Mandalam Musings Day 31- A Temple for Swamy Ayyappa at Sabarimala-

 

Mandalam Musings Day 31-

A Temple for Swamy Ayyappa at Sabarimala-

 Sree Rajasekharan, the king of Panthalam, went to Sabarimala, where the arrow shot by Sree Ayyappa was thrust at the top of a beautiful hill. He built a magnificent temple there with the help of the celestial architect Viswakarma. The temple had eighteen steps at the front and the sanctum sanctorum was built at the top of the steps. When the temple was built, the king did not know what idol and deity would be consecrated there. He knew his Ayyappan will show him the way. All of a sudden, Lord Parasurama appeared before the king and blessed him. He had with him a divine idol that he installed there as the deity of the temple. It would be the idol of Sree Dharma Sastha in the form of Lord Ayyappa. He is the Lord, (Swamy) and both Ayyan (protector) and Appa (father) to his devotees. Hence the deity at Sabarimala became famous as Swamy Ayyappa. As Ayyappa had taken Sanyasa, the deity is also a renunciate residing there as an inspiration to devotees all over the world.

As the consecration of the deity was completed, Swamy Ayyappa once again appeared in front of the king and blessed everyone. The king attained Moksha there itself. Ayyappa then disappeared, merging with the idol after assuring that blessings will be showered upon everyone who takes up a pilgrimage to Sabarimala without disturbing the sanctity of the forest abode. He proclaimed that all devotees who come there adorning a mala made of beads as a symbolic declaration of commitment, observing 41 days of austere life, walking past the steep hills and dense forests, and stepping upon each of the eighteen divine steps would be blessed with devotion and knowledge leading to Moksha, the ultimate liberation.

The first devotees who went there codified the methods of worship at this temple and established the rituals as obtained from the Lord Parasurama so that the devotees are benefitted just by visiting the temple, even if they are not knowledgeable in scriptures or yoga. They get energized and inspired by being in the vicinity of the deity of Swamy Ayyappa. All such devotees would be elevated to the status of Ayyappa himself. It would be an abode, where the devotee and the deity become one. 

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna declares that he will take birth whenever there is a decline of Dharma and when people by themselves cannot handle the consequences adharma.

“Yada yadahi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharatha

Abhyudhanam adharmasya thadaatmanam srijamyaham”

Meaning, whenever dharma (righteousness) declines and adharma (un-righteous behavior and occurrences) overpowers the world order, He will take an avatar to the rescue and re-establish Dharma.

The incarnation of Sree Ayyappa to annihilate Mahishi was such a grave occasion that demanded divine intervention. While other avatars of the divine completed their missions within their lifetime, Swamy Ayyappa's influence is timeless.