“Sadhu mile” became my nickname for the stretch of road between the hotel where I was staying and the Ramana Maharshi Ashram. This main road of Tiruvannamalai circumnavigates the mountain of Arunachala and is populated by a concentration of guys in orange garb known as sadhus. They are everywhere. Most live on the street on as tiny a bit of turf as a spread out towel or in the most interesting of jerry-rigged collage tents. They are holy men and wandering ascetics who spend their lives engaged in the practices of their respective spiritual paths or inclinations… meditation, contemplation, mantra repetition, self-inquiry or whatever other practice they might work with. Camped out on the hard ground, they do their practices while facing the sacred mountain of Arunachala. This main road is abundant with temples and shrines. Most are wonderfully makeshift – and truly, they are everywhere. It’s like a Santa’s village for Shaivites (translate: Shiva-ites.) I ambled down “the mile” early a.m., camera in hand and wandered into many of them.
Arunachala is one of the 5 South Indian elemental sites dedicated to the Shiva making the town of Tiruvannamalai a major location of pilgrimage for Shaivites. Here Shiva is worshipped in his elemental form of fire. Shiva is said to have manifested as a column of light and became the form of the mountain Arunachala. For some the mountain is worshiped not just as a dwelling place of Shiva but as Shiva himself.
Practitioners of Shaivism can worship Shiva in an array of forms including trees and stones and really, in everything. In the non-dual schools of Shaivism there is nothing that is not Shiva… he is all-pervasive. He can also be synonymous with “consciousness”. The beauty of this perspective is big. The holding and contemplation of this outlook can allow for the experience to actually blossom, sometimes unexpectedly or via the smallest of entry points. It is not an easy task – it is the experience sadhus spent their life cultivating and hopefully one day become steadily established in. Western science, which seems to base something of itself in the practice of doubting, makes the Shaiva perspective difficult for westerners as the experience of such a thing might not be accessible via the practice of doubt. But also true is that in this pursuit there is no one way it is all the time. So it goes.
The circumambulation of Arunachala is a ritual known as pradakshina. It’s roughly a 14 kilometer trek around the base via the main road. I didn’t do the whole circuit as it took me a couple of days to get my bearings and learn the ropes of navigating Tiruvannamalai. Had I known earlier I would have been on that one right away… next time. I did pretty quickly find the best hip cafe in town – always a coup. In addition to trekking the several miles from the hotel to the ashram via main road I did a long hike around a chunk of the base via the inner wooded path. I think the inner path might have been off limits but hey… you know how that goes. It turned night-time when friend Tracy and myself were out there hiking by the light of the iPhone. For some moments I feared being lost but she is an intrepid guide and returned us safely to local civilization.
Ramana photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Here’s the Ramana quick course > Who am I?
Tiru is also an important place for the devotees of the sage Ramana Maharshi and the Sri Ramana Ashram is located at the mountain’s foothills. Ramana’s samadhi shrine (where his body is interred) is located here as well as a meditation hall and temple where daily chants and pujas are performed. Tiru has a large population of westerners as Ramana is an honored and popular sage in the west. I was told that over the last few years the demographic density of the ashram has shifted from American to German. Based on several sightings during my brief time there I got the feeling that it’s not uncommon to see a beautiful western women in white clothing with blonde hair flowing pulling into the ashram on a motor scooter.
Westerners, for better or worse, excel at importing this kind of cinematic cool.
India is rich with characters and, as one might guess, sadhu mile is loaded with them. One particular favorite meeting was with the fellow pictured here. I liked the guy… he was friendly and open. Conspicuously a little more well groomed than the average sadhu… he had a lot of spiffy beads and seemed to have washed hair. He invited me into his tiny Shiva temple where I took some photos. He was good at striking a pose. I showed him the images on the camera screen. He approved. Then he surprised me by pulling out an old beat up cell phone and tapping on it a few times. I realized he was requesting an image upload. I’m not sure if the thing even worked. I didn’t attempt to check into his request and later wished I had… I blew it off and probably did so too quickly. More than likely it would have led to a rich and interesting exchange. At very least I might have gleaned something about the Shaivite perspective on social media. Lesson learned: never refuse a holy man tech support.
Lunch at the Sri Ramana Maharshi Ashram. Sadhus queue up with hefty lunch pails. The ashram supports the sadhus in their practice and commitment as I’m sure Ramana did when he was around.
Tiruvanammalai… “sadhu mile” "Sadhu mile" became my nickname for the stretch of road between the hotel where I was staying and the…