Spirituality on Grandfather Hill
Entrance to the shrine complex Humans have always associated height with the divine. In almost every religious tradition, mountains are rarefied places where the boundary between heaven and earth blurs. Moses encountered his Yahweh on Mount Sinai. Every year some 50 million pilgrims ascend the Sabarimala, a hill in Kerala, to have a darshan of the deity Ayyappa. To reach a higher perspective, one must leave behind the flat comfort of the lowlands. Your heavy breathing and the strain on your legs are part of the offering to the divine. Moreover, the ascend and its pains help to strip away everyday distractions. Your thoughts slowly focus on the divine that you’re going to encounter soon. Maggie and I ascended one such hill near Aruvithura in Kerala’s Kottayam district. It was not planned at all. Maggie’s summer vacation was drawing to a close and so we decided to go somewhere, just like that. Vallyachan Mala near Aruvithura happened to be our place yesterday just because we had ne...
