THE SPORT OF JELLI-KATTU

யாம் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெறுக இவ்வையகம்.

LET ME SHARE THE BLISS I ATTAINED WITH THE WHOLE WORLD.

THE SPORT OF JELLI-KATTU

This sport of catching and subsequently keeping a bull under control for a small period of time has remained in the ethos and culture of Tamil Nadu for the past many millenniums, right from the period of reign of the legendary Monarch, Saundara Paandiyan, who is also hailed as Lord Somasundara or Sundareshwara, the presiding deity, in the world-renowned Madurai Meenaakshi Temple.  It has remained as one of the forms of Martial Art prevalent in Tamil Nadu from those good old times.   There are references of this sport in some Puranas of the Hindus (Mythological Collections) as well.  In Sreemad-Bhaagavata Puraana there is a brief reference of an episode involving Lord Krishna taming, through an extraordinarily brave act of nose-stringing, seven terribly hostile and as such, thitherto unbridled bulls in a sporting arena in the kingdom of Ayodhya, ruled by King Nagnajit who fixed this heroic feat of taming the bulls as the appropriate dowry (vide - Sreemad-Bhaagavata, Skandha 10, Chapter 58, verse 33) to earn the rightful claim to wed his daughter, princess Satya. 

There has been an unbroken succession of self-realised preceptors (Gurus) adorning some of the illustrious Peethams or pontificates in this land of Tamils and none of them have ever spoken a word against this sport which is actually a form of martial art.  In a bull fight conducted in Spain or elsewhere in the American continents, we all know that the bull is mercilessly killed at the end of the show by the matador, whom the so called civilised Western World glorify for his rare courage and peerless valour.  When the bull would get tired gradually, on account of charging at the matador repeatedly with its full force, the matador would remain unscathed, holding the red silken cloth in front of the bull to deceive it and swerving from the bull's path dexterously.  Finally, when he would bring it to total submission through his clever maneuverings of the reddish silken cloth, over a period of thirty or forty minutes, and when he would pierce the readily kept sword into its neck, the heavily paying spectators assembled in the sporting arena would feel they were actually over the moon at that time.  No one sees anything wrong in this sport in the West.  But when it comes to the sport of Jelly-Kattu where actually no violence is involved, it is interpreted as a violent and cruel sport, which is to be forbidden by all means.  This is the conclusion of the judicial community which is supposed to grant justice to the people of India.  The present judicial community in India is nurtured and brought up through the western system of education.  So anything originated in the West or connected with the West would look grand in their opinion and as such it would be considered welcome and anything connected with Indian culture or convention would be interpreted as uncivilised and outdated. 

If the present judicial community in India considers itself wiser and more knowledgeable than the great preceptors and nobles of Tamil Nadu who never decried Jelly-Kattu, they should be living in a world of ignorance, totally unconnected with the social evolution that has taken place through a protracted period of time.  Actually, to become a great judge in the judicial system, one should possess a thorough knowledge of ancient and modern history.  Erudition in Hindu Mythology could be considered an additional and valuable feather to the cap of a judge which would enhance the glow and excellence of the cap considerably, as mythology is nothing but a narrative form of history presented symbolically.  Mythology should never be looked at as a bundle of fictions as many rationalists consider and proclaim it to be.  Possessing costly and hard-earned law-degrees without acquiring these intuitive and inspiring prerequisites, will only produce such class of judges whose judgments would never pass the scrutiny and approval of the class of nobles, who are supposed to be men of true wisdom and objective thinking.  

This sport was basically intended to maintain the fighting spirit of the warrior class of people during peace time.  They should never have the slightest thought of fear of getting injured or meeting with death in the course of a battle.  To achieve this particular objective, they were made to take part in this sport, competing with one another, demonstrating their individual bravery and skills to the public at large.  This would amount to a recreation of the highest order for everybody in the land in addition to sport and pastime for the youth of the warrior class.  By taking part in this martial art with vigour the warrior community earned great respect from the society in addition to material gains in the form of awards in cash and kind.  Any parent belonging to the warrior class, in olden days, would voluntarily come forward to marry his or her daughter to such a fearless hero.  So much was at stake, for everyone among the warrior class of people, from this Spartan Sport.  Through this act of bravery of a very high order, they could infuse the feeling of security and confidence into the hearts of the inhabitants of the entire country by remaining ever focused towards fulfilling their duty to their motherland which is safeguarding its territorial integrity and remaining ever vigilant and faithful to their basic occupation of fighting, maintaining their morale ever high.  There has been no reference of any mother, among the warrior class of people, having ever wept over the accidental death or loss of limbs of her son after participating in this Spartan Sport of Jelli-Kattu.  We all know that a small percentage of casualty is permissible in military exercises of the infantry and artillery battalions.  In Jelly-Kattu the casualty percentage would not be in any way different from the modern military exercises.    

