Mandalam Musings Day 36- Pilgrimage to Sabarimala is a unique experience.-

 

Mandalam Musings Day 36-

Pilgrimage to Sabarimala is a unique experience.-

We looked at the legendry and philosophical aspects of Swamy Ayyappan’s avatar of Sree Dharma Sastha. The demoness, Mahishi, represents the animal tendencies in us and it is not easy to get rid of them. To annihilate those, Lord Vishnu (Ayya), in the guise of Jeevathma and the Paramathma, Lord Siva (Appan) had to merge. Thus, Sree Ayyappan was born to destroy all the afflictions of the world and to establish Dharma. The episode of Ayyappa incarnation is also instrumental in a seeker’s liberation. Liberation is nothing but removing the wrong notion and establishing the right ideas about one’s own divinity.

Let us see how the pilgrimage impacts the individual devotee and the society around him. 41 days (duration of one mandala) of austere life gives a devotee a culture of pious life and he gets to taste the sattvic lifestyle year after year. He gets to elevate himself slowly and steadily by taking up the Mandala Vratham every year. People have reported that observing the Mandala Vratham is like re-charging batteries of life for the rest of the year. No wonder all devotees look forward to repeating the 41 day’s Mandala Vratham year after year even though the austerities call for stringent measures.

Unlike visiting other temples, one can reach Sabarimala only by walking up the hill through forest paths that are not paved in most places. It doubles as an adventure trip for youngsters and a penance for others. It must be noted that people of all religious traditions take part in the pilgrimage. In fact, there is a special place for Vavar – the warrior assistant of Swamy Ayyappan who followed Islamic traditions. There are also Christian churches around the Sabarimala region with close affiliation to the pilgrimage traditions. This Ayyappa culture is helping society to encourage and nourish communal harmony in Kerala.

Another aspect of the pilgrimage is that every pilgrim is equal there no matter what their social or financial status is. All are devotee Ayyappas, trying to emulate the quality of Lord Ayyapppa. Every male devotee is addressed as Ayyappan there and lady devotees are addressed as  Malikappuram Devis or Ammas. It is indeed the socialism of higher nature, in practice!