FEEDING SOULS IN VELLIANGIRIMALAI

Every month Vallalar Swamis have a big challenge which is to travel near to 300 kms from Thiruvannamalai to Velliangirimalai Mountain were Marudamalai Muruga temple is
and feed many pilgrims that come to the workship of Shiva. Every month they feed from 500 to 800 people.

Behind this temple the hill goes up and it is the path that many Sadhus treck every year to escape from the hot weather and continue their sadhana.

This was my first trip with the Swamis. We arrived to Marudamalai Temple in the middle of the night and pilgrims were dancing to the rythms of really really but I mean really loud drums.
So we found a place to put our bags down in one of the halls and luckly the drums quieted and we could sleep.
The next morning I opened my eyes and everyone was already chopping carrots and tomatoes.
Before lunch we went to Puja to the Temple and all the people gave us a very warm welcome.
After singing Agaval ( Vallalar poetry ) Lunch was served 12 o clock. This was my first time serving food and I was a mess. Actually it is really hard at the beginning to serve food on the floor!

I enjoyed watching with how much love the Swamis were serving enough food for everyone.
The hall was full and empty full and empty many times with all kinds of hungry pilgrims until there were no people waiting outside.

It was also beautiful to meet all the people that contribute with the Swamis for the feeding with no self interest and how much they appreciate their work.

This same night under a big beautiful tree Guruji gave Satsang to a few of us.
It was nice to sit there even though I do not understand Tamil something happens when Guruji speaks my head becomes very silent and I can feel inside for a strange reason happy, still, peaceful.
After SatSang Janagi Swami explained that Guruji was speaking about the true meaning of serving the hungry..” Its not some job to do, it a blessing to enjoy, we are serving Gods people, and we must serve them the same way we would serve ourselves.”

April 14th the Swamis will feed up to 10 000 people on behalf of TAmil New Year! Every one is invited to come!

Full moon night in Tiruvannamalai !

In Thiruvannamalai every month on full moon day thousands of people walk around Arunachala .

Pradhakkshana in Tamil means to walk around a holy place as an act of respect or with a special intention.

So every full moon night in Thiruvannamalai is Pradhakkshana night

But Arunachala is big ! So it takes about 4 hours to go all the way around it and there are thousands of people bare footed walking fast, singing mantras, vowing in front of the Temples..

I find auspiciously beautiful the glowing light of the moon as a feminine energy giving us all the power to move and walk around this magnificent masculine expression of Shiva wich is Arunachala .Linga if fire!

This night all the Sadhus get musical with OM NAMAH SHIVAYA !, Everyone does puja ( fire offering ) infront of Lingams, GAneshas, Durgas, PArvatis..in the street anything is possible ! Singing, taking rest, drinking chai, doing puja in any temple, doing it in silence.

And it is a beautiful river of mainly Tamil people that pull you into one same rhythm, one same act of devotion and love for Shiva.

Vallalars Swamis have a beautiful stand right on Pradakkshana road were they share Vallalars Teachings with displays, CDS, books, everything for free.

And this same night Vallalars devotees feed hundreds of people, any one who is doing pradakkshana and feels hungry can join Dharma Sala and take rest, watch videos of Vallalars teaching or join onto the praying of Agaval.

So this past Monday was my first Full moon celebration with them ..and I watched them working through day and night making arrangements, serving food, giving people information.

Most of the time I was joining the praying group singing Agaval.

It was beautiful to feel us all as a whole, everyone doing their part..some singing, some on the street giving information, some serving food.

Guruji and other Swamis were giving Satsang explaining to the people how to live your true human true potential following the different principles of Vallalar like : Compassion with all living beings, eating vegetarian foods, the importance of yoga and meditation, etc.

I once again felt thankful for life to put me in the middle of this story full of surprises.

Still in my head I wonder many times? How can this be real? All this people eating, all this people serving and no money…

My western mind still tries to catch a systematical function.

So I asked Janagui Swami:

-“Were do you get the money to prepare all this food?”

-“ Maria, 4 years ago it was only Gruji, NajarahSwami and me..and slowly slowly the message of compassion of Vallalar is being spread and people give donation, Grace makes everything possible.”

ARUT PERUN JOTHI !

SantaMa wakes me up!

Santa Ma Mata Ji comes in my room . “Its already past 5 oclock..yoga class starting soon!” Wow! Her beautiful image all wearing white reminds me I was in the middle of a Mexican dream that felt like a ty serie..
My eyes are tight closed but I remember: “ India is the playground, and the game is to remember God lives inside me. .
and I make my self sing with a sleepy awful voice ARUT PERUN JOTHI ARUTH PERUNJOTHI…

My mind wants to tell me I’m tired but I’m not. This morning it feels like it wants to complain because last night I went to bed late studying my singing…

But thankfully I remember my body is innocent and I make the decisions of how it should feel.


And while I sing I remember Vallalar.. his power to overcome matter, his power to overcome identification with form…My body is a light body! Overcome form Maria! Overcome Form!

And sweetie….Gods Grace is everywhere the same way the sun makes every form become full of life!
This miracle of life was all night making the trees shiver with cool wind caressing my sleep awaiting my awakening to a new day.
Outside my dark room there is a crystal clear space were I can walk in any direction and do beautiful things in this universe…

So I roll to one side and start my day with a big THANK YOU INDIA!

HOW THE ADVENTURE BEGAN..

