PILGRIMAGE REGULATIONS AT SABARIMALA

Instructions for the Devotees 

·         The vritham can be undertaken only after getting permission from one's parents and Guru. It should be undertaken in such a manner as to cause no inconvenience to one's family.

·         The day before the vritham begins one has to offer prayers to ones' family deity and present a yellow cloth with coins within to the family deity.

·         The devotee must shave, clip his nails, trim his hair and bathe before the vritham.

·         The holy garland should be cleaned and smeared with sandal paste and placed before the portrait of Lord Ayyappa.

·         The devotee should also buy a new pair of coloured dhoti and towel or shawl.

·         On the day of the vritham the devotee rises early, bathes, prays to the family deity and performs a pooja to the holy mala. He will be accompanied to the temple by his Guru and recieve his mala from him.

·         Wearing the mala denotes that the devotee becomes Lord Ayyappa and must thus lead a pious life.

·         The devotee must keep away from all social activities and spend his time praying and singing bhajans and in worthy causes like visiting temples, cleaning temples, feeding the poor, helping the poor and sick and attending religious discourses.

·         He must eat only vegetarian food and abstain from meat, physical or verbal violence, alcohol and tobacco and intoxicants in any form.

·         The devotee must sleep on the floor, use a wooden block for a pillow and walk barefeet.

·         The devotee is obligated to treat all co-devotees as Lord Ayyappan and serve them in every way.

·         He must be humble despite the respect and privileges accorded to him as a Sabarimala pilgrim.

·         Strict celibacy, repeated chanting of the ‘taaraka mantram’ ie SWAMIYE SARANAM AYYAPPA, conditions the body for the trek through the Sabari hills.

·         He must not oil his body or his hair and must always carry a tulsi leaf with him to keep away evil thoughts.