SABARIMALA - LAW MESSING WITH FAITH FOR NO REASON AT ALL!!

There are million of women on streets of Kerala but sadly no one is trying to listen to them. No one is paying heed to their perspective.

There are few questions that are still lingering in my mind as to why on earth do people assume and decide on behalf of others when they are clueless about the subject or the ground reality.

• ·       How many women devotees were asked by the committee who filed PIL whether they feel oppressed?
• ·       Did the Supreme court had any data as to whether this is case of discrimination against women? Did the people of same faith wanted a reform?
• ·       How did the Urban feminist brigade, the media and gender equality messiahs learnt that the practice in Sabaramila implies to a thought process of women being considered as impure?
• ·       Why are clueless people from other religion being considered as experts to discuss the issue of Sabaraimla on TV debates?
  

The answer is simple. They are all ill-informed and belong to a part of the recently developed culture that thinks any kind of differentiation against women is discrimination. If this is an infringement of women rights, then why million women devotees are on the streets protesting? And the count of number of actual women devotees who feel they are discriminated due to such a practice is not even one till date.

The tradition in Sabaramila is unique. The customs and practices there is different to any other temple. But is it not the fact that every temple in India has its own deity with different tradition and practices being followed with respect to the mythology or scripture pertaining to that particular deity. The customs, the tradition and the way the deity is to be prayed varies from temple to temple in this country since centuries.

The way one offer prayers to Lord Badrinath in Uttarakhand is different to that of Lord Balaji in Tirupati. The way we pray, the way we speak, the way we live, the thousands of customs etc makes this country diverse and so beautiful the way it is. We simply cant apply the theory of Mono-culture to promote sameness. This will put an end to our diversity. We are a country that worships 53 crores deities unlike any other country or culture and yes, there are more women deities than men.

In case of Sabaramila, the deity, “Lord Ayappa” resides in the form of Naishitika Brahmachari, the one who eternally practices celibacy and hence as per the concept such an oath implies that the deity restricts himself to see any women of marriageable age.

Now all those women who wants to enter the temple, should they be called as devotees or believers ? If you don’t believe in your deity how can you call yourself a devotee? The feminists say it’s my right to pray., I will pray, and it doesn’t matter even if the deity doesn’t accept my prayers. It's my fundamental right. This is nothing but foolishness in the name of gender equality. In the name of feminism and activism our age-old tradition is being attacked. They want to go pray to a God that apparently doesn’t want to see them.

In fact, not a single women devotee agrees to the supreme court verdict. Neither the media is paying heed to what they say. They are just underestimating the intelligence of these women devotees and think they are gender equality messiahs.

Sabaramila is a place dedicated to only Lord Ayappa Devotees. It is not a tourist place like Akshardham or Taj Mahal where people from all kinds of faith pay a visit to have a fun trip and click selfies with their family and friends.  And hence it should not be treated as a public place and allow people from all walks of life irrespective of faith / no faith / believers / non believers / atheists etc.

As per the customs, the devotees who visit Sabaramala has to practice a 41 Day vratam, a ritual wherein they abstain themselves from any reproductive activity, don’t wear slippers, eat satvik diet, carry irumudis (often prepared by their wives and daughters which is meant to carry their wishes) on their head, climb the hill and finally have a darshan. Now all of a sudden, all the women who are non-devotees and activists including female journalists land up there to enter the temple thinking they are there to reform and save these devotees from the oppression. The fact is they looked foolish and no knowledge of the actual custom and practices of the temple.

Some media houses stooped so low that they started comparing Sabarimala to socially evil practices like Sati and Child marriage. In these cases clearly, the women were considered inferior, our society was a male dominated one and women from those particular community or sect did protest against it. Whereas the case of Sabaramila has got nothing to do with gender discrimination or practices that harm anyone. In, fact people of all castes and tribes are devotees of Lord Ayappa. There are several other Ayappa temples where the deity is in the form of a child or a youth where the women devotees do visit for darshan and offer their prayers. Sabarimala is not the place for women to worship because here the same deity is placed in the form of a Brahmachari. Here are some other temples where Lord Ayappa is worshipped in other forms.

It’s the deity’s right that has to be respected. In a real-life scenario; you cannot force a man to have sex if he wishes to remain virgin. Similarly, being a guy, you don’t enter the women’s loo. It’s a matter of common sense. It doesn’t require pseudo intellect to understand this simple logic. After all the temple is built for the deity and not for women activists and non-devotees to practice their fundamental right and mislead people in the name of gender discrimination.

No country destroys its own traditions, the way we do in India. Its not progressive but rather one of the most regressive and worst verdict ever passed by the Supreme Court. Courts should not interfere in matters related to faith unless a faith or a belief causes harm to the society like other social evils of the past and law should only step in when people of same faith wants a reform.

Jay