Sabarimalai – Tradition not gender equality

A lady with her young daughter tried to enter the Sabarimalai temple today and police personnel tried to provide her some protection. A bunch of men fell at her feet and requested her to go back and she did …. strange ? If it was a gender equality issue, she would not have backed out. The men and women that are out protesting against the Supreme Court verdict of allowing women of all ages to enter Sabarimalai are making a very important point that must not be lost in the cacophony of political rhetoric and fake feminism.

Hinduism is not a linear, one God, one Prophet, one Book religion. It has been forcibly made into a religion, its just a way of life but because of that its bothering many people. Hinduism is the most liberal, inclusive and open minded religion in the world. No other religion allows you to follow any God of your choice, be an atheist, question everything, evolve your own method of prayer, never pray, go to a temple or don’t go, follow the austerities or don’t … in every circumstance you remain a Hindu. Women are worshipped in every form – she is Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga. No fatwas, no beheading, no condemnation. And the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, the scores of saints and Avatars have answers for all your spiritual questions. How utterly scary it is for rigid dogmatic religions and their pontiffs to deal with this ? Their business is threatened if their one God is not accepted without questions and so Hinduism is an easy target. The growing disenchantment with religions across the developed world is also bothering them. Atheism is on the rise and guess what – atheists are welcome in Hinduism.

The caste system is a dead horse because the Abrahamic religions also have several divisions, so now the question of gender equality is being raised. When I heard that the petitioner in the Sabarimalai case is a Muslim gentleman, I was intrigued… why does a Muslim man care so much about Hindu women’s right to enter or not enter any temple? No Muslim women are allowed to enter a Mosque and no Hindu is questioning that so why bring this up? Is it because the inhuman Triple Talaq has been banned ? Today a Christian journalist “Libi” tried to enter the Sabarimalai temple wearing a Bindi, posing as a Hindu – why? Is Jesus not the one true God for you? Ayyappa and his devotees are sinners according to your religion and your brother Mohan Lazarus is preaching about Hindu Temples being places of Satan – then why try and enter their temple?

I am not getting into the reasons why women of a certain age are not allowed entry into the Sabarimalai temple because those who don’t want to understand will not even try. If anyone is interested, please read this article by Smitha Menon. The Menstrual Taboo is a Myth. I am no one to comment on a Supreme Court order, but I do wonder why the Supreme Court chose to entertain the PIL in the first place. Traditions and faith cannot be decided by law and when the constitution allows every tradition to be followed why bring a law to change a tradition when the request hasn’t come from the followers of that tradition?? If the age-barred Hindu women had submitted the petition seeking entry into the Sabarimalai temple then it was perfectly fine to consider but a petition from a person of a different faith should have been dismissed right away in my unlearned opinion.

Commie politics are also being mixed into this heady cocktail and we have the first sad collateral damage – Swami Pandallur Ramakrishnan has committed suicide.

I am seeing news items that say Mrs. Brinda Karat and activist Kavitha Krishnan are planning to visit Sabarimalai. If they have suddenly become Ayyappa bhaktas I am happy for them, but their plans seem to be sinister going by their past history. Hope they don’t incite violence like their comrades did during the Bhima Koregaon protests and all of us need to pray for no more suicides of the genuine Ayyappa bhaktas.

Why is the Kerala govt not ready to file a review petition? Do they not care about their Hindu voters? Are the Muslim and Christian votes sufficient to bring them back to power? Ugly questions but they need to be asked.

Note – What many people forget at this time is the renowned singer Yesudas, born as a Roman Catholic goes to Sabarimalai because he is a Ayyappa Bhakta and has also been allowed entry into the Padmanabhaswamy temple. Hinduism is all inclusive, so this nonsense of gender inequality doesn’t fly.

Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa.

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