Sabarimala Pilgrimage

Dharma Sastha, at Sabarigiri temple reigns over an expanding empire of disciplined devotees cutting across season, region and even religion. There is an invisible universality about this super-deity situated in the dense forests of Kerala. Millions of people from far and near suffer untold hardships, undertake vows of austerity, observe in actual life high standards of conduct and morality, repeat the pilgrimage year after year clad in black and with unshaven face, fascinated by the tremendous power of Ayyappa before whom they surrender. The spiritual subdues the material; the moral eclipses the sensual, not by command but by conscience.

The total equality, the utter dedication, the absolute disregard of the journey's difficulties and the pervasive singing of devotional songs by the pilgrims in pious unison, beat description and defy explanation. Year after year, the numbers of the devotees escalate, although practical inconveniences of the mountain foot-trip are insufferable. There is a self- realized felicity, a feeling of oneness and brother-hood and voluntary renunciation of pleasures in every Ayyappan that baffles me - 'a riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery' - to borrow Churchill's famous words uttered in a different context. An extraordinary transformation of the devotee into the deity occurs and the pilgrim is called Ayyappan even as the Lord.

Thou art that!

What is the Super-Power of this Supreme-Being-Dharma Sastha of Sabarigiri establishing his headquarters in the jungle among beasts, birds and reptiles proving His omnipresence without the glory and splendor of marble and diamond and robbery through religion and yet magnetising legions of pilgrims? There are legends galore woven around Ayyappa, there are cults, which have grown, and rituals, which have flourished regarding Dharma Sastha. There, are miracles experienced by pilgrims, many of whom are otherwise rationalist. What then is this Paramam Rahsyam? What is the story of Dharma Sastha and the' core of the Ayyappa creed? What is the wonder of this wild power? Wonder is the feeling of a Philosopher, and 'philosophy begins in wonder', said Socrates.

To peruse (the history of Lord Ayyappa will be) a real experience and ethical insight, a glimpse of the amity of religions and a feel of the force of myths, faiths, ethics, purity and cosmic appeal of Ayyappa of the distant hills.

Undoubtedly, (studying the history of Lord Ayyappa can) promote dharma, uplift the soul, help manifest the divinity in all and discipline the reader in a higher life. The subject (Ayyappa Cult) has a noble objective and the end product is to make (devote) a nobler man. (The the history of Lord Ayyappa) is philosophical legend-laden and delves deep into Samsara and the way to salvage oneself there from. ……But above all, the egalitarian aura of the hallowed Sabarigiri Temple and the plural lessons we draw from the (history) keep us spell bound. The practical side of Bhakthi Yoga, which the initiates acquire from the Guruji (forms part of the preparation for the pilgrimage). Indeed, the purification of the human being, the satwic sublimity that man aspires to attain and the Raja Yoga which is the royal path to Salvation have all been handled by (the Guru who initiates the Sabarimal pilgrims). In the Ayyappa discipline, human brotherhood, abjuration of vices and concentration on purity, and fraternity are the drill. Here, religion is no longer the opium of the people!

Life is a pilgrimage, but the pilgrimage to Sabarigi is a soul stirring travel to the celestial beginning from Erumeli, covering the eighteen steps towards the Sanctum Sanctorum and the ultimate vision of the Lord. These are the quintessence (of what happens during the preparation for pilgrimage to Sabarimala).

"Saranam Ayyappa -Ayyappa Saranam" rings in one's ears the whole year round and the vision of Pathinettam Padi is invariably imprinted on the mind of the devotee. Whether you are a believer in God or not, whether you believe in one sect or the other, if you wish to raise the quality of your life, if you wish to become the meeting point of the human assent and the divine descent, Dharma Sastha and Ayyappa cult, together with the colorful quiet of the woods, lovely, green and deep, will be an invaluable aid.

Some of my friends may suffer surprise at my holy (words). If you are a Marxist please read Marx on religion:

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature. The feeling of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of the unspiritual conditions. It is opium of the people.( Marx, 1844)

"Marx's position is widely misunderstood... When the essay in question was written opium was used in Europe almost exclusively for relieving pain... Marx was using the word 'opium' in this sense and not in the sense that religion is a stupifier deliberately administered to the people by agents of the ruling class"(Weekly People, 1959).

If you are a Nehru type agnostic, read his Autobiography: "Romain Rolland also has stretched religion to mean something which will probably horrify the orthodox of organised religions, in his life of Ramakrishna. He says: "...man: souls who are or who believe they are free from all religious belief, but who in reality live, immersed in a state of super-rational consciousness, which they term Socialism, Communism Humanitarianism, Nationalism, and even Rationalism. It is the quality of thought and not its object which determines its source and allows us to decide whether or not it emanates from religion. If it turns fearlessly towards the search for truth at all costs with single-minded sincerity prepared for any sacrifice, I should call it religious: for it presupposes faith in an end to human effort higher than the life of existing society, and even higher than the life of humanity as a whole. Skepticism itself, when it proceeds from vigorous natures true to the core, when it is an expression of strength and not of weakness, joins in the march of the Grand Army of the religious Soul...I cannot presume to fulfill the conditions laid down by Romain Rolland, but on these terms I am prepared to be a humble camp-follower of the Grand Army" (Jawaharlal Nehru (1942).

References and Notes

An Autobiography: With musings on recent events in India. London, Bodley Head)

Marx, Karl ( 1844). A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, February.

Weekly People (1959). (The Official Organ, Socialist Labor Party, USA), January 31, 1959)

The words in brackets are that of the editor to sum up the text there and give continuity. Original full document is available as hard copy with Chattampi Swami Archive for reference

Justice VR Krishna Iyer ( 1915 – 2014) referred to as a conscience keeper of justice in India, was a visionary and a path breaking judge, who reformed the Indian justice system with bold changes and forged new tools to dispense social justice and justice in the public interest, which had a profound impact on justice delivery in India in the decades which followed. Stern supporter of Marxian thought and the left movement in Kerala, in 1957 he became the first minister of law, justice, home, irrigation, power, and social welfare and had pioneerd land reforms in that government headed by E. M. S. Namboodiripad.

He stood up for the poor and the underprivileged and was jailed for this once, as an activist lawyer. He zealously guarded human-rights regardless of finding himself isolated. He was a crusader for social action & the environment, and a champion of civil liberties, throughout life.

He introduced the concept of PILs (Public Interest Litigation) or "people's involvement" in the country's courts with a series of cases.

He took the challenge to transform the Supreme Court of India into the supreme court for Indians. With an eye on evolving the law for the future, he would often put in a dissenting note in majority judgments, even as he strove for consensus with his brother judges on the bench. Sitting on the bench and away from it, he would reiterate time and again a guiding principle that laws must reflect justice, and justice in turn, must reflect life as lived by the people, stating: "The law of all laws is that the 'rule of law' must keep pace with the 'rule of life' by climbing down from its high pedestal, shedding its static and sterile inertia, to ascertain ground realities for meeting the needs and aspirations of the people in an ever-changing society. A thinker ahead of his time, he wrote many landmark judgments. Judges in India and around the world continue to cite his judgments in their decisions in court.

Like Chapttampi Swamikal interpreting Vedas and Hinduism Krishna Iyer has critically assessed various aspects of Marxist thought and given a right interpretation to Marx, His views on Sabarimala in a statement he gave in 1984 is relevant now.