If we closely study the sport of Jelly-Kattu further, we can see that the bulls also remain amused, enjoying the sport, by showing their skills in swerving and hoodwinking from the clutches of the young heroic catchers. The owners of the bulls used to provide energetic food and special training to the bulls to remain valorous and totally unscathed.  When a bull runs away unscathed and unconquered from the narrow entry point (வாடிவாசல்), displaying an indomitable spirit, the owners become eligible to receive the awards in cash and kind, for their sustained hard work of rearing the bulls. 

The so-called showing of cruelty to the bulls claimed by the activists and confirmed by the present judicial community makes me laugh and to put a counter question to these people. "Then in that case, are these bulls meant to be kept in AC rooms tasting ice cream and gazing at the TV programmes?"  To be born as an animal itself is to spiritually evolve through various hardships and sufferings.  The suffering of the bulls in a sport of Jelli-Kattu is not definitely greater than subjecting them to castration and fixing their neck to the yoke to pull a cart or to pull a plough or sending them finally to a butchery after extracting so much of hard work from them.  The activists are shedding crocodile tears for the bulls at the time of Jelli-Kattu alone, turning a blind eye to their castration, their subjection to hard labour and their final fate in a butchery.  In their opinion, no cruelty is shown to the bulls during these occasions.  Only during Jelly-Kattu they are treated ruthlessly.  This compels me to believe, that there should be some hidden selfish-agenda behind their tears and the hue and cry they have been making since AD 2000 and the judiciary's magnanimous and total approval of their demands banning Jelly-Kattu.  My logic is fully transparent. It is based on an objective and painstaking study.  As such, the subsequent conclusion that I have arrived at, should definitely stand the test of true objectivity and eternal time.

(This essay was written before the Sport of Jelli-Kattu got legalized through constitution amendment, towards the end of January, 2017.)

யாம் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெறுக இவ்வையகம்.

LET ME SHARE THE BLISS I ATTAINED WITH THE WHOLE WORLD.

ENTRY OF ALL WOMEN INTO SABARIMALA TEMPLE

ENTRY  OF  ALL  WOMEN  INTO      SABARIMALA  TEMPLE 

An all out struggle which has the potency to develop into a “no holds barred” fight (Jo Marjee Ladaayee – in Hindi) between the faithful community clinging to spiritual and traditional values and the rationalists bent upon breaking all existing norms has sprung now, from the 28^th of October, 2018, in the entire state of Kerala, particularly in the approaches of Sabarimala hill area, leading to the divine temple of LORD AYYAPPA.  This struggle carries with it, the in-built potency to even obliterate the present constitution of India which was framed by a team, consisting of a majority of rationalists, presided over by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.  We wish to enlighten the people of India in this matter, which is basically of transcendental nature.  By going through this essay, the readers would be able to develop an objective assessment without any sort of prejudice and finally arrive at a proper conclusion.  Further, this would help Indian ethos to spiritually, socially and politically evolve towards the age-old concept of RAMARAJYAM, the most ideal system of the rule of law.  The people of India can ponder over this matter and feel highly rewarded. 

Evolution of human intellect has two distinctive paths to progress.  One is the Path of Faith and the other is the Path of Reason.  The Path of Reason can take an individual to the border lines of reasoning capability in him or in her and not a millimetre beyond that.  But life, in general, progresses very much beyond this border line and finally, evolving further, extends into infinity.  This becomes possible by following the Path of Faith alone.

There are innumerable riddles in front of the world of sensory perception, for most of which the Path of Reason has no satisfactory answers.  At the same time, the Path of Faith has convincing answers for these riddles which are based on total faith in the Vedas of the Hindus. In fact, the Vedas (vast collections of knowledge) have come into being to enlighten humanity in all transcendental matters.  The Smritis (codes of conduct applicable to each and every individual belonging to various sections of society during different occasions) instituted by the near omniscient Seers, who are called सर्वज्ञकल्पाः like Manu, Yaagyavalkya, and others which were put to practical application as Sutras (Aphorisms) by Bodhaayana, Aapastamba and others are the codified essence of the Vedas and they become the extensions of the Vedas in guiding humanity.  As time evolves steadily, application and modality ordained in each Smriti undergo a modification, a change in a small or great measure, to suit the requirement of the particular time and occasion, keeping the spirit behind the ordainment alone constant and intact for all times.  Cold water bath which is most welcome during summer would turn to be totally unwelcome and unsuitable during winter.  This analogy is presented here to grasp the logic involved in this matter.  This is the cause for the seeming difference in the ordainment presented in each Smriti.  The ultimate aim of each Smriti is verily to keep India's Sanatana Dharma, the eternal way of living, ever green, lively and valid.  As such, here lies the absolute necessity of FAITH in all spiritual matters which are transcendental in nature.  If one possesses a Saatvic (purified) intellect and maintains a positive approach, the injunctions would look to be wise and sane.  The same injunctions would look to be insane, unjust and hostilely discriminative when interpreted with a Taamasic (mired) intellect coupled with a negative approach.  It is like, one affected by jaundice, seeing everything yellowish.

