Lord Ayyappa

Lord Ayyappa or Dharma Shastha represents a combination of spiritual powers symbolized by the forms of Lord Vishnu, the Power that maintains the universe and Lord Shiva, the Power that periodically re-absorbs the manifestations into Reality.

People, even his parents, no more call him by his name, but reverentially address him as Swamy or Ayyappa. He addresses others also as Swamy and he is supposed to consider not only man, but also beasts, trees and everything else as essentially Divine. When he visits any temple or any place of worship he chants ‘Swamiye saranam Ayyappa’. He considers the Deity in any temple as a different form of Lord Ayyappa. He is supposed to look at everything, whether living or non-living as the manifestation of the one Truth Lord Ayyappa. The donkeys that carry the goods up the mountains to Sabarimala temple are Kazhutha Swamy-s for him. (Kazhutha means donkey). Even the human excreta are referred to as Bhu-Swami. The Advaitic vision that there is nothing other than the manifestations of the one transcendental Reality is to be observed to the maximum extent possible during this period to recondition consciousness from its various limitations.