Thiruvannamalai/Arunachalam

Thiruvannamalai is a place in Tamil Nadu. A place that replicates the divinity of Lord Siva AKA Arunachaleswar. This is the place where Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi lived in 'Sri Ramanasramam'. Such a wonderful place where you will find endless glory. Heart floats in peace and mind will be free of all tensions. The highlight of the town which makes all the tourists from all over the world to visit this place is the 'Mountain' named as 'ARUNACHALA'.I have been to this place a year ago. My knowledge about 'Ramanashramam' and the story of Sri Ramana Maharshi (Seen in a documentary) made me visit this place again and again.

About the Temple:

I have no words to describe this temple. The biggest temple I have ever seen in my life. When you enter the temple for the darshan of Lord Siva you can experience the divinity hidden in this place. Such a great architecture and sculpture. Temple has 4 big gopurams on each side of the temple. After each big one you will again find 4 small gopurams. In the midst of these gopurams is the beautiful 'Arunachaleswar' temple. When you go during Karthika Masam, the temple looks amazing during the evening with all the diyas lightened by the devotees.

About Sri Ramana Maharshi:
Let me start with Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Bhagavan was born in 1879 and he was named as 'Venkataraman'. At the age of 16, one day when he was alone in home, suddenly a strange scary feeling entered his mind. He started shivering and feeling like as if he is going to die. In this panic state, suddenly a question strike his mind.... what is going to happen after death and who is dying? He realised that its only this body that is going to expire and not the soul. He went through this realisation and he understood that its only the SOUL that is going to last forever. After having attained the liberation he left home for Arunachala, a mountain considered sacred by hindus at Thiruvannamalai.

Although born as a Brahmin, after having attained the enlightenment he declared himself in a 'Shastric' state which is unattached to anything in life and which is beyond all caste restrictions. He stared leading 'Ashram' life. The ashram that grew around him was named as 'Sri Ramanashramam' and it is located at the foot of the sacred hill 'Arunachala'.

About the sacred mountain 'The Arunachala':
There is a story about this hill. Once Vishnu & Brahma had a discussion who among them is superior. Their quarrel brought chaos on earth and so all the others approached Lord Siva and besought him to settle the dispute. So, Lord Siva emerged as a column of light/linga from which a voice came out saying 'Who ever can find its upper or lower end is superior.' Thus Vishnu took the form of a boar and started dwelling down in to the earth to find the base, while Brahma took the form of swan and soared upwards to the seek the pinnacle. Both travelled for a long distance but still they were not able to find the base or the peak points. Vishnu returned back and accepted his failure saying 'You are Self-knowledge. You are OM. You are the beginning. You are the middle and you are the end. You are everything and you illuminate everything.' Brahma during his travel saw a flower falling down. Planning to win by deception, Brahma returned with the flower saying he has plucked the flower from the peak point. Finally Brahma was exposed and confessed his fault.

The story continues and Lord Shiva took the form of Arunachala hill as the lingam/column of light was too dazzling to behold. Thus Lord Shiva declared "This is the only place where I have taken this form for the benefit of those who wish to worship me and obtain enlightment. Arunachala is OM itself."

The hill is even now considered as Lord Shiva. People who come to this place will have a walk around the hill which is termed as pradakshina. This Giri Pradakshina means, we have done pradakshina for Lord Shiva who is in the form of a hill.The circumference around the hill is of 14km. Its just a normal tar road and so walk will not be so tiring.

I have been to this place last year. We started giri pradakshinam at 4AM and was able to complete in 3 hours. Such a wonderful experience we had. We did not feel tired even after walking 14 kms. Not only we, but each and every one who takes a walk around the hill tells the same. As we started at 4AM, we experienced the flavour of fresh air in the morning. Walk through the villages around the hill, green fields all around and the most sacred hill in front of the eyes.... I have no words to explain this experience. The giri pradakshinam will release you from all kind of sins, fulfill your desires and gives freedom from future births.
There are 9 Siva lingas located around the hill and each has a specific name.

About the 'Ramana Ashramam':
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi reached this place at the age of 16. He started living in a cave which is in the mountain. He used to always sit and meditate.Even though he never encouraged any people to come to him, slowly people got attracted to this great sage. After some years his mother came and joined him. She used to cook for all the followers. They used to eat the food given by the village people. All of them has made their shelter at the foot of the hill which got named as 'Sri Ramana Ashramam'.