Faith alone takes humanity to the imperceptible and unknown realm of infinity.  There is no room for Reason here.  Total faith is nothing other than blind faith.  By reasoning, no one can take his or her thinking process beyond the limits of the tangible present, which is the sensory realm.  Mankind do not know what or who one was before being born in this world and also what or who one would be after leaving this world of sensory perception.  As such, if the rationalists stress that they would be convinced of anything through the faculty of tangible reason alone, they won't be able to evolve beyond a certain limit.  The tangible realm is ever limited, confusing and as such, misguiding usually.  The intangible realm is devoid of any sort of change and as such, it remains ever static, infinite and eternal.  

If we ponder over this matter repeatedly, we can realise that one's basic identity itself is existing in total faith and not in reason at all.  No sensible person would go to a genetic test centre to get convinced of one's real parentage, i.e. of which male's blood he or she actually is.  Faith in the mother's statement alone provides here the necessary satisfaction for every individual.  As such, it is evident that mankind is evolving through the Path of Faith alone and not through the Path of Reason, from day one of life.

Physics declares that there is no effect without its reciprocal cause.  Life on Earth is the effect of an appropriate cause that was generated in the past. Similarly, the present life will have its appropriate effect in the future.  One can only infer how an individual would have lived during one's previous existence from its present perceptible effect which is reflecting as incidents (both welcome and bitter) in one's present life.  Similarly, the present life would become the cause for future existences and experiences, welcome or otherwise.  As such, it becomes totally foolish for anyone to say that "I would believe in the perceptible present existence alone and nothing beyond that".

Religion is exactly similar to a torch light for humanity to evolve spiritually in total darkness i.e. intellectual gloom.  Beings other than mankind don't need religion as they don't possess the faculty of Viveka (discrimination) to judge which would finally turn for their ultimate good or bad.  Their fundamental requirements are to eat well, to pass the time in recreation and to engage in procreation.  Beyond this objective, they don't seem to have a meaning for life.  If humanity thinks that it doesn't need Religion, which is based on total FAITH, and requires the path of Reason alone to progress and evolve in life, humanity degrades itself to the level of quadrupeds.  Strict observance of religion alone makes a distinction between mankind and the rest.  The real meaning of a civilised life is gradually forgotten by mankind, by pursing the path of Reason.  Now let us proceed to the real issue of entry of all women into the Sabarimala-shrine.

There exists a legend in the Puranas, the mythological collections of the Hindus, concerning Lord Ayyappa.  He happens to be the offspring of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu, who assumed the form of a female to achieve a specific purpose.  Vishnu assumed the form of a world bewitching damsel to delude and bewitch the Asura community, representing the dark forces of destruction, who are basically rationalists and materialists. 

Once upon a time, on the advice of Lord Vishnu, the Devata community, the heavenly inhabitants, joined hands with the Asuras and toiled hard in churning the ocean of milk to obtain the symbolic Amrita, the rejuvenating tonic, an elixir, which would make the consumers immortal, in a sense.  Finally, when the pot of Amrita surfaced, the Asuras forcibly snatched the pot, as they happen to be stronger in muscular power and fled away from the sight of Devas in a trice.  Hearing the laments and prayers of the Devata community, Vishnu, out of compassion for Devas, assumed the form of a world bewitching damsel, viz. Mohini, and won back the pot of Amrita from the Asuras through a clever scheme of intrigue, bewitching and stupefying them for a while, making them believe that she had verily fallen in love with them, through her enchanting form, sweet voice, captivating looks coupled with dancing steps and finally through her pretention of serving the ambrosia equally among Devas and Asuras.  She finally served the elixir of immortality to Devas alone in front of the very eyes of the stupefied Asura community.  It took a little while for the Asuras to realise what was actually happening and when they finally realised the intrigue, it was too late for them to even trace the trail of the juggler.  This story is mentioned in the Puranas, similarly. 

When Lord Shiva expressed to Lord Vishnu, his strong desire to perceive this enchanting form of Mohini, Vishnu verily acceded to appear in front of Shiva in the same form, once again.  The form of Mohini was so enchanting for Shiva, to make him lose his mental equipoise temporarily, which resulted in Shiva embracing Mohini irresistibly.  Finally, this resulted in the ejaculation of semen, even in the case of Shiva, who is known as one who has overcome his lust.  Krishna says in Bhagavad-Geeta मम माया दुरत्यया which means that his deluding potency is invincible.  Shiva was no exception to this statement in Geeta.  Without getting wasted, this seminal energy got collected in a reed and subsequently Lord Ayyappa was born as a test tube baby in due course.

