ja_mageia

More rain greeted us as we steped into the foggy morning.  Barefoot, we walked through a massive red stone archway.  Above this gate, a tower rose towards the clouds and displayed many traditional images and figures.  Walking in the mud, we were all silent, in preparation to visit the “Gate-keeper” of the Divine Mother.

The temple at Thanjavur is an ancient site that the Indian government has declared a national treasure.  It is part museum and part temple.  The main sanctum rises to a height of 275 ft and houses a massive Siva Lingam.  The Lingam is a smooth, wide black stone, standing over 20 feet tall.   The temple was constructed over 1000 years BC.  Though the lingam in the main sanctum is impressive, we were here to bring everyone’s prayers to the “Gate-keeper” and fierce protector of the Divine, Mother Varahi.

Swami and Amma shared an umbrella and spoke with the priest at a smaller altar erected for the Mother.  We were outdoors and a few hundred feet away from Lord Shiva’s main sanctum.  The priest read everyone’s prayers and handed out kumkum, vibuthi and flowers from Varahi’s feet.  He handed special prayer cards to each of us, written with Her mantra, and blessed everyone on their journey.

Ashok was waiting for us in the rain so we hurried to the vehicle and moved to another well known temple in Thanjavur.  We were excited for our next destination—a temple dedicated to the Divine Mother, where the stone idol actually perspires.  Water droplets form on Her face, as a result of the intense heat and energy.  The temple priests here have actually created a moat that surrounds the main sanctum, with running water that cools the Mother down.  The temple was quite crowded, as Her blessings are sought after by many locals and visitors alike.  After some waiting, we had Her darshan and felt the incredible amount of heat that She created inside the sanctum.  Happy to have this tremendous blessing we then attempted to leave the city.  However, the Divine had other plans, as we would meet several obstacles.

Leaving Thanjavur, we entered a small village.  Our vehicle slowed to a stop as there was a large commotion ahead.  Several buses sat in waiting, smaller cars were turning around and many townspeople gathered to see what the excitement was all about.  Ashok, wanting to press on, decided to navigate around the buses to the front of the line.  A police officer stood there and pointed to a man high up in a roadside tree with an axe.  He was only doing work for the small township, removing overhanging branches from the road, and would be done in a few hours.  We inquired about an alternate route around the commotion and were directed onto a narrow muddy road that cuts through the village.  Several turns in the road later, we would encounter another great scene.

A lorry (large truck) had earlier attempted to bypass the delay on the main road by using this route.  With the narrow and muddy roads, his vehicle became deeply stuck in the roadside.  As we approached, we noticed about enough space on the left shoulder to squeeze by and head on our way.  From the other direction, the driver of a large bus had also noticed this space.  Wanting to meet his schedule, he too wanted to use this small opening to pass the lorry.  Appearing almost in slow motion we saw him attempt to navigate a low, overhanging tree, the lorry to his left and the treacherous, quicksand-like shoulder to his right.  Anyone familiar with “Murphy’s Law” knows what happens next.  The bus planted itself smoothly into the muddy banks and sat prominently next to the lorry.  Now both oversized vehicles sat as an impassible roadblock on this narrow village road.  Soon the village men and passengers on the bus were all gathered around trying to negotiate the best way out for both vehicles.  Swami said, “Great, all of the ‘managers’ are here to help.”  We laughed at this and decided that we would re-enter Thanjavur and stay for as long as we were wanted there.  The roads out had been closed to us. 

Later in the day, when the roads were cleared we would drive to Madurai.  We checked into our rooms for the night and got a good rest.  In the morning, our first visit was to a famous temple dedicated to Mother Meenakshi.  This was another sprawling temple complex that takes us a huge amount of acreage in the city’s center. Amma and Swami would speak with some temple representatives and find out that Raghudas was not allowed inside the sanctum in this traditional temple.  According to temple regulations, only legal Hindus were allowed to pray within the inner temple walls.  He waited patiently, sitting against a stone pillar for the group to return.  Once everyone was together again, a curious incident happened.

Mother Meenakshi is traditionally dressed in green silks and has with her a conch shell and a parrot.  Once Amma and Swami greeted Raghudas, an old woman approached the trio.  She was dressed in a dark green and yellow saree, with gold trimming.  She spoke in Tamil and told Amma that she wanted to bless the group.  She adorned each of our foreheads with kumkum and said some words of blessings and then disappeared into the crowds.  She did not ask us for anything in return and appeared in a very timely fashion-- as the group came together.  She also handed Amma a picture of a snow covered lingam from Amranath Cave, in the Northwestern corner of India.  This is a storied place, where the ice stalagmites form Shiva lingams and wax and wane with the cycles of the moon.  It is also said that in the cave, Shiva revealed all of life’s secrets to his Shakti and consort, Paravati.

We took this incident as a great blessing from the Divine Mother. Our group left, wondering at the mysterious ways in which the Divine works.  We drove about 45 minutes to a hilly area with dense jungle.  Here there would be another visit to one of Lord Murugan’s abodes, as guided by Babaji.   This was the final and sixth house of Murugan.  The energies in the temple were very purifying and we felt so energized that we wanted to visit another temple, one which sits atop the hill.

The winding road up the hill was reminiscent of the curves from the Himalayan roads.  Lining the roadside were dozens of local monkeys, who were no doubt up to no good.  Our driver warned to keep all the windows up.  The monkeys in this area are known to be especially mischievous and are fearless when it comes to approaching humans.  They ran amok in the parking lot outside the hilltop temple and were even atop cars, trucks and motorcycles.

The scene inside the temple was like a bathhouse.  Everyone was soaked and children were changing in the outer corridors.  We would find out that this is because a natural spring flows in through this 300 year old temple and the water flows directly under the feet of the statue of the Divine Mother.  Many of the visitors want to bathe in this blessed water.  Feeling slightly more conservative, we took our blessings, with a small sip of the water and Swami splashed some water on each of our heads.  We then left the temple and were sure to watch our steps because no one wanted to step on the tail of one of the resident monkeys and end up on his bad side.

In the evening we would make our way to another temple nearby which was the first abode of Lord Murugan.  Our driver told us that it was not necessary to visit them in consecutive order and that we were blessed, as this was our third visit to one of His abodes.  The temple is constructed into the side of a mountain and deep within the sanctum lays a cave where Lord Murugan gracefully stands and gives His blessings.  We said our prayers and Swami and Amma held everyone in their thoughts.  We finished our day in good spirits and got a good laugh out of all of the locals, who were quite puzzled looking at Raghudas with a forehead covered in holy ash. Amma and Swami told the group that we would spend the next few days traveling and that this would likely take longer than expected because of road conditions.  Headlines in the paper were warning of flooded villages and blocked roadways ahead—monsoon season is in full swing.