Temple of Arunachaleshwara: Largest Shiva Temple
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The Shiva linga has been described in Tantra as the ultimate form for cosmic energy flow. It represents the perfect union of male and female energies.
Man does not need another being to experience the bliss energy in him. If he dives into the depths of his being, he can experience it as continuous surging tides that rise and fall within himself causelessly. The localized peak energy experience which happens through union with another being, can very well be an experience of every body cell, without the presence of the other. Energy need not be dissipated through the other being, but can be contained within oneself as an eternal and ecstatic dance. This phenomenon is what is represented in the Shiva linga – the ultimate God form created for worship.
The Shiva linga symbolizes the energy flow that happens when Existence unites with itself to create waves of bliss that rise and fall within, not without. It is the ultimate symbol of the state of samadhi, where mere existence is bliss.
The temple of Arunachaleshwara in Tiruvannamalai is the biggest Shiva temple in India. It is one of the five sacred linga sites of Shiva in South India. Here Shiva is worshipped in his elemental form of fire, as one of the pancha bhutas - the five elements of nature. These five elemental energies are: earth, water, fire, air and ether.
The other temple sites where Shiva is worshipped are: Chidambaram where Shiva he is worshipped as ether or space, Kalahasti where he is worshipped as air, Kanchipuram where he is worshipped as earth and Tiruvanaikkaval where he is worshipped as water. It is also believed that Shiva appeared to his consort Parvati here in Arunachala as a column of fire on the day of Kartikai Pournami (Kartikai is the Tamil month of November-December and Pournami is the full moon day) and fulfilled her desire to unite with him.
The temple of Arunachala has been praised in the songs of the 7th century Tamil Saint Tirugnana Sambandar, and is believed to have existed long before that. It is mentioned in ancient Tamil verses that just remembering Arunachala assures liberation! Such is the greatness of this mountain.
A mystical trail, a wondrous journey
Around the Mountain of Light
That kindles a yearning inexplicable
That draws the soul into... pray what?
That raises one to the peak of awareness...
That somehow seems to call, ‘Come on in my dear child...’
From every corner of the town
Forever accessible to the seeking eye
Haunting the soul through every crevice
Are You not the One That liberates
Through just Remembrance of You?
O Arunachala!
Through the form of fire dear One,
You protect the devotees who take refuge
As cool shade dear One,
You heal the aching heart
Making my birth complete,
You draw me into Divinity...
O Arunachala!
Your stillness speaks a million words
Drawing millions to Your very heart
Exuding transcendental glory
That seems to include every enjoyment of the world...
O Arunachala!
O peerless Gem! Why can't the wavering mind know
There is nothing greater than Thee
There is nothing more to seek
That You are Mother, Father, Beloved
As well as the Master who liberates in bliss
That relationships are but illusory
And You are the only One That binds
Only to set us free? O Arunachala!
Help me break the shield of my ego
That makes me feel separate from You
Help me fall in the ocean of Your love
And bond with Your formless form
So near yet so far
Liberate me from this illusory separation
O Arunachala!
Mountain magnet are You
An effulgence of love
The fiery Linga form...
Blessing Brahma and Vishnu
And every other soul thereon
From the holy town of Arunachala
O Arunachala!
Heart center of the universe are You
Where Shiva dwells eternally
Luring the seeking ones
To the mystical land of eternity
Pull me in so I may reach You
And merge unto the beyond that is Thee, O Arunachala!
Without awareness I may resist
Don't heed it O Arunachala!
Listen only to my conscious calls
And break me from the mind
That keeps me separate from Thee, O Arunachala!
Burn my guilt, anger, lust and jealousy
That seem to veil Thy grace upon me
Rest my mind so I may feel
At ease to come to Thee, O Arunachala!
How long to stay in delusion
How much further to reach You
How much more I wonder
You say it is a moment
Then grace me to encounter
That elusive moment, O Arunachala!
Take me to that realm
That is silent and beyond words
Take me to the Self
The true nature of You and me
Let me experience Thy prowess
And the real me...
No more pining from ignorance
O Arunachala! Grace me
Years wasted in separation have gone by...
I still wander in Your space,
Oblivious of Thy loving grace
Heed my Being not my Mind
I pray to You O Arunachala!
