The following narrative is an extract from Richard Clarke’s fascinating posting at this link here in which he gives detailed information about a recent project to extend a pathway by way of restoration of an old passage between Ganesh and Parvati Hill, west of Arunachala. The path marked in white in the below aerial photograph is about 1.5 km long.
After conforming to procedure by filing an official plan with the Department of Forestry and Collector, through a local Trust organisation, ‘Global Watch Trust’, work on the new pathway commenced.
Pathway with Stepsbeing Created 1
After commencement of work, the leader of the mountain work group reported problems manifesting in injuries to crew members, slow progress, workers feeling drained of energy and infighting amongst themselves. It was concluded that these problems were happening because of resistance from mountain spirits.
Pathway with Stepsbeing Created 2
The crew leader also reported a scream heard in the area which he thought to be from the Goddess Mohini who is believed to reside there. He also had a vision of being visited by Goddess Mohini in which he felt her physical presence pushing his body. He reported that the Goddess told him that the spirits were upset because the work crew were moving rocks that the spirits enjoyed sitting upon. The crew leader then had a vision of his Guru, telling him to conduct a puja to placate the spirits and ask for their blessings to continue with the pathway.
Old Path before WorkA special puja was thus arranged in the forest to placate the disturbed spirits. Although the puja was acknowledged a success, the old work crew continued to feel uncomfortable resuming work on the pathway. Thus work was disbanded for a short time until a new crew could be hired to complete work on what is now a finished pathway.
Completed PujaTo read Richard Clark’s fascinating report in full and also to view the many photographs he posted with his narrative please go to his original posting at this link here.
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