From Arunachala : A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains

Transcription

1 ISIT 1.1 (2017) Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology (print) ISSN Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology (online) ISSN X From Arunachala : A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains Gregory Thomas Basker Tamilnadu Theological Seminary Madurai, South India Abstract This paper discusses the commonalities/differences between the understandings of holy mountains in Hinduism and Christianity. The first part deals with Ramana Maharshi s understanding of the holy mountain Arunachala his attraction to and reinterpretations of it. The second part presents Abhishiktananda s views on Arunachala, particularly with regard to Christian mysticism. Here the focus is on how he engaged in an interreligious interpretation of the mountain. In the final section, the paper explores the implications of such studies to the field of Comparative Religions. The paper deals with the following questions: Do comparative studies of religious concepts produce metanarratives for further investigation? Do similarities/dissimilarities point to a dependence/autonomy of concepts? Are there enduring patterns to look for in future in such intercultural hermeneutical exercises? Keywords Holy mountains, Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi, Abhishiktananda Introduction In a purely geographical sense, Arunachala lies southwest of Chennai (formerly Madras) in the temple town of Tiruvannamalai in the state of Tamil Nadu. Its bare summit formed of ancient igneous rock rises to a sharp peak of nearly 1000 metres above sea level. In Tamil Saiva literature, Tiruvannamalai is considered to be one among the five greatest Saivite Temple cities, which personify the five elements (earth Kancheepuram, water Srirangam, air Kalahasti, ether Chidambaram, and fire Tiruvannamalai). The word Arunachala means red hill, suggestive of the color of the mountain at dawn when the sun s rays fall on it. For centuries, the mountain has been revered by Hindus and considered to embody Siva in the form of a linga. The ancient Sanskrit document Skanda Purana, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX

2 28 Gregory Thomas Basker calls it the most holy place on earth. 1 Given the antiquity of the Skanda Purana, which has been dated around the second century CE, Arunachala could be compared with Sumerian and Greek mythology, which identified mountains as the abodes of the gods. Saint Ramana Maharshi (Venkataramana), the Tamil Neo-advaitin, is deemed to be the greatest exponent of Arunachala. He lived in the vicinity of the mountain, and his teaching has come to be regarded as the most authentic and authoritative interpretation of Arunachala. Today, he is thought to be an incarnation of Siva and is worshipped along with Arunachala. Peculiarly, he is also identified with the mountain and, hence, when one talks about Arunachala, the Maharshi invariably comes into the picture. The first section of this article would discuss Ramana Maharshi s understanding and (re) interpretation of Arunachala. The only known Christian interpreter of Arunachala is the French Benedictine Monk, Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux), who arrived in India in 1948 and set up a Christian Ashram in Trichy, Tamilnadu. Having been inspired by Ramana Maharshi s neo-advaitic teachings, Abhishiktananda shared his reverence for Arunachala, and stayed on the mountain for several years, attempting to understand it from his Catholic Christian perspective. The second part of the paper deals with his reinterpretation of Arunachala. Thirdly, by way of evaluation, I wish to critically assess the Hindu and Christian interpretations of Arunachala in respect of the theological standpoints of the interpreters. Here, I situate the approaches of the interpreters in the framework of a scientific study of religion based on certain overarching principles of comparative studies in religion. I From Arunachala were the words that created a deep impact in the mind of young Venkataramana on the Holy Mountain. His uncle, having returned from a pilgrimage, uttered these words, probably as an innocent answer to a question as to where he had come from. The boy repeated the words with amazement and thus began for him a long and deep association with the mountain. After his enlightenment in his sixteenth year, Ramana Maharshi came to Arunachala in the year 1896 and remained there for the rest of his life. In his fifty odd years at Arunachala, the 1 See the invocatory verses of Skanda Purana, Aruṇācala mahātmiyam. I follow Ramana Maharshi s Tamil translation of this Sanskrit document. The accepted standard of transliteration of Tamil words has been followed.

