As I write this post, it’s the night before my last day in Tiruvannamalai. I spent the last 3 months staying in an apartment nearby Ramana ashram and Arunachalam. I didn’t plan for such a long stay, I was only thinking of a month or two, but things panned out into 3 months here.

Here are some thoughts about my experience,

Staying Inside the Ashram v/s Outside

Lot of sadhakas are going through the struggle between wanting to spend more time at the ashram but also not being able to fit in to the strict regimen the place demands. Tiruvannamalai gives us an option of staying in the city right by powerful ashrams and shrines.

Having stayed for a year inside an ashram (Isha yoga center) and also outside it, I really appreciated this opportunity of being outside and yet so close to Ramanasramam in Tiruvannamalai.

This situation brings with it interesting consequences like staying in a community of sadhakas but not being bound by any daily routine rules. Getting access to some support with regards our Sadhana but also just being able to do our own thing.

Multiple Ashrams and Yogis

The other somewhat unique situation of Tiruvannamalai is that it is home to a lot of Yogis over the years. Ramana Maharishi may be the most popularly known but there are many more.

This creates a different ambiance of seeking and Sadhana culture compared to being in one ashram where everyone kind of adheres to the same path. Plus, there is the deep religious environment here also which adds to this whole situation.

Different Sadhakas, Different Paths

The fall out of the above 2 situations is that myriad sadhakas from different paths come and settle in Tiruvannamalai. These are not people belonging to any of the ashrams in town. There was a Japanese couple I met, who were staunch followers of Ramakrishna math. They had stayed in different RK centres around India but they somehow gravitated to Tiru, and set up their base here.

One of my sadhaka friend has the habit of asking about other people’s Sadhana routine. And everyone seems to have a different thing going. I have my Isha yoga practices (kriya), others have bhakti, some have jnana-self enquiry as key practice. Everyone also gravitates to different Sadhana spots as there are a lot of ashrams and samadhi places.

As I have written earlier, I am happy to go to any ashram and meditate, as long as it is conducive for meditation. So it may well happen that while I don’t “follow” or even know much about a particular spot, I can just be meditating there. And for a lot of people they just end up finding their own unique sadhana routine once they stay here a while.

Flipside of too many sadhakas

The flipside of this is that often one gets into non-useful “spiritual conversations”. Where one wonders what the purpose of all this talking is. Plus, unsolicited advise – the bane of Indian intellect.

I have also been a witness to the proverbial clash of bhakti yogis with kriya yogis and so on. The other day I enquired with a friend whether he had come to Tiruvannamalai for the upcoming Full Moon day. He said, the significance of the full moon is for bhakti yogis and not for Ramana’s jnana path. I told him that lunar phases are considered significant by kriya yogis as well. This is just one example of this. He wasn’t aware of this. So I explained a little bit that I know of it. It made for interesting conversation.

Small Town & International Money

As often seen near these ashram places, foreigners (also now rich indians) start hanging around. And the huge economic difference means that the local Indians cannot afford a lot of things, all of a sudden.

Typically, in India, the increased money does not imply design or aesthetics. It just makes people build houses without basic sanitation processes and so on. You get the gist. So here we see a field full of cows and horses. At the edge of the field where it meets the walking path is a black sewer filled with dirty water. In the field there is garbage dumped. So, we know what these cows are eating. We find service apartments with costs same as bigger towns. And on practically, all religious and spiritual routes, locals and saffron clad men are sitting around begging.

Local women roaming around with lunch bags, prolly having some small job nearby, will stop and beg from you. The economic disparity makes even the working locals into beggars. Is it about “Why not make a quick buck……” or other harsh realities?

Old sadhakas having left their jobs and having settled nearby the ashram, now don’t have means to sustain their lifestyle. Economic inflation in last decade has been unprecedented.

All in all though, with a bit of money one can stay in this odd mix of village, town and ashram ambiance. It can be a good place to sustain and build on our spiritual practices.

(Note: all my observations and experiences here are about the area near Ramana ashram. Chengam road 3rd, 4th to be specific. The ambiance may be significantly different in the actual town centre…. )