Letter to Sri Siva Jothi Mona Siddhar

Yesterday evening I escorted a couple from Brazil, South America to the countryside ashram of Sri Siva Jothi Mona Siddhar. We drove through a torrential rainstorm, but upon arrival the weather let up and we had a long evening visit with Swami. 

As it was so dark and wet I did not take any new photographs, thus the series of photographs below are from another time. 

Upon leaving Swami entrusted me with a book of letters written by previous visitors and devotees to his Ashram, telling of their experiences. For now, I post below, one such letter written to Sri Siva Jothi Mona Siddhar from a devotee in Chennai. 

Development of Shrines at Ashram

Ashram set in Hilly Arunachala Countryside

Previous Function at Ashram

20-4-2013 

From Chennai 

Iyyah: I place my prayers at your feet and seek your blessings and guidance always. I wish to record a dream I had a couple of days back. It was around 3.30 a.m. in the morning, when this dream occurred. In the dream my son, my grandson and me are travelling in the front seat of our car and on the way, my son who is driving the car enters a cave and through it a long and dark passage. I feel apprehensive about the tunnel and tell my son that this is a path of almost no return and is going to land us in a lot of trouble. I therefore tell my son to retrace our path and exit the place immediately. 

He turns the car around within the tunnel, which seems miraculous and comes out of the tunnel into bright daylight. We stop and I get down and look into the cave to see who helped us and see a glistening white huge dog standing there and immediately understand that we have been saved by Siddhars like you. From there we reach your Ashram to inform you of this occurrence and thank you for your saving us and to seek your blessings. 

We sit on the steps by which we enter your room and when we look inside, I find a cot inside, on which you are seated with a huge aura around you and rays of light emanating from you. At that time, a huge jet black Labrador dog comes out of your room playfully. 

I was very happy to have this dream, since it showed your divinity and your true self. It also showed that you were guiding and protecting us in the journey of our life. 

Thank you Iyyah, we really feel blessed. 

A Devotee 

Light of Arunachala

Recently someone asked me whether it was possible to have visions of light or jyoti whilst looking at or circumbulating Arunachala. I have set down the below narrative taken from the beautifully devotional book ‘Aurora of Arunachala’, by V. Suryanarayan, to give information about other peoples’ experiences and visions of the Light of Arunachala:-



“The importance of the sacred place of Tiruvannamalai lies in the secret of its being the centre of the Thejo-linga kshetra and its being the secret abode of the supreme Lord Shiva in his elemental form of fire. While the celebrated linga adorns the temple of Arunachaleswarar, Skandapurana comes out with the exciting fact that the mount of Arunachala is itself the present version of the original fiery linga in the form of pillar that confronted Brahma and Vishnu in times of great antiquity; the Lord having settled himself in the form of the mountain in order to bless all beings who go round it. He is the august divinity living seemingly silent as a pradakshina-priya. But those who have gone round and worshipped him know he is not silent but verily vibrant as a beacon of light – as a jyoti.

“ . . . early in the 1970s, I had not even heard of Sri Seshadri Swamigal. But one day as I was meditating in Bangalore in the early hours of the morning his effulgent figure appeared before me. The vision with golden face and form was such that I had no two opinions about his being a great one. I was only keen on the identity of the central figure of my visionary experience. It was only when I saw his portrait on the same evening in a devotee’s house, that I came to know about his identity. I thanked him silently for his kindness of the type that has no parallel in this world.

As I learnt that his Samadhi and abode of tranquility glorified Arunachala, I embarked on a pilgrimage to Seshadri Ashram shortly thereafter. It was past midnight when my friends and I reached his samadhi. After about two hours of rest, I woke up early and found that the whole landscape around was totally plunged in darkness because it was a New Moon day (Amavasya); even the electrical lights were not visible but lo! It was not dark in one spot behind the Ashram at the foot of the mount of Arunachala where a huge elliptical ball of brilliant light stood from the ground to a gigantic height. The sight of what I would like to call Aruna-jyoti was also shared by another who came out with me at the same time. The Jyoti vanished after two minutes.

I should hasten to add that the Jyoti of Arunachaleswarar is not confined to any particular form or denomination. Everything depends upon His will, grace and illimitable kindness. Indeed, the Lord is everywhere inside every jeevan, inside the mountain of Arunachala and outside. What makes visits to Seshadri Ashram exciting is the rewarding experiences of the jyoti – thanks to Arunachalewara’s manifestations of his jyoti-maya form. What is even greater about the Lord is that, as the scriptures proclaim, he is visible in his Jyoti state both in the Antarmukha and Bahirmukha – in the microcosm and the macrocosm.

The jyoti that becomes visible either as a result of the grace of Sri Seshadri Swamigal or Sri Arunachaleswarar is so variegated that no-one can say anything precise about a great God who defies definition. But it can be categorically asserted as emphasised by Skandapurana that Arunachala offers more vivid experiences of the celestial light or Jyoti than any other kshetra.


Experiences

During a pradakshina on the Western side, I stopped for a while to offer prayers – intently gazing a the mountain peak. What was the wondrous sight? Seven streaks of bright light emerged one after another from the peak – from the bosom of the mountain – and reached the Sapta Rishi Mandala above. We continued our pradakshina. Later in the day we all met for a brief spell. Although I had kept the remarkable sight of the Rishis to myself, another asked me if I had seen the Sapta Rishis in the form of light! She was not in the group that had done the pradakshina with us!

Perhaps the most spectacular of the Jyoti phenomena is the aurora of Arunachaleswarar emerging from the top of the mountain in a fantastic cluster of rays beaming to great heights in all directions. This was visible once on the eve of our pradakshina from Seshadri Swamigal’s Ashram as the starting point of pradakshina. What is significant is the same aurora in miniature form is sometimes also visible form the top of the jyoti-linga in Arunachaleswarar Temple.”

[Extract from Aurora of Arunachala by V.Suryanarayan]