As You wipe out our threefold karma
And liberate us from the cycle of birth
Grace us to act out of intelligence
So we may deceive our senses, O Arunachala!
karma – unfulfilled actions of ours that cause us to enter into the cycle of birth and death continuously
We freeze in our trail at Your first sight
And drown in Your majesty
As we melt in Your sweet face
Deceive us O beloved One!
So we may fall in love to rise
And experience the joy of Your reality! O Arunachala!
Like rising tides one after the other
Thoughts come and go so violently
The tempest of which is too much to endure
How is it possible to move
From the gross to the subtle,
Except with Thy Grace O Arunachala!
As we seek Your mystical abode
Make us mature and set us free
From our very mind and conditioning
That we carry so faithfully
O Arunachala!
The Fire Hill of the Satya Yuga
The Ruby Hill of the Treta Yuga
The Gold Hill of the Dvapara Yuga
The Rocky hill of the Kali Yuga
O Arunachala!
You rose as the Divine Hillock
As Nithya Arunachala Shiva!
* Nithya – eternal *Yuga – An age of the world per Hindu Cosmology. Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali are the four yugas.
The Sun, the Moon,
Dwellers of the Earth and Heaven,
The Supreme Yogis of the eight cardinal directions
Reach You in eternal bliss
O Hara Hara Shiva Shiva
Nithya Arunachala Shiva!
Only You can cause deep surrender
In body, mind and spirit
And take us unto You
Revered Arunachala!
| You are guarded by the eight Lingas: | And You guard us in turn |
| By Indra Linga on the East | How fortunate we truly are! |
| Agni Linga on the South East | O Arunachala! |
| Yama Linga on the South | |
| Nirudhi Linga on the South West | |
| Varuna Linga on the West | |
| Vayu Linga on the North West | |
| Kubera Linga on the North | |
| And Isanya Linga on the North East |
Embodiment of the five Elements
Abode to celestial beings
Siddhars, Munis, Rishis, Yakshas and Gandharvas
Revel in Thy arms as they float in bliss
Basking in the Oneness with You
O Arunachala!
Aruna, red or fiery like the Sun
Achala, immovable like the Hill
The immovable Hill of the Fire of Wisdom are You
Lighting every being with the very Fire...
O Arunachala!
Circling You on a Monday delivers us from life and death;
On a Tuesday, delivers us from doubts and anxieties in the material world;
On a Wednesday, brings great wisdom and understanding to us;
On a Thursday, draws all goodness in this samsara sagara – ocean of Life;
On a Friday, brings us the supreme experience of inner bliss!
On a Saturday, removes fear of occult influences and enlightens us;
On a Sunday, makes us embrace the energy of the Sun god within us
How truly blessed are we, O Arunachala!
Wandering mendicants dwell upon You
Eternally immersed in Thy Name
Blissfully drifting in Thy Space
With a peace and calm unknown thus far
Nestling like in the mother’s womb
Moving from loneliness to aloneness
They glimpse again their true state of bliss
That they had in their mother’s womb
That Golden Age of innocence
Tainted by the wand of illusion
When delivered into this samsara sagara
O Arunachala!
*samsara sagara – ocean of life and death
Like how a cow walks around a pole
In diminishing circles only to discover
That it can't move any more
That the rope has rested in surrender;
So also, are You not the One
Who shortens the mind that circles You
Arresting it finally
So we may rest in Your delightful Self
Free from our own self forever!
O Arunachala!
All our effort to just be Is rewarded by Your sheer Grace
Such is Your infinite compassion
That every step we take towards You
You make it a step towards our own Self
Changing devotion to You as devotion to our Self
So we may awaken to the profound Oneness
In You and everything else
O Arunachala!
Abiding on Earth as the fiery Mountain
As the Shiva Linga Arunachaleshwara
As an enlightened master in different forms
For over thousands of years...
Compassion personified are You
For the yearning ones
As Arunadri, Sonadri...
Through 108 Names You are called
By the devoted ones who sing Your glory, O Arunachala!
In this Divine Land chosen by You
To manifest in Your glorious Mountain form
Blessed are the ones who move around
Knowingly or unknowingly
From morning till night every day of the year
Immersed in something or other
But the ear hearing Your name always
And the tongue uttering Your Divine Name
An eternal blessing from You O Sonesa!
Destroy me Arunachala
Let me be me no more
Let me be You
Who are Mahadeva, Shiva!
