Parnasala of Santhigiri
Coordinates: 08°37′56″N 76°53′50″E / 8.63222°N 76.89722°E
Parnasala (literally, a hermitage; in Sanskrit ‘parnasala’ means sacred groom) is a monument in the shape of a full bloomed lotus in pure white marble, located at Santhigiri Ashram, 21 km from Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram. The monument serves as the final resting place for the body of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru (1927–99), the founder of Santhigiri Ashram.
The Parnasala, which rises to a height of 91 ft., was dedicated to humanity by the President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, on August 13, 2010. It was opened for public worship on September 12, 2010. As the Guru espoused an inclusive, experiential spiritual path which transcends religious and ethnic divides, the Parnasala is open to all people for prayers and contemplation. A cynosure for spiritual aspirants and tourists, the monument daily attracts hundreds of visitors.
Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru was born on September 1, 1927, in a simple family in Chandiroor village in the Alappuzha district of Kerala. Named Karunakaran by his parents, he was a quiet, contemplative boy who his followers believe received mystical experiences since childhood. He left home at the age of 14 years to lead a monastic life. After serving in Varkala-based Sivagiri Mutt and its various institutions for 17 years, Guru, by then known as Karunakara Swami, moved to live permanently at Pothencode in 1968. The first form of the Guru’s ‘Parnasala’ (hermitage) was that of a thatched roof supported by four tapioca stems. In the 1970s, this simple structure was converted into a one-room tenement with a tiled roof. It was in these austere environs that Guru lived and daily met the people who thronged the simple hermitage looking for solutions to everyday problems, including chronic ailments, or in search of higher truths. After the Guru’s death on May 6, 1999, his followers interred his body in the Parnasala and raised it as a monument.
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