Peacocks at Ramanashramam….
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Went with Ravi and family to skandashramam on Arunachala hill.
heres what the trail looks like…
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Relaxing in the hill, on the way to Skandashramam….
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Ravi, family pic… inside Skandashramam….
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View of the magnificent Arunachaleshwara temple, from the hill…
One more view… From near Skandashramam…
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Santosham!
Madhaviah Krishnan (1912-1996), was a pioneering Indian wildlife photographer, writer and naturalist. In the year 1967, he once asked several university graduates to name two red-flowered trees or an exclusively Indian animal. Nobody passed his test and he wrote:
“is there something radically wrong with the education and culture of our young men and women that they should not know the answers to these reasonable questions, or is it that I have become a monomaniac and am therefore unable to perceive how unfair my questions are ?”
Here is another quote from him:
“…The average educated adult knows little or nothing of the teeming plant and animal life of the country, and cares less. Livestock does not interest him, and the world is to him a place which holds only human beings. He can never make friends with a hill or a dog, and if he has no one to talk to, no book to read, and no gadget to turn and unturn, he is quite lost. School education is solidly to blame for all this.”
Chew that thought…
Asked his view on a particular tree that was ablaze with flowers in the campus of Indian Institute of Science , Bangalore, he is said to have been quite cross about it, and responded by saying “you should uproot all those foreign trees, and plant some of our own.”
The tree that merited this frown, was one that belonged to the Tabebuia species, native of Central, South America, and the Caribbean. These are evergreen timber trees, known for their beautiful flowers. One of this species, the Tabebuia donnell-smithii , also known as the gold tree, has somehow found its way to the serene settings of Sri Ramanashramam, as a Western counterpoint of Gold flowers, to the very Indian konrai - the ‘Golden Shower tree’!
Which is just as it should be really, for Sri Ramanashramam is that kind of place - where one sees people of diverse nationalities and beliefs. It is not uncommon to find whitemen in Indian clothes sitting in deep meditation, or praying at the Ramana shrine… There is even a colony nearby where many Europeans have settled. Some years ago I came across a western lady who was staying in the mango tree cave in the Annamalai hill. The man who takes care of the Virupaksha cave in the hill, I think, is a Spaniard. He goes about bare-chest and wears a dhoti, and the sunburn of Arunachala has made him look quite Indian, very much a native of Arunachala.
So it is that Arunachala has been made home by many trees from overseas as well.
The Donnell-Smithii Gold-Tree is one such and can be seen right besides the Archives building at Ramanshramam. During the flowering season, the tree sheds leaves and fills up with abundance of golden flowers. Here is the picture of the tree, taken in March 2008, when the tree was in full bloom…
There are some trees and flowers that are as ancient as time, and one of them that is associated squarely with the Indian subcontinent is the ‘Indian Laburnum’, also known as the Golden Shower tree. It is the state flower of Kerala, and the national flower of Thailand. Tamils, one and all, would know it by the name that has remained with them since thousands of years - konRai…
Reference to konRai can be found right from ancient sangam literature. In the Tamizh classic, silappadikaaram, Lord Krishna is described as playing a flute made of the pod of konRai…
But konRai is best known in Tamizh lore as the flower that adorns Lord Siva. And what better place for a konRai tree to blossom, than at the feet of Shiva, foothills of Tiruvannamalai… Here it is.. A konRai tree at Ramanashramam… This is the month of May, the season when the tree flowers…
Tevaaram songs of Tamizh saints have countless references to the bright konRai flowers decorating the lightning like locks of siva…
Arunachala Himself has been sung by Appar (Tirunaavukkarasar) and Sundarar, as the konRai adorned lord.
Here are a couple of those songs, along with free translations that I have attempted …
The first song is by Appar.
பண்டனை வென்ற வின்சொற் பாவையோர் பங்க நீல
கண்டனே கார்கொள் கொன்றைக் கடவுளே கமல பாதா
அண்டனே யமரர் கோவே யணியணா மலை யுளானே
தொண்டனே னுன்னை யல்லாற் சொல்லுமா சொல்லி லேனே
O Shiva
Who is part
of the maid
with voice
superior
to the melody of song!
O Blue throated Lord,
adorned with Konrai
the monsoon flower!
O Lord
Of Lotus feet
O Lord of all deities,
Who abides
In beautiful Annamalai!
