Introduction
My first visit to Sri Ramanasramam was from 1-Feb-2025 to 5-Feb-2025.
Please refer Visit to Sri Ramanasramam for the details of that visit. My second visit was from 18-Nov-2025 to 22-Nov-2025.
This write up is about the second visit.
Booking the accommodation
After one visit, the booking can be made only after 4
months. I tried to book it for July but it was withdrawn by the system,
mentioning some details like Aadhar card were missing, though they were
uploaded. In addition to that, I realised that there were some personal matters
to attend to in July/August. So, I didn’t reapply. Later I booked my
accommodation for November. This time too it was withdrawn multiple times for
the same reason, mentioned earlier. I realised that though the details were
uploaded in the application, they were not available in the section of ‘Guest
details’ of the website, from where they were being taken. I uploaded the
details in that section, selected the details from there and reapplied and it
was approved.
The first day at Ramanasramam
Reaching Ramanasramam
I reached Ramanasramam at 10.45 AM. As in the first visit,
this time too, finding a parking space was very difficult. I tried to park the vehicle opposite the
Asramam dispensary but a lady running a makeshift shop near that, asked me to park
it on the opposite side. I searched for a parking space there but couldn’t find
any. In the end I had to park in front of one of the gates of Ramanasramam itself
which was not used much.
Allotment of the room
After parking the vehicle, I visited the Asramam. Outside
the gate of the Asramam, I saw Murray Feldman, who comes in some videos about
Ramana Maharshi. Last time, I was allotted a single room in the Asramam
premises itself. I was expecting the same but the lady in the office told she
would allot a double room. I requested for a single room but I was told that
several guests were coming and rooms were not available. Since I had booked
only for myself and since the booking was managed online, I was wondering why
the booking was accepted or overbooking was allowed. Anyway, in the end a
double room was allotted in the guest house behind the Ramanasramam post
office, which was outside the Asramama premises and on the way to Yogi
Ramsuratkumar’s Asramam. They told, they would try not to allot the room to
anybody else but if required, I would have to share the room. I was a bit
tensed as I was not comfortable in sharing the room with a stranger.
Anyway, I went to the room with the hope that they would not
allot the room to anybody else. When I reached, nobody was there near the gate.
I opened the gate and entered. It was a narrow stretch and I tried to take
reverse but I couldn't. By that time, the caretaker came and told me to park
ahead. I did that and went to the room numbered R 11. It was a decent room with
two cots. I separated the two cots and kept them a few feet apart.
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| The room at Ramanasramam |
Lunch and roaming around the Asramam
I came back to the Asramam and had lunch. I spilled the water from the glass
while washing the leaf. I think I was tensed about the prospects of sharing the
room. Luckily, it didn’t spill over to those sitting near me.
After lunch, I went to see the old dispensary and then to
Yogi Ramaiah’s rock cave and Annamalai Swami's Samadhi. After that I visited
the samadhis of Sadhu Arunachala (Major Chadwick), Sulman Samuel Cohen, Hari
Chand Khanna and Lucy Cornelssen (Lucy Ma). After that I walked past room
number A9, my old room and then went to the meditation hall and mediated.
Though it was not much crowded the mind was wandering due to the anxiety of the
possibility of sharing the room. There, I saw Ram, whom I had met last time and
who showed me Palakothu, but didn't talk as he was going out of the room.
Sharing the room
In the evening, after tea, when I came back for taking bath, I saw the luggage of one more person. The other person had arrived. Though I was a bit concerned, I took bath and went back. During the evening Parayana, I saw Ram again and greeted him. He couldn’t recognise me. I told about the last visit and he smiled. I met him on subsequent days too but didn’t trouble him much. I visited the book store and then spent time at new hall, Mathrubhutheswara temple, old hall and returned.The door was not locked and I met my roommate. He was Laxmi
Narayana from Hyderabad. He was working at Bofa Singapore. He was a nice person
and my worries were lessened. He was staying in the Asramam for the first time,
though he was visiting Thiruvannamalai for the third time. He enquired about my
plan for the next day and when I told I was planning to visit Skandasramam and
Virupaksh cave, he expressed his desire to join me.
