Tapovanam

Tapovanam meaning ‘forest of penance’ is today a place of pilgrimage; a spiritual haven and an abode of peace and bliss for thousands of devotees as well as many great saints. It is rightly situated within a couple of miles from a sacred town called ‘Tirukoilur’ meaning a town of sacred temples as it contains great temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu the presiding deities of which had been adored by the great Shaivite and Vaishnavite Saints known as Nayanmars and Alwars. The place has another importance as the seat of penance of the illustrious sage. Nearby flows the reputed Dakshina Pinakini winding its way through the sacred place with the range of hillocks at the background, cluster of green trees around and tapering towers to the Holy Shrines—all providing at once a picture of celestial beauty and atmosphere of transporting divinity. There is also on the bank of this river the Samadhi of Swami Ragothama worshipped by the followers of Madhwas and others as well. It is in this divinely charged atmosphere and place is the Holy Thapovanam inviting like a mother all the children of God. And there is really a Mother who is at once the Father too, in the form H.H. Gnanananda Giri Swamigal.

Compassionate Divine:

When the aspirants enter into the Holy grove of mangoes the Thapovanam—some in awe and wonder, some in reverence, some in ecstacy, they come across, either near the gate or in some other corner of the grove, taking a stroll or supervising a work that is going on or even seated somewhere under a tree or in a cot, one with a radiant smile on his face assuring at once his compassion and greeting the visitors and showing them the room to stay, the bathroom to wash and clean their external dirt, the kitchen to refresh their physical appetite. The visitors, some of them atleast may have taken Him for some guide or manager of the place. Only later, they will be thrilled to learn that He is the one whom they wanted to see and salute, the one who enables, them to clean their Internal dirt—to satisfy in full their spiritual appetite, and to give a room in His blissful heart. Then they will be fortunate to have Him, as their guide and manager in life. The simplicity of the external form, the natural solicitude of the Compassionate Divine and the uniform affection and concern for one and all who go unto Him are things that get embedded permanently in the hearts of thousands of those devotees who are able to create the same impact on others who did not go to Him yet, and make them eager and restless till they do it.
It is natural for every one to be eager to know all about such a great Guru—his age, his parentage, his early life, his growth in spiritual life, his achievements, his powers, and so on. This has become almost traditional, though there is nothing wrong about it. Only one should realise that there is no importance in these things. For, a realised soul has no birth or death in the usual sense and therefore he is ageless. As a realised soul he has no special physical, attachments and hence parentage is not of much consequence. It is perhaps crazy and impertinent to assess them by a knowledge of their spiritual growth, achievement and powers. It is the subtle desire to derive worldly benefits in most of the cases that prompts people to assess the great ones. However the story and background of the lives of great ones has one purpose in that they reveal the secret of evolution, how the soul is continuous and eternal and how it evolves In successive births. Except to remind ourselves of just the growth and evolution of soul and therefore learn how to march successfully on the path of evolution it has no meaning. In the case of H.H. Gnanananda Giri Swamiji, there is not much information on the surface of his life for us to know all about him. In fact, his age in this form is itself & beyond one's estimate. The calm serene and ever fresh face and form of the Swamiji baffles anybody’s guess about his age. But certain evidence available from valid sources outside and also from occasional and casual observations being made by the Swamiji himself would enable us to put it at over 250 to 300 years. We shall come to this later.