3 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 29 Maharshi worshipped the mountain and proclaimed its religious supremacy. Like his predecessors, the Tamil Saiva saints, he composed several Tamil hymns on the glory of Arunachala and its primordial importance for the soul s release. 2 Interestingly, unlike his predecessors, Ramana Maharshi s approach was less conservative. He was conscious of the psychological effect of the mountain on believers, for, according to him, holy places and pilgrimage had an aura of mystery in them (Maharshi 1955, 17). He was deeply influenced by the mythological tradition of the mountain, since the time he was struck by the words of his uncle, from Arunachala, an innocent answer as to where he came from. Hence, one could contend, along with Arvind Sharma that Ramana Maharshi, when he was ascribing divinity to the mountain, was doing nothing more than confirming the power of the mythopoetic mind (Sharma 2006, 100). Arunachala: the spiritual axis of the earth In line with the Skanda Purana, Ramana Maharshi was totally convinced of the sacred geography of Arunachala. For him, it was the spiritual axis of the earth, which represented the entire universe and Siva himself. 3 It had more significance than Kailas in the Himalayas. Kailas was only the residence of Siva, but Arunachala was Siva himself (Maharshi 1955, 147). According to the Maharshi, Arunachala was the visible expression of God, which attracted devoted women and men to come and settle in the caves there. As such, he endorsed the numerous metaphysical experiences reported on the mountain and was convinced that every sickness was cured and every problem solved when one set foot on the mountain. In this way, he supported the Skanda Purana s declaration that even the thought of Arunachala could end the cycle of births and produce libera- 2 The most popular Five hymns to Arunachala are the aruṇācala akṣharamaṇamālai (marital garland of letters), aruṇācala navamaṇimālai (necklet of nine gems), aruṇācala patikam (ten verses on Arunachala), aruṇācala aṣtakam (eight stanzas on Arunachala) and aruṇācala pañcaratṉam (five stanzas to Arunachala). 3 There are several allusions to the holiness of Arunachala and Tiruvannamalai in the Aruṇācala mahātmiyam of the Skanda Purana. This verse emphasizes the central location of the mountain: Nandi told Markandeya: That is the holy place! Of all Arunachala is the most sacred! It is the heart of the world! Know it to be the secret and sacred Heart-centre of Siva! In that place He always abides as the glorious Aruna Hill! (Skanda Purana, Maheswara Khanda, Aruṇācala mahātmiyam).

4 30 Gregory Thomas Basker tion. 4 For the Maharshi, the whole mountain was holy and not just a few sacred spots. The mountain personified Siva and hence had to be venerated. One of his devotees records an experience with the Maharshi: One day I was walking on Arunachala with the Maharshi when he stopped and picked up a small stone from the path and held it out to me saying: Someone from abroad has written asking for a stone from the most sacred part of the Hill. He does not know that the whole Hill is sacred. It is Siva Himself. Just as we identify ourselves with a body, so Siva has chosen to identify Himself with the Hill. Arunachala is pure Wisdom in the form of a hill. It is out of compassion to those who seek him that He has chosen to reveal himself in the form of a hill visible to the eye. The seeker will obtain guidance and solace by staying near this Hill. (Sharma 2006, 95). Here it is apparent that Ramana Maharshi was attributing agency to the mountain. Being the secret and sacred Heart-center of Siva, the mountain was the materiality through which Siva made his presence to the visible eye. The hill was the instrumental agency through which the divine became visible, and it was for this reason that several religious and traditional rites were conducted in Arunachala. Of these, the Maharshi considered the circumambulation of the hill and the annual lighting of the flame on the summit of the mountain during the Hindu festival kārtikai tīpam 5 as central to the worship of the mountain. With regard to Giri Pradakshina, 6 the Maharshi approved the Skanda Purana s declaration that there is no greater penance than the circumambulation of Arunachala. As a way of emphasizing the significance of this practice, the Maharshi himself went around the hill regularly. According to him, the mountain changed in perspective and colour as one went around it. He once explained the meaning of the word Pradakshina to a devotee: 4 By seeing Chidambaram, by being born in Tiruvarur, by dying in Kasi, or by merely thinking of Arunachala, one will surely attain Liberation (Skanda Purana, Aruṇācala mahātmiyam). 5 Kārtikai is the name of a Tamil month and tīpam is light. One of the earliest references to the festival is found in the akanāṉūru (four hundred [poems] of the spirit), a book which dates back to the Sangam Age (200 BCE to 300 CE). Kārtikai tīpam was one of the most important festivals of the ancient Tamils. 6 Giri Pradakshina (Sanskrit) or kirivalam (Tamil) denotes Circumambulation of Arunachala. I do not use any uniform system of transliteration for Sanskrit terms.

5 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 31 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. (Natarajan 2002, 39) However, the Maharshi stopped the practice of circumambulating the mountain after a particular incident. One day, as he was wandering alone in the mountain, he came in contact with an old woman who was gathering fuel on the hillside. She seemed to belong to an inferior caste but addressed the Maharshi directly and scolded him for circling the mountain in the hot sun. The Maharshi believed that it was Siva himself who had appeared to him in the form of the woman and ordered him to sit quietly in one place. After this experience, the Maharshi stopped his practice of circling the mountain. However, Sharma, among others, gives a pragmatic reason to this. He contends that, after the Maharshi s popularity grew, it became extremely difficult for the organizers to control the crowd, especially during the circuit of the mountain, and, hence, the practice was stopped (Sharma 2006, 87f). 7 This explanation fits well with the Maharshi s radical approach to the mountain. Arunachala: the mystical self Ramana Maharshi believed that Arunachala should be identified with the Self and searched within. As such, he reinterpreted several ancient legends and traditions on the origin of the mountain from a psychosomatic perspective. According to one legend, there was a fight between Brahma and Vishnu as to who was the greatest. In their unending contest Siva finally appeared as a pillar of fire to bring them both to their senses. Brahma and Vishnu then decided that the one who reached the end of the pillar first would be the greatest. They set off in opposite directions one above and the other below. Finally, when they were unable to reach the end of the pillar, they came together realizing their folly and requested Siva to mani- 7 As it was reported in the Saranagati, Ramana Maharshi, Newsletter in the September 2012 issue, devotees were forbidden to circle the mountain and the routes were closed due to frequent forest fires. This reasonable dispensation (of foregoing circumambulation) forms the mentality of the adherents of the Ramana Maharshi movement even today. See also Osborne 1969, 124.