This Spirit of Lord Ayyappa is presiding over the entire Sabarimala hill area. Lord Ayyappa's first manifestation could be around the closing century of B C or the early century of A D.  Bhagavatpaada Shankara has made a reference to Lord Ayyappa in his devotional hymn of शिवपादादि-केशान्त-वर्णन-स्तोत्रम्.  There, he mentions Lord Ayyappa as भूतभर्ता, which would mean, a ruler or administrator, in the sense of a person who disciplines all beings in the matter of upholding Dharma unflinchingly.  In the same sense Lord Ayyappa is verily called Dharma Shaastaa (धर्मशास्ता).  Lord Ayyappa thrusts upon all beings the Dhaarmic way of life equally, punishing in the process the offenders to maintain justice on Earth. The verse in the hymn is as follows.

आरूढः   प्रौढवेग - प्रजवित - पवनं    तुङ्ग - तुङ्गं    तुरङ्गं

चेलं   नीलं   दधानः  करतल-विलसत्-काण्ड-कोदण्ड-दण्डः |

राग-द्वेषादि - नानाविध - मृगपटली - भीतिकृद् – “भूतभर्ता” 

कुर्वन्नाखेटलीलां     निवसतु     मनः - कानने     मामकीने  ||

"Let the great God, the ruler of all beings, the unflinching dispenser of Dharma, mounted on a horse of a mammoth height and size, capable of eclipsing even the wind-speed, adorning black cloth around his waist and upper body, holding bow and arrows in His hands, reside in the thick jungles of my mental realm, exhilarating and in the process, amusing Himself in sport and pastime of hunting which would result in the beneficial act of driving away the hostile wild animals residing there in the form of lust, greed, wrath, likes, dislikes, sensuality and all sorts of other vices."

The name, “Ayyappa”, originated in the ancient Tamil-language. Its usage became common in Malayalam language, ever since its evolution into a separate language from Tamil, somewhere around A D 1200.  Malayalam is the offspring of Tamil-mother and Sanskrit-father. The name of Ayyappa is derived from the Sanskrit word, Arya (आर्यः) meaning Acharya (आचार्यः) i.e. Guru or preceptor which would become Ayya (அய்யா) or Ayyan (அய்யன்) in the slanted version of Tamil.  The same word, in an endearing sense of a pet child, became Ayyappa, as he manifested as an endearing and captivating infant of great lustre.  He is also called Manikandan as he was found wearing a rare gem of invaluable worth over his neck at the time of his appearance on the bank of the Pampa river.  The word Mani denotes a gem in Sanskrit and it is mistaken for a ringing bell made out of bell metal or bronze in Tamil Nadu.

  

The ruler of Pandalam kingdom accidentally came across this orphaned and abandoned child in Sabarimala hill area, on the bank of the Pampa river, during a course of his hunting expedition and brought the child to his palace with great compassion and care.  Ayyappa became the adopted son of the king after undergoing a formal ritual for adoption.  He was fostered with great affection by the king who was anguished by the terrible misfortune of childlessness till then.  After this adoption, the king's better half conceived and gave birth to a son in quick succession.  

When the question of inheriting the throne arose after about 18 years, the queen was ill-advised by her coterie to eliminate, by any means, the adopted son who was elder and as such, the rightful inheritor to the throne, so that the son born out of her womb would inherit the throne.  This was actually against the wishes of the king who wanted Ayyappa to become his heir apparent.  To eliminate Ayyappa from this world of mortals a well-planned intrigue was contrived by the coterie.  According to that, the queen started pretending to be suffering from a serious ailment, almost unbearable in its nature, for which the remedy was prescribed by the prearranged royal physician as tigress-milk.  The king was shocked to hear this prescription as tigress-milk was almost unthinkable, for any mortal, to obtain. 

At this juncture, the endearing and favourite son of all (the king and the subjects alike) Ayyappa, came forward, with youthful vigour, valour and exuberance coupled with unshakable determination, raring to go to the thick jungles to get the tigress-milk, against the prevention and wishes of his foster father, the king.  In quick time he returned from the jungle with a vast herd of the big cats viz. the tigers, males, females and cubs, Himself mounted on the back of a ferocious looking tiger of a mammoth size.  He stated without even alighting from his seat on the back of the tiger, facing the big gathering assembled in the courtyard of the palace, that anyone among them could extract the milk from the udder of any suckling tigress, without the slightest fear, as they were rendered fully friendly and domesticated, like the cows.

On hearing these words, the queen fell unconscious instantly, while the coterie remained uncontrollably trembling in fear, as they had no means to save themselves from the impending consequences of their treacherous design.  Ayyappa, on the other hand, instead of showing any ill will towards the coterie and the queen (which was contrary to their expectations), magnanimously pardoned them for their wrong doing and told the king that his Karma to remain as the crown prince in the palace was over then and there and he was to concentrate thereafter, on his eternal mission of redeeming the sinners, infusing optimism and confidence into various kinds of people, remaining anguished, dejected and misery-stricken and wiping out their tears, thereby uplifting the entire downtrodden masses (like Jesus Christ did in the past) irrespective of their religion, status, cast, creed and community, whose number would swell into gigantic proportions in the ensuing period of Kali Yuga, the dark age, when ignorance of one's own True Self would rule supreme in this world on account of which there would be only widespread suffering everywhere on Earth.  Further, He told the king to meet Him in His eternal abode, in Sabarimala, where the shrine remains now.

