Divine to glory

“Don’t be dead serious about your life – It’s just a play.”

-Sadguru

It was a year ago I had read this quote in a popular online forum, since then my approach towards life had been changing. This got me thinking, how wonderfully this had been said. It sounded so simple, yet so powerful.  I discovered his attempt to create the profoundness in the mystic and the yogi world. Sooner, I was an admirer of Sadguru- Jaggi Vasudev.

I religiously followed his aphorisms, read a lot on the moralities and his influence to build the Isha Yoga center. Every time, I looked at the pictures from their website, my wish of being there boosted and the aspired the day came sooner.

I guess, my prayers were being answered. It was a casual conversation with my husband, as we were planning the next week’s schedule and I asked him, if we could go to the Dhyanalinga temple the following weekend and surprisingly he agreed immediately. I was super thrilled and couldn’t believe this was to be true.  In the next few hours, we closed our travel and stay bookings.

Yes, it was the first ever sleeper coach bus we were travelling and I was pretty excited. We took a 11:00 PM bus on a Friday night. It was pretty comfortable, although my husband found it difficult to stretch his legs. While the bumps made us distressed, we slumbered off to sleep in no time. We reached Coimbatore the next morning, 6:00 AM. The city seemed to have an early start, with buses plying, the sight of people and two wheeler s around made it look like it was already half past seven.

We took a government bus to Poondi, the ride was definitely pleasing. The early morning breeze was prodigious with the lush green around made me feel wonderful. Meanwhile, we discovered that the two young women sitting in our front seats were from Bangalore and they were apparently going to the same place as we were and they were persistent enough to give an insight on the temple and its practices. They served as volunteers to Isha foundation and were ought for service in their free time. They were very helpful throughout our stay and were lucky to have them met. As we approached the destination, the splendid velliangiri mountains standing amid the Western Ghats were a fantastic sight. The seven hills stood with pride and looked as though they were welcoming us with nobility. People throng to this place is because these mountains are revered on par with the most spiritual and powerful place on the planet, also known as the Kailash of south India

It was 8:00 Am, we had reached one of the influential and magnanimous places on earth. The Isha Yoga center was established in a massive 64,000 sq. ft. area at the foothills of the Velliangiri mountains. The center houses Spandana hall, a garden, a meditation hall and a program hall catering to various residential programs from various groups. The yoga center contains the Dhyanalinga, a powerful energy-form sitting under a pillar less 250, 000 brick dome structure as well as a Theertakund, a sacred underground water body. Also located at the Yoga Center are the Isha Rejuvenation Center and Isha Home School. The Vanaprastha accommodation on the premises are designed to give people with families the opportunity to come and be involved with the center.

It took me an hour to glimpse and understand the arrangement. The walk around the picturesque was wonderful. We checked into our cottage ‘Nalanda’, the room were up to all the standards any one could ask for. I loved the interiors, they had mostly used bamboo, twigs, stone slabs and yet  looked stylish. We quickly got freshened and got us going towards the Dhyanalinga.

The practice was to take a dip in the theerthakunds, Suryakund for men and chandrakund for women before one could see the benevolent Dhyanalinga. The water body, theerthakund is energized by Rasalinga, made from solidified mercury. The positive energy around this water body is extensive and one could feel it indeterminately.

Me and my husband went towards our respective theerthakunds and we decided upon a place to meet after our holy dip. As mobile phones were restricted we had to choose the forgotten  timeworn method, thanks to technology and mankind. Suryakund was a few yards away from Dhyanalinga, while chandrakund was just behind the temple.

We were to change clothes to the saffron gown provided for women to enter the holy waters. The water body was a few feet below the ground level, the ample steps leading to the waters were so overwhelming. The paintings on the roofing were artistically done and were a joy to see. There were metal steps to get inside the waters and were cold, the other side had a minimal waterfall, for the water circulation and to maintain its purity. As I stepped into the waters, my body quivered and I automatically recited “Aum Namah Shivaya”. This was so spontaneous and  the feeling was so manifesting. . It is said that six minutes of constant contact with the Lingam could help you significantly increases spiritual receptivity and also rejuvenates the body. There was a lingam in the middle of the waters and the divine feeling to hug the lingam was an out of the world experience. I could sense my inner self reciprocating the Lord and I was truly thankful to have had experienced this. I dint want to get out of the waters although it was a limited time one had to compromise. As I got out of waters, the vibrance and mysticism fenced me and I was feeling wonderful. I quickly changed to get to the temple. Me and my husband met at the same spot as discussed and he had the same experience too. He then told me that there were three lingams in Suryakund and the sun sculpture was hanging from the ceiling and it looked amazing, while I shared my experience too.

