Pollachi - Aliyar Temple

October 21st Thursday – Thiruvannamalai

It was our relative’s wedding in Samayapuram. Mom had made great plans of waking up at 5:30 am, going to the temple and then going for the wedding and meeting all relatives. But I snoozed the alarm, woke up pretty late, checked mails, and was at the verge of cancelling even sharad poornima girivalam. I wanted to go to thiruvannamalai straight from wedding, but was not comfortable traveling with jewels and silk saree. So we ended up cancelling the wedding and after packing a dinner of chappati sabji, we boarded a bus after 2 pm and reached Thiruvannamalai around 9 pm.

Swathi Sri
We booked a room for a night in Swathi Sri. The guy at the counter was a BE BL. The moment he learnt the institute I graduated from, he said, we graduates ought to pay more when I told him that he is under-quoting his income. He was charging us 450 for room rent and 150 for deposit, while in the bill, he exchanged the rates and showed us all other bills with the same cheating stating he was saving us 10% of service tax. Well whatever, I just wanted to collapse. So we had our dinner late and woke up at 2:30 am.

October 22rd Friday

Girivalam
We started our girivalam after main gopuram darshan at 3:40 am and after 3 breaks (at Kubera linga, breakfast, coffee) we reached the hotel again after 8 am. We put our slippers there and went for darshan. I wish, I could have at least a 15-30 mins peaceful darshan in the sanctum sanctorum some time. We came out, got refreshed in Swathi Sri, boarded a bus to Salem. Wikimapia showed us various routes to reach Aliyar Temple of Consciousness and we decided the board the bus that started first.

Thiruvannamalai to Salem
Never realized Yercaud was on the way. It was picturesque. Really beautiful. Hazy grey blue mountains on both sides, green fields, gentle breeze, mild sunshine, with pitter patter of drizzle, it was a pleasant journey. We reached Erode from Salem and boarded a bus to Pollachi from Erode. It was after 9 when we reached Arivu Thirukoil. We booked the beds instead of room. I tried to remain awake for Sharad poornima, but I ended up sleeping.

October 23rd Saturday

Aliyar – Azhagu Azhagu
I woke up at 5:30 am, took bath, wore a dark green garden saree and came to the Mani mandapam for the 6 am meditation, but I missed it, by few minutes and the gates were locked. It was good in a way, I was wonderstruck with the beauty of the hillock partially hidden by mist and clouds, with the rising sun with its orange red hues pervading the eastern sky. The women in our dorm were on a 3 day Vazhndhu Kaattuvom Program, sent by the state government. The instructor met us on the way and asked us to join and we ended up going for early morning exercise. He said, if we are interested, we could enroll and after a few formalities, we were formally enrolled in the program. Luckily for breakfast we had wheat gruel, so I could eat.

Monkey Falls and Dam
A Swaraj Mazda was arranged for us, by the office and we reached Monkey Falls, and enjoyed the scenary. The gentle downpour and constant roar of waterfalls was energizing. Wish, I were born a guy, I could have taken bath and got thoroughly soaked in the pristine pure water. 2 govt employee guys were taking my snap without my permission near the falls and in the class session. We returned for our 3:40 pm session, where we were taught Kaya Kalpa.

In 2008, my school mate who had rahu in his 7th house had taught me this, after I insisted so much. I wanted to learn the whole set of exercises then, but only now, I got the chance. Now I really realized the truth that I should never learn anything for free and that I should learn good things from able gurus with proper explanation. I missed practicing it for 2 years, now that am certified, I know the benefits and am enthused to do it daily. After Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali yoga, institute GS’ surya namaskars and yet another different set of yogas, pranic healing and vipassana, now this is a new method, kind of same, yet quite different. My only confusion is that in pranic healing, I was asked to remove my pushparagam and meditate (because it will cause energy imbalance) while here, my instructor, says it is alright.

October 24th Sunday
We woke up at 5:15, and I missed my 6 am meditation again, because I wanted to have tea, and I ended up going to Omkara Mandapam. I had missed packing my kurta, and was embarrassed to meditate and exercise in my long dark scarlet red skirt and tight T-shirt. Wish I had got my white kurta. After seeing the museum, Vethathri Mahrishi’s room upstairs, we finished all components of the 3 day course, got our certificates and started from ashram after 2 pm. The instructor and one coimbatore lady volunteer adopted me as their daughter and I was overwhelmed with their kindness and kisses on my forehead and blessings.

Pollachi-Palani-Trichy
We reached Palani around 5 pm, and decided to go to Dandayuthapani Swamy temple as well. We took the train kind of thing while going up, had a darshan of Raja alankar Murugan and took the rope car back. Wish I had more time, though we could sit down for special darshan, it was again only for few minutes. I had rava dosa in saravana bhavan and we reached home at 3 am.

I missed 3 vocal classes, got so much to catch up now. Lost my mobile charger in Thiruvannamalai and my mobile is down without charge.