Arunachala Sivan is a life-changing presence for those who are chosen.
Some people can see Arunachala and just think it's a hill or a rock,
Nothing special.
But for those who are chosen,
Arunachala Sivan is the gateway of liberation.
Within your own heart,
It's a living mountain of light that lives in your own heart.
And it's a presence,
A living,
Pulsating presence that turns your mind inward to the source.
When Ramana was alive in physical form,
He's still alive.
He is the living essence.
But he often recommended pradakshina,
Which is walking around the circumference of the mountain as a spiritual practice.
Pradakshina is a practice,
A practice of presence,
Like a walking meditation.
And when you're with the mountain,
The physical mountain Arunachala Sivan in southern India,
There is a pulsating,
Powerful,
Eternal presence and energy that naturally turns you inward to the source.
Now,
I was aware of pradakshina,
Had read about it,
Was aware of the intent of it,
Was to focus on the source,
To see which is always present,
Still and unmoving.
And Arunachala was always special.
There was a moment,
Oh,
19 years ago or so now,
In satsang with Gangaji,
And it was the fourth satsang,
The fourth or fifth satsang at that time.
My understanding,
My knowledge of Ramana was very limited at that time.
And Gangaji said that Ramana's master was the mountain Arunachala Siva,
Arunachala Siva.
And something about that name ignited a fire,
A deep burning desire to be in the presence of Arunachala Siva.
It was like an inner knowing,
This is significant.
Ramana's teacher was a mountain.
How many teachers,
How many lineages in India have the root master,
The original master,
As a mountain?
I was literally on the edge of my seat in rapt attention to what Gangaji was relaying about Ramana,
About the mountain,
And this profound wisdom that is alive in satsang.
Satsang is a living presence.
It's a living,
Fresh,
Alive truth.
And at that time it was so new and fresh and exciting,
Authentic,
Shocking,
Frightening,
Sad,
Powerful,
Life changing.
And Arunachala appeared through her voice.
The sound of her voice drove me inward to the heart,
The heart of it all,
Arunachala Siva.
Arunachala is the lineage,
Right?
There is no human chain like you have in traditional,
Eastern,
Religious teachings where you have a master that becomes enlightened,
He wakes up,
Students gather around him or her,
The satsang is relayed over a period of many,
Many years,
And then one of the students emerges as the successor,
The one that heard it the most deeply,
The one that became enlightened,
Just like their master.
And so this is how lineages are passed from one person to another,
To another,
To another.
And some lineages in India have thousands of masters,
A human chain going back to the original master.
And it just is perpetual,
Passing it on in perpetuity,
Right?
Passing on the lineage,
Passing on the teaching,
An unbroken transmission of the original master.
And Ramana was unusual.
His master was the mountain Arunachala Siva,
The sacred mountain in Southern India.
And it had been sacred and famous for centuries.
And Ramana's awakening at a very young age and his call to the mountain,
He felt the call.
Arunachala appeared to him as a vision.
And he thought it was a realm of heaven.
He didn't realize it was a place on earth until he was older.
And one of his relatives had come back from Arunachala.
And this captivated Ramana's attention as a young boy.
He was chosen,
Right?
The mountain calls to those who are ready.
So everyone is called,
But few are chosen.
And Ramana was chosen.
He heard the call.
We all hear the call,
The deep longing inside for something,
Something we can't quite put our finger on,
The call,
The burning,
The longing.
This is the call,
The call of freedom.
So Ramana heard the call and didn't question it,
Didn't even want anyone in his family looking for him.
The mountain was his father,
Master,
Teacher,
Presence,
Guide,
And love,
Bhakti.
And so Ramana recommended walking around the mountain as a spiritual practice,
Pradakshina,
Focused on the source.
It's a walking meditation focused on the source,
Focused on the mountain,
Focused on the source.
The mountain calls to you,
And those who are chosen hears the silent call.
You hear the silent call of Arunachala Shiva.
It's a great mystery.
Ramana said it was the mountain,
Not him,
That brought people to his ashram and his silence.
It was the mountain.
He called it magnetic mountain.
And when you're with the mountain,
You feel this magnetic pull of the most profound silence.
It's a giant mirror that only reflects your true self,
The source,
The presence,
The quantum reality.
Whatever words you try to assign to it,
They fall down at the feet of Arunachala Shiva,
The eternal one.
So when you are chosen,
Right,
This lineage becomes a living path,
A living way,
A way of life,
A love of bhakti,
Incredible wisdom.
Mysterious experiences happen at the feet of Arunachala Shiva,
Mystical experiences.
Inexplicable experiences.
So when you walk around the mountain,
Arunachala Shiva,
There is a moment of divine grace as you're walking around the mountain in this profound radiant presence,
This profound radiant energy,
That you realize it's not you that is walking.
It's not you that is walking.
You are literally walking through you.
The body is not who you are.
And you can know this intellectually and read about Advaita and oneness.
You can even feel or experience the bliss of oneness.
And then there's the direct realization of oneness.
Walking around the sacred holy ground,
This sacred mountain,
Arunachala Shiva,
The mind falls into a place,
The place of the placeless,
The space of the spaceless,
Here and now.
And there is no word or words that can explain this radical shift in consciousness from me walking around Arunachala Shiva,
This sacred mountain,
To walking through the reality of you,
Not as the body but as the presence.
It's an out-of-body experience.
The body is walking and there is a deep recognition that that is not who you are.
You're not the body.
And Pradakshina reveals this.
And this is the main reason Ramana recommended this walk around the mountain.
And if you go to India,
There's always people circumnavigating.