How can I,
Your servitor,
Speak a word else
Other than about your glory?
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Next is a song by Sundarar
தேனைக் காவல் கொண்டு விண்ட
கொன்றைச் செழுந்தாராய்
வானைக் காவல் கொண்டு நின்றார்
அறியா நெறியானே
ஆனைக் காவில் அரனே பரனே
அண்ணா மலையானே
ஊனைக் காவல் கைவிட் டுன்னை
உகப்பார் உணர்வாரே
Adorned with strings of Konrai
that carefully guards honey within;
You, who can not be known,
even by celestials who guard heaven;
O Subduer Supreme
guarded by the elephant at Anaikkaa
O Being of Annamalai!
Those who drop their guard
of “I”-body-notion-attachment
And seek your refuge,
They, indeed,
Become Aware (Realize the Supreme).
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So, while Arunachala is the Subduer-supreme, the vanquisher of the disease of death, his flower konRai is called ‘aragvadha’, which, in Sanskrit means “killer of physical disease”. It has all kinds of applications in Ayurveda.
Let us conclude this post with the invocatory verse of the Tamil classic ‘konRai vEntan’, the classic composed by Avvaiyar, the wise old lady of Tamizh…
கொன்றை வேந்தன் செல்வன் அடியினை
என்றும் ஏத்தித் தொழுவோம் யாமே
Let us ever glorify and offer worship to the feet of the beloved konRai King, Siva!
** to be contd **
Continuing our exploration of Sri Ramanashramam flora, let us begin with prayers to Sri Dakshinamurthy, the silent preceptor. Here is a picture of Dakshinamurthy, who is seen in the outside of the south facing wall of the sanctum-sanctorum of Mathrubhutheshwara Mahasinnadhanam at Sri Ramanashramam.
The idol is of Lord Siva, as a youth, who is sitting in silence, his right hand in chindmudra pose. He sits under a banyan tree…
Trees are a key part of Indian spiritual tradition. Siva and the Banyan tree, Vinayaka and the Peepal and Neem trees, Siva and the Bilwa tree… Buddha and the Peepal tree…Every temple has a sthala vriksha - a holy tree specific to the place.
Lets come to Ashoka Vatika, the beautiful garden in Lanka, where Sita, the consort of Rama, was held captive by the mighty King Ravana. The garden Ashoka Vatika got its name from the Ashoka trees that it abounded in. Ashoka Tree (literally ‘sorrowless’) is considered a very holy tree, and references to it abound in Indian spiritual literature. City folks that I have known have often mistaken the identity of the Ashoka tree. A tall, cone shaped, green tree , looking quite ornamental, is often pointed out as the Ashoka tree. I don’t know what that tree is, but it is not the Ashoka tree.
The real Ashoka tree (also known as Sita-Ashoka) is not so tall. Known for its beautiful flowers, it is considered sacred for Kamadeva (the God of love). Old Indian poetic imagery has it that the tree flowers only when it hears the footfall of a chaste woman.
Here is a picture of a real Ashoka tree. This tree in the South-Eastern side of the Ashram grounds.
Gautama Buddha is said to have been born under the Ashoka tree. The Ashoka tree has a connection with Mahavira as well.
Here are a few more pictures of the Ramanashramam Ashoka - the tree, and close up of the bough with flowers…
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May we all be ‘Ashoka’!
…To be contd…
Once JJ, the librarian at Sri Ramanashramam, had a minor accident, and his foot was bruised. He cured it by applying the extract of a plant that was growing in the ground near the library. He showed me that innocuous looking plant. The plant was growing wild, and looked most ordinary. If I am not mistaken, the plant name that he mentioned was ‘Mookku-kuthi-poondu”… He curled the leaves, rolled it into balls, crushed some juice out, and applied it on the bruise. He told me that it works quick. He also showed me another plant, called Kuppaimeni. Also innocuous looking. He said that the plant is used for treating skin problems and ulcer as well.
Indian traditional siddha / ayurveda medicine knows of ever so many medicinal plants. Once dismissed as the imaginations of a pagan culture, the world now seems to be rather hurriedly revising that opinion. Go green!
Take a look at this plant.
