My Visit to the Isha Foundation’s Dhyanalinga Ashram in Coimbatore

A write-up that’s coming up after a really long time since I’d planned to do it. In a weekend of March, I went to Coimbatore. For long, I’d been wanting to visit the Dhyanalinga Temple located at the foothills of Velliangiri. We started in the morning of Saturday, this was gonna be a weekend to remember!!

Its almost a 40-minute drive from the main city of Coimbatore. Located near the Western Ghats, Coimbatore had a really enjoyable temperate climate. All along the way I stopped to click snaps of the scenic beauty around. On the way that one takes to the Isha Foundation where the temple is located, one is normally induced to think “ What sort of a place could be beyond this?”. Going beyond vast expanses of coconut and palm plantations, crossing little canals, the site of cattle grazing on the patches of green, they all added to the rustic beauty of the already tranquil atmosphere. The Isha Foundation had erected signboards leading to the temple every 1 km after we entered the limit within 8 kms from the temple. And suddenly I noticed that the surrounding plantations got more large and the forest on the other became more dense. Now we were in a real interior place, far from the screeching horns and the roaring engies of the city roads.

There was this signboard that said “Dhyanalinga Temple 1 km”. The excitement was building up. And suddenly out of nowhere, there sprang a white structure with a large flat roof on a set of columns. This was the entrance to the Foundation. Yipeee!!!! We were there at last!!

The entrance was adorned with a huge pillar of about 3 sq feet base and a whopping 17 foot height. The pillar had on it, carved the three religious symbols of Hinduism (the Aum), Christianity (the Crucifix) and Islam (the Crescent). On the exact opposite face was the representation the Seven Chakras of the human body.

There was a lot of snake sculptures giving the place an effect of being dedicated to the worship and protection of snakes. This might be because of the fact that Shri Patanjali, a very popular blessed saint in the Hindu Scriptures, hailed as the father of Isha Yoga is depicted as half man- half snake.

We entered the premises of the temple. The air bore it. Peace and Tranquility greeted us with outstretched arms. Everything about this place was so earth bound and natural. The shrine where the Dhyanalinga is located is at about the centre of the complex. They have these prayers called “Nadha Aradhana”, Nadha meaning Sound and Aradhana meaning Worship. More than a place of worship, the shrine of the Dhyanalinga is basically designed to be a centre for meditation.

The geometry of the Dhyanalinga Shrine is a very huge dome. It is a pillarless elliptical dome that’s 76 feet in diameter, claimed to be constructed with no steel, cement or concrete. (Dimensional details courtesy: www.dhyanalinga.org). As we entered the shrine, I saw the statue of Patanjali and called out to my dad. There came a person, draped in white requesting me to be silent with nothing but a smiling gesture. We were asked to roll up our pants to knee level in order to minimise the rustle when we walk around. And I understood the reason when we entered the dome, the shrine of the Dhyanalinga.

Every single step reverberated in the dome with such a magnification. A small snap of the fingers was reproduced as if uttered in front of a microphone whose output was fed to a High-Watt speaker. We settled ourselves on the floor in front of the Dhyanalinga. The sight of the Dhyanalinga was so breathtaking and magnificent. Standing almost 10-12 foot tall, it occupied a vast portion of the inner chamber. There were nooks in the dome where people could sit and meditate. Everyone was in the meditation posture, a lot of foreigners too.

In a few minutes, the Nadha Aradhana began. In a very mystifying low tone, the hums and chants and the xylophone and the guitar take us into a world where we tend to forget all our sorrows and transcend into a world of bliss. It was an experience too ecstatic to be put into words. After the Aradhana was over, we went round the Dhyanalinga once and left the main shrine.

The next place to visit was the Theerthakund – a 35 feet subterranean water body. Whats so special? It has a mercury linga weighing 680 kg immersed in water. (Dimensional details courtesy: www.dhyanalinga.org). Batches of men and women have to visit the Theerthakund every half an hour alternately. The devotees are allowed either to enter the waters and touch the holy deity or just stand in the waters. But for the first type, they had to take a bath in the premises of the Ashram. All the facilities are provided and the Ashram even gives them special clothes for wearing into the Theerthakund.

I chose the second type and hence went into the Theerthakund in my own clothes and stood in the water, eyes fixed on the mercury Linga. The water flows into this 35 feet subterranean place from above, as if from a waterfall. The water was so chill. And I ascribed it to the mercury of the deity. The ceiling had a beautiful painting that covered the entire stretch. It depicts a scene from the MahaKumbhaMela, a very sacred spiritual festival in India. We are allowed to stay inside for twenty minutes after which we should start leaving so that the next batch can come and visit the Theerthakund.

And then in the outer edges of the ashram, there are small stalls for photographs of the Dhyanalinga and other merchandise, a canteen where the visitors can help themselves to some light meals. It was time to leave. It was a beautiful experience and I’d advise everyone to visit the Dhyanalinga Ashram when they get a chance.