Introduction
My first visit to Sri Ramanasramam was from 1-Feb-2025 to
5-Feb-2025 and the second visit from 18-Nov-2025 to 22-Nov-2025. Please refer
Visit to Sri Ramanasramam and The second visit to Sri Ramanasramam for the
details of those visits. My third visit was from 04-Jul-2026 to 07-Jul-2026.
This write up is about that visit.
Booking the accommodation
Though booking can be made for five days by Indian nationals,
I, by mistake booked it for only four days. Though I had decided to book it
till 8th July, in a hurry, while booking, I did it only till 7th.
I dropped a note to them asking for the change but it was approved only till 7th.
I decided to request, for an extension of one day, after reaching the Asramam.
The first day at Ramanasramam
Reaching Ramanasramam
I started from home at 7:15 AM and reached the Asramam at 11:20
AM. Since finding a parking space was difficult in the previous two visits, I
had decided to park a little ahead of the Asramam but looking for a suitable
parking space, I almost reached the gate of the Asramam itself and surprisingly
found a few parking spaces vacant there. I parked the vehicle and soon somebody
came and asked for the parking fee. It was Rs.80/- and he issued a receipt from
Tiruvannamalai corporation. There was no
parking fee in my previous two visits. Maybe, that was a new development and
the reason why parking spaces were vacant, as people might have parked the
vehicles somewhere else!
Allotment of the room
This time too, initially, the lady at the office told, she
would give a double room. When I requested again, telling last time too a
double room was allotted, she called up somebody. She again told single rooms
were not available. Suddenly that person called back and told one room was
vacated and that the cleaning was going on. She allotted that room, numbered
M58 of Morvi guest house to me and told me to go there after lunch and collect
the key from the caretaker. She gave a slip to be used at the dining hall as
the key was not yet issued. I asked about the extension of stay by a day and
she told, that might be possible and that she would check and confirm. Since it
was lunch time, I couldn’t confirm it.
After lunch I went there. The caretaker was not available. I
called him up and he came after five minutes and gave the key. The room was neat
and clean. The premises provided a good view of the hill too. When I opened the tap, there was no water. I went and checked with
the security and he told there were some issues and the tank was getting
filled. It was restored after some time. It happened the next day too around
the same time, but I had collected enough water in the bucket and it helped. It
didn’t happen after that.
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| The room at Morvi guest house |
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| The view of the hill from Morvi guest house |
Morvi guest house was built based on the donation of the ruler of Morvi, a former princely state in Gujarat. He and his family had become devotees of Bhagavan and decided to help in the building of the guest house. It was inaugurated during the lifetime of Bhagavan and was renovated later in 2012. I had read about this earlier but didn’t remember it. A google search later reminded me of these facts!
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| Morvi guest house |
Visiting the Asramam
At 3:30 PM, I went to the Asramam and had tea at 4 PM. After
that I visited the shrines. At 4:30 PM, I went for the English reading at the
library. After that, I listened to the Parayana
for some time and went to the bookstall. I was particularly looking for the
commentary on Ulladu Narpadu (reality in forty verses) by ‘Who’ or K. Lakshmana
Sarma as it was written by him, based on the lessons imparted by Bhagavan
himself. I bought that (Rs. 180/- though
the printed price was 160) and Advaita Bodha Deepika (Rs.60). After dinner, I
spent time, visiting Annamalai Swami's Samadhi and at the shrines.
The second day at Ramanasramam
Visiting the Asramam
After breakfast, I went to Annamalai Swami’s samadhi once
again and spent some time there. On the way, I went to a small structure which
I had noticed earlier too but never visited. I had a feeling that it would be a
Samadhi of some devotees. I went there and it indeed was the Samdhi of Jagadish
Swami.
Sheshadri Swami’s Asramam
After visiting the shrines at the Asramam, I went to
Sheshadri Swami’s Asramam. After spending time at the Samadhis of Sheshadri
Swami and Sri Annai Uma Deviyar, I visited the hall where the idols of
different saints are kept. As usual, it was not crowded and was very peaceful.
Climbing the hill
After visiting Sheshadri Swami’s Asramam, I climbed the hill
and visited Skandasramam, finger prints of Bhagavan near Skandasramam,
Virupaksha cave, Ayya Mouna Guru Siva Narayana Swami shrine, Guhai Namasivaya
temple, Unnaimulayar temple, Mulaipal theertham, Mango Tree cave, Jadaiswami
cave and Dakshinamurthy temple.
While climbing up, when I was standing at the view point of
the Arunachaleswara temple near Skandasramam, I saw David Godman climbing down.
He was accompanied by a lady. I was thinking of visiting Pavalakundru temple
the next day and was looking at its direction based on a video, I had seen of
David. I thought of confirming the place with him but didn’t intrude and ask
it.
