MIND-CONTROL the essence of GOD-REALISATION in AYAPPAN WORSHIP
-by Madawan A. Nair
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"The mind (citta) is unsubstantial.....essentially it is the apparent sequence of thoughts issuing out from the Supreme Consciousness within us. Its existence is imaginary. Yet it thrives, due to the merit of Consciousness (the cit). If it takes to the thought and contemplation on Oneness, which is the true nature of Pure Consciousness, verily it becomes the eternal brilliance"
- Quietitude of the Mind (Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha)
In any form of worship, the focal point is the mind and the restraint of it from delving excessively in limbo. This is no different in Ayappan worship. The 48 days of fast and austerities plus continence are in fact to restrain the mind and direct the same inwards to its origin. To facilitate this exercise, the necessity of a gurusamy is emphasized in Ayappan worship. The gurusamy is in actuality a facilitator, helping the devotees all all times to direct their minds inwards to come in contact with the Oneness within and without. To be able to rise up to the level of a gurusamy it is indeed necesary that that person has himself been able to restrain his mind to an extent from its rovings particularly from the mundane yearnings of Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Maltsalya, Asuya and Dhumb.. Sri Ramachandra Prabhu had sages Vasistha and Visvamitra as gurus, to Hanuman Sri Ramacahmdra Prabhu was his guru. For Arjuna the guru was Krishna Himself and Swami Ayappan also had his guru. All these great personalities have had excellent gurus who were untouched by the drawings of money, fame and greed.
Query :
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Can that be said of today's gurusamis ? Most of them beguile the public by looking holy and silent. Holy with the sandal paste and vibhuti so that they look different from tour-guides and organisers which they functionally really are. Silent, because they do not hold the answers to your questions. Just ask them about the philosophy (tatva) behind the18 steps and you shall be baffled by their answers. Ask them how come at the Achan kovil Ayappan temple, He is prayed together with his two wives - Poorna and Pushkala. Ayappan is also said to have a son named Swathihan. On one hand he is a brahmachari and yet at the Achan kovil , He is prayed as a grahastami. Most of them delve into the ritualistic prayers which any other person down the street can perform and recite the standard 108 verses and songs pertaining to the 18 steps. Harivarsanam is being sung as a rhetoric but what does it mean ? Challenge your gurusamis - remember your greatest guru is YOU Yourself. Swami Vivekananda has said thus:
"THE VEDAS CANNOT SHOW YOU BRAHMAN. YOU ARE THAT ALREADY"
These days, the proliferation of bogus Ayappan gurusamis seem to dominate our land. Many are siphoned off their hard-earned money with promises of excellent darshan and blessings. At the end of the day, they come home after having done dizzy, super-speed visits encompassing temples like Guruvayur, Chottanikara, Kodungkulur etc., etc. These cheated devotees have hardly been led to visit the surrounding shrines at Sabarimala itself. What more, extra charges are levied for the makkara jothi darshanam. The Kerala State Government and the Travancore Devaswom Board has already confessed that the Makkara villaku is the light from the burning of prayer materials at the Ponnambala hill. The Makara jothi is the celestial star which appears without fail each year. Just this piece of information is sufficient to dispel the waste of money and the build-up of teeming thousands up the Sabarimala - not to mention the stampede and deaths. However, just how many gurusamis tell their disciples of this truth ?
On the battleground of Kurushetra, when the roving mind of Arjuna was energised and taunted by the need to wreak death upon his own cousins and grandfather - he lost his equilibrium and composure. His guru, Krishna Himself, calmed his mind and helped it be restrained by pointing to the illusiveness of relationships and how we attempt to built such relationship on a base that in itself is temporary (ie our lives).
It has been stated several times that the whisperings of the Oneness can be felt when you restrain your roving mind and direct it towards God Himself. When Meppathur Bhattatiri, was seeking an answer as to how he ought to start the writing of the famed Narayeeniyam, the answer came from elsewhere - ie to start with the Matcha (namely the Fish avatar). While writing the verse "Prahaladha priyan" in the Narayeeniyam seated before the sanctum sanctoram , it is said , an instructive voice came from within it retorting the words "Bhaktajana priya" ( lover of devotees) and not Prahaldha priyan.
All the fasts/continence, bhajans, satsangs, the yatra and everything else in Ayappan worship is to attain this purpose only - the emasculation of the roving mind ! By engaging the intelligence (buddhi) in reasoning (vicara) and discrimination (viveka). It is certainly not easy but with vairagya (determination) and over time this can be achieved. Humility, love for others and tolerance is invoked in the realised WHILE pride, selfishness and greed eat the charlatan.
