Activities
Daily Schedule
Daily Schedule
- 5:30 Ashram opens
- 6:45 Chanting and Milk Offering to Bhagavan in the Samadhi Hall
- 7:00 Breakfast in the Dining Hall*
- 8:00 Chanting of the Vedas in front of Bhagavan’s Shrine
- 9:00 Puja at Bhagavan’s Shrine followed by puja at Mother’s Shrine
- 9:45 Narayana Seva (Sadhu feeding)
- 11:30 Lunch in the Dining Hall*
- 11-2 Mother’s Shrine & Samadhi Hall: CLOSED
- 4:00 Tea or hot milk served in the Dining Hall*
- 4:00 Reading in Tamil in the Reading Hall 4:30 Reading in English in the Reading Hall
- 5:00 Chanting of the Vedas in front of Bhagavan’s Shrine followed by puja at Bhagavan’s Shrine and Mother’s Shrine
- 6:00 Tamil Parayana (Monday - Saturday)
- 7:00 Dinner in the Dining Hall*
- 8:30 Ashram closes. *For guests and invitees only.
Punctuality is requested - Please line up at least 10 minutes before starting time.
Special Events
Special Events
- Bhagavan’s Jayanti: (Dec-Jan) Maharshi’s birthday is celebrated by a great family gathering of devotees, elaborate pujas, and special biksha, all in homage to Bhagavan, as during his lifetime.
- Pongal: (Jan 13th–15th) Harvest festival, followed by Mattu Pongol, the festival of cows.
- Sri Vidya Havan (Jan-Feb) A full-day homa (fire worship) to rededicate the Meru-Chakra of Mother’s Shrine.
- Mahasivaratri: (Feb-Mar) In this ‘Night of Siva’, Lord Siva manifested as Arunachala on earth for the benefit of all humankind. Observed by an all-night vigil, pujas, recitation of mantras, and circumambulation of the hill.
- Bhagavan’s Aradhana: (April–May) The anniversary of Sri Bhagavan’s mahanirvana was marked with a special abhishekam and puja.
- Mahapuja: (May–June) Observance of Bhagavan’s mother’s mahasamadhi.
- Advent: (Sept 1st) Annual celebration of Sri Bhagavan’s arrival at Arunachala on this day in 1896.
- Navaratri is a nine-day festival in adoration of the Holy Mother. Each day, the beautifully decorated deity depicts a different aspect of the Divine Mother, culminating with a procession around the Ashram on Vijayadasami, the tenth day, marking the victory of light over darkness.
- Kartikai Deepam: (Nov-Dec) This spectacular ten-day festival, witnessed by hundreds of thousands, is the glory of Arunachala. The gigantic temple chariots are led in procession through the town streets. At sunset on the final day, the beacon atop Arunachala is lit and visible for miles around, burning for 7 days or more.
- Sri Chakra Puja:This powerful Devi puja is performed in the Mother’s Shrine at 6 p.m.–8 p.m. each Friday evening, as well as on full moon days and the first day of each month, according to the Tamil calendar.