6 32 Gregory Thomas Basker fest himself as a rock, as Arunachala. 8 Ramana Maharshi reinterpreted this legend by identifying Siva with the self or Atman, Vishnu as ego and Brahma as intellect. He believed that this legend recounted the unity of the self with the Godhead, symbolized in Arunachala. In his poem aruṇācala akṣharamaṇamālai, he portrays the longing of the human soul to make the external Arunachala internal. He writes: Like Sundara and Azhagu May you and I be one And indivisible, O Arunachala As snow in water melts, let me In you whose form is love itself Dissolve as love, O Arunachala. (Aruṇācala akṣharamaṇamālai, 2) Similarly, the lighting of the flame on the summit of Arunachala during the festival of kārtikai tīpam was also a symbol of the mystical union of the self with Siva. On the tenth day of the festival, the devotees take embers in pots from the sacred fire lit in the Arunachaleswara temple and carry them to the top of Arunachala, along with cloth wicks. An enormous cauldron is placed on the highest of Arunachala s five peaks and is filled with hundreds of gallons of ghee mixed with camphor. At precisely six o clock, as the sun sets and the full moon rises, lights are lit on the top of the mountain accompanied by chants of Arunachala Siva by the crowds. The fire on top of Arunachala can be seen for miles around. For Ramana Maharshi, the real significance of the light of Arunachala was to get rid of the I am the body idea and merge the self with the non-dual being, which was the light of all and the center of the universe (Natarajan 2002, 31ff). In his standpoint of equating God, Guru and the self with Arunachala, the Maharshi was once questioned by a visitor as to why he, an advaitin, still addressed the mountain as God, i.e. as a separate entity. To this, the Maharshi replied that just as it was not totally wrong to identify oneself with the body, it was also acceptable to identify the self with Arunachala (Natarajan 2002, 178). In this way, he actually endorsed the ignorance of his unrealized followers, by addressing Arunachala in the third person for their benefit, whereas he himself knew it to be the self. 8 These pillars of fire are believed to appear at different yugas (eons) in different forms (as fire in Satyayuga; as a diamond lingam in Devaparayuga; as a ruby lingam in Tretayuga; and finally in the lowest time period as stone lingam, i.e. as Arunachala in the kaliyuga). See Hackbarth-Johnson 2003, 272 (footnote 77). For the myth of the mountain see Abhishiktananda 1989,

7 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 33 II Abhishiktananda s encounter with Arunachala took place during the years 1949 to 1955, when he regularly visited the Maharshi and the mountain. His interpretation of the mountain was largely based on his association with the Maharshi and his disciples. He marveled at the fact that Arunachala was able to attract so great a personality as the Maharshi himself and saw his own fascination of the mountain as a natural inheritance from the Maharshi. According to him, whatever the Maharshi taught was epitomized by Arunachala. The Maharshi instructed silence and the mountain embodied it. In this way, Abhishiktananda reinforced the common belief that Arunachala and the Maharshi were inseparable. The Maharshi s apotheosis as an incarnation of Siva made perfect sense to him. Siva was mountain, Maharshi was mountain, Maharshi was Siva. In his reflections on Arunachala, Abhishiktananda compared himself with the Maharshi and juxtaposed his own Christian views and Ramana Maharshi s neo-advaitic convictions. Actually, he wrestled constantly with his Catholic Christian convictions and adopted an assent-adapt approach. On the one hand, he approved of Maharshi s understanding of the mountain, but on the other, he modified it to suit his idea of Christianity. His interpretation of the mountain could be explained in terms of a stage-by-stage process. First, he accepted the Hindu understanding of Arunachala, then, he proceeded to Christianize it and finally, just like the Maharshi, he too recognized the mythological aspect of the mountain by demythologizing it. In all his interpretations, Abhishiktananda based himself on mysticism. Let us take a closer look at these three stages. Christian approval of a Hindu interpretation The call of Arunachala Paralleling the view of the Maharshi, Abhishiktananda maintained that Arunachala called him, or rather, forced himself 9 upon him. This call, described as the murmur of Arunachala, would become the cause of his fractured loyalty on one side to his Catholic Christian convictions and on the other to his newly found spirituality in advaitic Hinduism. This call was indicative since most of Abhishiktananda s reflections on Arunachala emerged from the tension between two religious traditions. It was therefore, not easy for Abhishiktananda to heed to this call immediately. 9 Both Ramana Maharshi and Abhishiktananda used the masculine singular form to refer to Arunachala.

