Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

“No. It is Friday,” I said. As if he had understood my
purpose, he said “Yes, yes.”
One of the devotees who had recently come and had
been staying for some time, asked Bhagavan, “Several people
here go round the hill frequently. What is its greatness?”
Bhagavan told him the following story:
“The greatness of this Giri Pradakshina has been described
at length in Arunachala Puranam. Lord Nandikesa asked Sadasiva
a similar question and Sadasiva narrated as follows: ‘To go round
this hill is good. The word ‘Pradakshina’ has a typical meaning.

The letter ‘Pra’ stands for removal of all kinds of sins; ‘da’ stands
for fulfilling the desires; ‘kshi’ stands for freedom from future
births; ‘na’ stands for giving deliverance through jnana. If by
way of Pradakshina you walk one step it gives happiness in this
world, two steps, it gives happiness in heaven, three steps, it
gives bliss of Satyaloka which can be attained. One should go
round either in mouna (silence) or dhyana (meditation) or japa
(repetition of Lord’s name) or sankeertana (bhajan) and thereby
think of God all the time. One should walk slowly like a woman
who is in the ninth month of pregnancy. It seems Amba who
was doing tapas here, went round the hill on the day of the
Krithikai star in the first quarter of the night. Immediately after
the darshan of the holy beacon, she became finally absorbed in
Lord Siva. It is stated that on the third day after the festival of
the Holy Beacon, Siva himself started for the Pradakshina with
all his followers. Really, it is difficult to describe the pleasure
and the happiness one gets by this Pradakshina. The body gets
tired, the sense organs lose their strength and all the activities
of the body become absorbed within. It is possible thus to forget
oneself and get into a state of meditation. As one continues to
walk, the body automatically gets harmonized as in the asana
state. The body therefore becomes improved in health. Besides
this, there are several varieties of medicinal herbs on the hill.

The air that passes over those herbs is good for the lungs. As
there is no vehicular traffic there is no worry about making
way for cars and buses. One can walk carefree according to
one’s wishes.

“It used to be very exciting during those days when we
were going for Pradakshina. We started whenever we felt like
it, especially if there was any festival day, we used to halt
whenever we felt it was late or we were tired, cook for
ourselves and eat. There was no anxiety whatsoever as there
was no stipulation that we should stop at any particular place.

Before railway travel came in, pilgrimages were all made on
foot. They never used to start with an idea of reaching a
particular place at a particular time, or that they should stop
for a particular period at any particular place. There is a
proverb saying that people who go to Kasi (Banaras) and
those who go to Kati (cremation ground) are equal. Only
those who have no hope of coming back would start for Kasi.

Carrying all their belongings with them, they used to walk
along immersed in dhyana, stop whenever they felt tired and
start again in due course. There used to be dharmasalas (rest
houses) at the outskirts of the villages so that there was no
need for those pilgrims to go into the village proper. Where
there were no dharmasalas there used to be temples, caves,
trees and piles of stones, which were available as places of
shelter for them. Those pilgrims became absorbed in their
Atma by walking with no other thought than that of God.

Giri Pradakshina is also the same thing. The body becomes
light and it walks of its own accord. There will not be the
feeling that we are walking. The dhyana that you cannot get
into while sitting, you get into automatically if you go for
Pradakshina. The place and the atmosphere there are like
that. However unable a person is to walk, if he once goes
round the hill he will feel like going again and again. The
more you go, the more the enthusiasm for it. It never
decreases. Once a person is accustomed to the happiness of
the Pradakshina, he can never give it up. Look at Nagamma!
She used to go round only once a week, on every Tuesday.

Now she is going around even on Fridays. She goes around
all alone in the dark without any fear whatsoever.”
“A sadhu by name Kannappa, it seems, goes round every
day,” said the devotee. “Yes, yes. He is a very old man. He
cannot see. So he starts every day at 8 o’clock in the night as
there will not be much cart traffic. He has a conch shell which
he blows as he goes. Hearing that sound, all people make
way for him. There are several devices for people who do
not have eyesight,” said Bhagavan.

“Is it a fact that when Bhagavan was going round the
hill with the devotees during the night he used to see groups
of Siddhas?” asked another. “Yes. All that is written in the
Biography.” So saying Bhagavan resumed silence.