Crisis at Arunachala
I have been requested to put this appeal onto the WWW by
residents of the Ashrams at
Tiruvannamalai and I am only too happy to do it. Please
download this letter, plus the 'Appeal
Letters' and distribute them to any and all devotees who
you feel will support this action.
This is a call to all devotees of Sri Arunachala to come together
to fight for the preservation of this most Holy
Hill as a Sacred Centre, free from the encroachments of materialism
and environmental abuse.
Linked to this page are the letters of appeal which have for
three years been sent to the central and local
government bodies responsible for this area - all to no avail.
Our purpose is to encourage devotees to write to the three
addresses below in protest at the lack of action
and to threaten to boycott India, especially Tiruvannamalai
until this work is carried out in full - this threat of
economic withdrawal will remove up to $1,000,000 per annum
from the local economy. This is no mean sum
of money for Tamil Nadu and the threat of such loss is the
only way to make those politicians and their
business sponsors who control these matters respond quickly
and positively to our concerns.
I have just returned after twelve weeks there and can testify
to the accuracy of the complaints - in this time I
was struck by four vehicles, some overtaking on the pedestrian
areas of the roads and only one of these
drivers stopped to apologise. The attached documents are mild
in comparison to the reality of the situation; it
is no longer possible to walk the outer pradakshina route
in silence or without fear of being run over; vehicles
are driven at their top speed day and night with horns blaring
continuously, swerving all over the roadway and
pedestrian areas in their efforts to overtake everything (often
three vehicles including buses and lorries
overtaking at the same time on a road wide enough only for
two) and pedestrians have to run for their lives.
The final part of this route takes you through the town itself,
past open sewers and through impossible traffic
and ceaseless noise.
The inner route is better except for the last part which has
now become overrun by part of the town; this mile
is decorated with human waste on all sides and open sewers
run across the pathway; building has now
climbed part of the way up the mountain at this point and
is increasing rapidly with squatters building on any
outcrop they can find.
The condition of the outer road surface is disgraceful to say
the least; every tank is polluted and the roadside
is used as a toilet and rubbish tip by everyone. These conditions
are not unusual for India, but Arunachala is
the embodiment of Siva and the power of Arunachala is undeniable
- this place is very special and as such
should be preserved for the sacred act of walking around it
as thousands do every day especially Friday, tens
of thousands every full-moon day, and hundreds of thousands
at Deepam and Sivaratri.
Foreign visitors bring untold wealth to the region and as such
only they can put pressure on the local bodies
to carry out the work immediately - I am told that funding
for a bypass has already been awarded and all that
is required is action, but nothing happens - the rest will
take courage on the part of the politicians and only
fear of the loss of foreign wealth will spur them to action.
I appeal to you all to write and give your support to this
worthy enterprise -- it is in your interest to do so if
you visit Sri Arunachala, Sri Ramanasramam, Sri Seshadriswami
Ashram, or any of the other Ashrams,
Temples and Shrines around this most holy of places.
- A devotee
Addresses:
The District Collector
Collectors Office
Tiruvannamalai Sambuvarayar Dist.
Tamil Nadu
S. India
The Chief Secretary
The Secretariate
Fort St. George
Chennai 600 001
Tamil Nadu
S. India
The Chief Minister
Govt. of Tamil Nadu
Fort St. George
Chennai 600 001
Tamil Nadu
S. India
Sample letter:
Namaskars,
I am writing today to express my horror and distress at the
uncontrolled and rapid environmental degradation
of lands, tanks and Giripradakshina routes at the foot of
the most Holy Sri Arunachala Hill.
This treasure beyond price is a spiritual magnet for people
throughout the world; people who travel to
Tiruvannamalai for the sole purpose of circumambulating the
most sacred of shrines - an act which according
to scripture should be carried out in silence with mind fixed
on the Mountain.
This is not possible anymore, with heavy traffic travelling
day and night at breakneck speeds and horns
blaring along the majority of the route. Pedestrians have
to run for their lives as the vehicles overtake each
other on both sides of the road and the gravel footpaths on
either side. It is no exaggeration to say that most
of the drivers of heavy vehicles and buses would certainly
kill pedestrians if the pedestrian was a little slow in
moving out of the way, primarily because of the vehicle's
speed and the reckless manner in which they are
driven; this fact can be observed at any time of the day or
night and it is only a matter of time before an
overcrowded bus or overweight truck goes out of control and
mows down a large number of pedestrians.
