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Dear friends
So we have a full moon almost over. Pilgrims can flow around the Mountain all the time, but the most auspicious time will end after noon. The major part of the pilgrims, of course, arrived on a warm tropical night, but many walk by day. I enjoyed the Moon's full moon very much, I walked twice through the forbidden forests in peace and silence, and yesterday I walked along the road with a crowd of pilgrims barefoot.
In the first picture you can see that attendance was as usual as ever. The next picture is already getting dark, and Arunachala is like a backdrop at the view from the temple of Skanda - Murugan, where people ignite fires. Their passion makes it clear why pilgrims are not allowed in a freshly planted forest
The next picture shows the crowd around South Lingam, who worshiped the God of Death and the Order Dharma. And the next picture shows the fire in front of the Lingam building
We are approaching the turn to Adiannamalai and here the Mountain is only in the dark and in the moonlight. At the intersection is the temple of Valamburi Ganesha, one of the few who has the trunk bent to the right, a much more powerful protector, but of course requires much more care.
Furthermore, you can see various fires in the stone houses at the Temple of Sage Durvasa, and we are already on the western side, where there is a great temple of God Arunachala with a magnificent view of its special shape. A little further away is the Gajatri mantra temple, the basic mantra of Hinduism, also mentioned by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita.
A little farther away is the bad-looking brahmin at Lingam Surya - the Sun and Nandin, covered with leaves of sacred trees. From it is very close to the temple of Sai Baba, beautiful, new, airy and with a marble floor, where many pilgrims like to rest in peace.
We can already see the Mountain from the other side, with the secondary peak of Shiva's wife Parvati. Here, too, the mountain has a fairly faithful shape of an elephant's head, where Parvati is a raised trunk. The next picture shows the whole family. It is Ambishekam Lingam, where Shiv's Lingam is surrounded by the wife of Parvati and the sons of Ganesha and Skanda, and water is constantly flowing from their hands, and Lingam washes, which is Ambishekam, bathing the sacred idol in water or milk and other gifts that people receive from Gods.
Then a picture of sacred cobra and parrots, the two in the cage are for 250 Rupees, they are not quite mature yet, but they will mature soon :-)
And now we are at the great temple, the classic crowd at the main entrance, where everyone wants to greet the God of the gods, fire may burn at the south gate because there is not so much crowd. And next to fires a lady sells coconuts.
And I'm almost home, the temple of lemons is dedicated to the goddess Durga killing the demon Mahisha, which was the reason for her birth. It used to be a temple at the end of the city where wagons stopped to bless for the journey. The end of the city is now two kilometers further, but it trucks, buses and cars and motorbikes stops here for the same blessing.
And the last picture shows what I looked after all the blessings and fourteen kilometers of barefoot pilgrimage around Mountain I.
Have a nice time !!
Josef Fric
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