Take a walk and lose some Karma!

I've spent six days in the Guru saturated town of Tiruvanamalai. The Gurus, Sages, and their followers have all come here for a good reason. The town lays at the base of the sacred Mt. Arunachala where it is believed that Shiva's most powerful energy dwells. At the base also sits the largest Shiva Temple in all of India. The temple tower entrances have an uncanny resemblance to the pyramid forms in Mexico and Egypt, the largest one looms 13 stories high. At the center of this 2,000 yr old temple are rooms and corridors so quiet and still I could see how Sadhus have been known to meditate in them for years at a time.

I really came to this place to witness the Nation wide all night celebration of Shivaratri. The new moon night is filled with devotional worship to Shiva's whose energy assists in clearing karma. I met up with two South American friends whom I met at Amma's Ashram and we joined the masses on the 8 mile pilgrimage around the mountain. When we weren't all laughing (from exhaustion) and chanting together they were singing me Spanish songs to the puzzlement of the fellow Pilgrims. With a small temple every few hundred feet I can't count how many I saw that night, or how many times I chanted to Shiva to help me make it to the end. It was long and somewhat uncomfortable, but I did cheat a little by wearing shoes, unlike the thousands of Indians who make the journey barefoot. About a million Indians came from near and far to take this pilgrimage, and some had to do it in mid-day heat of 90 degrees, as in the photo with the men wearing limes all over their bodies. The effort was absolutely worth it, I'm exhilarated to have released some unnecessary baggage. Not too bad, take a walk and lose some karma!