The plant seen in the centre of the picture above is known in Tamil as Kizhanelli. Botanical name: Phyllanthus niruri. It is known in Hindi as Jangli Amla (wild Indian gooseberry), Sanskrit: Bhumyamalaki…
Kizhanelli is a small unpretentious plant - with great medicinal value. It is a plant that grows to a height of 2 feet or so, and blooms with yellow flowers. The plant is quite common in Tamil Nadu, and the local people know it well as a medicinal plant. It is a herb that has been used since memory of Ayurveda… Primarily as a support for liver. It has anti-viral effect and is used in treatment of Hepatitis B, Jaundice, diabetes, chest and skin diseases and a few more…
Here is another picture of a kizhanelli, all by itself…
Both the pictures are of Kizhanelli plants growing in the wild, at Ramanashramam.
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Now lets see some trees.
Bismarckia nobilis, the Bismarck palm, is a native of of Madagascar and is another real survivor. It has fan shaped leaves, which are beautiful and long. Even a young tree sprouts real long leaves, and hence the tree needs more landspace than you may expect. It requires a lot of Sun and water, but it manages to send sinker roots to get to water sources. Here is a young Bismarckia at Ramanashramam. Notice that the trunk is so short. Yet the leaves spread like a mature tree.
** To be contd **
Lets begin with a look at Arunachala through some foliage, before we move on to some more flora.
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Now lets walk into Ramanashramam. And check out a particular tree.
Near the Mahanirvana room is this stately tree - Cycas circinalis, a variety of the Cycad species of trees. A beautiful palm-like tree, with a short trunk and large fronds.
Some info that I could gather on the cycads:
Cycads are ancient trees. They are referred to as ‘living fossils’ because they have been on earth since “Jurassic” times, and are said to have hardly changed over all this time. They are not prevalent all that much now, but are said to have been extremely common in the Jurassic period. (Jurassic is a geologic period that extended from about 135 to 195 million years before now. During the age of the dinosaurs, the cycads were the most prevalent plants on Earth).
Cycas circinalis is an old, evergreen, tropical tree. It can live for over a thousand years.
Cycads are dioecious plants, or in other words, there are separate male and female plants. The female plant produces the seeds, and the male produces cones with pollen in them. One of the reasons why cycads have survived all this time, is that they “are real survivors”. They can grow on sand or even on rock. They can withstand heat and cold. They don’t need all that much of rain.
It’s a precious plant all right, and is considered a real status symbol. Value of your real estate is higher if you have this tree in your garden. Unfortunately, the population of this tree is said to be dwindling, and is high on the ‘conservation list’ in India.
Cycads have been considered sacred in India and have been used as decorations in temple festivals. In some other parts of the world, it is a symbol of veneration of the dead. In Java, Cycas was planted around tombs.
Sacred Samadhi places… Sri Ramanashramam is ‘the’ place to be in, for the Cycas tree.
Here is a picture of the tree at Ramanashramam. Notice the cone-flower. That’s the male flower. The tree is known to flower every other year. So, savor the picture… The flower of the living fossil…
** To be contd **
We arrived at Tiruvannamalai just as the Sun was dipping behind Arunachala.
Have a look.
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Twilight time at Ramanashramam. There are temple chants, bells… there is thick silence…
A couple of peacocks on the temple roof, looking at the heavens, searching for the Sun?
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Here’s another. Oh where has the Sun gone?
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Towards the eastern side of the Ashrama (the Goshala side) there are the protected-enclosures for peacocks in need. Out there, in one of the enclosures is this special peacock - a white peacock.
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Readers of Ramana literature would know of the first white peacock that came to Ramanshramam. Someone brought it in April 1947, and left it at the Ashram saying that it was a gift from the Maharani of Baroda. One can see that peacock in the Archival films DVD of Ramanashramam. You can read more about that peacock in this link
The white peacock seen in the Ashram now is housed in the protected-enclosure because it has just given birth to chicks. White chicks. Seems this is the first time in the last fifty years that white chicks have been born in the Ashram. Here’s a picture of the parent and the chicks.
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The color of Shuddha Sattva, is what Ramana Maharshi said of the white peacock. In contrast, the regular ones are of myriad colors of Maya. Here are a couple of peacocks, next day, in the ground behind the Mahanirvana room.
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And here are two more, ensconced on one of the roofs - near the eye-catching statues of the man and the cow.