8 34 Gregory Thomas Basker It took him two-and-a-half years to decide to live in the caves of Arunachala. After this decision, Abhishiktananda experienced a series of reactions, such as numbness, speechlessness, thoughtlessness, and the like (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 42). He realized that it was actually the call of the guru, who forced him to tear himself away from his convictions and follow his (the guru s) directives. He cries out in desperation: Arunachala, guru without mercy! You tore me away from all that till then I enjoyed, from all that till then I relied on! (1979b, 36). In contrast, Abhishiktananda marvels at the Maharshi s response to his own call. He writes: Such was Ramana; he just went to Arunachala, abandoned his clothes, and sat on the steps of the temple, taking no thought of guru or mantra, but simply gazing at Arunachala, the holy Mount, the guru who had summoned him (1984b, 35). For Abhishiktananda, the call of Arunachala was therefore a perennial invitation to all who were in search of wisdom. In this background, he alludes to the words of Guru Namashivaya, a Tamil poet of the medieval period: The hill, it calls for the deep, come come it calls... Runachala the Mountain that calls men, crying aloud, Come, yes indeed, come Everyone whose heart is hungry for wisdom, who has renounced all! 10 (1979b, 55, 18) Arunachala as the mystical self Like Ramana Maharshi, Abhishiktananda too considers Arunachala as symbolizing the self. Relating the idea of knowing to the concept of the self, he states that it was possible to know Arunachala, which was basic for a mystical relationship with the unqualified and transcendent Siva. He recounts his overwhelming mystical experience of Siva during one of his extended stays on the mountain and declares that he was truly reborn at Arunachala under the guidance of the Maharishi (Abhishiktananda 2005, 9). For him, this experience was one of non-duality (advaita), where the mountain, which was as ancient as Siva himself, clothes itself with the devotees. Here, the mountain functioned as a metaphor for the union of Siva with the devotee. Hence, the self was identical to Arunachala and human life was characterized by the perennial struggle of distinguishing between the self and Siva, that is, Arunachala (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 49 50). 10 One is struck by the unmistakable similarity to wisdom s call in Proverbs (1:21; 8:1, 4; 9:3) and cannot help thinking that Abhishiktananda could have been influenced by these texts.

9 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 35 It is interesting to note how Abhishiktananda relegates the term self and, in its place, employs words like inner, inside or interior. Even cave of the heart is a phrase he borrows from the Maharshi and uses as a metaphor to denote the self or something that was inside." Connecting this view to a life on the mountain, he states that to live in the caves of Arunachala in silence and meditation was actually like living in a loving relationship with God. He compares this idea to the silence of the self which functioned as the meeting place of two religious traditions. So, in a way, the mountain seemed to drive Abhishiktananda to equate his relationship with it as uniting with a lover. From a comparative theological perspective, it may be asked whether or not Abhishiktananda generated these feelings or the mountain exercised its agency in seducing the monk with its erotic power over his being. This is a query that has to be addressed by scholars of comparative religions and goes beyond the scope of this paper. Here it would suffice to point out how Abhishiktananda described the Maharshi s relation to the mountain as the relationship with one s self. He writes: Like the author of the Song of Solomon, he [Maharshi] boldly used the most expressive images of human love in his Hymns to Arunachala to tell of his anguish at his separated condition, and to try to convey the impossibility of his remaining any longer at a distance, or indeed, in any way distinct, from Arunachala. (1984a, 81) Arunachala as divine mother Abhishiktananda emphasizes the ancient Tamil belief of Arunachala being a symbol of the divine mother. The streams that flow out of the mountain are depicted as the grace of Siva-Arunachala, which is poured out on the world under the form of Sakti (uṇṇāmulai), the feminine form of Siva. Describing the word uṇṇāmulai as the feminine form of aṇṇāmalai (Siva), Abhishiktananda states that the milk of grace (aruṭpāl) that flowed out from the divine mother s breast (mulaippāl) was enough to satisfy the devotees hunger for wisdom and renunciation. He writes: To its caves, age after age, there has come the endless line of those who are hungry for wisdom and renunciation, whom the Mountain, that divine Lover, folds to its bosom From its sides there flow springs sublimely named the spring of the milk of grace; Milk from the breast of the divine Mother where pilgrims come to bathe and drink. (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 52)

