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Another day broke and surprisingly, the sun was out to greet us.  We were in Palani, a small town in South India and set to visit another temple of Lord Murugan.  The town of Palani is known well, both for the temple and for the challenging climb to reach it.  Pilgrims visiting here must battle steep and rocky stairs cut into the mountainside. With the sun beating down, we realized this morning would be tougher than we initially thought.  Swami remarked, that though the mountains of the north were thousands of miles away, we would be seeing another steep ascent. 

At the base of the mountain in Palani, there are masses of people crowding the market.  Most of these people are shopkeepers or street peddlers, looking to sell various items.  A narrow stone path winds between small shops as one approached the staircase at the base.  Looking more carefully, one will notice many pilgrims mixed into the crowd.  One of the traditional customs when taking a pilgrimage to a temple of Lord Murugan is shaving one’s head.  Swamiji and Amma have both done this before and were ready to begin the trek.  There were loads of people with freshly bald heads, covered in sandalwood.  Men, women and children all shaved their heads as a form of surrendering their ego to the Divine.  Whole families grouped together before setting off and all donned sandal paste on their smooth heads.  In good company, we began our first steps. 

We started slowly and passed many smaller altars and temples that were along the staircase.  We stopped at a few to pray.  We were amused and noticed that many monkeys and goats had taken up residency at these side temples along the way.  There are a total of 689 steps to reach the summit it was no easy task, even after tackling some of the climbs in the Himalayas.  Amma and Swamiji did both note that there was a big difference between our first ascents in the mountains of the north compared to now.  There was a newfound lightness and ease in all of our steps.

While working our way up the mountain, Swami shared the significance of visiting the temple here.  Palani is the site of a great story involving Murugan.  A long time ago, a sincere disciple of Lord Vishnu brought a Mango to Lord Shiva and Paravati.  This fruit carried the great boon of Divine Knowledge for whomever consumed it. One of the stipulations was that the fruit could not be cut or shared in any way or else it would lose its gift.  Both Ganesh and Murugan, sat at the lotus feet of their parents, Shiva and Shakti.  Not wanting to favor any one child over the other, Shiva devised a contest for His children, and the winner would be awarded the fruit.  He said that the first child to go around the world would be declared the winner.  Immediately, Murugan set off flying towards the horizon.  Ganesh, waited for His brother to disappear and then calmly walked in a circle around His parents.  He then said, “To a child, his parents encompass the whole world.” Shiva and Paravati were so impressed with his wit and love that they proudly fed him the Knowledge-bearing Mango.  When Murugan finally returned from his great journey, he was distraught to learn what transpired in his absence.  He was so upset that he left everyone and went to the mountain in Palani.  Swami then shared, that this temple is where Murugan performed great tapas for many years.  Because of Murugan’s practices here, Palani is known to have attracted many Siddha Masters who come here to perform their spiritual sadhanas.

We finally approached the mountaintop and sweat dripped from all of our foreheads.  We wiped our faces and took a moment to catch our breath.  The mountain sits in a central place, with the village expanding around it.  This offered us fantastic panoramic views from all sides.  We absorbed some the sights of street scenes, far-off lakes and distant mountains before entering the temple.  A priest accompanied us throughout the temple and brought us directly to the sanctum of Lord Murugan.  Swamiji and Amma took a few moments to pray and collect holy ash for everyone. We spent some time meditating at the top.  There was a great feeling of profound spiritual energy here. We would eventually retreat down the mountain in the early afternoon. 

Once arriving back at sea-level, Amma commented on the different feeling of the temple, compared to the bottom.  She asked the group if they could feel the difference and there was certainly something distinctive about the vibration at the summit compared to the street market.  Content with our time spent at this site of great spiritual sadhana, we would begin a 5 hours drive to another city.  Our next destination is home to another mountaintop temple.  We were all excited and partially relieved, as it would be the last of our many, many great climbs on the Yatra.