In India, the 15^th of January is the day of the winter solstice (Uttarayanam) and this day is celebrated as the Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu. Pongal is essentially the harvest festival for the farmers but it is also a festival venerating the Sun God.The next day after Pongal is celebrated as the cow festival and all the cattle, both cows and bullocks are honoured on this day. In Tiruvannamalai, the Pongal festival has a special significance because Arunachala is believed to have subdued the Sun’s arrogance at one time. In lieu of this, the Sun God is believed to pay obeisance to Arunachala twice a year on the days of the winter and summer solistices. In the big temple of Arunachaleswara, there is a remarkable procession and abhishekam to commemorate this event, early in the morning of 16^th January.

In the Ramanashram, even from the days of Bhagavan, Pongal has always been celebrated well. Sri Ramana was very fond of the cow Lakshmi and He used to feed sweet pongal to Lakshmi with his own hands on Cow Pongal day. This year, on Cow Pongal day, there were three special events in the Ramanashram. First the Nandi (bull mount of Shiva)  in the Mother’s shrine was decorated in a spectacular way. He was adorned with garlands of vegetables, fruits, sugarcane, grass, flowers. Vadais and other tasty sweetmeats. Then an elaborate Aarathi puja was performed by the priests with devotees looking on in rapt attention. The next event took place at the Samadhi (tomb) of the cow Lakshmi which is located outside in the yard beside the dining hall. A group of devotees assembled here and the statue of Lakshmi was given abhishekam with milk and then a puja was performed with the photo of Bhagavan fondling Lakshmi looking on. The ashram ladies sang many beautiful hymns in praise of Lakshmi describing her devotion to Bhagavan and other touching episodes in her life like how she used to give birth to a calf every year right on Bhagavan’s birthday. Many devotees especially the older ones were moved to tears and all felt the benign presence of Ramana filling our hearts with grace.

The third event happened in the cow shed of the ashram, called ‘Goshalai’. Inside, it was spotlessly clean and beautifully decorated with flower garlands and sugar cane and turmeric plants. In the centre, a lovely white cow (believed to be the descendant of Lakshmi) and her calf and another black cow were decorated and honoured. A puja was performed to them by the ashram priests with the same respect and energy as they would to a deity in the temple. The white cow was fed with sweet pongal from the president’s own hands and seemed to be quite content eating it. It was an enchanting scene and one felt transported to times of yore when cows were treated like godly beings and people were more compassionate and respectful towards them. Let us follow the example of Sri Ramana and recognize and respect the Divine Being in every fellow creature on this earth, as in ourselves.

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