that this route heads towards Salem and we are in the wrong route by 17-18 kms.There arrived the moment of pain and despair. We enquired for a short route to join the Trichy Highways and luckily found one. I will rate this route of 10 kms, a small path crossing trees and fields and small settlements as the best of the entire ride. The approaching dawn rubbed on more enthusiasm in to us and the I was very glad taking this beaten track and exploring things. My mind said “Welcome to South India”, the true Dravidian land of culture and heritage.

I talked to my friend about the importance of marriage and the greatness of Indian Marriage System and the discipline of Indian Women. I said that it is a gift for us marrying a woman who offers herself –who serves and gets herself served and shows total dedication to the holy bond. I hinted that the magnitude of success in life does not matter compared to the quality of life.Good, affectionate family life with children is a sure parallel to any achievement in the world. Marriage is success! Marriage is endurance! It’s a sport where both the players win and contribute. My friend got literally brainwashed about marriage by my musings at this early part of the hour when the mind was most alert even without sleep.

In these marathon travels all that is left of the traveler is to become himself. He cannot hide himself or dig himself in the social worries but face himself. These travels show the true person within and establish communication to the deeper self slowly. We hit the Trichy highway again and at the intersection of the road saw a tea shop, an Ambedkar statue in blue and a Sandal making family shop in a hut.

My friend remarked that this trip was totally opposite to the painful one he had earlier. The reason for his comfort this time is simple. He is going to see God this time and also going with a lot of breaks and exchange of driving duty in between. The mind and the body has purpose and energy to move on. When we moved on again my mind went over the Question “What should profit a man if he gains the world but loses his soul?” .The one who said this is the son of god Jesus Christ himself. The truth in the statement stared at me bluntly. If I lose myself in exchange for gaining things externally what do I become really –Nothing!

The time was past 6.00 a.m in the morning and the setting was beautiful and the ride getting decreasingly complex due to the light factor. There was this vast road ahead still quite a distance to go before we reach the destination. I felt that if someone gets to know this moment that we are traveling to Trichy from Chennai by bike they would really pity us and advice us. But it was like this for me –when two men were allowed to look out through the prison bars one could look at the mud and the other at the stars. I felt like I looked at the stars that moment. The prison of the society or the mind or the body had almost gone to a state of sleep and we were moving on just with the purpose of moving and being free for the time available. It was pure joy and the ones who take these trips would know it for sure.

My friend got tired and so did I when sun came back to duty promptly for the day. The cousins of the sun, the sweat got up from sleep too to strike conversation with their relatives and we allowed them to hit conversation without obstructing both of them. For the first time my mind thought of when I will reach Tiruvanaikkal.I quickly reminded myself that it is a mistake to try and look too far ahead. It is advisable to look one link at a time and so I concentrated on forgetting the 70 plus kilometers yet to be covered.

I had a surprise gift as we moved on and stopped in a small town. The town was actually the home for the temple “Siruvachur Madhurakali”, my Family Deity. Great happiness poured on to me and we took the route to the temple and though it was locked (open only on Mondays and Fridays) I placed my sincere love for god and we moved on.

We were on the final phase of our onward journey and the time now was well past 8.00 a.m.During the travel I remembered “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” one of the most simple yet greatest books on plain, simple spirituality written by Robert Bach. The entire trick for the hero in the book was to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body with a forty two inch wingspan…The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time. True! The trick for all of us is to realize the true nature of us. That’s the challenge and that’s the sole purpose behind every one of our travels regardless of religion, race, sex, religion, caste, creed, country or anything else.

At around 9.15 a.m we arrived at Tiruvanaikkal which is 5 km north of Tiruchi on the northern bank of river Cauvery, and one of the largest and most historic temples sung by saints like Appar and Kadavarkon.I felt like we were welcomed by the Lofty

Rajagopuram, a truly magnificent spectacle inviting us to visit Siva .Having stood the tests of time and witnessed devotees’ right from Adisankara to the Chola, Pandya, Hoysala and the Madurai Naik kings to the common men like me for scores of centuries together the feeling the gopuram gave was universal – it would be a feeling one gets when he sees his great great great grandfather’s picture. Antiquity at its best!

