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The city of Kanchipuram is well known in South India.  This is simply because of the vast amount of temples concentrated in such a small area.  The city itself is 75 km (46 miles) from Chennai, a major metropolitan center.  Though there were hundreds of powerful and tempting sites to visit, we were focused on seeing only a select few.  Swamiji and Amma were guided to visit a Divine Mother Temple constructed by Adi Shakaracharya,  a 3500 year old temple dedicated to Shiva and the last of the six abodes of Lord Murugan.  And later on, we were again guided to a powerful ashram of Mahavatar Babaji.

Centuries ago, at the site of Sri Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Temple, The Divine Mother appeared to Adi Shankaracharya.  He was a great contributor to Hindu culture and this temple is one of the most visited of his establishments in the South.  The temple carries a special energy, as the Mother Herself formed naturally and sits in the inner sanctum.  The Goddess holds a sugarcane bow, lotus flower and a parrot in the lower two arms and has the divine instruments Pasa and Angusa in her upper arms.  The statue of the Mother is Swayambu (Self formed).  She sits in a meditative posture and blesses all visitors seeking Her love.  Swamiji and Amma brought the prayers of everyone into the sanctum and sat for a few quiet moments.

The group walked in a huge circle around the temple grounds, as is customary. We were joined by a great crowd of people, gathered to pray to the Divine.  We quietly exited the temple and moved to beat the massive mid-morning crowds to our next destination.  Kanchipuram, is also home to the ancient Sri Ekambareshwar Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.  It is largely considered to be one of the most ancient temples in India.  It was formally consecrated in 600 AD, however, worship is said to have been performed here for over 3500 years.

Within the temple walls lies the presiding deity, Lord Shiva in his form as a Lingam.  This lingam is made of sand, representing the element of earth. The simple fact that the Lingam still stands in its original form from such a fragile and vulnerable material is remarkable.  It is a testament to the faith and loving devotion of those who pray here.  Nearby the main sanctum is an ancient mango tree.  Its branches are believed to represent the Vedas.  It is said that the mango tree has some unusual healing properties.  Each leaf is of different shape, and each branch bears fruit that tastes differently.

The temple grounds host many smaller altars to other deities. They have arisen over the centuries.  We walked around the long, pillared corridors within the temple and prayed silently at each altar.  Our group circled around the temple and received some Prasad of holy ash from various Brahmin priests praying in the temple.

The following day was a special one.  We set off early in the morning and drove outside of town to visit the final of the six Abodes of Lord Murugan. Visiting all of these temples is essentially completing another pilgrimage, within the already powerful larger Yatra as a whole.  This additional excursion was under the direct guidance of Mahavatar Babaji.  The final temple sits atop a small hill that rises out of the surrounding jungle.  There were crowds of people gathered around outside.  Out of the crowd came a familiar face.  Swamiji greeted a friendly man, who was smiling with a freshly shaven head, covered in sandalwood paste.  They spoke in Tamil for a moment.  This man was visiting the temple with his family, but he happens to know Swamiji from Singapore.  The man is an organizer of the Singapore Fire Walking ceremony and recognized Swami immediately, from his 18 years of participation.  Raghudas smiled at this coincidence.  It was as if the group was coming full-circle.  At the conclusion of visiting all of the Lord Murugan temples and nearing the end of the Yatra, this man appears out of the crowd, who also, just so happened to be there at the start of the journey, marked by the Fire Walking Ceremony.

Within the temple, near the entrance, was a row of large framed pictures.  We counted a total of six.  Each of these was the image of Murugan, as he appears in each of His six abodes.  This temple was slightly different from the others, as here, the image of Murugan was with six faces.  Again, this number appeared—and even more interesting is that the name of this form is Shanmuga.  This is also Swamiji’s name.  Murugan also happens to be the deity that presides over Amma’s birth star.  Divine coincidences again seemed to follow.  Swami and Amma prayed for everyone here as we gladly took blessings and gave many thanks for the powerful journey thus far.

Our driver would then take us to the final city planned on the Yatra.  We all breathed a huge sigh of relief, as the journey had begun to take its toll on our tired bodies.   Even a greater was that the eight-hour mountainous drives of the North were a thing of the past.  In one hour’s time, a smooth highway would lead the way to Chennai.  Our driver and companion throughout the South, Ashok, invited us to his family’s home.  Swamiji and Amma happily accepted and his wife prepared us a delicious lunch and we stayed for a few hours with his family.  Later, we checked into our hotel and would take a day to rest before stepping out again.

