Mandalam Musings Day 35- God is one; Devatas are many-

 

Mandalam Musings Day 35-

God is one; Devatas are many-

There are numerous temples for Devatas, established by men of knowledge to inspire and lead us on the path of spirituality. In the Hindu scriptures there are 330 million Devatas, mentioned, but God, the ultimate reality is only one. That one reality is not separate from us.  Due to the lack of knowledge or due to lack of the required awareness, we fall prey to the play of Maya, or illusion, and think that “I am this limited individual with a separate identity” and get engrossed in that imaginary self. But our scriptures and the Vedas declare based on experiences reported by realized souls that our self is in fact not different from the Self of the universe. It is only a matter of discovering the truth to realize the ultimate, universal oneness.

However, this finding is not easy and that is the reason in Sanathana Dharma, we seek inspiration from various schools of thought. That is the basis of diversity that we all celebrate so dearly. Unity in diversity is the national motto of India and Sanathana Dharma is the basis of that. 

There are religious traditions that worship forms of gods and goddesses (Devatas) with specific characteristics and powers. So, when such temples are consecrated, the master who created that temple would list out several assumptions of forming such a deity at a particular location, at a particular time and he is a father figure to the deity. As the deity is consecrated, it gets a life of its own. The father of the deity considers it as a living being and starts to serve it like one. He wakes Him up, gives a bath, feeds Him, sings and dances for Him and entertains Him; and finally, at the end of the day puts Him to sleep by singing lullabies. The father also has decided the purpose of the deity and decided who should do what kinds of worship at the temple.

At Sabarimala, it is believed that the strict conditions of the pilgrimage have been instructed by the Lord Ayyappa himself to his adopted father, Sree Rajasekhara, the King of Panthalam, at the time of building the temple and installing the Moorthy (Idol) of Ayyappa. The temple was consecrated by Lord Parasurama and there are insignia of Jnana (wisdom) and Abhaya Mudra (security) on the Murthy. The Lord wanted his pilgrims to lead a pious austere life for 41 days to get them prepared for the vision they are going to behold when they come to the Sabarimala abode to have a darshan.  The conditions are set forth by the King, with great intentions and so the devotees are bound to adhere to them.

When the devotees get the vision, they were eagerly waiting for, they must realize that there is no
difference between the Lord Ayyappa and the Devotee Ayyappa. To have this lofty vision, everyone needs to strive and achieve it. During the 41 days, devotees get to practice the life of a Sanyasi. He is practicing the final Ashrama of life – Sanyasam- even at the early ages and getting himself ready when the time arrives.