The second day at Ramanasramam
Skandasramam and Virupaksh cave
The next day, we went at 6.30 AM and after breakfast, climbed
the hill. Since there were chances of the sandals getting stolen near the
caves, I was using the Hawai sandal. I was thinking whether this one too would
get stolen but while climbing the strap of the sandal broke. Thus, that worry
vanished as I had to throw it away in a dust bin on the path! We went to Skandasramam
and Virupaksh cave.
Guhai Namahsivaya cave
Last time, I had missed Guhai Namahsivaya cave and Mango
tree cave and wanted to visit them. The person at Virupaksh cave told us to
follow the arrow mark to go to Guhai Namahsivaya cave. On the way, we visited Ayya
Mouna Guru Siva Narayana Swamy shrine, which I had mistaken for Guhai
Namahsivaya cave, last time. After climbing a few steps downwards from Ayya
Mouna Guru Siva Narayana Swamy shrine, we reached Guhai Namahsivaya cave. We
entered the shrine and the inner shrine was very dark. The caretakers asked us
to go inside and we entered the inner shrine. It was a great experience, entering a dark
cave shrine like that.
Outside the inner shrine, we made some offerings and the
Vibhuti (ash) and Kumkum (vermilion) as Prasadam were given to us. Though
photography was not allowed inside, it was allowed from outside. I enquired
about the place where Keerai patty stayed but they were not much sure about
that but on the side of the shrine, I could see that place and the carving of Ganesh
on the pillar, which was worshipped by her.
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| Guhai Namahsivaya temple |
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| The place where Keerai Patti lived. The carving of Ganesha, worshpped by her can be seen near the steps. |
Mango tree cave
After that we visited Unnamalai Amman temple and Mulaipal
Theertham and enquired about the mango tree cave. They told it was just below
the steps from Mulaipal Theertham. I had come so near that last time but missed
it! It was almost 11 AM and we were worried whether we would miss the lunch at
the Asramam but we decided to move ahead.
On the way, there was a shrine and a shed and the caretaker
called us inside. There was a Sivalingam and I remember him saying it was
called Poondiashramam. He showed the mango tree cave on the other side. We
entered the shrine and the deities were kept inside the cave. We had to crawl
to enter!
Annadanam was going on there and the lady arranging the
things there, insisted that we leave only after lunch. Though we told we were
planning to have lunch at the Asramam, they didn’t agree and forced us to have
the lunch, telling it was a special Annadanam. We agreed and had lunch there. It
was a great experience and it also alleviated our concerns about the lunch!
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| Poondiashramam |
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| Mango tree cave |
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| Maha Lingeswarar Swami Alayam near mango tree cave |
Jadai Swami cave
Close to that, we saw the Jadai Swami’s Asramam and visited
that place. There were two good view points of Arunachaleswara temple in the
premises of the Asramam. After spending time there, we visited the Jadai Swami
cave. Here too, we had to crawl to go inside. There was one more narrow room
inside, which could accommodate hardly one person.
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| View of Arunachaleswara temple from Jadai Swami cave |
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| View of Arunachaleswara temple from Jadai Swami cave |
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| Jadai Swami cave |
Arunachaleswara temple
From there, we climbed down the hill through the route
leading to Arunachaleswara temple. On the way we visited ‘Sri Yoga Anugraha
Dakshinamurthy temple’. We entered the Arunachaleswara temple through the Rajagopuram.
The special queue through Rajagopuram was very lengthy. We went to Pathalalinga
shrine and then entered the main shrine and had Darshan though it took almost 3
hours to come out. The queue from the other Gopuram, merging with this queue
was very short. We should have taken that queue.
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| Sri Yoga Anugraha Dakshinamurthy temple |
Bookstall
In the evening, after tea, we went to the Asramam bookstall.
I was thinking of buying one or two books but ended up buying seven! They were
Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi (Rs. 350/-), Reminiscences of Kunju swami (Rs.
190/-), Ribhu Gita (Rs. 270/-), Spiritual stories from Ramana Maharshi (Rs.
