A visit to Guhai Namasivaya temple

During my last visit to Tiruvannamalai, I decided to visit the Guhai Namasivaya temple on the Arunachala Hill. I had read about the life of Guhai Namasivaya, a great Yogi who who lived in Arunachala around the 16th century. The life story of Guhai Namasivaya is very interesting and given in great detail in the following websites:

David Godman's website, Arunachala Grace, and An article in the Mountain Path

This temple is not visible from the ground level and there is a pathway behind the South entrance of the Arunachaleswara temple. The pathway is adjacent to the Shakthi theatre. The approach to the temple is an environmental disaster. Mid-way, I nearly decided to return to the hotel and the picture below might explain why I was contemplating such a move. As you can see the photo below, the approach is full of garbage and filth and the stench is terrible. The Arunachala Hill also serves as a natural toilet for people to attend calls of nature. I am still clueless as to why the Government has permitted construction of residential houses on the Arunachala Hill, which is believed to Lord Shiva himself. The residents living below the temple have no public sense at all. It is high time, the locals wake up and realise the mess that they are creating. I don't know what the local civic body is doing about all this - I guess just turning a blind eye!

My disgust soon changed to happiness once I was inside the temple. The samadhi /sanctum sanctorum felt vibrant and my mind simple quitened and I forgot all about the climb.

The temple is maintained very well by a couple , Guhai Namasivaya Gurukkal and his wife and ably supported by some locals. The last Kumbabhishekam of this temple conducted on August 28, 1991 and a Kumbabhishekam is being planned subject to getting funds from devotees. The Samadhi of Guhai Namasivaya has a Shiva lingam over it and an idol of Parvati. The atmosphere inside the cave / temple is something that needs to be experienced.

(Samadhi of Guhai Namasivaya)

Overall, the temple is excellent, with very little crowd and the surroundings inside the temple are perfect for peace and quiet.

Interestingly, this temple is home to a cute dog, who seems to have taken upon itself the mission of protecting this temple and is the unofficial guardian. This dog never dirties the temple and has practically been living here since birth.

I hope to make more visits to this temple in the future. In Tiruvannamalai, the Guhai Namasivaya temple is a great place for contemplation and prayer.

Don't be deluded by your thoughts and vasanas. They are always trying to trick you into believing that you are a real person, that the world is real, and that all your problems are real. Don't fight them, just ignore them. Don't accept delivery of all the wrong ideas that keep coming to you. Establish yourself in the conviction that you are the Self and that nothing can stick to you or affect you. Once you have that conviction you will find that you automatically ignore the habits of the mind. When the rejection of the mental habits becomes continuous and automatic, you will begin to have the experience of the Self.

Annamalai Swami's response to a question. Extract from the book "Living by the Words of Bhagavan" by David Godman

To change your character is easy; the real work consists in changing your consciousness, in becoming conscious - more conscious, more intensely, and passionately conscious. When you are conscious it is impossible to be angry, it is impossible to be greedy, it is impossible to be jealous, it is impossible to be ambitious. And when all anger, greed, ambition, jealousy, possssiveness, lust, disappear, the energy involved in them is released. That energy becomes your bliss.

OSHO

Successful in the world

A man who is successful in the world feels the pain of being a failure as nobody else can feel it. There is a proverb that says that nothing succeeds like success. I would like to tell you: nothing fails like success. But you cannot know it unless you have succeeded. When all the riches are there that you have dreamt about, planned about, worked hard for, then sitting amidst those riches is the beggar - deep inside empty, hollow; nothing inside, everything outside.

OSHO

Never forget that you are a watcher

Whatsoever you are doing - walking, sitting, eating, or if you are not doing anything, just breathing, resting, relaxing in the grass - never forget that you are a watcher.

You will forget it again and again. You will get involved in some thought, some feeling, some emotion, some sentiment- anything will distract you from the watcher. Remember, and run back to your center of watching.

Make it an inner process, continuously.... You will be surprised at how life changes its whole quality. I can move my hands without any watchfulness, and I can also move my hand absolutely watching from inside the whole movement. The movements are totally different. The first movement is a robot movement, mechanical. The second movement is a conscious movement.

Awareness, The key to Living in Balance by OSHO

Action arising out of awareness

The man of awareness, understanding, acts. The man who is unaware, unconscious, mechanical, robot like, reacts.

And it is not that the man of awareness simply watches - watching is one of the aspects of his being. He does not act without watching. When you act moment to moment out of your awareness and watchfulness, great intelligence arises. But it happens through two things: watching, and action out of that watching. If watching becomes inaction, you are committing suicide.

Awareness- The Key to Living in Balance by OSHO

Time is the world and Eternity is God

Time is the world and Eternity is God; horizontal is the world, vertical is God. Both meet at a point - that is where Jesus is crucified. Both meet, the horizontal and the vertical, at a point - that point is Here and Now. From Here and Now you can go on two journeys: journey in the world, in the future; the other journey into God, into depth.

Become more and more aware, become more and more alert and sensitive to the present. So remember one thing: whenever you realize that you have gone to the past or into the future, don't create a problem out of it. Simply come back to the present, not creating any problem. It's okay! Simply bring back your awareness. You will miss millions of times; it is not going to happen right now, immediately. It can happen, but it cannot happen because of you. It is such a long, long, fixed mode of behaviour that you cannot change it right now. But no worry, existence is not in a hurry. Eternity can wait eternally. Don't create aa tension about it.

Awareness, The Key to Living in Balance by OSHO