10 36 Gregory Thomas Basker Accordingly, Abhishiktananda s portrayal of the call of Arunachala resembles that of the biblical call of wisdom (Prov. 8: 1, 4) or the invitation of Jesus to all those who were thirsty (John 7:37ff). Christianizing Arunachala Although Abhishiktananda was fully convinced of the supernatural character of the mountain, calling it his place of birth and the most fulfilling place on earth, his approach to the mountain was inherently Christian (Hackbarth-Johnson 2003, 288). In his entire process of reinterpretation, he was constantly searching for Christian equivalents, often explicitly. For him, the Christianizing of India should have the same effect as that of the Christianizing of Greece since India was for Asia what earlier Greece was for Europe. He believed that India was more relevant for the understanding of Christianity because it had for ages declared the mystical union of God and the soul which, according to him, was the basic truth of Christianity. In this way, Abhishiktananda placed Arunachala as a counter concept to Greek ideology in relation to the interpretation of Christianity in India. His relation towards Arunachala was not just due to a comparative interest but a true struggle to situate the mountain within his Christian beliefs. Therefore, even when he does not mention it, it is evident in most cases that he was trying to establish Christian symbols for Arunachala by equating the mountain to Christian traditions. In what follows I present a few examples of this trend. For better understanding, I have classified them into three groups, viz., biblical (Hebrew), historical (Christian-catholic) and Christological (i.e. soteriological). Biblical: Arunachala as symbolizing the Hebrew mountain Abhishiktananda was constantly juxtaposing Arunachala to the biblical, that is, the Hebrew representation of mountains. He found several comparative traits between these two entities. The clouds above Arunachala were equivalent to the clouds that covered Mount Sinai or enveloped Jesus at his Ascension. Abhishiktananda saw here a reinforcement of the idea of secrecy and hiddenness in God s call to his children (Abhishiktananda 1979 a, 11). Again, for him, the fire pillars of Arunachala during festive days resembled the burning bush at mount Horeb (Ex. 3: 1-15) or the column of fire by night (Ex. 13:21). The summit of Arunachala alluded to the Psalmist s declaration, haec requies mea in saeculum saeculi: hic habitabo quoniam elegi eam (This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it, Ps.132:14) (Abhishiktananda 1989, 144). Further, Abhishiktananda was convinced that the brightness of

11 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 37 his face was due to his sojourn in Arunachala, just like Moses face shone after his conversation with Yahweh (Ex.34:35). Referring to those who noticed the halo and the radiance in his face, after he came down from the mountain, he wrote: Could it be, then, that even at the physical level something passes from the mountain of Arunachala into the hearts of those who meditate in the shelter of its caves? (1979b, 48). Above all, Abhishiktananda relates Arunachala to the eschatological promise of Yahweh, realized in Isaiah s vision of the mountain of the Lord, where all the peoples of the world would come together (Isa. 2:1 5) and in the Psalmist s description of the mountain where God has chosen to live, where Yahweh is going to live forever (Ps. 68:16) (Abhishiktananda 1966, xi). Historical: Arunachala expounded in the historical tradition of Christianity Alluding to the history of Christianity in the West, Abhishiktananda states that it was most natural for the Western mind to ascribe holiness to mountains. Arunachala reminded him personally of the histories of the first Christian monks from Palestine and Egypt who lived in such holes in mountains about 15 hundred years before us, and of Cassian s visit to the desert of Skete, going from cave to cave from cell to cell from one holy man to another, seeing marvel after marvel (Hackbarth-Johnson 2003, 212). Comparing Arunachala and the beliefs associated with it to his own Christian tradition, Abhishiktananda affirmed that Arunachala sustained his Christian traditions and helped to relive them. Throughout his stay in the caves of Arunachala, Abhishiktananda was careful to follow his Catholic liturgy. For instance, we find in his journal for 25 December 1953 the following sentence: Christmas in the depth of the heart, at the heart of Arunachala, sang First Vespers and Matins (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 69). In another incident, he dramatically narrates his climbing of the mountain and states that he was always inspired to sing either the Lord s Prayer or the Gloria when he was at the summit of Arunachala. Here he also records that he wrote on the sooty altar stone of the mountain top, the well-known Christian faith affirmation Kyrios Christos (Christ is Lord) in Greek, (probably because he did not want any Indian to read it), and below it, in Sanskrit you alone are Lord, and there is no other, Oh Master of the world. The Sanskrit text is obviously more inclusive and could easily refer to Siva as well! (Hackbarth-Johnson 2003, 292) Then again, we learn that Abhishiktananda found the chant Arunachala Shiva, Arunach-

