Festivities in connection with the mahakumbabishekam of Sri Matrubhuteswarar and Sri Ramaneswara mahalingams, being slated for August 25, will begin today, at Sri Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai.
The renovation to the holy premises and repairs to gopuram and vimanam above Matrubhuteswara and Bhagawan shrines have been completed. The three-day event begins today with Vigneshwara puja and concludes on August 25 with mahakumbabishekam and deeparadhanai. It is said that Bhagawan’s mother stayed with him for a few years at the Skandasramam cave before passing away in May 1922. Niranjanananda Swami, younger brother of Ramana Maharishi, who had moved to Skandasramam along with his mother in 1916 used to perform the daily puja to the Matrubhuteswara lingam above the samadhi.
A few days before his Jayanthi, Bhagawan visited the samadhi and preferred to remain there, ‘not out of his own volition, but due to the will of something else.’
A huge number of devotees thronged the place and there was a steady increase in the flow of donations to meet the food expenses.
Devotees, including foreigners, started visiting to have a darshan of Bhagawan and his mother’s samadhi. The foundation to a shrine for Matrubhuteswara was laid by Bhagawan in September 1939.
The construction was taken up, under the supervision of Bhagawan himself, strictly as per the agama rules. It was completed in 1949 and kumbabishekam was performed, as a monument to a an extraordinary woman by her great spiritual son, 27 years after her nirvana.
The huge time gap was necessitated by Bhagawan’s strict dictum that no canvassing for monetary and material help should be resorted to. A Sri Chakra was consecrated inside the sanctum sanctorum as a symbol of motherly love.
A huge darshan hall also came up and Bhagawan moved there for a few months after the kumbabishekam. Bhagawan attained samadhi in 1950 and Niranjanananda in January 1953.
(Contributed by Sridhar-Chaama)