 

Uttering these words of benediction, Ayyappa retreated to His hilly abode in Sabarimala, where He remains in his astral form for ever.  There, he has appeared in his luminous astral form many a time to bless His devotees, as promised earlier.  These days, He appears as pure luminosity on the 1st day of the month of Makara in Malayalam (தைமாதம் in Tamil) coinciding usually with the 14th of January.  He, Himself, instituted all the disciplines for daily, seasonal and annual worship to be observed in the temple.  Sabarimala-Ayyappa's riding car came to be known as a tiger after these thrilling incidents.  Throughout Kerala, Ayyappa is worshipped as riding a tiger.  In Tamil Nadu and elsewhere the riding car of Ayyappa remains a horse as it used to be before His manifestation in Sabarimala.  In Tamil Nadu He is called as Dharma Shaastaa or Ayyanaar, the respectful version of Ayyan.  

In Tamil Nadu, each and every village would have an Ayyanaar temple.  Here, He is generally worshipped as a guardian deity of the village disciplining the inhabitants from transgressing Dharma, the ethical and moral standards.  In Sabarimala, Lord Ayyappa assumes the fully Saatvic (purified) aspect of Sadguru, imparting the eternal wisdom, the knowledge of the Self, exactly like Lord Dakshinamurti, by holding His right palm and fingers in the symbolic sign of a CHINMUDRA (चिन्मुद्रा) which is generally used to steady and introvert the restless mind and in the process to guide it to the transcendental state of Samadhi. 

Particularly in the Sabarimala sanctum sanctorum, Lord Ayyappa remains as an eternal celibate (नैष्ठिक-ब्रह्मचारी).  As He observes celibacy in thought, word and deed, the enormous power generated in the temple and in the entire vicinity of Sabarimala hill area, becomes highly detrimental to the interests of women wishing to conceive and beget children.  By visiting Sabarimala Temple, their menstrual cycles, the amount of bleeding during menses and finally their fecundity get terribly disturbed resulting in the total ruin of their reproductive system which would definitely reflect in their mental health also in course of time.  This is the actual reason for prohibiting women in the age group of 10 to 50 in Sabarimala Temple.  There is no hostile discrimination against women in this matter.  It is for the benefit of women alone, that this discipline is instituted in Sabarimala pilgrimage.  Without grasping these occult and subtle matters in detail, the Women Liberation Activists (who are highly earning professionals and whose occupation is fighting against traditional values, especially of Sanatana Dharma) fight vehemently for gender equality with the male population to visit Sabarimala Temple.  Naturally, in this context, it makes one smell some rotten rats in other words, hidden agenda (machinations behind the curtain, prompted by agencies committed to destroy Hindu Religious Faith completely) in their obstinate move to break all the conventions practised in the Sabarimala temple as in the case of the earlier fight against Jelli-Kattu, the martial sport and pastime of the exuberant youths, belonging to the warrior class of society, in Tamil Nadu, where the institution of PETA are said to have acted as the informal agents of the manufacturers of agricultural machinery in America and Europe.  If there would be no sport of Jelli-Kattu, there would be no purpose in rearing and maintaining the bulls in top healthy condition. In that case, the same bulls, which are supposed to beget the cattle for agriculture and other purposes like pulling carts, would be sent to butcheries and they would become extinct steadily, thereafter.   

In the Sabarimala case, the Supreme Court gave their verdict in favour of the professional activists, hurting very severely the sentiments and confidence of the faithful Hindu community who are also the majority community in India. The judges say that they are more concerned to implement the gender equality than sticking to the conventional observances of the faithful community.  This adherence to equality is exactly similar to maintaining precisely equal length in all the fingers in both the hands, no matter it might require cutting off some length in the longer fingers.  Gender equality cannot be achieved by any reformer or any judge in the empirical realm, how much so ever great one would be.  Equality is possible in the realm of Atman or Spirit alone.  In the realm of matter there would be only inequality to whichever direction one would turn.  As Spirits, all are equal and as individuals identifying with the body, all are ever unequal.  Males and females are born in this world for achieving different purposes.  There is no superiority or inferiority in this issue. When both are put together, then only, it becomes a single wholesome unit like द्रव्य the matter and गुण its attribute.  The attribute cannot be separated from the matter.  Kalidasa says in the beginning of his immortal Rhetoric of Raghuvamsa that Siva and Parvati ever remain as a single wholesome unit like a word and its meaning when he says वागर्थाविव सम्पृक्तौ.  The judges of the Supreme Court should have shown more objectivity and commonsense in this case.  Strangely, the Muslim and Christian communities of Kerala are also supporting the believers among the Hindu community.  99.99% of Kerala's young women, irrespective of their religious affiliations, desist from undertaking the pilgrimage to Sabarimala.  

