Arunachala Siva

Arunachala Siva, Arunachala Siva

Arunachala Siva, Arunachala!

The dream is long but short

The real is apparent but false

The journey is long but short

The pleasure is there but painful

The many are few and the One is many

Arunachala Siva,

The mind is there but nought

Arunachala Siva,

Only the Heart is

-- Mithin Aachi Nov 29, 2008

Poem 2

Chant O mind Arunachala name

Bestower of ego-death and spiritual fame

Remember the One in the lotus cave

Attain the One, the Ramana aim.

Be the One that you are

Arunachala is in you

You and Arunachala are the same

--Mithin Aachi Nov 26, 2008

Poem 1

For years my heart pined to see you O Arunachala
For years did I wait to come
Finally when I did one day O Arunachala
You met me hiding your face in the clouds
Throughout the night did I see you,
wishing you to lift the veil
You smiled at my prayers O Arunachala
and came to me as the Elephant
As I trekked around the pradakshina path my darling Arunachala
watching your various forms at each bend
you reminded me that you are
neither the peak nor the base
but a pure manifestation of Love,
my closest friend,
which has no peak nor base
with no begining nor end
-- Mithin Aachi Nov 25 2008

I have seen...

I have seen the most beautiful monsoons hit the parched soil of the western coast bringing with it a joy unlimited to my heart when in Mangalore...

I have swam in the beaches of Iran dancing as a child with jellyfish surrounding the shallows with their unmatched beauty...

I have driven in an auto on winter evenings in surreal Delhi the evening street lights throwing out a yellow orange color of supreme beauty as the cold winds lashed my face and I felt warm in my heart...

I have watched with awe as the great river Ganges slowly joined the sea carrying in its bosom a billion sins on the banks of Kolkata...I have seen the city of the Goddess saturated with her, everywhere Kali...everywhere the Mother Goddess in Kolkata...

I have watched with fascination at the beauty of the deity in Tirupathi with my heart beating wildly out of pure love for Him...everytime I saw Him...

I remember my first time when I saw the Taj Mahal, the first time I saw my college mates on a rainy day, the first time when I trekked across the dense jungles of South Karnataka discovering virgin waterfalls and lush greenery...

I have seen Frankfurt in the snow, I have gazed stunned and amazed at the Universe and varied galaxies, stars from my telescope, went boating across the lake district in Cambria, UK.

I have seen the London Bridge, I have seen a child laugh, I have seen friends cry as they departed at the end of college...

I have seen beautiful butterflies...

.
.
.
.
.
but I have never seen anything like Arunachala.

It is beyond beauty, beyond speech, beyond thought to even describe its presence in front of my eyes.

Tears well up, the mind melts, the heart is aware.

Friends, in all my life with an infinite experiences...I have had the greatest of all...

I have seen GOD.

Its name is Arunachala. It exists in the form of a rocky Hill 200kms from Chennai.

It is the SOURCE, the Alpha and the Omega.

It is the spiritual heart of the universe (Ramana Maharshi)

It is my Arunachala...my darling Arunachala.

First Sight

I saw Arunachala for the first time on Nov 23, 2008. After a few hours drive from Chennai, my cousins and I could make out a form of a hill in the distant. We immediately stopped our car and made salutations to it. However when we rechecked it with our binoculars we found to our dismay that it was not Arunachala. We continued for some time whence suddenly the great Hill could be seen with the temple towers in the far distance. It was covered with a rain cloud. Only the portion of it from base to the middle could be seen. We made our heartfelt salutations to it. We continued into the town with the Hill growing larger every mile we crossed. We got down into Nannagaru ashram from where the Hill looked magnificent and mind numbingly infinite.
That night I slowly crept to the terrace of Nannagaru ashram to spend some time with Arunachala. But seeing the overpowering infinite form of the Hill with a magnificent cloud hugging its peak, my knees shivered in fright and my spine gave way unknown power, prostrating before an unknown Power which was emanating from the Hill.
After that everytime I think of Arunachala...the first time I saw it and more so whence I saw it from the terrace of Nannagaru Asramam in the night, all alone...I shiver.