Late one evening, Swamiji received an unexpected call.  This call came from the Porto Novo peetam (ashram) of Babaji’s birthplace.  It was the priest, who shared with us the blessed silver lockets of Babaji’s Yantra.  He informed us that another ashram existed in Chennai, that was also founded by the same disciple that founded the Porto Novo peetam.  This yogi was a direct disciple of Babaji and happened to live most of his days in Chennai before his Mahasamadhi in 2006. Swamiji then reached out to the people at the Chennai ashram, he found out that each Thursday (day that is traditionally used to observe and honor one’s Guru) there was a group meditation and we were invited.

We couldn’t wait for Thursday to come; however, we happily took a few days to rest beforehand.  Leaving our hotel we caught a ride in an auto rickshaw and headed into the night.  Our long-haired and bearded driver sped wildly through the traffic.  We swerved passed big trucks, overtook motorcyclists, challenged oncoming buses, and flew by frantic pedestrians.  Still, we found ourselves content and calm.  Our serenity was hard to shake, especially since we were headed to an ashram dedicated to Mahavatar Babaji.

The ashram was well hidden, and it took a few phone calls and some searching to locate the place.  It was nestled in a residential neighborhood deep within Chennai.  We were warmly welcomed by a woman who invited us into the ashram.  The entrance is an open courtyard with a small tree and simple cobblestone altar, erected for Babaji.  Just in front of the altar is a plaque of His Yantra on a fire pit and a sacred tulasi plant beside that.  Swamiji and Amma paid their respects and prostrated at the altar and took a few moments for prayer.  The woman then led us up a concrete stairway and into the room where Babaji’s disciple stayed.  The walls were lined with images of the Divine and illustrations from many traditional epics.  Babaji’s image was prominently placed all about the room and in the center was another altar.

There were some loud thuds coming from just above our heads.  We thought this a bit strange, since the only thing above us was the rooftop.  The woman let us know that a Kriya Yoga class was taking place and the sadhaks (students) were practicing asanas.  She told us that a rooftop group meditation would take place shortly after and invited us to sit for a while.  We absorbed the energies and images from all around the room.  We took notice of everything.  The imagery on the walls helped paint a great picture for us and helped tie the Yatra together.  It was as if we were being guided to take special notice of the pictures here.  And they certainly revealed a lot.

From the images, there was a conclusive relationship depicted with Lord Murugan and Mahavatar Babaji.  This was something known before the journey, but was made crystal clear here.  Also, the relationship with the 18 Siddha Masters was reiterated.  This Tamil Tradition is the very heart and Source of an innumerable number of profound teachings and Divine Truths.  All of these Truths were either Divinely revealed to, or discovered by the Siddha Masters.  Another picture on the wall showed a great image of the Divine Mother.  She was surrounded, along the picture’s boarder, by all of the Siddhas.  This showed the undeniable devotion of the Siddhas towards the Mother.

We let these sights and revelations sink in for a while.  Then we were called to the roof to sit for the meditation.  There were about twenty men on the roof who began with a prayer out loud.  Then we joined in singing a bhajan for Lord Shiva.  After this, one of the men led in chanting of Babaji’s mantra.  We were then guided to settle into meditation.  The warm night sky overhead was illuminated by many stars.  There were two prominent stars directly overhead and this sight moved us into silence.  Stillness engulfed our group for nearly an hour.  We felt a great peace.  Slowly we were pulled back from the depths within.  From downstairs there was the clanging of a puja bell.

The man who led with the mantra was performing a puja to Babaji in the simple altar.  He lovingly placed flowers and invited all to share in the blessings afterwards.  Some prasad of sweet Indian cake was shared with all present.  The Aarti lamp was lit and our eyes followed the flame as it encircled the altar, again and again.  Our thoughts were pulled inward as this flame danced about.  It traveled a circle, from top to bottom— just as the pilgrimage had taken us from boarder to boarder.  And yet it was always in front of the altar.  Babaji’s gaze was ever on this flame.  The Yatra that we took was a great outward adventure and journey, enabling profound inner transformation.  The blessings and experiences that have been shared are very powerful and mystical – and yet they are available for all to receive— anywhere and anytime.  The effects are both, immediate and clear, as well as infinitely subtle.   We bowed in prostration in front of the altar and poured out our deepest thanks to Babaji and the ever present Divine Mother.   We rode silently during the rickshaw ride home.  In this silence we gave our thanks.  For the experiences of this Yatra, we found that there are no words to express the gratitude in our hearts.

Jai Babaji !!!

Jai Ma !!!