 

When Supreme Court delivered the verdict, the spirit of equality was totally forsaken by the judges, holding on fast to the skeleton aspect alone.  Actually, holding on to the spirit aspect, should have been of paramount importance to the judges.  To protect the spirit aspect, if the skeleton aspect had to be ignored, in some cases, it would not have been wrong at all.  This verdict would make the believers to lose their confidence and faith in our very Constitution, in the matter of obtaining Justice. To understand the logic behind the age-old practice in Sabarimala, all the readers are requested to go through the Blog Site maintained by a highly educated woman, Maitri by name, engaged in the research of menstrual periods of women for the past nine years.  She is very popular in Karnataka State, through her educating mission of women.  Her write up remains highly welcome, informative and reformative among all classes of women, possessing the stamp of personal experience.  The Women Liberation Activists (who are spineless professionals) fighting for equality in the matter of Sabarimala Darshan should definitely go through her Blog Site to feel greatly rewarded subsequently.  The connecting link to her Blog Site is given hereunder for everyone's enlightenment and the accruing benefit thereafter.  https://mythrispeaks.wordpress.com/2018/10/23/sabarimala-verdict-fabricated-rights-over-real-experiences-of-women/amp/?__twitter_impression=true            

Ayyappa's story is very famous in the entire length and breadth of Kerala and need not be gone through in greater detail than it is done now at this juncture.  There are many more legends with regard to Lord Ayyappa and the holy shrine of Sabarimala.  Lord Ayyappa's vanquishing and subsequently transforming Mahishi, a female of mass following (probably encouraging and promoting polyandry in those days) in those areas, and Vaavar, the colloquial version of Babar, a Muslim forest brigand like Veerappan of 20th century in Tamil Nadu, are some of the noteworthy legends sung in the form of folklore among Ayyappa devotees.  Ever since their transformation by Ayyappa, they became immortalised and are given their places of pride in the scheme of things in Sabarimala.  The Spirits of both of them are installed and formally consecrated within the ambit of Sabarimala hills, the first one's Spirit remains somewhat close to Ayyappa's sanctum sanctorum by the name of Maalikappurattamma Snnidhanam and the second one's Spirit remains in the little faraway place called Erumeli, the starting point of Sabarimala pilgrimage.  The pilgrimage to Sabarimala shrine attains fullness and fruition only after paying obeisance and worship in front of their sanctum sanctorum also.  How magnanimous and forgiving Ayyappa remains even towards His adversaries!

In front of Lord Ayyappa all are equals in letter and spirit.  During the pilgrimage, all dine side by side, all rest alike spreading a cloth or sheet on the ground in the wilderness of the thick jungles, observing the greatest virtue of sacrificing one's own comfort for others' sake with spontaneity and joy.  There is no discrimination of religion, cast, creed, community, language and race here.  No untouchability is practised among devotees here.  All stand in the same queue, formed at times for miles, waiting for their turn of Darshan of the Lord.  There is no preferential Darshan here for the highly influential or rich.  There is no Darshan on payment also.  All differences are forgotten, at least for the time being, till the formal completion of the pilgrimage when all the devotees would return to their native places and remove the rosary from around their necks, which they started wearing at the commencement of Vratam (the formal commitment).  This pilgrimage teaches humanity to live in peace, harmony and brotherhood in this world, renouncing all hostility.  Even the hostile wild animals, tigers and elephants, residing in those thick jungles do not attack or harm the pilgrims who are verily the symbolic different forms of Lord Ayyappa Himself, provided they have not violated the disciplines to be observed during the course of the vow, lasting about 45 days.  This is the perceptible evidence of the great power, ever remaining behind the sublime virtues of truth, sacrifice, self denial, morality, non-violence and universal love.  The power of such virtues is capable of moving even mountains. 

Muslim clerics are in charge of the sanctum sanctorum of Vaavar at Erumeli from good old times and they are distributing the MAHAA-PRASAADAM, the sacred ash, by their own hands and all the Hindus are receiving it with great humility and reverence.  Can anyone show even a remote parallel to this pilgrimage, anywhere in the rest of the world?  There is no need of any conversion into another religious faith if the spirit behind this pilgrimage is perceived properly.  If all can live in harmony for at least 45 days forgetting all the differences why can't it be extended for the whole year which would get further extended, thereafter, for all times?  Oh, the respectful class of judiciary, please try to understand the great pilgrimage to Sabarimala shrine in its true perspective.  Please desist from giving such verdicts which would promote disharmony alone in our society.  India is predominantly a land of gods and believers in gods.  Please don't disturb the harmony of this sacred land.  Please try to practically understand the enormous benefits accruing from this pilgrimage, by observing the spiritual disciplines under the formal guidance of a Guru Swami and finally by going to Sabarimala during a pilgrim season, at least once in your life time.  Please don't give a judgement favouring the professional activists, the nonbelievers, who are not at all required to go to Sabarimala for any sort of worship.  Please don't enthuse the professional activists to register more and more success in achieving their hidden agenda of destroying Hinduism.        

