Monday 4 July 2011

The Great Sabarimala Sri Ayyappan Temple

Hare Krishna ! Pranams to Bhagavan Sri Krishna and His Bhaktas,

Sri Ayyappan is the avatar of Lord Sastha . He incarnated about , 935 years back in Kerala . After completing His divine mission, Sri Ayyappan merged Himself on the Lord Sasta Deity of Sabarimala temple which was consecrated by Bhagavan Parasurama .

Sri Ayyappan was born out of the union between Mohini ( Maha-Vishnu) and Lord Shiva. There are specific evidences to prove the legend of Sri Ayyappa . Even atheists can not dispute those historical evidences readily available at the Pandalam palace and associated places .

Sri Ayyappan is a an *Upda-deva* in all Vishnu/Krishna temples in Kerala including Guruvayoor .
Every year , over 50 million devotees visit the Sabarimala Sri Ayyappa temple, making it the second largest pilgrimage in the world.

Names of Sri Ayyappa

Dharmasasta, Hariharasudhan, Manikandan, Sathanar, Sastan, Cattan (from Sanskrit Sasta), Ayyanar, Natrayan, Nattarasan, Bhutanathan, Pandala Raja, and Pamba Vaasan.

<span>Background</span>
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The Asura princess Mahishi was burning up with anger at the trick the Devas had pulled on to kill her brother, the Asura king Mahishasura. As Mahishasura was blessed with invulnerability to all men, the Devas had sent goddess Durga, to fight and kill him. Thus, Mahishi began performing a fearsome set of austerities, and pleased the creator Lord Brahma .

He granted her the boon of ruling the universe and being invulnerable except to a being that manifests from the improbable union of Bhagavan Maha-Vishnu and Lord Shiva . Since such a person could never exist, Mahishi thought she was safe and began conquering and plundering the entire world.

The Devas implored Lord Shiva and Maha-Vishnu to save them from this catastrophe. Maha-Vishnu found a solution to the problem. When Vishnu had taken on the Kurma Avatar for Amritha-mathana ( churning of milky Ocean) , he also had to manifest himself as Mohini, the enchantress, to recover the nectar of immortality ( Amrita) from the Asura-thieves who were not willing to share it with the Devas. If Vishnu became Mohini again, then the female Mohini and the male Shiva could have the divine child who would combine their powers and beat Mahishi.

The two Gods thus became "HariHara Murthy", that is a composite form of Maha-Vishnu and Shiva as one God.

From this union, Lord Ayyappan was born. He combines in himself the powers of both Vishnu and Shiva, and is a visible embodiment of their essential identity. Bhagavan Vishnu gifted the new-born deity with a little bejeweled bell necklace, so this God is called Manikanthan Swamy.

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