As we entered the sanctum sanatorium, I was riverbed with dhynam. The lingam stood magnanimous and looked so  admirable. The silence maintained within the temple gave one to pray with at most peace. I could feel my inner self attracted towards the Lingam. My conscious felt peace and tranquility at once. The 33 foot tall lingam was an outstanding creation and one should thank the Sadguru for offering the gateway to ecstasy. I saw my husband also united in dhyanam and everybody around looked so calm and relaxing. We were lucky enough to do the milk abhishekam ourselves and that added more to our joy. After the abhishekam, we again sat down looking at the extensive Godly body and we could do that for hours. The volunteers who are there were assisting people to go through a process of balancing their system doing in a few minutes of nadi shuddhi – It is a yogic practice and a channel through which the life force or prana flows through in the energy body. It was my first time of such a practice and took some time for me to understand.

Our next visit was to the Linga Bhairavi temple which was few meters away from the dhyanalinga. This is another exquisiteness personified with beauty. We are lucky enough to see the pournami Pooja with the help of a newlywed couple. My husband so wanted to be a part of the Pooja, when checked with the temples office, they had no tickets left. He then found out that the newly wed had booked all the tickets for their relatives and friends. This dint stop him there, he spoke to the brides brother and we were asked to wait, incase if anybody dint turn up, we would get them. At last, we were lucky to get them. We were to tie a sacred red thread before we went to the devis temple. The Bharatanatyam performance was coupled with a lady singing and were followed by tabla and few musical instruments. It was whimsical to have had seen the different alankarams of the Bhairavi, butter, sandal paste, turmeric and last the vermilion was so beautifully made by the akkas of the temple. The women there were addressed as akka and men as anna. This Pooja was more than two hours followed by the devis procession and deepam aarati. The sight was spectacular, the Isha had the lights off for three days between 7PM and 10PM during the pournami. The aarati with a traditional dance was a beautiful sight.

My friend had come all the way from Pollachi to meet us, he said, hes been visiting the temple often and never got to see such a sight. We chatted for some time sitting in front of the temple and amidst the deepam. This was a very nice feeling, the gorgeous moon was a showstopper. It could make anything so beautiful.

We dispersed and went to have our dinner. The dinner was being served in a ground in the moon light. No candle light dinner could make it as attractive as the moonlight dinner. Me and my husband talked everything under the earth and leisurely had our dinner. It had been years we spoke that way. We both were eventfully very happy and so relieved. I wish we could do this trip often from our busy schedule.

The poet in me awakened:

“Amid the moon and the stars, amid the clouds of the night,

amid the hills which bordered on the sky with their magnificent silhouette of pointed cedars, amid the speckled patches of the moon,

 amid the temple buildings that emerged sparkling white out of the surrounding darkness

 amid all this, I’m in Tranquil”

The next day, we visited the temple again and had a hard feeling to bid goodbye to the most serene place we had experienced. On our way back to Coimbatore, we spotted few peacocks in the fields, I wasn’t lucky enough to capture them. We also visited the Aralumugu Patteshwar artemple at Perur. It is said that, this is a very old temple, as old as 2000 years and has an amazing history.

It is said that the divine cow Kamadenu performed severe penance on Lord Shiva seeking the post of Lord Brahmma to take up the Creation work.  It was pouring its milk on the Shivalinga here hidden in an anthill.  Its calf Patti in a playful mood, hit the anthill and demolished it.  Shocked Kamadenu fell at the feet of Lord and sought His pardon.  Appearing before the divine cow, Lord said that He was only pleased with the calf.  Lord further said that the place was the first among the salvation sthalas to His devotees and that He would grant the creation boon to Kamadenu at Tirukaruhavur and advised it to perform penance there.  Lord mercifully said that this place (Perur) would be praised as Kamadenupuram and Pattipuri after name of the calf and that He would stay in the place as Patteeswarar.

After this, we went to the legendary Annapurna hotel, RS Puram for our sapaad (brunch). I must say this it was all worth it. I had always heard about Annapurna hotel style sambar and was pleased to have tasting it. We then speeded to board our bus back to Bangalore with a refreshed mind and soul.

Picture source: Google & Isha blog