Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa;
At last I saw the spark amongst Hindus in Kerala, that I thought never existed.
During the past few decades, Christians and Muslims have grown in influence so much that the Hindus in Kerala were marginalized completely in decision making. All key Ministries, Postings were shared between the two communities, leaving crumbs, if any for the Hindus.
Though Hindus are still a majority in Kerala, they have been infiltrated so much by the Communist ideology that makes them ashamed of being a Hindu, and organizations like NSS and SNDP, who flirted with both LDF and UDF for the personal gains of the leaders of the Organization, and never protecting the interest of the true Hindu. BJP struggled to go beyond its 15% vote share, though Hindus constitute nearly 50% of the population.
Finally, Hindus had enough. They are reacting and how!
The Supreme Court Judgement that permitted entry of Women between the age of 10 and 50 to the Divine Sabarimala Temple changed everything. In the first place, the case should never have been admitted as it was not filed by any devotee from Kerala or neighbouring state, nor any devout Hindu woman. It was pure mischief by a group of young lawyers, following the agenda of Communists, Atheists and Chislamists, who just did not have any locus standi in the first place. The SC should have thrown out the case at the admission stage itself.
But our SC wants to play God and one thing they learned and will continue to learn is that you don't mess around with a powerful deity like Ayyappa. All they have to do is ask the millions of Ayyappa devotees for whom the annual pilgrimage is a period of rediscovering oneself and cleansing their system.
Sabarimala Dharma Sastavu is extremely powerful, and has yogic powers. He is also a naishtika brahmachari. There are powers beyond our knowledge in this world. I am religious, but quite progressive in my thinking. I have been asked why Ladies who are menstruating should not be allowed to do pooja even at home, let alone going to temple. This has got nothing to do with them being treated as impure. During menstruation, their body gets weak, and resisting power is very low. Any pooja or temple visit creates a powerful force field around the person that it may prove detrimental for the menstruating women. No one checks whether the lady is menstruating or not, but they don't go during menstruation, which is more of self control and self discipline. There are Gods who are not Sathvik, like Lord Shiva or Devi who resides in Kavu. Ladies abstain from temple visits for the first 7 days of Menstruation in these temples.
The same is true of people who are sick, male or female. In Kerala, almost all the people take a head bath before visiting a temple. This is not possible when one is sick, and hence they stay away on their own as they are unable to take in the power of the God as manifested in the temples. Unlike in Christianity and Islam, where Churches and Mosques are places of gathering, it is totally different in Temples, especially the Kerala Temples. The Temple architecture is so pristine and based on vaasthu calculations that the Energy emanated from Sanctum Sanctorium is unbelievable. Devotees understand this, and hence the Temple is closed when there is a death in the locality, opening only after the dead body has been removed, for death brings in negative vibes which can clash with the positive vibes of the temple. Devotees also don't visit temple for a prescribed period after a death in the family or a birth in the family. Amongst Tamil Brahmins, we do not enter the temple for One Whole Year after a death in the family. We may pray from outside the temple after 6 months, but wont enter on our own volition.
Each deity has his or her own rituals and preferences. In Sabarimala, ladies who are of menstruating age are not allowed. In Mannarassala, the eldest lady Antharjanam is the most important person, in Attungal only ladies are allowed to offer Pongala, in many temples gents are not allowed to wear shirts, Padmanabhaswamy Temple insists on male wearing only Veshti, in none of the Mahakshetrams you are allowed to touch the Shanthikar, taking small children to the temple is not encouraged for if they urinate, then Shudhi kalasam has to be done. (With Diapers, this issue is taken care of. What people don't understand is that hundreds of people congregate in a temple, and the chances of a baby getting infections is high. The system is actually for the benefit of the baby). Ladies (velichapatu) drink and dance to visit Kodungallur Devi during Bharani, singing abusive songs all the way. If any normal person does it, he or she will be booked and arrested for indecent behavior in public. But this is not applicable to Kodungallur Devotees.
Many of our rituals have deep meanings, and have evolved over many generations. The real intent has somehow got lost in the process.
The British colonization followed by 7 decades of education which took pains to belittle everything that Hinduism stands for and the Chrislamists agenda, funded in crores from abroad, is thought to have weakened Hindus in India. Even the BJP Government led by Modi, has not take any pro active steps to right many historic wrongs.
But Sabarimala judgement by SC is a turning point. The ladies, who the SC and Communist Govt in Kerala thought will come out in droves to visit the temple, surprised everyone but us devotees by their ready to wait campaign. They came out of their houses in thousands, held peaceful namajapa yathras, protested peacefully, made the men come out to support them, forced even those Parties like BJP and Congress who supported SC Judgement initially, to take a U turn and brought the arrogant CPM led Government of Pinarayi Vijayan to their knees.
The SC has agreed to hear the Review Petitions and the Writ Petitions after the Season is over, without staying the earlier decision. The chances of SC, who are drunk with the power of judicial activism, reversing their decision is next to nil.
It is up to the Government of India, elected by the People of India, to abide by the wishes of millions of devotees and bring in a law to overturn the SC Verdict. All it has to do is to turn over Hindu Temples to the Devotees, ask the Governments to get out of running temples (they have no business to do that, in any case). This shall have the effect of each temple ceasing to become a Public Property, whereby allowing them to have their own rules and regulations.
Will Modi bite the bullet? It is high time he, who won based on Hindu Pride, stands up to be counted.
For others like Pinarayi Vijayan, CPM, Left parties and SC, I have only sympathies. Ayyappan is extremely powerful, and the retribution will be severe. Only he can help them! And therein lies the irony.