We booked a lodge some 15 meters away from the temple to get a wash and sleep if required. The lodge was a worse one but we did not have the energy to search for a better one and so accepted the cruelty of a common toilet and its associated negatives.

My body was visibly tired due to eleven hours of bike travel but my mind was tuned up for the coming spectacle. We performed our ablutions as soon as possible and my friend hinted of breakfast to increase energy. But I opted out of it in exchange for the visit to Siva first and he too complied. I felt sorry for him for having come this long but he seemed really tuned up and happy about the visit too. When we crossed our TN10-C8100 bike parked in sun (no other place was available in that small road)I felt really proud of that machine. If there is something like heaven, even if the rest of the world doesn’t make it up there this machine will neatly enter. It had performed its duty to the fullest many times over and has passed a very grueling test the whole night yesterday. It had moved around 180 kilograms without any complaints this long. Love you pal!

We entered the Rajagopuram and to the right I saw a small shrine and wanted to visit it. When I entered that place 4-5 dalmation dogs (chained) barking at us mildly which was a total shock and surprise to me. We quickly came off that place and moved on.

The legend of the this temple goes like there was once a forest of "Jambu" trees here, near a tank called the Chandratirtha, which was filled with Kaveri water. Lord Siva appeared as a Linga under one of the trees and the Linga came to be called the Jambulinga.Two servants of Lord Siva, Pushpadanta and Malyava, were under a curse, born here as a white elephant and as a spider. The former worshipped the Linga with flowers and with water brought in its trunk. So the name "Tiruvanaikka” for the temple came in to existence. The spider too worshipped the Linga, spinning out a kind of canopy of filaments over it to prevent leaves of the tree from falling on it. But the elephant thought this canopy unclean and removed it. This went on day after day. The two, misunderstanding each other, became enemies. One day the spider got into the elephant trunk and bit it. Maddened with pain, the elephant dashed its trunk against the ground. The elephant fell dead. So did the spider. The Lord granted salvation to both!

Malyava was born again, this time in the royal Chola family. His parents, Subhadeva and Kamalavathi, had long been childless, and had been praying to Lord Nataraja, of Chidambaram, for a child. Now, when the hour of birth approached astrologers told the queen that, if it could be delayed by twenty-four minutes, the child would live to rule over the three worlds. History says that Kamalavathi made her attendants tie her legs and hang her upside down. Released at the appointed minute, she gave birth to a boy of entrancing beauty, but with red eyes. On seeing him, she called him her darling with red

eyes, or "Chenkannan"! We entered one of the inner prakarams now and I noticed the life size portray of Chenkallan on one side.Chenkannan is said to have built atleast 70 temples in his lifetime!

It is predicted that chenkannan must have belonged to the Sangam age, the early centuries of the Christian era. So it could be concluded that the temple was in existence by then. It is said that the temple was small that time and was built of brick and was expanded at the times of other rulers!

I was literally knotted many times over internally on knowing the antiquity of the temple. Such an old temple –an embodiment of history, tradition and culture. Iam really lucky to have been there atleast once.

The carvings and the roof spacings, the pillars and the paintings in the temple were in perfect symmetry and synchronization. The beautiful towers, spacious pillared halls (mandapas) and subshrines are said to belong to different periods and they display a variety of architectural and sculptural beauties. The stala vriksham of this temple is said to have grown out of a Munivar, who offered his worship to Shiva.Akhilandeswari (Parvati) is said to have meditated upon Shiva here, and her shrine here, is considered to be of great significance.