The ashram is such a beautiful place. It has so many peacocks(count will be in hundreds) roaming here and there. Ashram has a meditation hall. When you sit here and meditate in deep you can feel the power of that great place. The ashram also has Lord Siva's temple. At the back side of the ashram they have kitchen and every day they serve food for hundreds of people. The Lunch served by them is considered as prasadam. I had the Lunch here. Even though the meal consists of very limited varieties and small amount is severed, it makes you feel 'Am filled!' All the people who come to the ashram regardless of caste, creed and age will queue up here to have the prasadam. No royal treatments.

Ashram has excellent rooms which were built years back, replicating the designing that belong to old ages. You can book a room by sending mail to the president of ashram. Getting a room in the ashram is winning like a lottery for me, because staying in the ashram will make your mind float in peace.

Above all reading the books of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi will bring a kind of maturity in the mind. Irony is that, very less number of Indians know about this wonderful place and large number of tourists from all over the world come here. I have seen and spoke to some people who came from different parts of the world. The depth of enlightenment they had and their enthusiastic nature to follow Bhagavan's principles.... really appreciable. Many tourists who visited this place, has understood the purpose of having this life and so they settled at this wonderful place to lead their rest of life in peace and to have freedom from future births.

Let it be any one, say... Shirdi Sai Baba or Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.... All these great people they have never propagated the word they are God. They always told that they are servants of God and they are here to help the common man to get released from this materialistic desires and make them move in the right path. They are "Sadguru". No one can have liberation or enlightenment alone. For a common man to reach that state they need the guidance of SADGURU.

Lets learn about the purpose of this life and let us move in a right path by knowing about these great sages. Sadguru says... Initially every one approaches God to fulfill their materialistic desires. But in later on stages they will slowly attain a state where we can feel the flavour of the enlightenment.

Jyothi

The most worst & boring day

There are times when we face a day that is mostly boring with worst experiences. Today its my turn to experience that kind of day.


Incident 1....
Previous night I had the worst sleep... I dont know why I had such a disturbed sleep. My eye lids fall off due to over drowsyness and when I close my eyes, the next moment I come across a horrible dream and I woke up suddenly assuming something ferrocious is happening. But the moment I woke up I don't remember what's that 'something' is!! My heart pounds because of the fear I experience. This was the situation till 4AM in the morning. Then I had a good sleep but woke up at 5.30 to attend my Yoga class. I was the only person who is continuously yawning in the class.My teacher made me do some new yogasanas in which I successfully failed to atleast stand in that posture for 3 seconds. Coz of this disturbedness, I left the class early and reached home.

Incident 2
Got ready and came to office. I found that all my team members are on leave except one boring guy. A missed call from my boss which means to call him from office phone. 'Ghosh man!!!' were the words that came out from my mouth and I called him. 'All my work is delegated to you for today' - that's the summary of the talk. He asked me to check his mails.. the worstest mail was... He being awarded for the work I have done on his behalf. 'Shucks!!' were the words that came out and informed him the same.When some one gets the reward for the work which you have done heart moans with utmost pain. Later I thought 'Every dog has its day. I also will have my day very soon. Hmmmm!'

Incident 3
Started doing the work and remembered that its my colleague's b'day. Mailed him wishing for the special day and CCed all my other team members. Another colleague came and asked me to send a mail to all informing about the surpirse b'day party. He said 'Note: Do not include the b'day boy.' Said 'Okay!' and I have put a mail. Every one was eagerly waiting for the clock to show 5PM so that they can surprise their friend/team mate and in turn can eat the cake,chips,samosas................. At 3PM comes my manager like a hero into the work area. Checked his mail.... Imagine what he has done as next step??? Grrrrrrrrr....... He forwarded the party mail to B'day boy and specifically mentioning 'looping Mr.xxxx'. Such a senseless deed. Huh!! No one can raise their voice against him as he is our manager and so we all kept quiet.

Incident 4
Coz of all the bad experiences during the day, opened my office portal and tried to login. Clicked 'Login' button for 1st time and message appeared 'Incorrect Username or Password'. Was thinking a lot and scolding the portal ' what happened to this bloody portal. why is it not allowing me to login'.Tried for 4 times. After 4th time I realised that the employee ID given in user name is not my ID but its my boss's ID. This is because eariler I used his ID to login to his mail, some how it got struck in my mind and speaking to the employee in next seat, I gave his ID. So, this proves that software never makes an error. Its always works as per the human commands. Should see my condition.... for a fraction of second my mind went blank. Because, by this time a mail might have sent to my boss's mail box saying 'account blocked'. I thought of calling him and conveying the message. But, he might misunderstand that I tried to view his account in his absence - which will really create a bad impression on me.'What should be done now?' is the next question.. Two options...

