Circumambulation of Mountain, the inner pathway

There are two ways to walk around Arunachala; the inner path, which is 12 km, or the outer path, which is 17 km. This morning we got up at 5 am. Our trusty rickshaw driver Ganesh picked us up at 5:30, and we headed out around the mountain on the inner path, departing from Ramana Ashram, just beyond the "Samadhi", or grave, of Ramana Maharshi's pet cow, Lakshmi (who was said to have attained liberation).

The walk was flat, but rocky, and took us a little under 4 hours. We got to watch the sun come up and meditated in one of the small caves that Ramana had frequented in his years on the mountain.

This was all beautiful and memorable, and I was happy to see that every foot of the surrounding area had been planted with new saplings --- an effort that the local "green" organization has obviously been working hard on.

On the other hand, it was hard to come to terms with the fact that there was a constant background noise of honking trucks and heavy vehicular traffic. When Ramana Maharshi lived on the mountain, how quiet it must have been! Conducive to meditation...now it is hardly that.
In spite of the general cacophony of the surrounding town, this place is still considered to be an oasis of tranquility, and sitting in the caves where Ramana spent time, one could get a taste of this.