People and animals are regularly struck by vehicles and some
killed, in fact only recently a sadhu was
crippled after being run down whilst doing pradakshina in
broad daylight.
The unregulated building on the Mountain side of the road and
the Hill itself, the open sewers that run along
the inner path, the unregulated noise from music tape-stalls,
the pollution of the sacred tanks and the
dilapidation of the Temples and Shrines is an open sore on
the bright jewel of Arunachala.
India is famed as the spiritual heart of the world, but the
scene now unfolding at Tiruvannamalai is more
reminiscent of Hades than the oasis of peace that it once
was and should continue to be.
Tamil Nadu and Tiruvannamalai benefit considerably from the
millions of dollars brought and spent by
tourist/devotees every year, in addition to the untold sums
sent as donations to various Ashrams, charities and
employment projects. This money trickles down through the
entire populace helping to finance the growth of
the area as well as supporting tourist-based employment.
The current situation at Tiruvannamalai is already unacceptable
as a tourist attraction and it will only get
worse unless radical action is taken immediately. There seems
to be definite reluctance on the part of the
relevant authorities to take any action at all to protect
this Sacred Centre and thereby protect both the
Mountain and the financial benefits accrued from visitors
to Arunachala.
As a devotee of Sri Arunachala and visitor to Tiruvannamalai,
I no longer feel able to visit Tiruvannamalai in
safety until such time as our concerns are fully addressed
and solutions are firmly in place. I pray that action
can be taken by your good self to bring about a speedy remedy
to this most serious of problems affecting the
spiritual heritage of India, for the benefit of all mankind.
Here is a description of Pradakshina around Arunachala from Chandi Devi
My Beloved Sisters and Brothers,
I am writing from here at the Feet of our Deeply Beloved Great-Grandfather
Sat-Guru - Arunachala ...the
Holiest Mountain ......in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, South India.
It is now, Buddha Poornima, celebrated here, 29-30th April, and we want
to APOLOGIZE for the
MISTAKE IN THE CALENDAR, where we have it the end of MAY. We
got all of our information for
Indian dates from the local Pundit in Lucknow, (1 year before) and
he assured us that Buddha Poornima is full
moon in MAY. So, we are very sorry for our mistake and hope that no
one missed out on this celebration
because of that. (However, as most of you probably already know, the
Buddha's celebration is always NOW!
Dateless and Timeless!) We would appreciate if you who have sold this
Calendar, would, if you have space,
please put this apology on your web site, from us! Thank you!
Full Moon, here at Arunachala, is always celebrated by doing Pradakshina
(or Giri-Dakshina, as it is called here)
around the Mountain. It is the circumambulation of the GURU - walking
around the Mountain. It is usually done
barefoot. This Poornima is the Buddha's Full Moon, and a special
time, as even more thousands of people turn
out to express their Love and Devotion to the Guru......Arunachala,
ItSelf.
I decided to brave the crowds, myself, to walk, this Poornima,
around the Holy Mountain.........in Celebration of
the Awakening that all of us are Graced to be sharing in! Are Graced
to BE It SELF!
It is HOT, and I start at around 10 PM, hoping for some coolness from
this constant over 110 degree daily
temperature.
The road is FULL! Full of people, all with the same intention, in the
same direction....to walk around the HOLY
MOUNTAIN. Women in their finest, most beautiful Sari's, some carrying
babies, some carrying plastic bags
with water bottles. Girls in Salwar suits or western dresses....holding
hands and laughing and giggling as they
walk this 14 kilometer journey around the ever Effulgent Emptiness
of the SELF! Grandmothers, bent over from
a life of labor, pulling their grandchildren along to the next temple
for Darshan. Boys walking together, talking
loud....walking fast. Men in Dhoti's, western pants, lungi's,
shirtless and with shirts, Vibuti across their foreheads
from the temples visited. Bhramins with their Sacred Strings
across their naked chests. Sadhu's in orange, sitting
by the road with their begging bowls in front of them. People chanting,
talking, laughing. All walking barefoot.