Lord Ayyappa's manifestation as an infant child in Sabarimala hill area should have been after Shankara's time who belongs to the 7th century A D.  We need not delve deeper into the symbolic story connected with Lord Ayyappa to grasp the core issue involved in this matter.  This much is stated here, to enlighten everybody that Lord Ayyappa is an extraordinarily powerful Spirit, totally benign and charitable in nature, residing in Sabarimala hills and this is evident from the number of devotees thronging to that hilly shrine every year from all over the world.  It was around 5 crores during the year 2017.

  

There is a lot of symbolism involved in the mythological literature-collections of the Hindu Religion.  First of all, symbolic statements are to be understood as neither facts nor fictions.  It is like concealing a medicine in a capsule.  The patient need not know what is concealed in the capsule to get cured of the disease.  Faith in the doctor's diagnosis and prescription alone would be sufficient in this matter.  Similarly, symbolic statements are powerful enough to touch the heart directly and to make an indelible impression, thereby transforming the individual.  By so doing, they become quite capable of achieving the ultimate objective of the statements.  The explicit language used in any statement agreeable to intellectual reason or logic is generally understood and accepted as factual statements by the rationalists.  These statements cannot achieve the objective which the statements loaded with symbolism are capable of achieving.  Any symbolic view is somewhat like perceiving anything differently like perceiving our Globe Earth from the earth-satellite moon when it looks like a whirling colossal sapphire stone embedded with gold in many places.  If anyone states that Earth is a visible whirling colossal sapphire stone studded with gold , will it become a fictitious statement?  The portion of ocean would look like sapphire stone and the portion of land would look like embedded gold.  Even though the Earth is the same it can be perceived differently from different distances.  This is the actual spirit behind the liberal usage of symbolic language in the entire mythological literature in Hinduism. 

In the proceedings of arguments raised by the legal fraternity in the Supreme Court, representing the believers, minor issues were only raised repeatedly leaving the core spirit of the matter untouched.  Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala doesn't get disturbed if women aged between 10 to 50 go there and stand in front of His sanctum sanctorum.  "What is the sin involved here or cause for disqualification on the part of women, if they happened to menstruate in front of Lord Ayyappa during the pilgrimage, which is actually not in their control?"  This matter was repeatedly raised during the course of arguments by the lawyers representing the nonbelievers.  It has been convincingly explained in the previous paragraphs that this practice of barring young women is followed in Sabarimala, for the exclusive benefit of women in the age group of ten to fifty.  There is no discriminative agenda against women in this practice, observed in Sabarimala. 

The Vratam or vow for the pilgrimage is undertaken at least 41 days before commencing the pilgrimage.  The pilgrims should do this under the guidance of a Guru Swami, the preceptor and guide in this customary practice.  They should even avoid the food prepared and served by women, maintaining strict celibacy.  In olden days (till 1947), to avoid the nearness of women (which would turn for the benefit of both) they used to reside in temporary out-houses during the period of their vow, eating food prepared by their own hands after undergoing ablutions and prayers during both twilights.  Mortification of the sensory organs remains to be so strict that for all practical purposes they would consider themselves as mendicant monks during those days of penance.  By undergoing all these acts of penance, they generate so much of spiritual power in them and in the vicinity of their presence and dwelling.  It would be only natural if they happened to succumb to temptations when young women also walk side by side with them in heckling and squeezing conditions, during the course of the journey.  It takes two days of trekking from Erumeli through thick jungles to reach Pampa, the basement spot of the hill.  In those jungles the pilgrims would be required to spend one or two nights in rainy condition, fearing hostile wild animals, without proper food, without a proper place to rest or even to stretch the limbs of the body and finally without toilet and ablution facilities.  How can one expect the women to withstand all these extremely bitter adversities? The activists should realise that Sabarimala is not a picnic spot or a recreation centre, specially known for its five-star hotels with inbuilt merry-making night-clubs, gambling dens, etc. like Miami Beach, Florida, in U.S.A. or the city of Paris in France.            

    

An inert metal piece, an idol cast of an alloy of five metals, cannot attract such a large number of devotees and make them feel rewarded and keep them constantly satisfied.  There exist crores of devotees who have taken the  vow of celibacy and other required disciplines connected with Sabarimala pilgrimage and who have visited the hilly shrine 18 times and even more during their life time.  Their numbers are only increasing as time evolves.

One of the five judges who gave the verdict, remaining a member of the constitution bench, wrote that a deity has no fundamental rights.  Only the human beings in the form of pilgrims or visitors can have fundamental rights.  As such, the deity, i.e. Lord Ayyappa in this case, has no right in setting up the standards for the pilgrimage.  If this is to be accepted as correct, in the light of religious beliefs, Lord Ayyappa has to be considered as an inert entity without any Chaitanyam i.e. life force in Him, thereby remaining there as just an object of a metal piece.  When it is strongly believed and accepted by the class of faithful devotees that even hillocks like Arunaachala and Palani in Tamil Nadu have a force field around them radiating Chaitanyam, life force, this verdict becomes a stab on the back of the class of faithful devotees.  The great seer, Ramana Maharshi, has stated that he could visualise the hill of Arunaachala as a vibrant Spirit which forcibly robbed the individual free will in him and thereafter made him an eternal brain deranged mendicant.  This is clear in his famous composition named "அக்ஷரமணமாலை", the sweet- smelling garland of letters composed in the alphabetical order as a heart touching and spontaneous offering to Lord Arunaachala.

