Mandalam Musings Day 9 - Habits – Religious Practices – Acharams - are for Life

Mandalam Musings Day 9

Habits – Religious Practices – Acharams - are for Life

Philosophy practiced is the way of life, and it is achieved through daily religious routines or Acharam. It is well known that a HABIT is very difficult to discard; mind you, the Habits of Ayyappa culture - you want to keep them for life! In the path of self-inquiry, self-discipline or control over the mind and senses is a prerequisite, whereas it is not necessary for a religious path as someone else is doing the thinking for you anyway!  One can start practicing spiritual inquiry during the Mandalam period.

Lord Ayyappa’s legend, complete with His life, philosophy, the age-old traditions and the resulting culture come to our guidance if we want to inquire and find the truth on our own. If one is not so lucky to find the truth, experienced travelers vouch that their pursuits have been worth the trouble for the sheer joy of the wonderful experience of contemplation leading to meditative moments in life they enjoyed.

In the traditional Sadhana Chatushtayam (the four-fold system of spiritual practice), a seeker is instructed to control his mental activities by adopting a lifestyle with Viveka (discrimination between real and unreal), Vairagya (reduction of attraction towards worldly objects and actions), Shad-Sampathy (developing six mental attitudes of tranquility, etc.), and Mumukshutva (yearning for liberation). This is very tedious for common people to practice, but Mandalam period provides us with a taste of this tradition followed typically by serious spiritual seekers who have dedicated their lives to an ascetic life.

It is at the stage of self-introspection that Ayyappa devotion becomes a reality of life for self-improvement. 41 days – a Mandalam- is considered a period that is adequate for human beings to engage in habits, good or bad, that can last a lifetime. Once a habit has set in one’s life, it is easy to continue with it throughout his life, and that is the intent of observing the 41 days of pious life during the Ayyappa- Mandalam.

Habit is a word that has a very interesting connotation. Once you form a habit, good or bad, it is very difficult to get rid of it. From “H A B I T”, you try to remove ‘H’ – still, “A BIT” remains. You try to remove ‘A’ also – still the “BIT” remains. You try to remove ‘B’ too, still “IT” remains. You try to remove “I”, the ‘me’ factor ego – even then “T” remains. That is ‘time.’ The time factor is something we cannot fathom. It may take a long time to get rid of a bad habit. However, human nature is such that good habits are easily forgotten, and people fall back into their old ways. After the Ayyappa Season also, we see this happening amongst the seekers.