We did not look at the subsidiary shrines first and straightly visited the main shrine – the Jambukeswarar shrine as the time for closure of the temple in the noon hours was approaching. It is said that there is water around the linga in the sanctum, no matter how often it is removed. Because of this the Linga is called the "Appulinga", from the Tamil word for water. The appu linga was a small, wet linga seen through a partition made available. Scores of emotions entered my mind and I felt that for this moment I would have exchanged even thousands of strainful kilometers by walk. We bought special entrance tickets and entered the shrine and stood very close to the Appu linga and witnessed the Pooja.I neither was in a state of no emotion and felt neither like crying nor remain inattentive. There was cent percent attention to the pooja but the mind struggles to put in paper what really happened in the minutes with Siva as Appu Linga.I prayed to Siva for having granted me the health and possibility to visit all the five panchaboothas and offered my sincere request to God to shower blessings for rain and removal of the shortage of water forever. The wetness in our feel percolated in to the being and we stood there till we were given Prasad and directed to exit the place. There are certain things one cannot exchange in life for anything at all costs and these should be those moments only.Om Namasivaya! Bless us and help us remember that you are in all and all is in you.

The temple looked to be a reasonably poor temple in terms of income to me. One of the iyyers near the Navagraha Shrine frustrated the devotees by distracting them by repeatedly asking them to pay something for Saneeswara.I understood that his living depended on the offers he gets in a way but i couldn’t stand it. This is one of the best places in the world friend –come on preserve it in the way it deserves it to be!

We circumambulated the main shrine and found the sun beating heavily but yet there was a cooling effect on one somehow. We recognized that this is a vast temple (said to be about 18 acres) with lofty gopurams, 5 prakarams and ornate mandapams. The second and third prakarams are said to date back to the 13th century. There is an image of Ekapada Trimurthy representing the unity of Bhrama Vishnu and Shiva which is one other unique feature of this temple.

I was shell shocked on smelling urine in some corners of the inside of the temple and my heart felt like beating the people to death who’ve done this. I literally cried about this to my friend in total frustration and he consoled me and asked me to take things easy. Somehow i was not able to tolerate this atall.Felt like kneeling before the God in every one of us and beg for upholding perfection in this place.

We stood at a place where a Cow was getting fed when a ritual occurred which I will remain in my mind for ever.Infact I was taken aback and wonderstruck seeing that ritual. A senior Iyyer with piercing eyes dressed in Red Saree and with a Crown walked amidst great, vibrating music towards Appulinga Shrine. He went to the Appulinga and performed some pooja and moved on to the Akhilandeswari Shrine located in the fourth prakaram of the temple. My friend said that he was a bit afraid watching the ritual. My mind freezed on the stress given in our society for service from wife to her husband and the greatness in doing so. The ritual was as if Parvathi actually came and worshipped Siva, her husband. We were stunned to say the least watching the ritual for sure. Marriage should be one of the greatest things and greatest relationships in life. Otherwise why this stress on husband and wife all along in our culture? With the world having opened up due to globalization and cultures impinging on each other throughout the world we should ensure that ours survive the test of time especially the concept of man and woman, the concept of service and the importance of God.

We moved on to the Akhilandeswari Shrine. We watched one of the heaviest and beautiful elephants we have ever seen being brought in ceremonially towards the Akhilandeswari shrine. The temple elephant on reaching the appointed place gave a shriek thrice before blessing us with its trunk for some 50 paisa each.

It is believed that Akhilandeswari was originally an “Ugra Devata” of great fury, and Adi Sankaracharyar is said to have converted the fiery energy of the deity into a manifestation of peace. It was a truly beautiful shrine indeed. There stood the mother bestowing her grace upon the world –beautiful, loving and graceful. We stood there for a long time admiring her grace and requesting her blessing for us.Again, language is of no use in describing these great things. One has to simple experience and know. That’s the only option for sure. We also prayed in the Shrines of Vinayaka and Subramanya which were facing Akhilandeswari.

We luckily had another opportunity inside the temple.Annadanam or Free Temple Prasad (this time lunch) was getting served and since there were limited seats there was a huge rush and we managed to get in and get two places to eat the food give by God. The lunch was a simple one but I felt like it was one of the tastiest meals I have ever had.

