SAT Temple

~ Dakshinamurti at the SAT Temple ~

The SAT Temple is so often spoken of as “a great silent dwelling.”

When one enters the front doors, there is an unmistakable silence permeating the space. This may be due to the 20 years of countless meditators who have availed themselves of this beautiful temple for the purpose of accessing the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

At the top of the staircase, directly outside the satsang hall, one is presented with double, hand-carved wooden doors. Once through the threshold of these doors, a vivid silence permeates the small shrine room built as the inner sanctum of the temple to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.

~ The Inner Shrine, the Sanctum-sanctorum of the SAT Temple ~

Entering the spacious, octagonal satsang hall through a three-tiered staircase, with the natural light of over 100 windows adorning the 20 foot walls, one is surrounded by Dakshinamurti, Nataraja, Lingodbhava, and Ardhanarisvara on stone and wooden altars.

From left to right, altars of Ardhanarisvara with Siva-lingam, Lingodbhava, Siva and Panchalinga (Five Siva-lingams) in the background, Nataraja, Dakshinamurti

Looking to the front of the satsang hall beyond the tiered floor covered in white carpet, is a picture of Sri Ramana Maharshi, adorning a large inset in the wall. In front of the picture is the dais where Nome sits and expounds the teaching of Advaita Vedanta, answering inquiries and removing doubts of those who are present.

~ Satsang Hall ~

The SAT Temple is a space in which one enters absorption.
It is a space where the meditator, the meditation, and that which is meditated upon merge,
 and the space of Consciousness alone remains.

~ Puja to Siva and Sri Ramana during Guru Purnima ~

Worshipping the compassionate, peaceful Guru,
established (abiding) in Brahman,
Inquiring, with determination, into one’s own nature,
The Truth, which the wise one realizes by profound meditation,
The Supreme Brahman, the Eternal, That, indeed, am I.

Verse 2, Svarup-anusandhan-astakam
(The Octet of the Inquiry into One’s Own Nature),
from the book A Bouquet of Nodual Texts
by Adi Sankara