130/-), Maha Tapasvi life story of Kavyakanta Ganapati Muni (Rs. 160/-) Ozhuvil
Odukkam (Rs. 60/-) and Tripura Rahasya (Rs. 180/-)
The third day at Ramanasramam
Bhagavan’s finger prints
We decided to climb the hill again and went to Virupaksha cave
and mediated. After that we visited Skandashramam and then went to the side of
the Aramamam, looking for Bhagavan’s finger prints. A person in saffron robes,
pointed to the place where we were standing and we realised that we were
standing on top of the finger prints! It seems Bhagavan used to apply lime paste
on betel leaves and rub his fingers on the rocks. These were the marks formed
in that process!
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| Bhagavan's finger prints |
Lunch in the second batch
We came back around 11.40 AM but was late for lunch. One of
the employees of the Asramam asked us to go to the path leading to the library
and wait there for the second batch. We waited there and had lunch in the old
dining hall where Bhagavan used to have lunch. May be, that was a blessing in
disguise!
Seeing Nochur
In the evening I went for English reading at the library. In the night, when I was at Bhagavan’s Samadhi shrine, I saw a person in saffron clothes circumambulating the Samadhi. Suddenly I realised that he was Nochur Venkataraman (Swami Ramanacharana Theertha). He took a chair and sat near the entrance facing the Samadhi and was chanting something by counting, using the fingers.The fourth day at Ramanasramam
Visiting the Ganapthi temple, opposite the Asramam
In the morning, I went for the morning Parayana of
Aksharamanamalai. My roommate told, he saw a video in Telugu which spoke about
the Ganapathi temple just in front of Ramanasramam. According to that video,
Kavyakanta Ganapathi Muni and his brother came down the hill one day for dinner
but couldn’t get it anywhere. In the end he visited a place where the owner of
the house invited him telling his wife was looking for some Brahmins to be fed
before taking food. They were fed by them and they slept there and later they
realised that it was a Ganapthi temple. It seems it was Siva and Parvati who
fed them. That temple is the one, which is situated opposite the Asramam. We
visited the temple in the morning. There was a raised platform where Ganapathi
Muni and his brother slept on that day.
Sheshadri Swami’s Asramam, Sadhu Om’s Samadhi and Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Asramam
After that we went to Sheshadri Swami’s Asramam, Sadhu Om’s
Samadhi and Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Asramam. We had Prasadam (payasam) at
Sheshadri Swami’s Asramam and breakfast prasadam (upma) at the dining hall of Yogi
Ramsuratkumar’s Asramam and rice prasadam at Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s shrine. After
that we went to the book stall and I bought ‘Life and teaching of Yogi
Ramsuratkumar’ which cost Rs.90/-. While coming back we saw David godman on his
scooter. We were full but still had lunch at the Ashramam.
Palakothu tank
After that, I visited the Palakothu tank and saw a house
which I thought was used by B. V. Narasimha Swami and Paul Brunton. The swami at the Agasthya temple on
the way to the Palakothu tank talked to me and asked whether I had come earlier
and that my face was very familiar. He told he lived there with four dogs and
had a Gosala and told it would be good if I could make some donations to the Gosala.
I told I would come back.
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| The house which I think was used by B. V. Narasimha Swami and Paul Brunton |
The fifth day at Ramanasramam
In the morning, I again went for the morning Parayana of Aksharamanamalai. After breakfast, we spent the time at the Asramam till 10 AM. After that we went to the office and enquired about checking out. The lady in the office told we could give key to the caretaker or to the main gate security. We visited the Ganapthi temple once again while going back to the room, packed the luggage and came back to the Asramam for lunch.
When we were waiting for
the lunch, we saw Dr. Sarada Natarajan and G. Kameswar who appear in some
videos about Ramana especially those from the Ramana Maharshi Centre for
Learning, Bangalore, at the Asramam. Another person whom I saw almost on all
the days was Mouli Raman who was seen in some of the videos about Ramana
Maharshi. We went back, checked out by giving the key to the caretaker and left
the Asramam.
Conclusion
On the first day, since I was very nervous about the
prospects of sharing the room, I didn’t feel any change in myself. From the
second day, I began to feel the current of the Self. Looks like, I went there
with a lot of expectations about the stay. When that nervousness was
alleviated, I could feel the power of the Self. Still, if the room was withing
the premises, it would have been better. At the same time, it should be noted that Self is all pervading and is within and outside the premises!