Option1: Just keep quiet as my boss can never track who has blocked his account

Option2: Open his mail and reset the password. Tomorrow he comes and tries to open, it will be blocked again as he doesnt know the password I have set.

I felt disgusted for having this kind of ideas in my mind. I immediately called my boss on his mobile, explained him what has happened. Asked him to check his mail and expressed my apologies in depth for being so absent minded.My boss, with very warm voice told me 'Arrey... no problem!! I understand. Am really glad that you informed me immediately without keeping it with you. I appreciate it. Regarding account blockage, I will deal with it tomorrow. Don't worry.' I felt very relieved.

Did you understand why I came across all these bad experiences??? Just because of lack of sleep and in turn turning off my mood. There might be some nights during which we may have very less sleep. But we need not disturb our rest of the day because of that.

If my boss is getting awarded I shouldn't feel bad. Because its just bcoz of him that I got a chance to work on that particular module. Else no one will assign me on that module for the experience I had. I should be glad for acquiring an oppurtunity to work on it. Instead I felt bad for he being awarded.

When sending the B'day party mail I might have mentioned in the mail saying its a surprise party. But I didn't. Its my mistake also. So, I cannot blame my manager for looping Mr.xxxx.

If I was not in disturbed mood, I might not have used my boss's employee ID which might have created a big problem for me. Thanks to my boss for being so cool and understanding.

So, its all in our mind and the way we respond during the different situations. We need to have control on our mind and experience the flavour of cool mind!!!

Cheers,
Jyothi

Our trip to coorg/kodagu - Part II

Hi friends,

Here is the continuation of the trip.......

So we were exploring the route in complete dark with the help of a map. At a loong distance on the top of the hill we can see a man waving a torch light. That was the homestay owner who was calling us very often and giving the directions and safety measures. Finally we were just 100 metres away and we need to take a left turn from the road. As it is mountain route we were scared to take a left turn. We took left turn and there was very narrow mud road which was made by dwelling a biiiiig rock. My driver said he cant move any more. Then my husband and brother in law got down to check the path. We were scared if there might be some wild animal. Finally they got down directed the driver to move and we in the car with driver started moving.

                           

With in a minute drive came the beautiful home stay in front of our eyes illuminating with lights. We were sooooo much relieved to see the homestay. The homestay owner Prasad gave a warm welcome and we went into our rooms. The rooms were really awesome completely made of wood and fantastic interiors. The complete floor is made of wood and chairs are there in the corridor to enjoy the fresh air. We had bath with hot water in that cold weather and went for dinner. The dinner was home made and really fantastic.

As its already very late in the night we slept off. At 5.00 AM in the morning I suddenly woke up hearing bird chirping sounds. I opened the curtain and my mouth opened wide by looking at the beautiful greenary around the home stay. I woke up my husband and we both came out. We called my bro' in law n co-sis also. Really I cannot explain the beauty of nature in words. Previous day when we arrived as it was dark we did not realise the beauty around the homestay.

The home stay owner wished us with hot cup of tea and we went down stairs and started exploring the place. As we moved further we saw the complete area behind the homestay is covered with 90 yeaer old coffee plantations. Then the home stay owner accompanied us describing about the forest there, the types of coffee plants, black pepper trees, orange trees...... finally he told us to go through a path. As we moved ahead we saw a beautiful private natural water fall. We ran into the water and the water was soooooo pure. Its the source of drinking water for the people around that place.

We played there for a lot of time and we went back to the rooms. Had bath n and breakfast and then went out for a jungle walk. We moved into the jungle and some how we managed to get back to the homestau. But the worst part is that we all were caught with 5 to 6 small leeches. Here we have mountain trecking also but we did not prefer it. But people who went there and came back were saying that it was an amazing experience.

we enjoyed our complete stay at this place for 2 days. I suggest all the nature lovers to visit this place once. You will fall in love with the place. The homestay owners are also very good people and they helped us in all the ways to make us feel comfortable. Even the home made food was really wonderful here. We explored some of the places which are around our homestay. But its the best place to take complete rest (particularly away from this city life). Here are some more pics of the homestay.