In the Gaze of the Mountain... Unmoving.... Untouched...! No cast or
creed HERE....... Bhramins to
Untouchables....old and young...... educated/non-educated...dark skin
and light skin....all walking together...all in
the GRACE of the SELF!
I enter the main street and am immediately swept up in the moving energy
of the crowd! Barefoot... walking on
the road in front of Ramanashramam. The road is basically closed to
all but bicycles and scooters. And it is so
full that you can't see the ground. The air is full Celebration/Carnival.
And yet there is an Emptiness that is
awesomly visible. Everything is happening in the GRACE of the
SELF..... It is all of the Substratum..... infused
with the Substratum, it SELF! This is NOT a walk in quiet meditation
as you would think meditation to be...or
want it to be.....It is all noise and crowd and smells and sounds........
But it is all Empty! And it is all Meditation it
SELF! Everything is walking, walking in the same direction...
a wave of energy - from the Source back to the
Source - the Shakti of the Shiva of Arunachala, itself... And
yet, I am lying when I say this. Because Nothing is
moving! Nothing is HERE! Nothing Exists! Nothing
comes from the source to the source...It is ALL the
SOURCE! And it is all a DREAM! A Dream of the Mind!
Arunachala sits Unmoving, Untouched....
constantly showing the Dream for what it is - a Dream! Even IT doesn't
exist! What JOY! What JOY! What
constant J O Y !
I walk...... Everything is taken care of on this 14 kilometer
walk. There are makeshift stalls selling namkeens
(deep fried salty snacks), Bajji's (deep fried banannas, onions or
potatos)
pakoras, wadai (deep fried!!! ground dal with onions, chilli's and
ginger), chole (Chick peas made usually with
lots of chilis). There is water, soft drinks, coffee, Chai (tea
with milk and sugar) and tender green coconuts to
drink. There are people selling Palm friuts, banannas, and the first
mangos of the season (green and probably
sour). There are tables with books, usually spiritual and mostly in
tamil. And there is music ... bright lights and
loud speakers... blasting songs about Shiva and Arunachala. There are
Sadhus in orange...white beards and no
beards....singing bhajans and playing their hand drums.. trying to
get enough money to go on Spiritual excersions
to Holy places (Yatras). And there are some quiet moments where there
are no lights and no music and no thing!
There are many places to get darshan of God! There are 8 lingams
(representation of Shiva/Arunachala as the
fire element), and 4 Nandi's (Bulls which represents the Body and the
first devotee of Shiva). There are small
and big temples and mandirs... with people lined up for hours waiting
to get in for Darshan of the GOD! All in
this 14 kilometer walk around and in EMPTINESS!
And there is the town......with air-horns blasting from the busses
trying to go down a street that doesn't belong to
them tonight. The road is rougher and tougher to walk on barefoot....
but there is no feeling of the road as the energy moves me along.......walking
on air. Then the Main Temple of
Arunachelaeshwara Shiva, it Self. The very Temple where i saw PAPAJI
sitting in the air behind the Lingam of
pure Fire, laughing and laughing at this Joke ...at this Dream! The
crowd is tremendous...and so i decide to not
go in this time. I have been in before...and this Ancient Temple is
infused with secrets and energy and images
from the past.....the very Ancient past.....before the conditioning
of our western mind!
It is 2 kilometers to my place, and my left leg is giving out.About
5 months ago, I tore the muscle and tendon in
my hip and leg..and it still hasn't fully healed yet. So, I catch a
three-wheeler auto rickshaw back to my place.
Slowly plodding thru this sea of people who don't exist. It is
all GRACE whether walking or riding, barefoot or
shoed, alone or with friends. It is all GRACE !
OM NAMO SAT GURU DEVA
OM BUDDHA KI JAI!
OM ARUNACHALA KI JAI!
OM RAMANA KI JAI!
OM PAPAJI KI JAI! KI
JAI! KI JAI!
HARI OM !
Chandi Devi
April 30, 1999
Tiruvannamalai
Tamil Nadu
India