12 38 Gregory Thomas Basker ala Shiva, Arunachala bewitching. However, he gladly replaced it with the Kyrie and the Halleluja and above all Breiz Izel (Bretagne), the religious national hymn of Brittany. Further, he mentions that he could find several similarities between the kārtikai tīpam festival in Tiruvannamalai and the Cour des Miracles. This was mainly because of the presence of the poor asking for alms and those with bodily ailments looking for healing during this festival at Tiruvannamalai (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 69). Christological: the light of Arunachala as the light of Christ As already mentioned, Abhishiktananda endorsed the view of the Maharshi, that the fire pillars, the flame, and the light during kārtikai tīpam depicted the self. For him, the climax of the festival of the lighting of the flame was the bang that would be heard from the peak of Arunachala, when the holy fire would be lit and be visible to everyone in Tiruvannamalai. Abhishiktananda interpreted this as the secret of the light of the mystery of Arunachala. He states that once this light was seen from the mountain there was joy and grace in everyone s hearts. Connecting this to the biblical vita erat lux ( the light was the life (John 1: 4), he mentions that to meditate upon the mountain was commensurate to allowing Christ to take over one s life ( It is not I that lives, but Christ, Gal. 2:20; Abhishiktananda 1989, 156). To reiterate Abhishiktananda s interpretation of the light of Arunachala as the light of Christ, we may cite his words. Fascinated by the rites during kārtikai tīpam he wrote in his diary: At dawn I used to wait for the sun to rise straight in front of me, between the gopurams of the temple Following the example of the Syrian Christians of old, I used to sing the Gloria to the Lord, gloriously risen from the dead. And at the evening, when everything was enveloped in shadow and the lamps were lit on the pinnacles of the gopurams, it was naturally the phos hilaron, the hymn sung by these same Christians to Christ, the Uncreated Light and source of all joy, that came to my lips. (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 52). Then again, the following composition summarizes the point: Arunachala is a symbol and Arunachala is a Reality A high-place of the Dravidian land, all ruddy, aruna, in the rays of the rising sun, Where is worshipped the linga of fire, The elemental sign of the Living God, He who appeared to Moses in the burning bush And on the summit of Mount Horeb, Fire that burns and Fire that gives light, Deus Ignis consumens (cf. Heb.12, 29),

13 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 39 Lux Mundi, Param-jyoti Phos hilaraon The joyful light of the immortal glory Of the Blessed One Bhagavan. (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 52) Together with Ramana Maharshi s teaching, the caves, the holy mountain and Tiruvannamalai, all harmonized Abhishiktananda s desire to achieve oneness with Christ. Relating Arunachala to the Trinity, Abhishiktananda saw the mountain as a sign of the unique Mystery, the unique Presence which was Christ. According to him, it was only here that one experienced the heart of Christ, and entered into an understanding that the source was the bosom of the Father, the "further shore, further shore where Jesus awaited him (Abhishiktananda 1984b, 122). Therefore, Abhishiktananda s encounter with the Holy Mountain and his frequent solitary retreats in the caves of Arunachala were at the same time, immersion in Hindu spirituality as well as an existential deepening of his union with Christ, who was and remained to the end his divine spiritual Master. Demythologizing Arunachala Abhishiktananda was not a blind believer. Just like the Maharshi, he was fully conscious of the mythological character of the mountain and notably accentuated the need of it. According to him, myths were a basic human (religious?) necessity if one were to express inexplicable realities. To his confused friends who kept asking him why he kept coming to the mountain, even though the Maharshi was not there anymore, and whether or not he was attaching too much mythical importance to the mountain, he replied: Surely, [ ] man is always in need of some myth or other, in order to release in him that which otherwise would remain forever buried deep down in his psyche? One thing I know, and that is that for me Arunachala is like a lover with an irresistible appeal. I have found something there which no other place and no other being has ever been able to give me. (1979b, 9) So, for Abhishiktananda, Arunachala depicted something that was far more significant than the physical nature of the mountain. In his own words, as a Westerner, he found it difficult to accept the physical utility of practices such as circumambulation and climbing the summit of Arunachala. He categorically termed these practices as troublesome and as an ordeal and even warned others from undertaking such a penance during noontime when the heat of the sun would be unbearable (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 117f). In the same way, he did not attach any

14 40 Gregory Thomas Basker importance to bowing in the direction of the peak of the mountain, since he found this ritual to be impractical, for most of the time the peak was covered with clouds. However, he was thankful to the mountain, albeit for a material reason, that during his sojourn there, all his physical needs were met! He writes: Was not Arunachala in all this giving me one more gentle hint that if I would only put my trust in him for good, he would make his faithful ones responsible for supplying all my needs and would even see that I was given a little extra to celebrate Christmas? (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 69). III By way of evaluation, I present here a few basic observations in the interpretation of Arunachala, both by Ramana Maharshi and Abhishiktananda. Apart from the recognizable contrast between a mystical and a secular interpretation, there seem to be other factors that play significant roles in their interpretations as well. First, the underlying paradox between what is known and what is unknown seems to be an important driving force in these interpretations. To the question of how this philosophical concept relates to the (re)interpretations, one may take a closer look at some of the subtle differences between the Maharshi s and Abhishiktananda s grasp of reality and/or how each of them related to the mountain in different levels. The Maharshi completely discarded any form of duality and taught the unity of the self. For him nothing really existed except the truth of the self. To this end, he even denied that there was anything to be realized or known (Maharshi 1955, 68). Therefore, it was not difficult for him to equate Arunachala (or for that matter anything else) to the self or Siva. Conversely, Abhishiktananda, in his interpretation of the mountain, had to grapple with his Christian (Catholic) dualistic concepts. Although he endorsed the views of the Maharshi, his Catholic mind could never distance itself from the mystery of Arunachala, which had to be revealed. He alludes to ancient mystics like Plotinus and Parmenides in the context of the unknowable God and to the medieval mystics like Eckhart, Tauler, Ruysbroeck, on the one hand and Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena and John of the Cross on the other to illustrate the idea that God is within (Abhishiktananda 1984a, 15). For him, mountains were identified with gods or as abodes of gods and to live inside a mountain was to live in God a mystical experience.