 

You can have a look at the homestay and its rooms in the following URL:
 http://www.palaceestate.co.in/

Cheers,
Jyothi

                                         

Our trip to coorg/kodagu - Part I

Hi,
This week I want to share my beautiful experiences with all of you. Last year we had an hectic schedule for 3 months and during December we thought we want a break from the routine. Finally, my husband came out with a plan of going for a trip. But I said, I want to go to some place where I can have peace of mind and I want to be away from this boisterous surroundings atleast for 2 days.So, I selected Coorg or Kodagu valley which is in Karnataka. My brother in law & co-sister were also interested to join the trip. After 2 days of my survey/browsing/enquiries, I sketched a 4 day trip plan via Bangalore. All the preperations/bookings were done in next 2 days.

The day arrived and we started from Hyderabad and reached Bangalore. From there we hired a taxi to coorg and the taxi would be with us for all the 3 days. We started at 6.30AM from Bangalore in car. We all were so enthusiastic to reach the place and enjoy the nature. But, there were so many places to visit on the way from Bangalore to coorg. Our first place of visit is 'Golden Temple/Monestary' which is near 'Periyapatna'.

This monestary was really beautiful and the temple had lot of wall paintings which reflected some of the buddhist ancient history. There are 3 idols in the main temple which are very huge and made of gold.

Also there is a model of the monestary placed in the temple which is really awesome. By the time we entered the temple it was prayer time and all the monks entered and sat at their places. Every one started chanting some words and some of the monks started playing music with drums and long trumpets.

We started again in the car and our next place of visit is 'Nisargadhama' in Kushalnagar. A forest resort which is really an awesome place. Here there is a hanging bridge which leads to a forest area. We reached a place where we saw 'cauvery' river. The place was really beautiful.

After enjoying at this place we started our journey again as we need to reach the destination before dark.After Kushalnagar we took a left turn from the highway to visit 'Dubare' an elephant forest. We came out of the car and found a lake type cauvery river flowing. We are on one bank of the river and the other side of the bank (which is just few meters away) is the place of elephants home. There are many motor boats and we got into one to reach the other side. It was really an awesome experience touching the water while travelling in the boat. When we reached the other bank of the river we found that elephant are in the forests and they reach the river by exactly 5.30PM everyday to take the bath. Its their daily routine. We heard that at 5.30 PM elephants in large number reach the river. But its oonly 3.30PM and we were only half way through our journey. So we played for some time in cauvery river and started our journey again.

Actually there are two ways to reach the destination. One is via virajpet and one is via Madikeri. Via Madikeri is the shortest and good route but you will be able to see Dubare forests only if you go via Virajpet. The journey via this virajpet is really very worst. By the time we reached Coorg its already 6 PM in the evening and it started getting dark. But unfortunately our Homestay is still 6 to 7 Km from this place.

This route is the path made to reach the top of the hill and it really had hairpin bends. We with a map in our hand started directing the driver showing the path. There is neither atleast one street light nor a human being to show us the way. I scolded myself a 100 times for booking that homestay even after that much of survey. The driver whom we hired told me he would never ever take a chance to come to that place any more in future. Imagine my situation....!!! Though my husband, bro-in-law & my co-sis were trying to calm me down saying there is no fault from my side, I was totally dejected.

You might be thinking... Then how come the trip was wonderful experience......??? This is the point from where our real trip/adventure started...... Keep watching the space to know how we managed to reach the place in complete dark with heart pounding in high frequency............

Cheers,

Jyothi

Yoga

Friends,
Finally I joined in Yoga classes and started doing yoga since a week. Really its a magic.... I can feel the flavour of it. Doing yoga in early morning rejuvenates your mind and body. I never knew that one hour yoga will make you spend so many calories. In gym, I used to run on the tread mill and constantly look at the calorie count to reach that day's count. Used to count the minutes, thinking 'Huh.... how much time to complete 150 cals.. huh!!' But in daily yoga class, I don't understand how quickly the one hour time passes. The extent of tireness is more than the one which I experience in Gym but here in Yoga our mind also does excercises and so we feel fresh for the rest of the day.
My class starts at 6AM in the morning with some stretching excercises. Then we proceed with surya namaskaras which is a wonderful technique to spent your calories and also to make your body flexible. After doing 5 to 10 (depending on your interest) surya namaskaras then lie down on your back and do some abdominal exercises. Then end the yoga with 'Praanayaamam' which is a wonderful breathing technique. This praanayaamam purifies your body with breathing excercises. It is the best solution for obesity, acidity, heart problems, many more...On the 3rd day I was unable to lift my hand also because of the body pains. But continuing the excercises has made my body bit flexible at the end of the week.
In between these comes 'Savaasana' which is a relaxation technique. This relaxation technique has a drastic effect on your mind. This helps in slowing down the thought process. The mind struggles everyday with thousnads of thoughts striking it. This is controlled by the relaxation technique.
Have you ever heard the name Pathanjali Maharshi? I hope you all know that he is the father of yoga. Yoga, the India's ancient techniques were told to the world by Pathanjali Maharshi. In the present time, Baba Ramdev, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, Sri Ravi Shankar (AOL) are the people who are preaching the advantages in the Yoga. These people are really doing a wonderful job by educating the people with the ancient techniques to live a healthy life. As all of us know 'Health is wealth' I recommend every one to spend some time in tuning their body to lead a healthy & happy life.

