Story

Sarvadharman parityjya mamekam saranam vraja Ahan twaam sarva papebhyo mokshayishyami ma sucha.

A bandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me. I shall redeem you from all sins. Do not grieve

These words from out of the mouth of God is a definite promise, in unequivocal and categorical terms, of redemption from all sins, however great they may be, if only we take refuge in Him.

Not a day passes without this verse, a verse pregnant with meaning, being chanted in a Hindu house, but it is not for mere parrot-like chanting only that God has given it to the World. These are Divine words, a call to mankind to understand their true meaning and live up to it, so that they shall not fall deeper into the mire of this world but be redeemed from sin and united with Him immortally.

The call to take refuge in Him, “mamekam saranam vraja”, is preceded by the words “sarvadharman parityajya”, “abandoning all dharmas.” What then are these ‘dharmas’ and why has He asked us to abandon them? They are the life and body, and the many rules, standards and laws imposed upon man by the society to which he belongs, dharmas as envisaged by man.

These are superfluous in the World of the Divine and they do not constitute a means for the relisation of the one eternal Dharma, the highest spiritual Divine Consciousness and, therefore, they have to be abandoned. Ignoring, therefore, the dharmas of the lower ignorant consciousness, which are no more than codes of life, and rejecting them, we have to surrender ourselves to the Supreme Dharma. That is why God said,

Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me. I shall redeem you from all sins. Do not grieve

If one asks whether a fulfillment of the Lord’s promise is sought anywhere, the answer is, Yes. There is the shrine of Lord Dharma Sasta (Lord Ayyappan) on the Sabari Hills, at which men seek to its fulfillment.

Before proceeding further, we have to reconcile the apparent contradiction of the Lord’s call to mankind on the one side to abandon all dharmas, and on the other his appellation of “Dharma Sasta”, one who insists on the performance of the teaching sarvadharman partityjya”. It is here that we have to understand the Sabari Hills, its presiding deity and what He stands for.

The very name Dharma Sasta is significant. The word Dharma is singularly apt. Had he insisted on the performance of dharmas, that is, of more than one dharma, He would have chosen the word “Dharman” for His name. obviously He insisting on the performance of man’s only Dharma, the one immortal Dharma, that is, realization of the Highest Spiritual Consciousness, the very purpose of this life, by following His teaching.

A pilgrimage to the Sabari Hills requires a set of austerities to be observed, as enjoined by the Lord in his words, if we are to benefit by it. The austerities are the basis or foundation of the pilgrimage and, just as an edifice without a sound foundation of the pilgrimage and, just as an edifice without a sound foundation would not stand, so a pilgrimage to this hill would be fruitless if our observance of the austerities were not perfect.

How did this temple on the Sabari Hills come into existence? Who built it? And who is Lord Ayyappan does not appear anywhere in the Puranas and He appears to be a God known only to the Keralites. It is only recently that this temple gained popularity in the adjoining States.

Lord Ayyappan is no other than Lord Dharma Sasta whose incarnation is an accepted fact, told in the Puranas. There are several names by which He is addressed by his “Appan”, “father”. It is possible therefore that He used to be called endearingly “Arya Appa” came colloquitall to be pronounced “Ayyappa”, “Ayyappan”.

He is a God of Keralites only, because he played his human drama in Kerala. The purpose of the avatar was, as we see from the epic, to fulfil a divine purpose unseen by men. Nothing superhuman was performed by the Lord openly for general approbation. Having taken his incarnation in Kerala therefore, it is no wonder that he is widely known there only.

Though known in Kerala only as the Universal Teacher, He is the Father of all who seek His Lotus Feet. Whether he was found as a baby boy on the banks of a river in Kerala or on the banks of the Ganges in the North or whether He played his human drama in Pantalam Palace or in a remote hut in the Himalayan region is unimportant and unworthy of debate, for it is not His place of birth or His sphere of activity that matters but His universal teaching, which, so long as it is accepted, treasured and followed and leads to results, will ever remain a guiding light to lift mankind from lower to divine consciousness, bestowing eternal happiness, breaking the water-tight compartments of the religions, their dogmas and conventions, and redeeming men from the cycle of rebirth. Harping on unimportant questions of fact will carry us no farther in our search for the Supreme, for our purpose is not to probe into the details of the story but to realize Him. Nothing on the face of the earth can erase the strong faith that has taken deep root in the hearts of the millions that go to His shrine, for the experience they have gained, each in his own way, in following His teaching, will remain permanent monuments of its truth. His existence is proved to them beyond doubt in their experiences, while their firm faith is sufficient to bear testimony to the truth of His incarnations and His activity on earth. To accept His teachings only is to accept the gift but not the Giver. The Giver alone can explains the value of the gift; in accepting His teachings, therefore, let us try to know Him, not only as a Teacher but also as the One who trod this earth to redeem mankind from sin by giving it the sacred Bhootanatha Gita.