15 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 41 There is a third observation. To the question whether or not Abhishiktananda attributed agency to mountains, the answer is in the affirmative. Indeed, mountains did have multiple agencies. With regard to Arunachala, one of the agencies was identity formation. Abhishiktananda constantly speaks of his efforts to become fully Indian and thereby states that his living on the mountain helped him to be that. Even Hackbarth-Johnson, his biographer, speaks of an identity crisis which Abhishiktananda had to deal with in his struggle to identify himself with the community with which he lived (Hackbarth- Johnson 2003, 297). In this sense, one can notice two influences of Abhishiktananda in his definitions of identity: one, the skanda Purana and the other, his own mystical influence. The Maharshi clearly attributed the mountain s power as he experienced it as the evidence, the logical inference, that Siva had chosen this place. This was exactly what Abhishiktananda was also claiming: It was the agency of the mountain that had called him. This factor is observed in several instances where Abhishiktananda describes his association with the mountain. For him, it was important to stay at the foot of the hills in order to behold the greatness of the hill. The mountaintop had a revelatory significance. In his dramatic narration of reaching the tip of the mountain he recounts that he, along with an accomplice reached the summit, but it was cold and covered with clouds. Then suddenly, a wind blew away the cloud and the revelation of Arunachala met them (Abhishiktananda 1979b, 117f). Addressing this basic concept of attaching spiritual significance to a mountain and the question why a mountain should be considered holy at all, Mircea Eliade states that mountains was often seen as a place where the earth and sky meet, a central point an Axis Mundi, charged with divine power (Eliade 1958, 99ff). According to him, it was a region where one passed from one zone to another. Arunachala has been conceived in the same way, but still a further point is stressed, and that is the mystical meaning attributed to it. It may be that this idea of the unknown becomes more evident in a mountain, wherein the magnificence of the exterior becomes a symbol of, and holds promise to, a mysterious inside (which is covered by trees and thick bushes). The secret or the mystery of the mountain needs to be maintained, particularly in the mind of the worshipper who approaches it. Modernizing a mountain with, say concrete roads, shopping complexes and buildings could therefore prove disadvantageous to its holiness.

16 42 Gregory Thomas Basker Now, let us briefly look at this exercise from a comparative religions perspective. I am considering Abhishiktananda s approach here, especially with regard to how he selectively universalizes Arunachala. Against this background, it is helpful to allude to the three elementary conditions of comparative study of religions as suggested by Sharpe: a) the presence of a motive which could be mere curiosity or dissatisfaction with one s own inherited religious thought; b) the availability of material, and c) an acceptable method to study the materials in a comparative perspective (Sharpe 1975, 2). To this, one could also add Wach s emphasis of the role of experience. Due to its situational character, experience is conditioned by the historical, cultural, sociological and religious context (Wach 1958, 31). Relating these preconditions to Abhishiktananda s interpretation of Arunachala, one can see that he was not only following this pattern but was going a step further to enlarge the sphere of his reflection in order to include a universal understanding of holy mountains. A possible example may be given here. Whereas for the Maharshi, Arunachala was the pinnacle of holiness, Abhishiktananda considered other holy mountains as equally religiously significant. When Abhishiktananda refers to Arunachala, he does not leave out other holy mountains. With regard to one of the venues of an interreligious meeting, which had the snow-clad Himalayan peaks as a backdrop, Abhishiktananda wrote: It was in these very mountains, according to Indian tradition, that the rishis lived those holy men who were the first to hear and reveal to their brothers that almost imperceptible murmur which sounds in the depth of the heart, like the murmur of the streams which wind through the Himalayan gorges, scarcely noticed by travelers along the higher slopes, but swelling continually as one descends towards the torrent, until at last it drowns every other sound in its overwhelming thunder. (Abhishiktananda 1966, 13) Here, although the Himalayan ranges and Arunachala are two different entities with different geographic, creedal, and traditional characterizations, Abhishiktananda, perhaps inadvertently, juxtaposes them and finds them to be fundamentally the same (for example, if you will, evoking the sense of the paradox between the known and the unknown in other words, mysticism ). This might have led him to equate Arunachala with the silence of the self," symbolizing the self with the cave and also functioning as the site, where there is a meeting of two religious traditions. At another level, Abhishiktananda s concept of the soul s renunciation of its self and its complete awaking to its Self

