Mount Arunachala

This is the view of Mount Arunachala from my room at Yogiville
Today our whole group did the 14-kilometer Girivalam around Mount Arunachala in Tiruvannamalai.  This is a sacred circumambulation that purifies the soul, enhances spiritual growth, and is most auspicious on full-moon (Pournami) nights. On December 3 it is  Karthigai Deepam Festival, and I'm told over 5 million people come from all over India and the world to make this pilgrimage.  

We decided to go today to avoid the crowds.

Girivalam, which means “circumambulation of the hill,” is a sacred walk around Mount Arunachala, one of the most significant spiritual sites in India. Believers consider the act of walking around this mountain to bring blessings, peace, and spiritual upliftment. According to tradition, Lord Shiva, in his form as Arunachaleswarar, resides in this mountain, and a walk around it symbolizes reverence and surrender to the divine.  

We chanted much of the way "Om Namah Shivaya".  

The entire pilgrimage is paved, and largely in the city - with shops and traffic - even though we are on the edge of the mountain.  We saw spotted deer, and monkeys on the mountain side of the trek in some places, in other places we were just part of the city bustle.

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  There are eight  Ashta Lingams, each associated with a cosmic direction and force, where devotees offer prayers.  This photo below is just outside the Vayu Lingham, associated with the wind element.  A lingam is an abstract representation of the Hindu god Shiva. The word lingam is found in the Upanishads and epic literature, where it means a "mark, sign, emblem, characteristic", the "evidence, proof, symptom" of Shiva and Shiva's power.

On the walk, in the less busy portion of the trek: 

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hiva's mark is a trident, the ash on my forehead below symbolizes this.  In addition to the trident, the three stripes represent the gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas.

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This monkey was pretty adamant that he wasn’t going to share his rice with anyone.

• Here is our group after we completed the pilgrimage:

And here is my new Shiva shrine, made of rock from the mountain.

The flowers are Jadi Malli, a special type of jasmine that smells divine, and frangipanni that dropped from the tree just outside my room.   

 
Om Namah Shivaya