India Pilgrimage - Part 1

With a wonderful Innersearch program complete, Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami, Yogi Mayuranatha and Yogi Jayanatha made their way safely to India. Our traveling sadhus will be visiting many important spiritual destinations including Arunachala, Chidambaram, Meenakshi, Palani Hills and more.

Our monks stand in front of the 1,400 year old Kailasanathar Temple

In Sri Lanka there are special seats on buses and at airports, including large comfy chairs in the main terminal. These three chairs were at our gate. Also, since we were dressed in robes on our way to India, the security team took us right to the front and waved us through.

We fly away from Sri Lanka. That is the Jaffna Peninsula.

We arrived in Chennai and our two yogis had a brief delay trying to enter the country. We were pulled off to the security room because we are a bit odd, being from the USA, yet having legal hindu names and being in robes. We mentioned were were from Kauai Aadheenam, and after a quick google search for us they brought us back to immigration and let us through. The only words I understood in the then upbeat conversation between security and the immigration teller were, \"Kauai ashram\" and \"Hinduism today.\"

On exiting the airport in Chennai, we were met by Sheela and her Amma, and our friendly van coordinator, Dinesh. We were then brought to our hotel to check in.

After a few hours it was getting dark out. Our two yogis where taken on an evening trip to Kapaleeshwarar temple with Nellaiappan and Sheela

It was a Saturday night and the usually busy streets were even more hectic. Still, the traffic system, or lack there of, totally works.

Nellaiappan gets us to the temple, despite heavy traffic. While there, we have an amazing time. We were given extra special treatment, being brought to each shrine and put in the front of the queue for darshan. The priests also gave us large garlands and a lot of vibhuti.

A vertical panorama of one of the temple\

s beautiful wooden doors'

The main shrine for kapaleeshwarar is of course a beautiful, ancient Siva Lingam. It was an unexpectedly powerful and overall wonderful visit.

In our hotel we meet three pilgrims from Singapore who had just complete the Arupadaiveedu pilgrimage

The next morning in Chennai we visited the Kalikambal temple to meet with Shanmuga Sivacharya. He and another Sivacharya had recently visited the Aadheenam. Sivacharya is very well educated and extremely enthusiastic. He quickly explains countless Agamic verses related to each shrine. He loves to talk about our worship being a prayer for the whole Universe because the Siva Lingam is the root of existence. Worship the source and you worship the whole.

We were shown around each shrine and sat at the Kalikambal shrine for a short puja.

Sivacharya\

s son is very bright and is following in his father\'s footsteps, combining Agamic and Vedic higher education with a deep devotion for temple worship'

It was quite a potent temple, and was full of energy with people having weddings and coming to worship.

Time for photos

We are then brought across the street to the house where they have visiting priests stay. We are brought upstairs to their father\

s shrine room (he was the Acharya that did the Bhumi puja for Iraivan). It felt like a temple, with years of personal worship by true expert pujaris.'

Later that day we had meetings and lunch with people who are close to us in the Chennai area

Artist Manivelu presents an image of Gurudeva.

Artist Maniam Selven who did the Nimbarka art for Hinduism Today, greets us and gifts us three small, but beautiful, paintings.

We look at the original Nimbarka artwork

Nellaiappan\

s family is also present. His granddaughter in only 12 but is an accomplished artist. We ask her to draw an Aum for Hinduism Today\'s cover.'

We also meet with DR. S. P. Sabharathnam. He gives some Agamic advice about Sannyas to our two yogis

Paramacharya gifts him a rudraksha mala from Kauai

Everyone then enjoyed a wonderful lunch

Then we drove to Kailasanathar Temple

This temple is incredible. It was built out of sandstone 1400 years ago and is today a government protected site.

However, the priest inside said that the sanctum was entirely controlled by the priests, not the government.

Inside is a giant black granite Lingam. Its top is almost the same massive circumference as its base, but instead of being smoothly rounded, it has 16 flat faces. It has the reverberating power of 1400 years of worship and focused awareness.

Because sandstone is so fragile, hundreds of years of rain and weather have eaten away at the temple, and in some places plaster has been used for repairs.

The Nandi is particularly nice

We soon drive on to Vellore to visit Sri Puram and see Shakti Amma\

s Golden Temple'

We meet with Balaji, Amma\

s brother who oversees much of the administrative work the goes on'

Shakti Amma shows us around. This copper pyramid stood out. It is meant for meditation and seems to have a nice way of focusing energy at the top of your head

Shakti Amma is both light-hearted yet very knowledgable

We meet two of the temple elephants

and visit the goshala. There were well over a dozen verities of zebu there.

each one was majestic in its own way

Following a lovely discourse about the power and importance of yantras in the temple, Amma bids us farewell and wishes us a wonderful journey

The next day we wake up early and drive to Tiruvanamalai. Our Hotel has a fantastic view of Arunachala, the Kailash of the South. Tomorrow morning we wake up early to climb to the top! Aum Namah Sivaya

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