17 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 43 and its sense of belonging to all, all find expression in the disposition that he offers Arunachala. So, his comparative exercise necessarily paves the way to a universalization of the understanding of holy mountains. Again, one might call Abhishiktananda s comparative exercise as a selective universalization, because he identified himself with the Brahmanical advaita perspective alone and interpreted Arunachala accordingly. In his picture of the mountain, the majority Tamilian context does not figure at all. This seems to have been a conscious decision. One can only speculate what recognizable differences a Tamilian perspective could have brought perhaps it would have been less ritualistic, with little emphasis on, say, fire, sacrifices, mystery-oriented and mystical concepts and more anthropological. On the other hand, there was also an identity crisis in the process of Abhishiktananda s comparative exercise which further interferes in a legitimate and objective selection process (Hackbarth-Johnson 2003, 73, 186). One wonders whether or not the whole exercise was an effort to becoming a member of the religious tradition in which he was placed. In his time, as probably even now, it was believed that one needed to participate in a faith tradition in order to understand its significance comprehensively. Conclusion This article attempted to study the Hindu and Christian understanding of Arunachala, by comparing two different minds and their mythopoetic constructions of the mountain. In both cases, the interpretations did not point to an autonomy of the concepts, where the concepts themselves determine the meanings, but to historical persons who carry/transfer meanings to the concepts. From a history of comparative religions perspective, this can have both advantageous as well as disadvantageous implications. On the one hand, in a framework where the devotee attributes meaning to holy sites, there can be creative and dynamic interpretations to suit specific contexts which could in turn augment interreligious dialogue. However, at the same time, the study also implicitly warns about the danger of increased subjectivity in attributing meanings to holy mountains wherein original meanings could be lost. To the question, whether or not there are commonalities and metanarratives that transcend differences when diverse religious lenses contemplate these heights, the answer is yes. Our human brains and bodies view places of elevation, the resistance of walking uphill, or the proximity of a mountain peak to the sky compared to the landscape around it, as important functions to orient a human on the landscape. Moreover,

18 44 Gregory Thomas Basker however, each mountain s meanings are only interesting when described in the context of accurate details, diversifying our landscape rather than homogenizing it. Throughout the history of humankind, mountains have always played a special role in the communication between the human and the divine. For scholars of comparative religions, the question of whether or not mountains have agency has been an important point of consideration. Such comparative studies of interpretations (of holy mountains) can be beneficial in that they can produce metanarratives for further research. One aspect of discussion for further research could be on the question whether or not mountain-oriented faiths essentially tend to be more inclusivist/ pluralistic. Acknowledgements This paper was originally presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Chicago. I am truly grateful to Mary Keller and the anonymous reviewers for their most valuable comments. My thanks also go to Lesley Houston and Joh Wurst for proof-reading the text and making helpful corrections. References Abhishiktananda Hindu-Christian Meeting Point: Within the Cave of the Heart. Delhi: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge a. Prayer. Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge b. The Secret of Arunachala. Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge a. Saccidananda: A Christian Approach to Advaitic Experience, Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge b. The Further Shore. Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Das Geheimnis des heiligen Berges: Als christlicher Mönch unter den Weisen Indiens. Freiburg: Herder. Abhishiktananda Innere Erfahrung und Offenbarung: Theologische Aufsätze zur Begegnung von Hinduismus und Christentum. Innsbruck-Wien: Tyrolia. Eliade, M Patterns in Comparative Religion, London: Sheed and Ward. Hackbarth-Johnson, Christian Interreligiöse Existenz: Spirituelle Erfahrung und Identität bei Henri Le Saux (O.S.B.)/Swami Abhishiktananda ( ), Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Maharshi, Ramana Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam.

19 A Hindu-Christian Understanding of Holy Mountains 45 Natarajan, A.R Arunachala: From Rigveda to Ramana Maharshi. Bangalore: Ramana Maharshi Centre for Learning. Osborne, Arthur Ramana Arunachala. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam. Sharma, Arvind Ramana Maharshi: The Sage of Arunachala. New Delhi: Penguin/Viking. Sharpe, Eric. J Comparative Religion: A History. London: Gerald Duckworth. Wach, J The Comparative Study of Religions. Edited by J.M. Kitagawa. New York: Columbia University Press. Gregory Thomas Basker teaches New Testament Studies and Christian Origins. He received his Dr. Theol. in 2014 in Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology from the University of Heidelberg. gregory_thomas_basker.chellappa@alumni.uni-heidelberg.de