O Arunachala!
Abode to thousands of enlightened Ones
Divine Mother and spiritual incubator are You...
A place of penance for the sincere seeker
Five-Hued Mountain are You...
Ganga and other sacred rivers
Flow in Your lap
Nandana the garden of Indra
Is Your very forest;
Through Your very presence on planet Earth
You radiate the possibility for every being
To catch the spark of Inner Light
O Arunachala, grace me!
Are You not the world condensed
That circumambulating You
Is circling the world
How fortunate are we
To have You as the Mountain of Light!
O Arunachala!
As Arunachaleshwara and Mother Unnamulayar You manifested in the temple
For us to worship and pray for Thy grace
Granting boons no sooner than they are asked
Sustaining the fallen heart and raising it one more time
O Arunachala!
You gave Adisesha the strength to bear the Earth
You graced the Devas to win over the Asuras
You restored many sinners to their purest forms
You bestow upon us blessings before we even ask
O Arunachala!
*Devas and Asuras refer to divine beings and demons respectively
Mightier than the Meru are You
Or Kailash or even the Mandara
Your waters are holier than the Ganga
The birds, animals and other living creatures
Who dwell upon You
Are more sacred than even the Divine Beings
Who bless us from above
O Arunachala!
Neither wealth nor knowledge can attract You
Only love and surrender can
You destroy our ego of knowledge
And pride of wealth
And make us beings of pure love
O Arunachala!
Was it not on the Coral hill of Your Divine Space
That Divine Mother sat in meditation?
And experienced the explosion of Light
And merged unto Her Lord on His left
Which the world celebrates
As the Festival of Lights?
Make me too merge unto You
Through penance of any measure if You will
For I know not what is to be done
Grace me O Arunachala!
Amidst theories and revelations
Of the Big Bang and the Black Hole
With twinkling eyes You sit…
The explosions and dissolutions
Happening in Your very heart
As Ananda Leela!
Is it not true
That they happen in my body too
For are You not my soul, O Arunachala!
Ananda Leela – blissful divine play
The Universal Self are You
With Divine Light that pervades
And justice that flourishes
Drawing every seeker
From every corner of this world
To eternal fulfillment
O Arunachala!
Are You not the Energy manifest
And the fullness of Knowledge?
Then why do I fathom You
Through the darkness of my ignorance?
Let me only bask in Thy Glory
And rise in Thy bliss
As a speck of Thy effulgence, O Arunachala!
As millions circumambulate You On the radiant new moon day You churn the wandering minds Bringing heightened awareness into oneself Opening the way to the ultimate experience Of Self illumination, O Arunachala!
Every crevice in Your Self
Seems to resound with the Truth
Stirring the very being
With inexplicable mystique
Leading the aware one
To depths unknown
To discover that You and the Self
Are not different but One...
Arunachala Shiva!
Eternal auspiciousness are You
That pervades this universe every moment;
Death and disease too are You
That come by in one's life;
Make me see everything as equal and auspicious
And happening in Your very being, O Arunachala!
When success stops impressing me
And I fall into the depression of my being
Let me feel Your enveloping Presence
And heed Your call, O Arunachala!
As the clouds nestle against You at day
And the crescent moon adorns You at night
You continue to radiate Light
Piercing the sky and pervading the universe
With the intensity of twelve rising suns
Yet no heat, only Light, O Arunachala!
Motionless being are You
Yet the cause of all motion;
God of desire are You
Yet desireless Yourself;
Make me melt with devotion to Thee
As the only wisdom ever, O Arunachala!
As the stars move around You in sheer delight Neither the oceans, the wind or fire can touch You Who cares for name or fame? Let me only merge unto You, O Arunachala!
Let me not be arrogant and forget You
Even in the most deceiving moments
May I remember You with utmost revere
As my God and saviour
In this life of mine, O Arunachala!
Shake my very being
Till all falsity leaves me
So I may rise in purity
And resonate with You, O Arunachala!
Mere feeding of Your wandering ascetics
Is considered an unequalled deed
Then why am I in such heavy delusion
Of Your greatness?
Make me see that You are the One
Who creates, sustains, destroys, conceals and liberates
As pure Divine Play, Nithya Arunachala Shiva!
Formless in form
Wordless in words
Timeless in Time are You
O Arunachala!
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