There seemed to be many regular, routine men and women sitting along with us who’ve mastered the trade of when to ask for what and in what tone when food is getting served. We couldn’t beat their experience and concentrated on enjoying whatever was offered. My friend managed to get some Butter Milk amidst the competition and one of the experienced eaters of Annadana responded from the opposite row with a wild laugh (actually it was not a laugh but it looked closer to one) and a violent shake of the head acknowledging that my friend –a novice has somehow picked up the trick of getting the food one wants pretty soon. I laughed and laughed at this incident and felt really light after the laugh.

When we came out of the Annadana Hall we noticed almost 70 % of the people who’ve eaten inside stretching themselves with satisfaction trying to get some sleep now. It was a very strange scene for me. Eat and sleep. Some people use the temples just for this too. I had a thought that the temple administration could utilize the services of these people who are idling out inside the temple premises and who eat temple food in cleaning up the dust and urine smell in some places and proactively maintain the premises cleanly. Not a very tough ask but requires it good management skills to make use of these options. I hoped that someone would take up these initiatives and optimize resource utilization to the maximum.

When we came out of the temple well past 1.00 p.m, my mind thought that “Beauty and Bliss –Tiruvanaikkal Jambukeswarar served both to the devotee”. It is said that this temple, along with the nearby temple of Sri Ranganatha at Srirangam, suffered damage and disruption during the invasion of the Moghul army in the 14th century and order was restored during the Vijayanagara rule and the worship in the temple was revived. Thank God! Let limitless heaven be property to whoever has defended and restored this temple. Thanks to all of them who were behind the restoration and revival. We sincerely bow to your act of nobility and grace. Long live your races wherever and whoever they are.

With a heart filled with satisfaction we went back to our room and caught up with some sleep aiming for a return journey the same day evening. As I was about to doze off I recollected what Jesus Christ had said “If you have but the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain,”Be thou moved”, and so it would be. Faith is the Key in life. Be it the expectation of the grace of God or even any worldly thing, in faith we find it all. We should faithfully serve God wherever and whenever possible thought my mind. My mind jumped to thoughts of one of my close Christian friends who is a real Christian believing in the grace of God. I also recollected a couple of Muslim friends who do their duty to God gracefully. Each religion have their own way to God but the end is the same for sure. If I cannot recognize my Siva in the Gods of the Christian or the Muslim, I limit the potential of Siva and thereby demean him. God is not a limited being pinned down by religion or caste. He is universal. I did not know why most of us never understand this truth. Maybe Chomsky is right –Maybe man is a biological defect!

When we woke up the time was around 5.00 p.m and we charted a quick plan. I suggested a return the same night but after some thought we decided to visit Srirangam Temple, and then come back and checkout of the Lodge followed by a visit to the living

beauty -Thanjavur Brahadeeshwarar Temple and decide on further course of actions for the night subsequently.

When we moved to Srirangam Temple, a world famous religious place about 1.6 kms away from Tiruaanaikal.While My experiences of Shiva has always been a sort of pain and pleasure together strangely ,the Srirangam visit for a clean blockbuster in terms of pure worldly satisfaction. I felt a great sense of happiness for living in the material world and understood the power and importance of the God of Sustenance –The Narayana in Ranganatha Aalayam.The temple tower is a masterpiece which will never get unparalleled and almost every deity inside Srirangam radiate pure joy and pleasure. It would take a unique marathon effort trying to pen down the experience of Srirangam but to cut everything short one could say that “You miss Srirangam and you miss life together with it”. Such a Great Temple!

We came back and checked out and the time was around 7.15 p.m when we finally looked at the Tiruaanaikal Jambukeswarar Gopurams and a sense of something calling us caught on. We moved further, the same story again sticking to the basic rules of driving and moving towards Thanjavur Brahadeeshwarar Temple. The famous Trichy “Malai Koil” (Vinayaga Temple) was visible during the ride for sometime and we entered the roads adjoining beautiful banana tree plantations and other green crops towards Thanjavur.The song of the trees in the wind was a joy to the mind and we silently moved forward. One real pain witnessed during the trip was the Zero Water state in the historic rivers like Cauvery.If cauvery is only flowing as it did long back these fields would become unparalleled production points for Crops. My mind yearned for water for cauvery and pitied the lives of the thousands of families who lived based on the Blessings of Cauvery for long. There lives are a question mark today and definitely a point of concern for the entire south.