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One of them unfurls its wings and dances. Joy is a bird dancing…
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** To be contd **
Pankajamma contd…
“Once, we were to celebrate Vinayaka Caturti… We had bought a clay Ganesha for the function. The night before the festival, I was fast asleep… And I suddenly felt a wonderful sensation… Someone was patting me on my head, as I slept.” she said, running the palm of her hand softly from her top of her forehead, backward along the crown…”And I woke up with a start…And what do I see? A small sized Ganesha! He was patting me with his trunk…
Another time… It was the first friday in the month of Adi, a day special to Goddess… Early morning, some ladies came home, gave me traditional offering of Coconut and tamboolam… I have not seen them before… This repeated the next two Fridays as well…The fourth Friday, some ladies came, and gave me a cup of milk… And then on the last Friday of the month, a majestic lady came home. She was wearing a brilliant red silk saree, with large border… She looked glorious, ajaanubahoo (tall, and with long arms)… She had long hair, with lots of flowers.” (Pankajamma mentioned a particular flower species, but I forget which…)…
“I was so overwhelmed by her presence that I rushed to her and hugged her, saying ‘Amma!’.
I didn’t know who she was. Later I mentioned this to Sri Kunjuswami, who was staying with us those days. After listening to the description he told me that the lady was none other than Goddess Meenakshi!
I have never gone seeking for these experiences, never entertained any such desire. But they just happened.
After I came to Bhagavan, I suddenly started composing songs on Bhagavan. What do I know of these! I am but a fourth standard pass. But the words and the tune would just occur to me. I have no knowledge of classical music. I have no idea of raga or metre. But the tune and the name of the raga would occur to me. And so would the Taala (metre). More than a hundred such songs in Tamizh have been noted by me. Songs on Bhagavan! But sometime after 2000 AD, the songs stopped coming. I never went after them in the first place. Now that they don’t come, that’s fine too…”
She has been through some severe bouts of physical sufferings due to illnesses, in different times in her life.
“I know that these sufferings are but Karma being erased. This I know that this birth is the last one. All Karma will go by the grace of Bhagavan”, she said, with complete faith and confidence.
On our request, she sang the last song that had “come to her”. She was not keeping well and was also suffering from sore throat. But she didn’t hesitate to sing. After singing she excused herself saying, “Old age affects the body…Can’t help that…But what does that have to with real? Adu vEra AaLu (that Person is different)” she said tapping her spiritual heart (on the right side of the chest).
These were the kind of conversations that Pankajamma, the simple old lady, shared with us, on the eve of her 87th birthday. Her son and his family stay with her. There was a kid running in and out. It was a normal Indian family….Except for this lady called Pankajamma!
[This continues from the post ''Pankajamma' dated May 29...]
Pankajamma was telling us of some ‘happenings’ of her life.
“During one of my early visits, when I was once sitting in Bhagavan Ramana’s presence, I closed my eyes… And I had a distinct vision of a small Mayilvahana Murugan - Murugan on a peacock… From that moment I was certain of the identity of Ramana and Muruga.”
And as she said this, I remembered that she had mentioned that her daily parayana from the age of 12 consisted of chanting Aksharamanamalai and Kanda Shasti Kavacam…Ramana and Muruga…
Continuing her story, she said “My parents found a match for me, and I was married to a boy from a landed family of Tanjore.”… And with a twinkle in her eye, she added “I must say that it was their family indeed that gained far more by their association with my family… For my husband was introduced to Bhagavan only because of marrying me. He came with me many times to the presence of Bhagavan.”
And during the course of further conversation, she spoke of a few very special moments in her life…
“I was 21, my son was just six months old, when there developed some painful growth in my neck. The local doctors at Tanjore could not effect a cure for this. I was then taken to Cuddalore, where my father lived. Cuddalore had a bigger hospital, and I was examined there. They diagnosed the growth to be a tumor that had to be immediately operated and removed. However, the tumor was in such a place that the surgery was very risky. The surgeon said that there was every risk of injuring some nerve, which might affect the brain itself… But there was no option and I was admitted to the hospital for surgery. Surprisingly, I wasn’t worried. Although my son was just six months, and my life was a serious question mark, I wasn’t feeling any sense of depression arising out of attachment to my child, nor any other worry. Somehow, I was not perturbed at all. I just submitted myself to whatever was asked of me.
