During the Chola Empire, the layout of Shiva temples was formalized to a great degree. Based on the Agamas and Shastras, the temple was fully developed into a place in space, time, and consciousness where the microcosm and macrocosm mirror each other.

When a temple is built, a site will be chosen, and it has to be indicated as auspicious. Often an unusually friendly encounter with the animal realm is such a good sign. The site then has to be tested in terms of earth quality, water, energy, orientation, and slopes, etc. (according to Vastu/Agama). A time has to be picked according to the charts. The stars and planets will determine the calendar. Rituals have to be performed, construction has to begin, and invocations follow. The whole process is an interplay between the cosmos, the physical site, and the inner world.

Studying the Irumbai temple as a smaller temple that follows the strict rules of temple construction and serves as a temple for practitioners, it has a significant role in a cluster of the 276 Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams and is the 32nd Shiva Sthalam in Thondai Nadu. It follows the main Vastu principles and is oriented along the East-West axis, has a huge water tank, and the common deities are present. It follows the festival calendar, which is aligned with the Karthigai Murugan, Kartigan Skandam star.

Even this basic description of central elements gives us a sense of the placement of the temple in the larger cosmic setting.

Micro and Macro Cosmos

Our existence on this planet is embedded in a solar system, which is embedded in the Milky Way, which is embedded in a cluster of galaxies, which are part of the Laniakea supercluster and so on. With our eyes, we can see many of those elements, their movements, and patterns. The recurring cycles of certain light elements in the night sky gave life a reference point. This applies not just to human prehistory, but also to the animal world, such as the flight patterns of birds or howling dogs. It is this sense of the cosmos that follows a beautiful, complex rhythm that makes us realize there are forces outside us that are much larger than the surrounding living world. The sky is the seat of the gods. These forces, principles, and energies come down on us and interact within us. This is the origin of almost all mythology. Commonly, stars are associated with gods and the properties they represent; they come and go in cycles of days, weeks, months, years, centuries… When astrologers try to understand the larger patterns, they look at those energies and how they interact in our world, realizing that there is a vaster consciousness of which we are only a small part. Yet within our consciousness, we can grasp the vastness to a certain degree. Brahman – Atman, Purusha – Prakriti, Jeevatman – Paramatman, Shiva – Shakti, they mirror each other in the micro and macro cosmos.

When we realize that the cosmos follows a large rhythmic pattern and that our body has access to a very complex system, we can delve deeper and ask what that all is made of. There are five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. The elements are not to be understood as chemical elements. They are thought of as primal elements with a complex multi-access. Earth is smell, grounding, rootedness, and strength. Water is taste, flowing, consciousness, and the ocean of life. Fire is sight, heat and light, igniting and destructing. Air is touch, feel, the atmosphere, also the breath of life, prana and holds the force of wind. Space is sound, the vibration of the cosmos that sets the stage for all the manifestations to play out from the bindu.

Body

Once I realize that my existence on this planet is gifted with being alive, that I am part of A LIFE and capable of consciousness, I become more fully aware of my body. I realize that the body I inhabit is another level of reality. I can control it, I can use its senses, I have experiences through it, it has needs, and it supports my experiences and thoughts. This physical body with arms, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, skin, hair, legs, feet, hands, pleasure organs, and excremental organs gives me the inner senses of touch, taste, sight, sound, speech, smell, pleasure, hunger, thirst, and pain. The different levels of mind and heart are capable of synthesizing those inner senses: focus, selection, concentration, structure, thinking, meditation, experience, and communication.

The body is a tool that allows us to access higher planes of our existence in terms of spiritual experience. Yet I can experience myself as a self; my existence as a self is not bound to the physical position of my body. My mind can wander around, I can think about things that are (not) present, I have memory and imagination. I can experience myself in relation to others and ask existential questions: Who am I? Where do I come from? Who made me? Where will I go when I die? The blueprint for this world to explore is the system of the 25 impure Sāṃkhya tattvas. What I mentioned so far is mostly organized in the (dualistic) Sankhya tattvas; when we include the pure and mixed tattvas of the realm of higher spirituality like Shiva, Shakti, Iswara… and then include the Shakti tattvas: Maya, Kala, Vidya, etc., then we are in the 36 Tantra tattvas of spiritual practice.

Vibration

But at the very core of all existence is vibration. All energy in the macrocosm is vibration, all life energy is vibration, and all elements are vibration. The vibration originates from a point, the Bindu. This origin, whether it be the big bang, Shiva’s drum, the garbha griha, or the symbol of the Bindu on the forehead, is where all is held together. Here is the origin; it provides us with access to a (non-dualistic) plane of immanence. It lies beyond what we can experience, beyond science and meditation; it is that which we can be aware of but not know.

The extraordinarily intricate complexity of temples like the Chola temples lies in their capacity to synthesize all this in one architecture and provide a key to explore the complexity of our existence. It is designed in such an open way that it ideally allows to accommodate and invite the most diverse forms of spiritual practice. The core of the practice is based on the Vedas. The rituals use symbols from the Vedas to embody the wisdom in daily practice.

Irumbai Temple

The Sri Mahakaleswarar Temple in Irumbai follows the classical layout of a temple as described in the Agamas. When one enters through the south entrance, outside the entrance is a shrine with Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, to which the devotee shows his/her first respect. Entering the temple, many people do the Pradakshina, the sacred walk, which is a circumambulation. Going clockwise, it often consists of three walks around the temple. The first is a walk where one looks at the deities—looking “at” might be a bit misleading as it is more a gazing, a contemplation or vision beyond the surface of the sculpture behind what it manifests, i.e., the presence of the deity. Aurobindo describes this as Bhakti. By reciting the mantra of the deity and offering the flowers or food the god prefers, one connects with the deity and receives the blessings. The second round may let the devotee focus on the inner world; it is more introspective, meditative. The third round may connect with other visitors, the community, and the elements.

In the center is the grabha griha (womb, inner sanctum) with the main deity, the murti, which in the case of a Shiva temple is usually a Shiva lingam. The garbha griha faces east toward the sunrise. It is covered with a curtain during the rituals of washing. In front of it is the Ardha Mandapa, which is reserved for the pujari and those participating in special pujas. Following the floor plan toward the rising sun, the Mandapa follows, which is used by the practitioners and devotees to make their offerings or sit in meditation. On the north side of the Mandapa is the Devi shrine for Shakti. Outside, on the bramasutra axis, is the Nandi, the god’s vehicle—in the case of Shiva, the bull—followed by the Kodi maram/Dvajasthamba, the flagpost or navel which connects to the cosmos. And finally, the Bali Pitha, the sacrifice stone, where one sacrifices one’s own ego. The temple is surrounded by a wall. On the same axis crossing the wall, there will be the entrance with a gopuram.