Any verdict delivered by a court of law and justice should be welcome and also convincing to the unprejudiced class of nobles. Further, the judgment should not create disharmony in the society leading to pitched battles between the believers and the non-believers.  This verdict is welcome to the class of rationalists alone who are not required to visit the hilly shrine at all.  To wound the sentiments of the believers and to belittle the deity in Sabarimala, the rationalists confess one fine morning, suddenly, that they have become believers and they should be allowed into the shrine as per their whims and fancies, i.e. without observing any vow of celibacy and other disciplines for 41 days.  The logic that remains here is that the moment they confess they have become believers requiring to visit Sabarimala shrine, they become automatically bound by the injunctions of the hilly shrine which says that women between the age of ten and fifty should not visit the shrine.  In this matter it is to be informed to all concerned alike that all the rules of worship at Sabarimala are instituted by Lord Ayyappa, Himself.  No one else has any right, whatsoever, to introduce any change or modification in the conventions observed there.  All these standards are maintained through the medium of a TANTRI, the permanent overseer and spiritual guide appointed by the custodian of the temple, Pandalam Raja, to look after all spiritual matters concerning Sabarimala Temple.

As per legend, Lord Parashuraama, before retiring (renouncing all activities) into the eastern ghat ranges of Mahendragiri, near the present Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, as an act of प्रायश्चित्त i.e. atonement for eliminating a vast population of unrighteous (क्षत्रियाः), warrior class of men, reclaimed and founded the narrow strip of landscape which is called as Kerala today from the Arabian Sea.  He threw away His deadly weapon, the axe, into the Arabian Sea, never to engage in any sort of warfare thereafter.  Subsequently the sea retreated to that extent where the axe fell and a narrow landscape sprung there from Gokarana (in Karnataka) in the north to Kanyakumari (in Tamil Nadu) in the south.  It was obligatory and customary on His part to bring all classes of people from elsewhere to reside in this newly reclaimed piece of land.  By doing that only, the ritual of atonement would attain fruition.  For this purpose, He brought all classes of people from other areas like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and even from the far away state, Gujarat.

The Brahman-family of Thazhaman Potti, who are the TANTRIS in Sabarimala, were among those migrants settled in Kerala who originally belonged to Andhra Pradesh.  This could be grasped from their names which are similar to Telugu names viz. Kandararu, Mohanaru, Rajivaru, etc.  They were duly appointed as TANTRIS by the Ruler of Pandalam Kingdom, the rightful custodian of Sabarimala Temple, considering their life of penance and intuitive knowledge.  Lord Ayyappa gladly consented to this appointment and everything went on smoothly for centuries. 

During earlier days when the human intellect, in general, had not corrupted to the present level, the appointed TANTRIS in Sabarimala Temple could act as medium of Lord Ayyappa.  During the present days, when all people are groping in darkness alike, with regard to transcendental matters, due to the overwhelming influence of TAMO GUNA (resulting in mired intellects and total ignorance of one's own Self) Lord Ayyappa's will and wish in all matters concerning Sabarimala Temple and the age old pilgrimage are obtained through a formal ritual called DEVAPRASNAM.

The ritual of DEVAPRASNAM is based on the horary branch of astrology, by erecting an astrological chart for that particular moment, combined with the vast wisdom obtained through Nimitta Shaastra, the science concerning omens and all other happenings taking place at the spot of the ritual, at that particular time.  A team of TANTRIS from all over Kerala or even outside, engaged in long drawn out penance, conduct this ritual with their intuitive knowledge.  The science of occultism includes in itself all the subtle details of this matter.  Idol worship in India is part of this science of occultism.  A bare-naked eye would not be able to comprehend any bacteria or germ in any object, but with the help of a microscope it would be able to do that.  Similarly, the mired average intellect would not be able to comprehend the subtle principles, nuances and secrets behind these occult matters.  A Saatvic (purified) intellect, through austerity and through leading a life of long drawn out penance, would be able to grasp the nuances involved in this matter directly.  To provide such occult information, the different religious faiths, all over the world, have come into being. In India, the Sanatana Dharma (the eternal way of living) which is known as Hindu Religious Faith, has come into being from an untraceable beginning point in time.  It is our sacred duty to follow the religious injunctions in Hinduism with utmost sincerity to feel greatly rewarded and thereafter to remain in a state of eternal joy and contentment.  OM SHAANTIH, SHAANTIH, SHAANTIH.

SWAAMIYE    SARANAM    AYYAPPA.