Significance of Mandala Vratham

Each of the avatars and deities in our spiritual tradition has its own significance and purpose. Every procedure and worship method has a reason. Sometimes we do not understand them - and we are the losers.
Our past life (previous birth and current one) determine our present. Whatever we encounter today (joy, happiness and sorrow) were determined by our past actions. Nothing is given to us just like that without a reason. And this is called karma which is defined as ‘action and consequence.’
Ok, what does the above mentioned things got to do with the worship of Lord Ayyappan?
Whenever we go through our present ordeal or a difficult situation, frustration creeps in to an extent that we want to desperately get through this fast. Worship of Lord Ayyappan is a method where we deliberately, whole heartedly follow a difficult way of life to pacify our karma - to nullify our past bad deeds. It is a way of worship where we accept and follow the punishment (even though it sounds hard). We choose this way, follow a self-imposed difficult life, repent, get disciplined and freed for a bright and future life.
This is the basis of worship of Lord Ayyappan. With the guidance and blessings of a guru, a devotee wears a garland as a token of acceptance, reduce the food, starve, avoid non vegetarian foods, liquor and follow bramacharya till returning from Sabari mala. What more? Even footwear is prohibited. The devotee almost leads a life of a beggar - starving, without proper hair style or grooming, treating the young and old alike by addressing 'swamy'. This is the beauty of this worship method. It cleanses our karma. It culminates at the darshan of Lord Ayyappan at the Sabarimala.
The process of Ghee Abishekam has its own significance. Coconut is a metaphor for our body. The shell is the bone. fibres are nerves. Edible white coconut forms the muscles and water is our blood. We fill the coconut with ghee. It is a symbol of our aatma. Ghee is processed from milk. It goes through various stages. We cannot see ghee directly in the milk. But ultimately milk turns into ghee. Finally ghee which is our aatma, reaches god as abishekam. The coconut which carried the body is destroyed in the fire of
homagundam. No other worship method makes us understand this fundamental purpose of life in an easy way.
And finally, this method of worship is not just for cleansing our karma but also instill discipline in our life for the future. Washing off our Karmic past and following a discipline righteous life will automatically bring prosperity.
We have collected important slokas pertaining to Lord Ayyappan, as far as possible and have given it in text and audio formats. Text is available in both English and Tamil. 


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Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa