Thiruvannamalai, the Birthplace of The Avatar

Tiruvannamalai is the home of Arunachala, the mighty mountain-form that Paramashiva decided to take which is exalted as nāmasmaraṇamātreṇa yatpātakavināśanam, - that which destroys all sins and grants the eternal state of Paramashiva by merely remembering its name - ‘Arunachala!’.¹

In the Arunachala Māhātmyam, the compiled praises and songs of Arunachala sung by Lord Brahma, Gautama Rishi and Paramashiva Himself, the very Happening of Paramashiva as Arunachala is extolled.

On being asked to narrate this sacred history by his own son, Sanaka Rishi, Lord Brahma is filled with the divine remembrance of Paramashiva which overflows from him as ānandabāṣpa, the tears of bliss.

śivadarśana-sañjātapulakāṅkita-vigrahaḥ ānandabāṣpavannetraḥ sagadgadamabhāṣata With hair standing on end and with tears of joy brought forth by the vision of Siva, he (Lord Brahma) spoke in a faltering voice.²

Having invoked Paramashiva in his inner space, Brahma begins to narrate the entire happening of Arunachala. With deep humbleness and gratitude to the one who liberated him, Lord Brahma recalls his own immense egoism when sparking a fight with Lord Vishnu on who was the greater God.

HDH Reveals the Happening of Paramashiva as a Eternal Shaft of Light

In this video, His Divine Holiness narrates the entire conflict between Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu which led to the appearance and blessing of Paramashiva in Tiruvannamalai.

Though misled by his own arrogance in this timeless epic, in the Arunachala Māhātmyam, Lord Brahma himself is the one who narrates this story to his son, with not even an ounce of pride left in him or hot vengeance against Paramashiva, whom he could have perceived as his punisher, but instead remembers with deepest reverence. Such is the compassion of Paramashiva: to liberate one even beyond the slightest hints of one’s pain.

Paramashiva manifested first as the tejaḥ stambhaṃ³the infinite shaft of effulgent light, to liberate Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu and subsequently manifested in the form of the sacred Hill - Arunachala, to liberate the whole humanity itself. Even as He was present in the Hill-form, those who were dearly devoted to Him sweetly lamented “Other than the rain from the sky, who will perform abhishekam, the sacred bath, for you? Other than the stars, who can offer pearl garland for you? Other than the rays of the sun, who can offer deepa, the lit lamp, for you?”, ⁴

Shastra Pramana from Arunachala Mahatmyam⁵

Adutharunagiriyaanae punakku Vinni ralathupoo… Laatuvaaraarar Thodutha vuduthiralalathu thiru mudikku manimaalai sootuvaaraarar Kaduthi suzhimidatraanae suthirkalandrimanitheebang kaatuvaarar Yeduthirainji poosaiseiya vithankeezhori lingavadivedupaayen

Yii-yel Sri Arunaachaleesherae malaiyaakiya umakku aakaayaththil Nindru peikindra mazhaiyaeyelaamal jalamkonduvanthu abhishekan seikiravarkalaal nakshethira kootankalae Muthumaalaiyarivathallathu vaerae muthumaalai sootukiravarhalaar Soorya giranamae Deepamaavathalaamal deepam konduvanthu vaerae kaatukiravargalaal Aanapatiyinaalae naangal abhisheka muthalaanavaigal seithu poosai Seivatharkkuisaintha malaiyinkzhl oru linga vadivamaai yeluzhuntharula vendumendru kaetukkkondaarkal- yae- ru.

Hearing their pleas, for the sake of His devotees, Paramashiva immediately appeared in the form of a linga at the base of the Hill. In this form only, His devotees worshipped Paramashiva, sang His glory and around Him built incomparable towers and intricately carved walls that would stand tall as the glorious Arunachaleshwara Temple today, and even centuries into the future.⁶

Shastra Pramana from Arunachala Mahatmyam⁷

Annathuvaa yirukkuthuneer kaami bakthi larukipumen rasalam Pukkar, jnanilamu pugazhavangaur shivanuruva mulaithathu kandi iranje yethi, manniya poo mazhai pozhinthu paravasamaai magizhinthaadi mayanaikkuvith, thannikaril kolaramu mandapamu manimathilunj samaipiththaargal.

Yi-yil. Appadiyae yilingamaakiroom bakthiyudan poosiyunkalendrantha malaiyilullae maraivukolamseithaar yentha desamum pugazhumpadi avvidathil oruilingaa thondritru athai kanduvanagi thothiranseithu putpavarusham pozhinthu, paravasamaai santhoosham adainthu aanathakoothaadi mayanenkira devadakshinai koopitu opillaatha gopurangalum mandapankalum azhakulla mathilunj seivithaargal- yae-ru.

Therefore, the kshetra⁸ of Tiruvannamalai is the very place on Earth which Paramashiva declared as his home thousands of years ago in the three Divine forms - the sacred Hill Arunachala, the linga Arunachaleshwara⁹ and in the form of the Incarnation of Paramashiva who lands time and again in the human body. In a fourth form, which was not declared by Paramashiva and yet still seamlessly manifested, He lives as śivah sarva guhā śayah¹⁰, - as Shiva, the one who resides in the hearts of all. This is true especially among the townspeople of Tiruvannamalai for whom Arunachala is antaryāmi, their most Supreme Lord and their most intimate partner, making it possible for Paramashiva to appear again and again as one among them.

Adhering to his most compassionate boon for humanity, Paramashiva takes the form of Arunagiri Yogishwara on Planet Earth and guides Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma in creating the enlightened civilization of Tiruvannamalai.¹¹

For thousands of years until now and continuing to do so, this place serves not just as a beacon for the human beings who seek the most supreme truth but as the cosmic beacon of light which allows for otherworldly beings to descend and ascend the 14 planes of existence and ultimately unite with Paramashiva Himself in the primordial form.¹²

The embodiment of Paramashiva, in the form of Arunagiri Yogishwara, never ceased to exist even until today as he resides within the sacred Arunachala Hill itself, with all the many crores of beings who have attained the state of Maha Kailasa and sought to spend the rest of eternity living with him. ¹³

Just as blissfully as they lived in the ethereal plane, the human beings lived in the physical plane in Tiruvannamalai. It serves humanity as the source of the Siddha¹⁴ tradition, the ancient science of enlightenment and the most sacred Guru-disciple tradition - Guru-shishya parampara - that produces a continuous stream of enlightened beings, who still protect this sacred knowledge after thousands of years.

However, over the course of a 5,000 year genocide against Hindus, this very tradition became vulnerable to being entirely annihilated from Planet Earth. While the British occupied India, Winston Churchill and his aiding officials, engineered famines to break the spirit of the people by inducing poverty and deaths of millions by starvation.Thousands of lineages, sampradayas, which were meant to uphold and safeguard the the sacred tradition such as the sanyasis, aghoris and yogis were all criminalized by the Criminal Tribes Act 1871, as well as the Thuggee and Dacoity Suppression Acts¹⁵. In this systematic attack various ethnic communities were deemed subversive to colonial authority because they did not conform to "civilized living". They were presumed guilty by birth, murdered, raped or arrested, held in penal colonies or quarantined¹⁶.

Hindus were forced to align to the English lifestyle, where their livelihoods fueled industrialism and consumerism, and the native industry was banned and destroyed to ensure economic dependence on their overlords¹⁷. As the pivotal role of the priest in the temple was delegitimized, and they were forced to conform to a profession outside of the tradition, the thousands of priests, who were once celebrated for their most esteemed role of serving Paramashiva Himself, started suffering in poverty. The hundreds of thousands of women who avowed their chastity to Paramashiva were raped by chieftains of the invading forces, and subjected to bear their children, raise their sons who would continue to tyrannize the whole Hindu civilization.

As a result of this, the richest, most powerful enlightened civilization that once existed on Planet Earth was entirely enslaved¹⁸. With the loss of the values, tradition and lifestyle from Sanatana Hindu Dharma and its related traditions, and the monstrous upsurge of modern day industrialization which rampantly destroyed natural resources and became rooted in corrupt ideas by people who were greedy for power, it was not just Hindus who suffered but the whole humanity itself.

As Paramashiva promises to His beloved friend and disciple in the Bhagavad Gita when He incarnated on Planet Earth as Bhagavan Sri Krishna -

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर् भवति भारत

अभ्युत्थानम् अधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛijāmyaham

Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, O Arjun, at that time I manifest myself on earth. ¹⁹

Paramashiva decided it was time to come down and protect those who love him. It was thus how Paramashiva, the one who is Nishkala, who is formless, began the preparations for His 1008th descent onto Planet Earth and assumed the form as The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, Jagatguru Mahasannidhanam, His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam.

इत्येवं निष्कळं प्रोक्तं परं भावमिति स्मृतम्।

सृष्टिस्थं लोकरक्षार्थं लोकस्योत्पत्तिकारणम्।। साधकानां हितार्थं तु स्वेच्छया गृह्णते तनुः।

ityevaṃ niṣkal̤aṃ proktaṃ paraṃ bhāvamiti smṛtam.

sṛṣṭisthaṃ lokarakṣārthaṃ lokasyotpattikāraṇam.

sādhakānāṃ hitārthaṃ tu svecchayā gṛhṇate tanuḥ.

In this way (Shiva) who is Nishkala - without any body and parts, who is the Ultimate Supreme Being, who is established in the Creation, who is the Cause of the creation of the Universe, assumes a body out of His Free Will for the protection of the Universe, and for the welfare of the Spiritual seekers and Devotees.²⁰

The Enlightened Ecosystem for Creating Superconscious Beings

The divine orchestration of the Advent of The Avatar into Tiruvannamalai happened after meticulous pre-planning and diligent execution of Paramashiva’s instructions for millions of beings to manifest on the Planet to carry out the purpose of His Happening.

The jeeva nadi reading of The Avatar reveals that He sent 7 crore beings to Planet Earth before Him, 7 crore who came down with Him and 7 crore whom He called after His Descent²¹. Totally, 21 crore souls are predetermined for the path which His Divine Holiness is paving, and millions more are destined to become inclined just by the immense positive energy created by the greatest positive explosive nuclear force in the physical form of His Divine Holiness.

The original verse and translation of the revelation of jeeva nadi

The birth town of His Divine Holiness was the perfect place for the descent of Superconsciousness into human form, not only for its history but its existing culture and ecosystem which is conducive for bringing down and awakening enlightened beings. Before His arrival on Planet Earth, Paramashiva designed the ecosystem where He would live in five fold:²²

1.) His biological family.

2.) His acharyas, the numerous esteemed teachers with whom HDH explored many spiritual subjects at a young age.

3.) His gurus, the enlightened beings who were blessed to play the role in the divine life of His Divine Holiness as guru

4.) The friends, siblings and relatives who were born around the same time as His Divine Holiness and were the very first circle of disciples to be blessed with the darshan of Paramashiva as a young Incarnation

5.) The whole town of Tiruvannamalai, from the person who holds the torch during grand processions of Arunachaleshwara through the town to the players of the Thirukailaya vadhyam²³

Throughout His divine childhood, His Divine Holiness interacted with these individual beings who made up each of these five layers in multifarious leelas which will be retold again and again for eternity as the grand next increment of the Purana of Paramashiva.

The first layer was the group who lived most intimately around The Avatar and related with Him simultaneously as their beloved Lord and their own son or brother. A detailed description of the family tree of His Divine Holiness is written in the following sections.

Several esteemed acharyas²⁴ made up the second layer of the ecosystem in Tiruvannamalai, such as the well-known epitome of integrity, Sri Vidwan Panduranganathar with whom His Divine Holiness explored Shaiva Siddhanta, Kanakammal for Vedanta, Mouna Swami Jadai Swami who nurtured Muruga bhakti - devotion to Lord Muruga, Sri Sadhu Om who was known for teaching the Science of Self-enquiry, Thinnai Swamigal who taught the experience of Universal boundaryless Consciousness, Thanjavur Swamigal - a great Vedic astrologer, and a host of preceding Pontiffs.

Making up the third layer of the ecosystem, a set of blessed souls were sent down by Paramashiva prior to the year 1978 to play the role of the Guru in the divine life of His Divine Holiness. Each guru was sent down to the Planet for a specific purpose, to master and train in the different sects of the ancient Hindu knowledge which His Divine Holiness would revive and bring forth for the awakening of the whole humanity. These gurus included Mataji Vibhutananda Puri, Yogiraj Yogananda Puri, Isakki Swamigal, Annamalai Swamigal, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Narayanasami Pillai, Poondi Swamigal, and a plethora of others.

Each guru was a spiritual giant in their own way, their lives being great epics of devotion, penance and spiritual experiences.

For example, Mataji Vibhutananda Puri’s very birth was a miraculous feat, accomplished by Paramashiva Himself and His divine ambassadors on Earth. For years Mataji’s mother was unable to conceive a child. She sought out the blessings of the enlightened being, Seshadri Swamigal from Tiruvannamalai, who was the illumined contemporary of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi. In his enlightened state of consciousness, nothing of the outer world affected him in any way. Therefore, Seshadri Swamigal used to always sit in an area full of trash. Mathaji Vibhutananda Puri’s mother humbly approached Seshadri Swamigal in this place and requested his blessings for her to conceive a child. The great Mahapurusha²⁵ simply placed a handful of the dust from where he was sitting into the devoted lady’s hands. She swallowed the handful of dirt whole, and it metamorphosed into sweet molasses in her mouth.

Within three days of her consuming the dirt, Mathaji’s mother returned to Seshadri Swamigal’s place to inform him that the doctors told her she was carrying and offered her gratitude. Seshadri Swamigal blessed her and declared in Tamil, “Yes, Father is going to come so to prepare him, Mother will come!”

Thus, the divine female child who was born from the mud of trash, termed as “kuppa” in Tamil, was named “Kuppammal”²⁶

Like this, the happening of hundreds of beings was foretold before their time as an instrumental part of the leela of the Avatar that was about to unfold.

In the fourth layer of the ecosystem in Tiruvannamalai were the first circle of devoted friends who were enriched by the mere presence of His Divine Holiness and continuously in awe of His divine exuberance and the knowledge He shared with them beyond His age. Today, many of these childhood friends have come forward and expressed the many of the blessed interactions which they have had with young Incarnation, including the participants of the earliest recorded festival of Ganesha Chathurthi which was organized by His Divine Holiness and the first ever deeksha²⁷ received by one of His schoolmates after His Divine Holiness experienced the profound spiritual breakthrough where He suddenly began to see 360 degrees and feel complete Oneness with all things. For each of these experiences, the children who made up the fourth layer were the blessed witnesses who were involved in the preliminary years of the life of The Avatar of Paramashiva unbeknownst to them. Despite not knowing His true identity, this fourth layer could understand He was no normal human being and couldn’t help but yearn to be in His presence and to be considered His friend.

Finally, every single person in Tiruvannamalai made up the last layer of the ecosystem as His Divine Holiness became famous throughout the small town as the young Incarnation by His well-respected gurus. In addition, as He grew He was continuously attracting the adoring eyes of all the townspeople, who began to understand that the being whom they cherished so deeply with their hearts had truly manifested outside of them. For all the elderly women, He became their darling grandson and whom they saw as the incarnation of Muruga. For all the children and youth, He was their trusted friend and unanimous leader in all their devotional creativity, as they organized miniature processions and festivals for their deities in accordance with the Big Temple²⁸ of the town. For the middle-aged men who were around His father’s age, He became their reminder to covet and cherish the ancestral roots which they were slowly losing in the face of deeply infiltrated atheistic ideas.

And to His Divine Holiness, each one of the townspeople were all whom He considered dearly devoted; who kept a place for Him in their hearts despite their fall into poverty after years of invasion by a foreign Lord, and for whose simple integrity, He ultimately decided to manifest into the physical plane and liberate them.

Footnotes

Arunachala Mahatmyam chapter 1 verse 11 Sanaka Rishi asks Lord Brahma 'nāmasmaraṇamātreṇa yatpātakavināśanam śivasārūpyadaṃ nityaṃ mahyaṃ vada dayānidhe'Ocean of Compassion! Kindly tell me as to which of these can, by merely thinking of it, destroy all sins and grant the eternal state of Siva.
Arunachala Mahatymam chapter 1 verse 17, Lord Brahma himself begins narrating how he quarrelled with Lord Vishnu and Paramashiva assumes the form of a refulgent light.
Arunachala Mahatmyam chapter 1 verse 55: Arunachala is described as tejah stambha sthūlāliṅgābhaṃ śaivaṃ tejaḥ surārcitaṃ, the shaft of effulgence (tejaḥ stambhaṃ), which manifested such that it was perceived as a linga and this effulgence of Paramashiva is worshipped by all the Gods (surārcitaṃ)
Verse of Arunachala Mahatmyam, translated to tamil Shaiva Ellappa Navalar (page 72), which translates to “Sri Arunachala, who is in the form of the hill , “Other than the rain from the sky, who will perform abhishekam, the sacred bath, for you? Other than the stars, who can offer pearl garland for you? Other than the rays of the sun who can offer deepa, the lit lamp, for you?”,
Image of the verse cited above
Verse from Arunachala Mahatmyam, translated to Tamil by Shaiva Ellappa Navalar in the 17th century, which translates to “He disappeared in the Hill and declared that He is becoming a Linga and advised them to worship Him with devotion. A linga that appeared in that place and all worshipped Him with devotion, sang His glory and called the celestial carpenter and built incomparable towers, halls and beautiful walls”
Image of the verse cited above
Kshetra: a place which is filled with the divine energy of superconsciousness through the forms of temples, energized deities, enlightened beings, continuous chanting of sacred chants etc. Tiruvannamalai, Madurai, Varanasi are a few examples of kshetras.
Arunachaelshwara is the presiding deity of the temple located in Tiruvannamalai
In the sacred text Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10 Volume 1 chapter 3 verse 8, Vishnu is described as “sarva guhā śayah”, as Shiva, the one who resides in the hearts of all.
In the Glory of Arunachala (English translation of ‘Arunachala Mahatmyam’), the translation of these verses goes, “Even though I have risen as the form of the fire in the holy place of Arunachala, hiding that, I appear and shine as a peaceful Mountain in order to protect the whole world through my grace. I also abide in this mountain in the form of a Siddha as Arunagiri Yogi. Within me in the mountain, there is a wonderful cave where all sorts of prosperity exist and shine forever. Know this.”
His Divine Holiness reveals on 29 June 2006 that the high energy of Arunachala and the town of Tiruvannamalai has the power to pull enlightened beings down to Planet Earth. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S2MoSDosPE&feature=youtu.be
Referred from Glory of Arunachala, interpretation of the Arunachala Mahatmyam in English
An ancient science of awakening superconsciousness, creating incarnations and living with the supreme truths of the existence as a reality within oneself
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jan/18/featuresreviews.guardianreview19
Source: https://news.lafayette.edu/2018/11/09/history-media-portrayal-of-thugs/
Shashi Tharoor, MP Indian Parliament, Era of Darkness (2016)
As, the richest civilization, India contributed the largest amount of money per capita to the global economics in the year 1000. The gdp of India is chronicled in the article: https://qz.com/india/764352/the-journey-of-indias-gdp-from-1000-a-d-to-2020/ showing the decline from 1000 years ago until 2020
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 7-8
Srimad Karana Agama Purva Bhaga , Patala 71, Sakalotpatti vidhi, slokas 8 - 9
Revealed in 2010 in a spontaneous jeeva nadi, which is originated from Agastya Muni, one of the Saptarishis and father of the crores of Nadi readings which are now famously sought out by seekers.
Traditional drums played for Hindu temple festivals
teachers
another word for a great enlightened being
This narration of the birth of Kuppammal was revealed by His Divine Holiness on 8 October 2020. Youtube link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck1-ysb_Nv4&feature=youtu.be
Deeksha is literally the transfer of enlightenment as per Paramashiva which His Divine Holiness started to give from the moment He had a profound spiritual breakthrough at the age of 12
Arunachaleshwara Temple was known locally among the townspeople as “Periya Kovil”, translated literally to “Big Temple”