From Guhai Namasivaya temple, I could see a path going
towards a structure and one Sadhu going that way. It looked like the Mango Tree
cave but since I was not familiar with that route, I decided not to take that. In
the end when I reached Mango Tree cave, I realised that it was indeed a short
cut to the Mango Tree cave.
On the way to Mango Tree cave, when I reached Mulaipal theertham,
I was shocked to see it almost dry. I had read in the books about Bhagavan
that, it was a perennial source of water. There were some traces of water below
and one person was drawing it with the help of a bucket tied to a rope. It made
me realise how severe the summer in this part of Tamil Nadu is.
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| Mulaipal theertham in summer |
Enquiring about the extension of stay
When I climbed down, it was well past 11:30 AM, the usual
time for lunch. So, I went to the room, got freshened up and returned for the
second batch in the old dining hall, where Bhagavan used to have lunch. After
that I went to the accommodation office and checked whether the extension of
the stay was possible. She told it was difficult as they were expecting several
visitors and requested me to check out on 7th itself. Maybe she had
forgotten about the discussion, we had, on the previous day.
Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Asramam, Sadhu Om Kutir and Osborne House
I was thinking of visiting Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Asramam, and
Sadhu Om Kutir, the next day. Since the extension of stay was denied, I went
there immediately after that. After spending time there, I decided to explore
the house of Arthor Osborne, the intellectual, philosopher and writer who is
one of the biographers of Bhagavan. When I searched through Google AI search,
it showed a location as Om Guest house or a place near that. It told, I had to
take right from Om Guest house but there was no right turn. I could see a house
with peacocks behind that but I couldn't see an entrance to that. Maybe that
was the house but I couldn’t see it properly. That was in Ramana Nagar. In
fact, I was searching for Ramana Nagar too as it appeared in several books
about Bhagavan. At least I succeeded in that!
Visiting the library and bookstore
In the previous visits, I couldn’t explore the library much. This time, I decided to explore it. I went there and when I reached the Malayalam section, I could see the book titled Swarna Hastam. It was a book containing Malayalam manuscripts, written by Bhagavan. I always had a desire to see his Malayalam handwriting and luckily, it came in front of me. I went through that and found that his handwriting and language were really good. It was commendable that he could acquire a good command over Malayalam by interacting with his attender Palaniswami, who was a Malayalee, and reading the books brought by him!
Though I had decided not to buy more books, I had an urge to
visit the bookstore again. When I went there, I couldn’t resist buying two more
books. They were Ganesan's and Chadwicks reminiscences (Rs. 150/- and Rs.70/-
respectively).
Meeting Ram
Though I had seen Ram, who had taken me around Palakothu during
my first visit, on the very first day itself, he was immersed in himself and I couldn’t
talk to him. In the night, when I was leaving the Asramam, I met him again. It
seemed he had fallen down near the office. Earlier, I had seen him struggling
with walking and coming out from the samadhi shrine in the opposite direction
of the circumambulation. I asked him what had happened. He told nothing and
then I asked whether he remembered me. He told yes and asked whether I was not
from Bangalore. He also asked whether he had talked about any saint last time.
I told he had mentioned about Ganga Maa. Then he again almost fell down and I
caught him. At that time, he told he had gone for ‘girivalam’ and his legs were
paining. He told me to come there whenever possible as it was a great place. I
asked whether he was referring to Ganga Maa’s place and he told no and that he
was referring to Tiruvannamalai.
I asked him whether he was an employee of Ramanasramam and
he told no and that he had made Tiruvannamalai and Ramanasramam his residences
(it was more of a figurative statement, as on my first visit, he said he was staying
near the Asramam in a rented accommodation). He told in Tiruvannamalai we would
get both temple and guru. In other places only one of them would be available. He
told, he used to volunteer to keep the chairs in place and sweeping Annamalai
Swami's samadhi.
He told he had seen some books with me and asked which books
I had bought. I told they were Ganesan's and Chadwicks reminiscences. He told
Ganesan's book was titled ‘Moments Remembered’. I told I had also bought Ulladu
Nalpadu by Who and Advaita Bodha Deepika the previous day. He told Who's book
is the best and Bhagavan also had mentioned that.
The third day at Ramanasramam
Visit to Pavalakundru
In the last visits, I couldn’t visit Pavalakundru, Pachaiamman
temple and Ayyankulam. These places were deeply connected with Bhagavan. It was
at Pavalakundru that Bhagavan’s mother and brother visited him after he had
left Madurai. His first Upadesam was supposed to be given to his mother and it
happened here.
