Yogis, siddhas, and rishis are similar in that they dedicate their lives to the realization of Truth and God. However, they behave slightly differently and belong to one of the following categories:

Arulananda belongs to the second category of saints. After many years of solitary tapas, He has come back to live among people at shrI lalitAnanda Ashram in a coastal village called vAdarEvu near chiIrAla, prakAsham district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Swamiji was attracted to God from his childhood. He often visited a Vishnu temple with his parents and remained absorbed in prayer for long periods of time. As a child swamiji was suffering from asthma. When he was 7 years old an old saint visited his house. Swamiji was sitting on the veranda at his house. The saint kept him on his lap and applied holy ash (Vibhooti) on his body and asked him to eat the holy ash. The saint preached Ganapati mantra to Swamiji and asked him to chant. The saint left Swamijis house and said he would meet him again. This experience miraculously relieved Swamiji of his childhood asthma. Swamiji developed devotion towards this saint and repeatedly heard the Ganapati mantra without his volition. Swamijis student life continued and he regularly visited the Vishnu temple near his home town.

As days passed, Swamiji secluded himself from the rest of the family. Observing this trend in Swamiji his parents tried to distract him from solitude and sent him overseas for his education. After completing the studies abroad in 1972 at the age of twenty five, Swamiji returned to his native place. According to astrological predictions there was to be a change in his 25th year which soon followed.

After returning home, Swamiji spent more time in the Vishnu temple near his home and developed a detachment to worldly affairs. On a full moon day, in 1973 when Swamiji was sleeping on the veranda at his home, a big black Cobra appeared near Swamiji. An old relative was also sleeping beside Swamiji at that time. The Cobra appeared between them and made a noise at which Swamiji and the old man were woken up. The cobra banged its head against the floor three times in front of Swamiji and disappeared. The family tried to catch the cobra by various means and had no success. The Cobra had disappeared from their house. After this experience Swamijis parents understood that he had some divine pursuits and agreed for him to undertake Sannyasa.

In 1973 January, Swamiji left his home and started going around holy mountains, temples and places of spiritual interest in South India. On a chitra pournami day (full moon day in April), when Swamiji was meditating in front of Papanasam Agastya Kalyana Teertham Sivalingam in the midnight, an old tall saint appeared to Swamiji and held his right palm and wrote some letters which was comprehended as "Chellappa" by Swamiji. The saint preached a mantra to Swamiji and said he would meet him again and advised him to obtain Sannyasa and disappeared. Accordingly, Swamiji went to Kanchi Kamakoti peetam and obtained Sannyasa Deeksha from Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Chandrasekhara Sarasvati (August 1973) and stayed for sometime at the Kanchi Matham.

After the sannyasa deeksha, Chandrasekhara Sarasvati Swami said to Swamiji, "Naangal eruvarum paarpathu oru kannadiyai, nee vekamaha pookirai, mounamaha eru, unakku eraivannin arul kidaikum" (meaning; we are both looking at the same mirror but, you are traveling fast, you need to slow down and be silent. You need to serve the public and you will obtain the full grace of god). Swamiji was told "Arulum paripurana aananthamum kiddaikum" and given the name Arulananda by Chandrasekhara Sarasvati Swamigal. When Swamiji enquired if he could use the suffix of the Shankaracharya guru parampara (Sarasvati) because he obtained sannyasa deeksha from Chandrasekhara Sarasvati Swami, he said there was "no need for such suffix and you will obtain a prefix to your name when the right time comes."

Sannyasa Life

Pothigai hills near Papanasam: Swamiji returned to Papanasam and started meditating in a cave near Agastya maharishis foot print at Kalyana Theertham (Pothigai hills). During this time, Swamiji would visit the natural mountains and temples around. While staying at Pothigai hills, Swamiji attended the daily pooja at the Papanasam Shiva temple about 3 km from his cave. He observed silence most of the time. During the 7 years of tapas (meditation) at Pothigai hills, Swamiji had the experience of Ganapati and Ambal's divine vision at many occasions.

Pothigai hills is a highly divine and spiritual center. The story is that when Shiva and Parvati entered into divine matrimony, mount Kailasha in the north was not balanced because of the number of holy beings witnessing the wedding. Lord Shiva asked Agastya Maharishi to proceed to the South of India to balance the world. Agastya Maharishi proceeded to Pothigai hills and balanced the world. Agastya Maharishi was able to visualise the wedding of Lord Shiva and Parvati on a Shivalingam that was at Tiru Kalyana Teertham at Pothigai hills. These hills are visited by several saints and sages from Himalayas particularly on a full moon day.

Read this article:
Swami Arulananda's Ashram - Shivayoga Suruli Arulananda ...