Bhairava Natakam in Thiruvannamalai

For everyone who treads the path of spirituality, the obvious question is “Who is God? Is he really there?  Will I get a chance to see him? Will I attain salvation? Will HE help me?”  Usually with these questions in mind a journey of thousand miles for spiritual quest begins. As much is the duty of a true spiritual seeker to submit himself unconditionally at the lotus feet of the Lord, so much is the responsibility of the Supreme soul to behold the faith and usually He, the Supreme Avatar, manifest Himself in various forms comprehendible for human kind and bless us and by so doing help human kind to emerge stronger. You would have come across many people saying that they had this Divine experience with the Supreme Soul- Paramatma, but being a part of such an experience is completely different. Such experiences usually go a long way in reinforcing the faith in Lord, which is why I am very happy to share one such experience with you all which happened on 8^th Nov 2009.

There are many places of spiritual significance in South India particularly in TamilNadu, known for Siva worship. The Light of Arunachala, situated in Thiruvannamalai district in TamilNadu guides millions of devotees in their spiritual quest. Lord Siva, who controls and beholds the five elements of earth within himself, manifests himself in Agni form [Agni Sthala- Agni means Fire] in Thiruvannamalai.  The place is not only known for its Siva temple, but also for the Sidhars [Higher Spiritual beings who prays Siva- Should I say they are none but manifestation of Siva himself] and their divine influence which can be felt by any true spiritual seeker. The prominent way in which devotees offer their prayers to Lord Arunachala, is by doing KIRIVALAM. “Kiri” is a Tamil word which means Mountain, valam means “Walking around”.  All devotees walk around the Mount [14 kms] and finally end their walk in front of the Temple and offer their prayers. On 8^th of November 2009, a magic got unfolded in front of our eyes as we started our Kirivalam. Read on and experience the magic yourself.

Myself [Ashok] and my friend Mahesh [He is really a mentor for me] started from Bangalore on 7^th November around noon towards Thiruvannamalai. It’s the 23^rd time for Mahesh and 6^th for me in doing Kirivalam. It was a cloudy day and the weather forecast was not encouraging either.  Usually our friends from Chennai will join us and we as a group of 5 people used to go for Kirivalam. Due to heavy rains across TamilNadu and due to other personal duties this time they choose not to come. So it was all left between me and Mahesh this time to witness the miracle. We reached Thiruvannamalai on 7^th November evening around 7 PM and we went to the temple and had a wonderful darshan of the Lord. There was not much crowd due to rains and we had a peaceful darshan. The plan was to have our food and come back to the hotel by 9 PM and take rest and start around 4 AM in the morning for Kirivalam. This is our regular schedule. Till this moment we had absolutely no clue that we are going to witness a magic the very next day. I was a little restless that night and did not get sleep. I was looking out for signs of clouds and they were all around the place. But we had an umbrella with us and so not worried at all.

We started walking towards the temple at 4:10 AM in the morning on 8^th of November to start our Kirivalam. It was drizzling slowly and we found an auto rickshaw and reached the temple’s Rajagopuram. Unlike any other day where you will find at least 10-15 people in front of the temple, it was pitch dark and no one was to be seen anywhere nearby. The place was mostly empty and clogged with rain water. We prayed in front of the Raja Gopuram and started with our Kirivalam. The spiritual significance of doing Kirivalam is that there are 8 lingas around the mountain via – Indira Linga, Agni Linga, Ema Linga, Niruthi Linga, varuna linga, Vayu Linga, Gubera Linga and Isanya Linga. After offering your prayers at each of these temples we finally surrender at the lotus feet of Lord Arunachala who is the prime deity.

As we started it started raining again. The area was so damp not even the dogs were to be seen on the streets in front of the Temple. We approached Indira Linga temple which is very close to the Raja Gopuram and pat from nowhere a Dog joined us. I am usually a little scared of dogs courtesy of my college friend Siva. But surprisingly the dog came along with us right till the gates of Indira lingam temple and offered its prayers along with us. It was strange, we thought but at that moment it looked like it was just a coincidence. We continued with our journey and interestingly we found that the Dog started following us. We passed through the streets of Thiruvannamalai and soon got connected to the mail road leading to Ramnasharamam. The Dog did not leave even for a moment and for a street dog its behavior was very strange. It did not bark or enter into a fight or in other words it was not behaving like a street dog. Mahesh sir advised that we should buy bread for the dog and we stopped at a nearby tea shop. The dog happily ate the piece of bread and looked like it got all its energy back. By now we had already walked about 1.5 kms. Though it was completely strange for a dog to follow us for 1.5 KMS we thought maybe this is just a coincidence and the journey continued.                                                                
                                                                            
File Photo Taken from another Devotees Blog who had a similar experience:

