What Makes Even The Russians Go On A Pilgrimage To Sabarimala?

Though it is a gross exaggeration to call the recent visit of twelve Russians to Sabarimala the ultimate capitulation of Marxism Leninism to the Indian Mythology, the event has opened a rare and unique travel experience to people from all over the world who seeks exotic adventure of a different kind.

If you are not a woman under menopausal age and if you are willing to do a spiritual penance for 41 days, abstain from eating meat and enjoying sex in your thoughts and life, let your hair and beard grow uncut and lead a Spartan existence, then you can venture in to this life changing trip to Sabarimala which more than 50 million Indians of all religions already make every year!

For the team of Russians from Moscow led by Induchoodan, who has made this trip more than fifteen times and who practices Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, this unique pilgrimage to Sabarimala has probably come to mean what it does for millions of Indians:

A spiritual journey  riddled with mortal dangers the arduous preparation for which require sacrifice of comforts and self purification, an atonement which  render you the strength and support to face difficulties of everyday life, an enjoyable way to gain the inner peace and joy only attained  through much harder practice of yoga prescribed by the Hindu religion.

Sabarimala is a hard to reach hill amidst the lush forests of the western ghats of Southern India, which finds its mention in the several thousand years old Indian Epic Ramayana. It was approachable, until recently, only by arduous trekking through thick forest and hilly terrain for fifty kilometres.

For the people of central Kerala, the annual pilgrimage to the temple in Sabarimala dedicated to Lord Ayyappan, an amalgam of ultimate preserving and destructive powers as per the Hindu Mythology, had been a part of social and religious life, a communal and harmonising influence, for several centuries. A number of celebrities and high profile personalities who made the pilgrimage in the recent past have spread the unique pilgrimage experience to the rest of India, with explosive growth in the numbers of people who make the visit every year.

Even if you are not of the physical type who enjoy trekking in difficult terrain or are not inclined spiritually to undertake the rigours of the pilgrimage, the Sabarimala season from November to January in Kerala offer an abundance of opportunities related to the pilgrimage to make your trip enjoyable in different ways.

Delving in to the legend of Lord Ayyappan and the history of the region and the practice of worship which evolved with Buddhist and Hindu influences, the wonderful ecology of the region, the social fabric of Kerala with rare harmony of religions and conflicting political views can all add to your experience.

An abundance of information of the world’s largest pilgrimage awaits every traveller, with a quest as the ancient Chinese travellers, who visited the region and wrote about the pilgrimage had. The Russians have just rediscovered Sabarimala in the new millennium.

Article first Published on TECHNORATI as http://technorati.com/lifestyle/travel/article/what-makes-even-the-russians-go/

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