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| Pavalakundru temple |
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| Bhagavan's upadesam to his mother |
I walked to Pavalakundru which is very close to the main temple. I had seen from the online reviews that the temple was open only from 9 to 9:30 PM. I reached there around 9 AM. There were close to 250 to 300 steps to climb. When I reached there, the priest was getting ready. A person who looked like his assistant was also there. Nobody else was seen. It was renovated by Ramanasramam in 2016 and well maintained. I spent some time going around the shrine. The view from the top was really good.
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| The arch of Pavalakundru temple |
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| The steps to Pavalakundru temple |
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| The view from the top of Pavalakundru |
After sometime, the puja was performed. The deity is Ardhanarishwar. I sat there for some more time and left as the priest and his assistant were also preparing to leave. On the way back, I sat on a rock and the main temple was visible from there. I had read that Bhagavan was lying on a rock when his mother visited him. Maybe that was the rock! I am not sure why this place is not popular even among the devotees of Bhagavan.
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| The view of the main temple from Pavalakundru |
Pachaiamman temple
Pachaiamman temple was around 1.7 KMs from Pavalakundru and I
decided to walk that distance. Google maps showed a narrow road and towards the
end of that road, some dogs came barking. Luckily nothing happened. When I checked
again, I could see that there was another route through the main road. I should
have taken that and decided to use that while returning.
It was not empty like Pavalakundru and there were around 10
to 15 visitors. Pachaiamman is Parvathi and it seems Siva and Vishnu are also
there. This is the place where Uma Sahasram was written by Kavyakanta Ganapathi
Muni in the presence of Bhagavan. Bhagavan stayed here too for some time when
he was living on the hill.
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| Pachaiamman temple |
Ayyankulam
From Pachaiamman temple I walked directly to Ayyankulam pond.
It was around 2.8 KMs. I took the main road instead of the narrow road and both
the routes showed the same time. The entrance was through a gated road. I entered
the road and when I reached the pond, I realised that the entry to the pond was
locked. I could see a temple on the side of the entry to the pond and that was
also locked and the priest was leaving on his scooter. The water was crystal clear
and I thought it might be a major water source for the town. Though I had
wanted to see the place where Bhagavan renounced his sacred thread, money and
clothes, I couldn’t enter the compound.
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| Ayyankulam |
By that time, I had become tired of walking, as the sun was at its peak. While walking back, I hired an auto and paid Rs. 150/- for the trip to Ramanasramam, which was not that high considering the rates usually charged by them. Again, when I reached, the regular lunch time was over and I had my lunch in the second batch at the old dining hall.
Adi Annamalai temple
Last time, I had planned to visit Adi Annamalai temple,
which I couldn’t do. The distance was around 6 KMs. Last time, my roommate had
mentioned about using Rapido bikes for some of his trips and I also decided to
try that. After dinner, around 7:15 PM, I tried that and It showed Rs.30/- for
the trip. It suggested adding tips and I increased it to 50. The driver called
me and began to bargain. He told the rate was coming wrongly in the app and whether
I wanted up and down ride or only the drop. I told him that I could come back
if he could wait. He agreed and asked for Rs.450/-. I didn’t I agree and told
him to cancel the ride. It came down to
350 and then to 250. I told him not to come as I was sceptical about the driver.
Then another driver was allocated and he came and picked me up. He told me to
sit and wanted to start immediately as the auto drivers would object to bike
taxis. We started and he asked for the location and pin. He told he wouldn't
get return trip from there and that Rs.50/- won’t be sufficient. I told I would
give 100 and he agreed. He asked whether I was coming back. I told if he could
wait for 15 mins, I would and he agreed. On the way, he told the Kumbabhishekam
of that temple had taken place just 3 days back and that he was there at that
time. When we reached, he showed me the pandal (marquee) erected for that. The
temple was huge, though it was not as huge as Arunachaleswar temple. It was not
that crowded. There were only around 50 people. I am not sure why it is not
that much known. It was supposed to be the 'moolasthanam', the original place
or source, of Arunachaleswar temple and predates that.
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| Adi Annamalai temple |
The fourth day at Ramanasramam
Since it was the day of checkout, I went to the accommodation
office around 9 AM and checked whether 9 AM the next day would be a suitable time
for check out. She conveyed, it was not, and I agreed and asked to whom I
should handover the key as the room near the gate of the guest house was always
kept locked. She told me to handover the key either to the caretaker or to the
security.
I went to the old hall and spent time there and later in the
library. I had messaged the caretaker about the checkout and he told he would
be available. After lunch, I checked out and handed over the key to the
caretaker and left around 12:30 PM and reached home around 4:30 PM.
Conclusion
I read in one of the articles in Mountain Path, the journal of
the Asramam, that the devotees felt a pull towards the current of pure being,
whenever they got associated with Bhagavan. This, I have felt in my previous
visits and in this visit too. The feeling takes you to the root of your being
and helps you in moving in the path of self-discovery.