As we walked the Dog also come along with us. We went to Agni lingam and completed our prayers. The Dog also came till the point from where it can see the statue of the Lord and in a peculiar gesture[Like a bow] it also offered its prayers. We went to Ema Lingam and the same happened. By now it started raining again and we thought that the Dog might go off now and may take rest in the shade of the temple. But as the saying goes “Man proposes and God Disposes”. Braving the rain the dog started walking along with us. Though we felt pity for the Dog as it was drenched we could do nothing. By now it was about to dawn and we were near the Niruthi Lingam walking towards Adi Annamalai. This stretch of 4 kms have a number of temples. To my surprise we found that this Dog turns its head in the direction of temple whenever we came across one. By now I was convinced that this is not an ordinary Dog, but truly a Siddar who might have taken the form of Dog. [I have heard and read in books that Siddars can take any form they like].  It was around 6:30 AM in the morning. People have already started coming out to the streets. Another interesting thing is that the Dog stopped every 100 yards to verify that we are also coming. May be I thought there is no one on the streets apart from us now and so it might have been a coincidence. But even with people on the streets the Dog did not leave us.

It was a cold morning and we had our natures call. No matter what we do and where we go the Dog religiously followed us, no exceptions. There was one old man near the Adi Annamalai temple who offered tea for this Dog. [May be I think he was a sidhar and looking back I feel that I have missed recognizing him at that instant]. Though there were about 5-6 people only He called out the Dog on seeing it and happily gave the tea he was holding in His hand. The Dog was happily sipping the tea and we thought we should move on leaving the Dog there. We were just passing by Raghavendra Swamy Mutt building and we decided to enter the Brindhavanam and render our prayers. I looked back to and saw the Dog looking at the opposite direction and was sipping its tea. We were praying inside the Brindhavanam and pat came Tommy [by Now Mahesh sir started calling Him Tommy]. We were completely surprised to see Him behind us and religiously even He prayed to the Lord and went and sat near the Tulasi plant.

Another File Photo of the Bhairavar:

We were completely taken aback. I thought that the Dog may not find us inside the temple. Instead not only that it found us but also came and politely sat near the Brindhavanam for a minute and went to the Tulsi plant. [Tulsi is considered Holy in India and is believed to be incarnation of Goddess ParaShakti]. We started again and it started raining a little heavily now. The Dog was completely drenched. We can see that it was getting tired. We reached Surya Lingam and so He also came and sat near the gate guarding the Garba Graha. When we started he was still sitting there taking rest and we thought that may it got tired and may not continue. More so it was raining heavily by now. As destiny may have it He started running towards us after a couple of minutes and started walking with us. Mahesh sir bought a packet of Milk Bikis and we offered to him and he had it happily and was displaying higher levels of energy by now. The ritual was repeated, wherever we went He also came and when there is a temple His head will always bow in front of the Lord and He will always wait for us to join him. By now we have completed 8 KMS and the journey was on.

Now again I had natures call and wanted to step aside from the road and behind the trees and asked Mahesh sir to keep moving. To my surprise it came along with me and did not leave me no matter what where I am and what I did. It deeply moved me and reinforced my belief that this is a special day. We were wondering where this is going to end. Here we are, two people seeking His blessings, having a special day in our life where ParaBrahmam Lord Arunachala himself is guiding us through this Kirivalam. He is not a Dog [Had you noticed I have capsized this word in this summary to convey that He is the one who came along with us in the form of Bhairava]. There was a divine message we could read. No matter what, be it a rainy day under the cloud or under the hot sun, a true Spiritual seeker should brave the surrounding environment and if he keeps his faith in Lord then he will always be rewarded. I wanted to call my other friends who decided to stay back in Chennai as to what is happening here. But we wanted to understand where it is going to end before we tell anyone about this divine experience.

By now we had completed 11 kms and were about to visit Isanya Lingam which is the last one before we go the Annamalayar temple. The Dog came all along with us. It looked strange and divine at the same time. It is very unusual. Not every day we get such experiences. I had a similar experience once in Mantralayam and once in Thiruvannamalai a couple of years back but the scale and majesty of this experience is overwhelming. We were just wondering as to where this is all leading to. Where is it that this Dog is going to leave us having acted as a divine guardian and giving us more strength to brave the rainy conditions. We were in our final lap and we could see the Raja Gopuram and we found Him happily walking ahead of us. The joy with which it was running is inexplicable. It was as if the child and the Mom were reunited after long years of separation.

We entered the temple and He came along with us. We stood in front of Murugan sannidhi and He stood by our side. We went to Ganapathy sannidhi and He came along with us.

     Me and the Bhairavar before entering RajaGopuram:

We were spell bound. As we walked towards the inner praharam, unmindful of the police man waving his hands He came along with us till the point we entered the area after Balipetam. As if His duty for the day is done he calmly left the place and went and slept in the mandapam. When we came out after our Darshan, we knew that this day will go down in our memory as a very special day where we were the privileged ones to have been accompanied by the Lord himself who manifested today in front of us as Bhairava.

For those of you who at this moment are reading this blog, i request you for only one thing. Keep your faith in God and surrender at his lotus feet and rest assured you are bound to experience only BLISS. For those of you who have not been to Thiruvannamalai..... please make a trip. Rest assured you are bound to have your own experience.

Natakam Thodarum ...............