This belt containing Trichy, Tanjavur and Kumbakonam has so many famous temples and one’s entire lifetime could be spent just visiting them and I bet it wouldn’t be a useless life.

When we reached Brahatheeswarar temple the time was 8.35 p.m and about closing time. We rushed in to the temple and visited the main shrine of Siva first –a very huge one. Raja Raja Cholan has become timeless for his contribution in the form of this temple –a huge masterpiece of infinite beauty. We visited the related Parvathi Temple, a striking one and could see the jewels glitter from her face even from a long distance. I felt like there was the Goddess Parvathi in flesh sitting there and a stir went through the body. Great temple this –amazing temple this. Could spend one’s lifetime admiring the beauty of the temple and serving it. When we sat for a brief time in a place and watched the lighting of the temple together with the nature’s lighting from the moon, I felt really ashamed for living at a time where such masterpieces simply could not be even attempted. The entire beauty of the world is in this temple. One cannot but simply get awestruck when he visits the Siva here.

We moved as we heard the closing bells of the temple and had food in a nearby hotel. Almost 24 hours of driving and body pain and sleeplessness gave indications to me that our concentration may slip on our way back to Chennai and so we decided to stay in my friend’s town Mayiladuthurai some 100 plus kilometers away from Tanjavur.

We crossed many temples on the way and I found this route to be less risky than the Trichy highway. We went via Kumbakonam and talked of many things about the greatness of our religion and our inability to even understand and appreciate the same.

We saw a Narayana Veedhi Ula(procession in the streets)in the streets of a village near kumbakonnam around 2.00 a.m in the night. A set of people with lights and music instruments marched on and the Narayana was carried in a specially designed cart. Almost people from all the houses in the street came out and looked at the procession and prayed. Look at this-middle of the night and yet almost everyone is wide awake welcoming God in to their lives. Look at the concept –for people who can not come to God, god himself would like to come to them.Disesase, worries and commitments would render people out of sink with the routine of frequenting temples. In eagerness not to miss these people, God comes on the streets! Culture and passion on God is a way of life in India. Truly Great India. Welcome aboard.

When we reached Mayiladuthurai the time was around 3.00 a.m in the night and we stayed in a Muslim Lodge, an excellent one named Al Muzammil which was booked through my friend’s Family friend based on our phone call from Tanjavur requesting for a room.

We took bath to go to a refreshing sleep away from the dusts of the road. Before we slept off I lazily said to my friend that he should not miss these trips with his wife and said these travels with his wife would be the sweetest he could ever imagine. He scolded me for trying to brainwash him and push him in to the marriage bond .Poor fellow. I hoped that he would realize the importance and greatness of a well planned and proper marriage.

We woke up at around 6.30 a.m and stared at the second day of our travel in Bike. We quickly got ready and visited the Mayiladuthurai temple –calm, beautiful, historic and must to visit for anyone. Again this was a huge temple too and had great historic significance. We prayed to Siva and Parvathi (one of the most beautiful goddess statues in the world for sure this one), sat in the temple for a while and I was grazing over the days my friend would have spent here –this place being his hometown. I noticed some tenth or Twelfth Examination number written on top of the Vinayaga Shrine in the temple and my mind prayed for good results for all the candidates writing the exams at this time of the year (March End 2004).The entire future of students depend on the marks they score at the school leaving level. Such a crucial standard these twelfth standard.My thoughts went to my Cousin who has never got any rank except First Rank so far. I prayed that he should be the topper always and achieve more and more laurels his entire life and bring pride to the family.

