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Girivalam Pradakshina 28.03.2021 Fullmoon-Night
Music: 9th Symphony, Finale (by Beethoven)

PART 1:    • Girivalam Pradakshina (PART 1) by Fullmoon...  
PART 2:    • Girivalam Pradakshina (PART 2) by Fullmoon...  
PART 3:    • Girivalam Pradakshina (PART 3) by Fullmoon...  
PART 4:    • Girivalam Pradakshina (PART 4) by Fullmoon...  

Giri Pradakshina
Girivalam is the path around Arunachala and the performance of Pradakshina, to go around the hill on this path, is one of the principle activities prescribed for devotees.

Whether undertaken as an act of devotion, duty, or to achieve boons or blessings, millions of people have made and continue to make this action a part of their spiritual experience.

Although Pradakshina may be performed at any time, certain times and days are thought to have special results and influence on our physical and mental existence.

For those devotees seeking liberation through self-realization, Pradakshina is a meditative act of worship seeking oneness with Arunachala and the realization that the Self, being all pervasive, is experienced as this state of oneness and identity with the Hill.

Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi observed that Pradakshina is “All is within me” (‘Talks #212) . In these pursuits, the Grace of Arunachala is sought by devotees on the Girivalam path.

A devotee has provided an introduction to the history and nature of Giri Pradakshina which we present below.

GIRI PRADAKSHINA

The Giri Pradakshina manifests a double ordination of space. On the one hand, it follows a course provided by a center which is the vertical axis of the Mountain. On the other hand, it is oriented by relation to the cardinal points by the distribution (on its perimeter) of shrines consecrated to the lingams of the 8 directions (Astha Lingam).

This route is 14 Kms long and about 8 metres wide. [In two places, the original path has been modified in order to shorten the way. The first place is at Adi Annamalai, where 2 mandapams and a Nandi are found, now, at a distance away from the path. Secondly, between the Eluttu mandapam and the temple of Kubera, there is a Pandya milsestone foot imprints and a Nandi which are in the middle of a field. These show the trace of an older path.]

Ashrams

In the Arunachala Puranam by Saiva Ellappa Navalar, it is recommended to do the circumambulation (Giri Pradakshina) in the month of Margazhi, to bathe in the tirthams, to be clean and fasting. One must also be covered with sacred ash, wear a rudraksha mala, repeat in one’s heart the panchakshara mantra and to walk with hands joined at the chest or above one’s head and one should have the gait of a pregnant woman carrying a full pot of oil on her head – in order not to disturb the creatures of the earth.

Next there are the list of benefits that one can gain by doing the Giri Pradakshina:

If begun in the month of Margazhi, it is equivalent to a daily Pradakshina during one whole year and results in one reaching the paradise of Shiva.

Each step around the mountain is equal to a thousand aswamedha sacrifices.

Giri Pradakshina done in the month of Thai which is the month chosen by Gods and Rishis to adore Arunachaleswarar grants pardon of one’s sins.

The enumeration of merits corresponding to the different times of the day are:

Morning: Cancels one’s sins.
Noon: Fulfills desires.
Evening: Gives prosperity.
Sunday: Makes sickness to disappear, cures diseases, makes one search the paradise of Siva.
Monday: Cancels one’s sins, makes one reach the paradise of Chandra.
Other days: Gives happiness and liberation.

On the Full Moon of Chithirai, the pradakshina grants one the vision of Siva.
3 Pradakshina in succession are equivalent to visiting hundreds of thousands of temples.
The ashthanga-pradakshina allows one to be transported to paradise upon a chariot of flowers for 1000’s of years.

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi on Giri Pradakshina:

One of the devotees asked Sri Ramana “several people here go around the hill frequently. What is its greatness?” Bhagavan then recounted the following story:

It seems Amba who was doing tapas went around the hill on the day of the Karthigai star in the first quarter of the night. Immediately after the darshan of the holy beacon (deepam) she was absorbed in Lord Siva. Bhagavan said to a devotee:

“The word pradakshina has a very precise meaning. The letter pra stands for removal of all kinds of sins; da stands for fulfilling desires; the syllable kshi stands for freedom from future births, na stands for giving deliverance through jnana.”

Bhagavan himself used to frequently go on pradakshina of Arunachala hill for several days at a stretch and used to advocate the practice to spiritual seekers saying, “what better sadhana can there be than going round the hill?”

Sources:

Tiruvannamalai: un lieu saint sivaite du Sud de l’Inde, Tome 5: La ville – C.Guilmoto, P.Pichard, M.L.Reinieche, Pondichery, Publications de l’EFEO, 1990.

Ramana’s Arunachala – Ocean of grace divine, by Sri Bhagavan’s devotees, Publication of Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 2000.