On the day of the surgery, I was lying down on the operating table, when the doctor came to administer Anesthesia… He asked me to count one-two-three etc to calm the mind as it slipped into unconsciousness. But instead of doing that, I started saying ‘Ramana! Ramana! Ramana!’ Quite involuntarily. It is not that I wanted to pray to him. It just happened that I spoke his name… And then I had a ’special’ experience…I was walking, my hands cupped in front of me, seeking Ramana, taking his name, walking towards him….And I slipped into unconsciousness…
The operation was completed. And as I emerged from unconsciousness, to the utter surprise of all people around me, I woke up with a feeling of great joy. This joy lasted for a long while after the surgery….
My mother asked me about it… And I told her the reason.
Sometime during the surgery, I had a vivid experience. In that experience, I was a small baby. And Bhagavan was holding me. Head to toe, I fitted within the cup of his two hands. And he was looking at me with great love…It was an exhilarating… It was that joy that I woke up with…”
… To be contd…
Pankajamma turns 87 tomorrow (30/May).
We called on her at her house in Tiruvannamalai today. Her home is not far from Sri Ramanashramam. A driveway led to the house built in the back, and two monkeys and two dogs welcomed us as we went in. One dog was a saint. He just sat in peace. The other was frisky and barked away in happiness. Its that sort of house. All are welcome.
Age is showing a bit in Pankajamma’s body. But not in her demenor. She welcomed us with a fullness of affection that can only come from that ‘otherness’ that is Ramana.
Here’s a picture I took of her today…
Here’s Pankajamma’s story in brief…
She comes from a traditional Tamizh family of Cuddalore. Her parents were drawn to Bhagavan sri Ramana Maharshi, the sage of Arunachala, and would visit him often. Thus, even as a very young girl, she grew up in that atmosphere of Bhakti, and was keen to go with her parents and see the sage. Maybe because she was young, or for whatever other reason, her parents never took her along, although she pleaded. And then one day, when she was twelve, they gave her Aksharamanamaalai - the Tamizh song composed by Ramana. “I learnt it by heart in two days”, she says. “And immediately after that I also learnt ‘Kanda Shashti Kavacam’. And from the age of 12, till today, it has been my blessing that I have been reciting both these prayers every single day”, she says, looking the very picture of peace.
On my request, she told me something about her association with Bhagavan Ramana.
She first met Ramana when she was sixteen. Her parents took her along this time. And she found the Maharshi in the Ashram, sitting near a well. Some ladies were sitting on one side, and gents on another. Bhagavan was sitting on a reclining chair…
Pankajamma says, “It was as if I was meeting an old acquaintence, a close relative, after a long time. Of course I was happy. Very happy. Like I am happy seeing you all now. Same way. It wasnt as if the happiness was different…And I felt so ‘related’ to Him, that I did not feel shy at all, and I simply felt like singing Aksharamanamalai…And so I started singing it…Bhagavan immediately seemed to stiffen, and I continued to sing…And then I came to the lines ‘Kaantam irumbupol kavarndenai vidaamal kalandenodiruppaai Arunaachalaa!’(Like a magnet does iron, attract me ceaselessly, hold me, Abide with me , O Arunachalaa!)…”
Pankajamma continues…”Now, Bhagavan was not the sort to point out small errors. This was not as if it was a scholarly discussion on Vedanta. Had it been that, and had some scholars been questioning Bhagavan, well, then, he would have patiently answered all their queries. But this was not such an occasion. I was a simple young girl, dressed in Paavadai-Melaakku. And I was singing Aksharamanamaalai. Having seen Bhagavan closely for many years, I know that normally He would have just been all attention, all silence, all love. He would have forgiven the small mistakes of pronunciations that the singer might commit. But not that time when I sang. And for that I am eternally grateful to Him! For the first time time in my life, and indeed the only time in my life, He spoke directly to me. I had pronounced the word Kaantham (magnet) as Gaantham. He immediately said “Oohum…” and looked directly at me. Into my eyes! That look! And gently told me, ‘Not Gaantham…Kaantham’…
That was it! From that day, That Kaantham (magnet) has taken me over completely. Nothing left here”, she said.
On our prodding, she told us of a few more ’special’ moments of ‘divine’, in her life.
…To be contd…
