Gurunathar, at a later stage told a devotee Sri Narayanan that he used to take bath in River Pennai and sit in Dhyan under this mango trees and the idea of establishing an ashram here was born during one such time.Īs the Tamil saying goes ‘Aalayam thozhuvathu saalavum nandru’ (worshipping in a temple is a very good practice) Gurunathar established a temple at Thapovanam to facilitate the people around the place to have darshan and to have daily poojas at the Ashramam. Sri Vasudeva Brahmam did penance there at the place below these mango trees and Lord Rama and Lakshmana appeared before Sri Vasudeva Brahmam and gave darshan as Trivikrama. Paranur Sri Krishna Premi Swamigal in his book ‘My Archavathara Anubavam’ describes that some few years before Gnanananda Thapovanam was established In the year 1951, an ardent devotee of Gurunathar Sri P.R.Subramania Ayyar dedicated the land – where the present Thapovanam is situated – to Gurunathar and Gurunathar decided to establish the Thapovanam in a place where five mango trees stood and called it “Athyathma Vidhyalayam” in the same year. It is believed that Mrigandu Maharishi, centuries ago, undertook penance at this holy place, having cluster of five old mango trees. Swami Gnananandagiri Swamigal established his modest ashram at Thapovanam, a place which was identified by Swami himself for its spiritual potency. It is situated within a couple of miles from a sacred town called “Tirukovilur”, meaning a town of sacred temples. Thapovanam meaning “forest of penance” is today a place of pilgrimage. “Sri Gnanananda Thapovanam” is a quiet place, situated on the northern banks of Pennar river, near Thirukovilur in Tamil Nadu. Such was the ideal the Swami set for his inmates at the ashram Hence getting rid of cravings and focusing all the energies of the mind on the Divine Reality is the purest and highest form of tapas.” Thus the scripture places the highest ideal before us by saying ‘Meditation on the Supreme is tapas par excellence’. The Taittiriya Upanishad goes on to point out that the higher purpose of tapas is a withdrawal of the mind from hindrances and temptations of the world and flesh and the clarifying of its vision to be able to perceive what is spiritual and true. Tapas’ is intense heat with its derivations, zeal, fervour, austerity, asceticism.