Road to Salvation.

Come the month of December, and you can see men dressed in dark blue or black overalls, and chatting "Swamy Saramam Ayyappa" all along. "Swamy Saranam Ayyappa" in itself means, "we surrender ourselves to you, O Lord". Ayyappa cult is not new to South Indians and wonder why the cult has not caught up with the people the other side of Vindhyas. And as someone who is following the cult all my conscious years, I if not plead but ask for other men to follow the cult.

And what is in this cult, that other Gods of Hinduism does not offer. Is it that missing charm, or the inherent divinity that is missing ? Of many other reasons, one reason stands out in Bold. The ability to suppress the superiority in a Man. And man alone and not Women. What with the 24X7 use of alcohol, the constant images of S** on his mind, the greed for more money. All these are nullified in the duration that he takes "dheeksha" or "vratham" during this period.

So what are the expectations of this cult. Does it involve uncalled for sacrifice?? No. Or for ornamental display of faith?? No. The rules are simple

• No non vegetarian foods during the entire duration
• No alcohol or Drugs
• Should follow strict "Brahmacharya" or continence
  
• Need to think only about the God except while working.
• Should not hurt others, physically or Verbally.
• And of the many others, he should live a simple life.

Well, at the end of the day, if this does not put a brake to Man's dominance, nothing well. And if numbers are to be believed, millions of pilgrims come to Sabarimala every year as part of the cult.

A genuine request to one and all. Life has lots of things to offer. This is one way we can offer back to life by staying simple. Think again.

Swamy Saraman Ayyappa.

India - a post independence doom

Only a few years ago, was the phrase, "India shining" put in bold and displayed all over. "India shining", true, but the shining metals are all with the wrong men. And I am talking about the richness only distributed with the super rich and the ugly bureaucrats. And I am now referring to the "Lok Ayukta" report on the recent raids on the babus (read government officials with the official task of collecting bribes) on November 3, 2007.

And as an Indian, who wishes against all wishes that right things will fall back in place, I might only be dreaming. With such a star cast in Indian politics and government, still wondering who is shining, India or the bank accounts of all these tainted children of India.