ARUN PERUN JOTHI ARUN PERUN JOTHI THANIPERUN KARUNAI
ARUN PERUN JOTHI
May the dazzling light of grace be with you!

Hello Friends!

My name is Maria and I am happy to open this blog to share this beautiful experience surrounded by devotees of the Saint Vallalar Ramalinga.

Typing from Vallalar’s Ashram at the feet of Arunachala the holy hill at Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu ,one of the five main Shaivite holy places in South India.


It is said that when you reach Arunachala it is not you who chose this encounter with this powerful Mountain but Shiva himself to allow you to discover the true Atman inside your self.

And after being here for a couple of months attending different Satsangs of interesting teachers , mainly westerns and mainly practicing my meditation in Ramanasramam , just 2 weeks before my flight going back to Mexico I come across a beautiful picture of Vallalar at a friends house.


Something happened to my heart when I saw this picture. I remembered my meditation teacher in Mexico explaining with so much respect the value of the message of this Saint.

“He became an embodiment of light! He transcended matter! He left this plane with his body and melted into light! He proved it is possible to conquer total awareness of your soul until it looses the idea of having a human form and penetrates into the highest teachings a human being can conceive: Becoming BODY & SOUL ONE WITH THE SUPREME!!.”

So my friend Greg was a very close friend of the Swamis, he played cricket with them, had travelled with them, and kept a close friendship with them.
So he explained to me the main teaching of Swami Ramalinga is JivaKaruniam which means compassion. So this Swamis don’t only meditate, they feed everyday more than 200 sadhus and give yoga and meditation lectures! I was so excited to meet them!

That same night he took me to have dinner with Guruji and his devotees.

I was greeted by so many beautiful pure smiles I was shocked.
And I thought.. how it is possible? I have been in India for 4 months and haven’t tried to find truth in relationships with Indian people? This people are so beautiful !

My friend Greg explained my interest and Guruji immediately opened his heart and said many times:

ARUT PERUN JOTHI ARUT PERUN JOTHI ARUT PERUN JOTHI
THANIPERUN KARUNAI ARUTPERUNJOTHI

Guruji speaks little English so Sadhu Janagi Raman Swami did all the translation.

-“Why are you attracted to Saint Vallalar Ramalinga?” Guruji asked
-“Because I'm interested in understanding truth and if it is possible that the SELF can be a body of light wit the supreme” Something like this I answered.
-“You are blessed !” Guruji replied. “Its not common for a human being to trust its own power to become an embodiment of light!”

To be honest there are so many things I don’t understand about myself, what energy brought me from Mexico to India ? why I have this luminous auspicious callings in my heart ?
But I DO know my desire to BE with God, my desire to find truth and I was sitting in this room smiling at this people feeling trust and warmthness and I felt for the first time that I would stay with this people for a long time.

With a sad smile I explained my Airplane was leaving in one week and that I was very interested in going to Vadalur the town were Swami Ramalinga became liberated before I went back home.

Immediately the Swamis began to make arrangements to take me to Vadalur.

Also this night I met Vimala a 20 year old beautiful girl wanting to learn yoga and Guruji said that just this morning he was telling her she needed a yoga teacher and that it was my duty to teach her some asanas before I left.

The next morning I didn’t have only one student I had three students.
One was my student Vimala. Another was a quiet women wearing a white Sari taking notes on the back.
And wearing a bright orange chudither was SantaMa MAtaji a beautiful women in her mid thirties with shiny brown big eyes and a an elegance difficult to describe.
The dark color of her skin made her holy eyes look like two bright stars.
The first thing I felt when I saw her was: “Im standing infront of a Saint” Her presence is very powerful and soothing.

So my yoga class started and I was getting nervous. It felt too strange to be from Mexico and teach yoga to two Indians! SantaMa calm presence made me shiver.

So I asked the ladies to do Suryanamaskar by themselves so I could compare their practice from my learning from the Rishikesh teachers.

ShantaMa closed her eyes placed her hand in her heart and started singing:

ARUT PERUN JOTHI ARUT PERUN JOTHI THANIPERUN KARUNAI ARUTPERUNJOTHI

As she began Sun Salutation my eyes froze into her moves and the rest of the room vanished.
Her arms caressed the sky, caressed the ground so softly , with a soothing power I cannot describe.

It was as if her God was in the air and she was calmly dancing with him, the space became so silent, my heart started to burn.

It was not that only it was amazingly good yoga , it was HOLY yoga, full of love, and this was the first time in my life I saw it.

Her eyes were mainly closed , her breath was soft and long and there was no sound, not a single sound as if she was weightless.

In that moment I knew my plane ticket had to be cancelled.

How is it possible that us foreigners learn yoga to be fit? To be in peace?
I could feel how powerful it is to understand that yoga is an act of love to the creator, to the body, an intent to become one with the Supreme.

For this women SantaMa and all the Vallalar devotees the Supreme God is Jothi this vibrant light that Saint Vallalar Ramalinga pointed.
The challenge is to search for it in the middle of your eyes,until one day you see it burning and you have found your true SELF. The rest of the work is done by Grace and by an spontaneous act of compassion that begins to flourish into your arms.

As SantaMa did her sun salutation I could see her eyes, even if they were closed ...they were frozen into an inner space that was guiding her to move with such grace, such love, such devotion!

waaa!! what else to say..this was the beggining of an adventure that I will be sharing with you! I feel blessed and happy and thankful to be able to try to put in words such blessings being revealed to my heart

Jothi Jul Jothi Jul Jothi!