We moved on to visit the home of my friend which is rented out at present as he has moved to Chennai along with his parents. The place was a calm, beautiful place ever a dream for Chennaites. I wondered how many towns and villages like these exist in the South and how many families lived. We tried visiting the Vana Durga temple but it was closed.

We went back with the intention of checking out and resuming our journey back to Chennai but when we got to the room the body literally begged us to sleep for some more time. We obliged and went in to sleep in probably Nano seconds I guess. When we woke up it was past 2.00 p.m and there was a mild rain outside which was a blessing in the heat. We checked out at last and visited the Guru Bhagwan temple (a famous and antique one) without getting off our bikes and moved on.

We really enjoyed the roads with green fields and beautiful homes. My friend seemed very nostalgic about this place, this true southern belt which churned out the real people of the south as opposed to the complex mixtures in the Chennai city. We could simply not resist visiting the very Famous Vaitheeswaran Temple too on the way. This again is a great great temple with terrific architecture and wonderful grace and power. I wondered how on earth our ancestors managed to give such great outputs throughout the South.

Our next stop was in a Tender coconut shop near the sides of the road approaching Chidambaram and we had the best food offered by nature with eagerness. We reached Chidambaram at around 3.30 p.m when the temple was actually closed. My friend hadn’t visited this Intelligence and Bliss store house called Nataraja temple before but we decided to move on in order that we reach our homes before it gets very late.

We had still over six hours of travel left to reach Chennai and my mind from this point onwards till we reached Chennai started to ruminate upon the temples we have seen and the experience we have gained over the last 36 hours or so. We managed to push ourselves to reach Cuddalore before taking a break and moving on to Pondichery.My friend said that once when the scenic East Coast Roads are reached the travel would get that much more pleasurable.

We took a break in Pondichery and had tea in a place where there was a reasonable crowd of French settlers. On resuming the journey I told my friend about Jeanne Dupleix and the plans of the Dupleix family to invade the full of India which was beaten by the intelligence of Robert Clive. I told my friend that perhaps our entire culture would have been different if we had been under the rule of the French instead of the British. I was not able to judge whether French or British rule would have been better. But I had a strong feeling that we could have done well even without the contributions from France or Britain easily considering our intellectual capabilities.

We had one of the sweetest rides with the beach on the right side of us sending us cool greetings and happy recollections of life and happenings. My discussion mode got to the peak and I totally opened up to my friend about the multitude of novels and writings I have enjoyed reading for over 14 years or so.

I shared an incident about the mental terror I was in to when reading the Novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. I was alone in my house very afraid of what I have read (this happened in 8th standard for me)when one of my family friends 3 years older than me tried coincidentally to put me to fear by peeping like a ghost from one of the windows. This fellow pressed the wrong button at the wrong time –he opened the window directly in front of me and yelled at me. If his yelling was 10 % my yelling back at him was 1000 %more severe for sure. I was able to understand that this guy is a known friend but I somehow used the forum to let out my fear on having read some very fearful pages from the novel. He was terribly shocked seeing me yell and probably a subconscious feeling in him came indicating to him that I was shouting afraid not of him but of something very very big and terrifying than him. He actually shouted back in fear and I increased my pitch in yelling back and this process continued for around 5 -6 yelling exchanges before he ran away from our house(I guessed that he ran away by the irregular shouts and sound of someone falling down and violently opening the gates).To date this is the most funniest recollection I ever have and when I shared this with my friend during the East Coast Ride back, he literally laughed and laughed and stopped the bike in a corner and continued laughing for a long time before returning to normal.

We had many other minor sweet incidents on the way including the sweet dinner we had in Kovalam in a friend’s place. When I dropped my friend in his home and reached my place, it was past midnight.

These travels happen once in a lifetime –that too the travels bowed at God’s abodes.

The total distance covered during the entire trip was around 840 kilometers in all and it was a splendid experience which I thoroughly enjoyed. When I entered home I prayed for one last time of the day to God to now help me to find him in the events of daily life. That’s the real challenge for all of us –finding god in the daily life.