July 29th
Day 6: Spirit of Devotion
Hi everyone! My name is Namita Bhavanam and I am a college student. I was a part of the 2023 Giggling Geckos Camp 2023 along with my sister, Tapaswini. We are from Dallas, Texas!
From childhood to adulthood, birthdays bring with them memories, emotions, and experiences that help us celebrate life. They represent another year of growth and lessons and the chance to reflect and appreciate the life we have been given. This year, I had the opportunity to celebrate my 21st birthday in Harithachala with the blessings of Baba and Gurugaru. My birthday was filled with beautiful memories that I will cherish forever, emotions of connectedness and pure happiness, and experiences that I am very grateful for. Spending my birthday in Harithachala at the midpoint of our camp, after gaining so much knowledge in the first week, felt like a turning point in my life. Within the span of the first week, we were already learning so much more about ourselves, our connections with Baba & Guruji Tatayya, the world around us, and how appreciate the little things in life, and it was beautiful to be able to reflect on this personal growth and gratitude during different celebratory moments of the camp such as the birthdays. The entire two weeks of the camp, but particularly today, taught us about the spirit of devotion, learning, and community.
Midnight Wishes
The day started at midnight as all the Geckos kept themselves awake in order to wish me a happy birthday, even though I myself was falling asleep. After a long, productive day yesterday, we all got to bed and were falling into deep sleep. Midst-dream, I felt a nudge and opened one of my eyes to see Keerthana next to me as she whispered in my ear, “Happy Birthday!”, with the rest of the Geckos’ wishes trickling in. The Geckos, Sruti akka & Ammamma, and all the volunteers at Harithachala became family for us during this experience and although Dharini, me, Tanvi and Anvitha were celebrating our birthdays without our parents, it felt like we were spending it with family. The love I was showered with at midnight filled me with joy and it could not have been a better start to the new day!
Morning at the Mandir
After a restful sleep, we woke up energized and excited for the day ahead. Aswi (my younger sister) and I had the wonderful opportunity to give abhishekam today. Being able to do this on my birthday was a true blessing. The experience felt intimate and emotional - it felt like there wasn’t anyone else in the mandir except us giving abhishekam to Baba tatayya. The rays of light shining to reveal his magnificence, the tender love and devotion we could feel in his presence, and the smile on his face brightly staring back at me as we were near him made this a special and most memorable experience for me. Afterwards, I sang Sai namam! I had not sung namam in satsang in a very long time, so it was a little nerve-racking to get myself to do it. However, once I started, it felt so easy, calming, and comforting. I got lost in Baba’s eyes and felt myself completely immersed in devotion as I sang. I wanted to keep going and going - I felt so happy to express my love through namam and my focus was completely on him.
Invaluable Gifts
Next, we had our tea, grabbed our bags and started for Arunachala. Before we left, Sruti akka gave me a candle for my birthday. The candle is so valuable to me because it reminds me of the camp, our beautiful memories we made together, and the strong bonds that we have built. Uday anna did a little birthday photoshoot before we left as well. I was standing awkwardly because I did not know how to pose, but the Geckos were all screaming different poses for me from behind the camera; it was such a chaotic but cute moment. Aswi and I also got some sibling pictures, which are some of my favorite pictures of all time because they are so raw and pure. Uday anna never fails to capture the pure emotion and our big smiles on camera and the Geckos couldn’t be more thankful for him for documenting our two weeks at camp and giving us something to look back on. After the photoshoot and tea, we embarked on our journey for the day!
Ramanashramam & Seshadri Ashram
We went to Ramanashramam first. We got prasadam and sent it back to HC so that we could have it for lunch and then explored the ashramam for 30 minutes. We sat in the meditation room for a bit- many people were meditating and their faces looked so serene. Some of the girls that sat in this room for a while said that they could really focus and the energy of the others around them magnified their ability to meditate. As Pravallika experienced, “the meditation room was very peaceful- many people were meditating and everyone's faces looked so serene and I could really focus when I was there. It was refreshing to take some time for ourselves and really understand the saint. “We went around the ashramam and read the stories and history about as his practice of self-enquiry and how Arunachala represents and transmits knowledge of the transcendent Self. Aswi mentioned how when she was reading about Ramana Maharshi’s death experience when he was 16, she “felt amazed and kept re-reading the story”.