Keep smiling,
Jyothi

Floavour of belief

Sri rama rama ranghunandana rama rama
Sri rama rama bharthaagraja rama rama
Sri rama rama saranam bhava rama rama
Sri rama chandra charanau manasa smarami...

My day started with this beautiful mantra 'Rama raksha Stotram'. This mantra reminded of'Sundarakanda'and immense belief that Sita had in Lord Rama.Well you may start thinking that am going to discuss about an epic. But NO!!!

I opened my eyes and told myself 'Atleast today I should wind up all of my pending works.' Well... do you wanna know what are my pending works?? Hmmm... many to pen down. Among all my highest priority goes to 'join Yoga classes'. As my life has become very irregular, I am very much desperate to learn yoga and practise a systematic life. But where should I join? Whom should I ask? Where should I enquire?... So many questions in my mind.No worries! I left to my office and started doing online search. But its of no use! Did not find any well trained yogic masters nearer to my place. I asked Sai Baba.. 'Baba.. why this happens to me everytime when I try to do something with lot of enthusiasm? Huh!!' Later, I somehow managed completing all my other works (most of them are bill paymemts). At 6.30PM in the evening I left the office and started to home.

Again the same thought 'What should I do about my yoga classes? Leave it.. Baba will tell me what to do. I gave my trials which did not give me any answer. Lets wait for Baba's answer.' I reached home and started climbing steps. Reached 3rd floor and I saw a pamplet put on the door mat in front of my flat. I told myself 'Huh... Some pamplets regarding school/play school advertisements.These people throw them unnecessarily wasting their money.' Opening the lock I just looked at the pamplet on the floor. It showed 'Yoga classes by a Yogic master.' I was surprised. There were no pamplets in front of any other flat. I looked at the address and it is just a few metres away from my home. I got Baba's answer. I thanked Baba and immediately called the master and enquired about the classes.

Now you might be thinking what is the link between this and 'Sundarakanda'. Sundarakanda tells the immense belief that Sita had in Rama when she was abducted by Ravana. She conveys all her belief in Rama to Hanuman and in turn Hanuman carries her words to Rama. And all this narration is beautifully scripted in Sundarakanda. Though there were thousands of demons around Sita torturing her to accept Ravana, she had a strong belief that Rama will come and protect her. That strong belief only has made her live for 1 year in Ravana's Ashoka vanam without water and food. And everyone knows ultimately what has happened at the end.

Friends, its only belief & hope that makes you live. My belief in my God has given me a solution to resolve my problem. Now its in my hand whether to take the step forward or not. A strong belief will make the things happen. You may believe in anything.. God/parents/friends/the process which you adopted to compelete your work... it can be anything. It does not mean to just keep the belief and sleep. You need to take the appropriate step to make your belief come true. Over all, first believe in yourself! For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible. That's the flavour of belief!

Take Care
Jyothi

A warm welcome to all to ‘Flavours of life’.

Dear all,

As the day goes, your moods swing from one horizon to the other. The mindset with which you start the day may not be the same when you end it. This is just a replica of everyone’s life and one must remember always that tomorrow never comes. This effort by me, through this blog is to make light of the events, a day of just 24 hours with its wide spectrums carries.

To introduce myself, I must confess that am an amateur in writing. Yet, am sure that this attempt wil reach you all dearly and deeply. In my opinion, everyone of us goes through similar phases of life each day yet, we wonder that this is only with our own lives. This forum is an attempt to make a common platform to prove and share that its all the same out there for everyone and no one is spared from these different flavours of life.

I welcome you all to make your own comments and share openly, yet as comically as possible so that we can look back at them and laugh at the most difficult times of our lives.

Jyothi