In the Chapter 13 of St. Matthew, Christ speaks thus to his disciples:
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" But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears for they hear ."
" For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired
to see those thing which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them. "
In Chapter 18 of the same book, Christ says:
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" And said, Verily I say unto you.Except ye be converted, and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as his little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
About the mind (citta) Christ says thus:
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" For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies :
These are the things that defile a man : but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man ."
In THE FORTY VERSES ON REALITY - Swami Ramana Maharishi states thus of the heart and mind as thus :
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" If REALITY did not exist, could there be any knowledge of existence? Free from all thoughts, Reality abides in the HEART, the source of all thoughts. It is therefore called the HEART. How then is one to contemplate ? To be as it is in the HEART, is its contemplation."
" The world is nothing more than an embodiment of the objects perceived by the five-senses.Since, through these five-sense-organs, a single mind perceives the world, the world is nothing but the mind.Apart from the mind can there be a world?"
Ayappan yatra is a tapo-yatra i.e a yatra filled with tapas. All the tapas (fast,celibacy,economy of words and thought etc ) are designed to subdue your senses. What happens, if you truly and diligently do this? As Raman Maharishi says :
"The Divine gives light to the mind and shines within it. Except by turning the mind inward
and fixing it in the Divine, there is no other way to know Him through the mind"
Hence, it is this action of turning the mind on the Divine which is the quintessence of the Ayappan tapo-yatra. The 48 days of fast and the attendant observance of a strict regimen of life transforms, at least momentarily, a mundane man into a sanyasi of sorts. With the mindset of a sanyasi and his senses weakened together with the imbibing of the greatness of the Almighty ( in the aspect of Ayappan) he becomes a observer of his inside. This turning towards his inside weakens his ego and his tenacious grip on the externals through the tentacles of his senses weaken- over time it is said that he shall see that one Reality manifests in the three fundamentals of -the world, soul and God. A hypothetical 18 years of sincerely performed yatra , it is said, generally sufficient to attain this state. However, through the dint of good karmas, samaskaras and vasanas some attain this realisation faster . However, once again, are your gurusamis facilitative of this inward transmisssion of directing your minds to the eternal Divinity inside ?
HARIVARASANAM (translated in English)
HARI VARAASANAM
The one who is seated in the pose of a lion
The one who with His beauty attracts the entire world
The one who destroys the evil of lust, anger, greed, attachment, ego and arrogance
The One who forever dances happily in the hearts of His devotees
The One who has appeared as the son of Hari and Hara
I SALUTE THEE.
The one who is moved by the bhajans sung by His devotees
The One who guards the well-being of all His Devotees
The One who dances in the hearts of His devotees
The One who radiates like the red sky at dawn
The one who is the master of all the living things
I SALUTE THEE
He One who fulfills the desires of His Loving devotees
The One who appears as the Life Force of His devotees
The One who fulfills the wishes of those who pray to Him
The One who appreciates the keertans sung by His Devotees
I SURRENDER TO THEE , OH SON OF HARI AND HARA
The One who is seated on the Horse
The One who is the personification of beauty
The One who uses His maze as His weapon
The One who is extolled n the Vedas
The One who grants all blessings to His Devotees
The One who appreciates the bhajans sung by His devotees
I SURRENDER TO THEE , OH SON OF HARI AND HARA
The One who is worshipped in all the three worlds
The One who is created by Vishnu and Siva
The One who radiates with divine body
The One who is worshipped by the Devas
The One who fulfills the wishes of His devotees
I SURRENDER TO THEE OH SON OF HARI AND HARA
The One who destroys the fear of worldy problems
The One who involves Himself in the devotion of His devotees
The One who by His beauty attracts everyone
The One who is adorned with a lot of jewellery
The One who uses the white elephant as His divine vehicle
I SURRENDER TO THEE OH SON OF HARI AND HARA
The One who smiles compassionately
The One who is bathed in divine sandalwood
The One with a divine body
The One who appears as the lion to those who show the arrogance of an elephant
The One who uses the horse as His vehicle
I SURRENDER TO THEE OH SON OF HARI AND HARA
The One who is loving towards the devotees who surrender to Him
The One who grants all our wishes
The One who is armed with all the Vedas
The One who is celebrated with devotional songs
I SURRENEDR TO THEE, OH SON OF HARI AND HARA
To be continued ......
Why the mala in Sabarimala worship ?
Why the irrumudi is a peculiar facet in this kind of worship?
Harivarasanam and its meaning in English
Loka Veeram and its meaning in English