The next stop in today’s journey was the Seshradri ashram. We got some prasadam here as well, went to the temple for arati, and spent some time exploring the ashramam. Afterwards, we headed back to the farm for lunch- our Ramanashramam prasadam and a special treat to cure our heat exhaustion: junnu! I felt so blessed that I got to spend my birthday in the presence of these two powerful saints and with their blessings and prasadam. Bhagavan and how he came to be who he is, such
Skanda
We headed back to Ramanashramam to climb up to Skanda after lunch. Akka explained that it is very important for us to be quiet on the way up so that we are respectful to all the saints on Arunachala doing tapas. We passed many monkeys on the route and saw the view of Tiruvannamalai from the big rock. The hike felt a bit tough at first due to the heat but got easier as we motivated each other, and was nevertheless very rewarding. At Skanda, we learned about Guruji tatayya’s connection to Bhagavan. Gurugaru spent various periods of time in blessed solitude at Arunachala, engrossed in the depths of spiritual enquiry, and we saw the room at Skanda that he meditated in. A major inspiration to the early years of Gurugaru’s spiritual quest was Ramana Maharshi’s life and it awakened Guruji tatayya to the possibility of realization in this human life. Ramana Maharshi helped Gurugaru “see the vessel of [his] being”. As Jahu recalls when Sruti akka showed her the place Gurugaru did Sadhana for periods of time. Jahu was “scared to even go in for some reason but it just felt so amazing knowing that Gurugaru was there and he must have felt so enlightened and at peace.”
Virupaksha
Afterwards, we went to Virupaksha cave, a pitch black cave where Ramana Maharshi stayed for 17 years! Hasita was especially in awe as she exclaimed “that’s my whole lifespan!” Sruti Akka also told us about how she used to be able to hear Om inside the cave. On our walk back to the asramam from the cave, a monkey tried to take one of our water bottles! However, the monkey gave up trying to open the bottle and chose its next target: Geetika. Geetika, our resident animal-lover, saw the thirsty monkey and unscrewed her water bottle so that the monkey wouldn’t have to go through the hassle and fed him the water :).
Reflection
Going to Skanda again after years gave us some reflection about our spirit of enquiry and understanding of saints. In a conversation the Geckos has at the end of the day, we were talking about how a lot of us recall coming to Tiruvannamalai when we were younger and we remember Ramanashramam and Skanda vividly, but a lot of of our memories that we shared with each other about the ashramam were associated with the animals: the monkeys, peacocks, and nature. At that age, we found going to the ashramam to be a fun and exciting game-like experience. Personally, I remember always trying to collect peacock feathers or find the monkeys. We all knew growing up that Ramana Maharshi is an important saint, but we did not know too much about him and Guruji Tatayya’s connection to him. This conversation also reminded me of another topic the girls talked about a couple of times, about praying at temples with other gods and saints. We automatically resort to praying to Baba and Gurugaru regardless of who we are praying to. But at the camp, taking the time to really understand and learn about the saints, their history and how they came to be, and Guruji Tatayya’s experience and story with them really opened our eyes because it made us more aware of who we are praying to and why. This spirit of learning made the entire experience of going to Skanda so much more important and every time we go back, we will now feel this connection. It also made us more curious about each saint’s life and their teachings. Sruti Akka recommended the book, Letters from Ramana Ashram by Suri Nagamma and I am really interested in reading it one day! Pravallika even bought the book at the bookstore on our way out so that she can read it at college. Jahu and Sweety akka already owned this book, so they brought it with them to the ashramam to read it while sitting in Ramana Maharshi’s presence.
Advice from a Gurubandhu & Experiences
On our way out of the ashramam, a few of the girls and Sruti akka walked into Chandrasekhar uncle. (Describe who chandrasekhar uncle briefly.) He talked to us about important life lessons such as giving back to society and helping the land that nourishes us, the importance of punctuality, and building our own principles to live by. Pravallika recalls uncle’s words for giving back to the land: to “pour a glass of water for the ground to show our gratitude”. We also got into conversation about how the essence of all saints’ teachings are the same: everyone’s teachings are from the vedas and Bhagavad Gita but different in their own perspectives and interpretations. He emphasized the importance of community and relationship, and encouraged us to keep in touch after camp and build on this foundation that we created. We departed from the conversation with a story about uncle’s connection with Gurugaru. He was talking about how Gurugaru has such a powerful force that Chandrasekhar uncle couldn’t sit in front of him for more than 15 minutes without feeling a huge wave of emotion that led him to cry. It was a beautiful experience to close our conversation.
Me, Pravallika, Hasita, and Keerthi were in the car ride back to HC with Sruti akka and had some interesting discussions on the way. We talked about experiences of us crying in front of Baba and Gurugaaru similar to Chandrasekhar uncle’s experience, like Keerthi’s experience with a small Baba idol and how she randomly started crying as she held it. In the car, we also discussed friendships and the difference between true friendship and friendship of convenience and about satsang and the Saipatham community. This last topic was the bulk of our conversation with some interesting takeaways. Everyone is like a big family. Harithachala camp was a prime example of that because it felt like our HC bubble, and we connected with the aunties and uncles and rest of the volunteers really easily and quickly like family. We talked about it and then experienced it first-hand as soon as we got out of the car! Lavanya aunty was waiting to greet us in front of GTR; none of the girls have met her yet at this point but she instantly greeted us with so much love and gave us all hugs like we already knew each other. We instantly felt a connection with her: the Saipatham family connection. Saipatham gurubandus treat everyone with unconditional love and we can constantly feel an instant comforting connection with them like family, and that's what it was like meeting Lavanya aunty for the first time.
Dinner Special
After freshening up, we all went to the kitchen for dinner where a feast was waiting for us. It was a birthday dinner with the main dish being Pav bhaji curry with chapati, boondi, bobottu, and junnu. The night before, the aunties did not join the rest of us for the gratitude circle because they were “busy” according to akka. Pravallika and I went to the kitchen to drop off tea cups, and we saw all the aunties in the kitchen still cooking. Pravallika was curious, so she asked what they were making, and Sridevi aunty saw me and immediately tried to hide what they were doing. They tried to keep it a secret so it could be a surprise, but I realized right away that they were making boondi and bobottu, my favorite hot and sweet.
Sridevi aunty asked me if it reminded me of something or someone, hinting about Amma. Amma makes bobottu so they wanted to make it for me and remind me of that feeling of home <3. And they were making them from scratch and staying up late to finish, which I felt so bad about but also incredibly grateful and loved. The acts of love and affection and care from the volunteers were unforgettable; they made all of the girls feel so special.
The Perfect Ending to the Day
We ended the day at the mandir for arati. Ammamma was not feeling well today so we had not seen her at all throughout the day. I felt bad because I really wanted to get her blessings for my birthday, but I was not able to ask. Luckily, she came to evening arati that day, and thanks to a push from Sridevi aunty as well, I ran after Ammamma and asked for her blessings. I walked with her and I was able to talk to her one-on-one, receive her blessings, and get Shirdi prasadam. It was the perfect end to the day and I was so happy that I was able to take her blessings. Spending my birthday in Harithachala with Sruti akka, ammamma, the girls, and all the volunteers was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so blessed! The Geckos had a wonderful day today, filled with new knowledge and experiences, and we went to bed awaiting the experiences of the next day.