A verse, attributed to a scholar from the North, describes thus the glory and greatness of Sri Appaya Dikshita, and the great merit of his patron king Chinna Bomma (A.D. 1549– 1578): ‘When there are number of kings who are waiting for an opportunity to pay obeisance to Sri Appayya Dikshitar and become purified by it, can we, by any chance, count the greatness of (Chinna) Bomma, who is in the fortunate position of hearing every day from the master himself, the great verses full of the greatness of Lord Shiva.’ This verse reveals the great respect that Appaya Dikshita commanded as a scholar among the learned circles of the royal courts of the country, his immense contribution to the promotion of Shaivism, and the patronage extended to him by Chinna Bomma, the Nayak ruler of Vellore. Khandadeva, the great authority on ‘Mimamsa’ and author of Bhatta kaustubha, Bhatta-dipika and Bhatta-rahasya, refers to Appaya Dikshita as ‘Mimamsaka Murdhanya.’ In the religious history of South I

Srikovil or the sanctum sanctorum at Sannidanam - Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple is plated using gold. The life story of Ayyappa from His birth on earth to His disappearance at Sabarimala is written on copper sheets and is superimposed on the Sreekovil. The punar pratishta or murti reinstallation was performed in 1951. The gold plating of the sreekovil was completed in 1997 – around 32 kilograms of gold and 1904 kilograms of copper were used for the purpose. The murti of Ayyappa worshipped at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple is that of Brahmachari. He is also referred as Shasta. There is a belief that the murti was created by Parashurama and Ayyappa merged in it.

A collection of quotes and teachings from Vakya Vritti of Adi Shankaracharya  I bow down to that Pure Consciousness Divine – a shoreless ocean of happiness, which is All-pervading (Vishnu), the Beloved of Shri, the all-knowing Lord of the Universe, assuming endless forms and yet ever-free, having an inscrutable power to become (apparently) the Cause of creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the universe. Who else can be the individual Self (Jiva) other than yourself, that asks me this question, “Who am I ?”. There is no doubt about it. You alone are the Brahman. Just as the perceiver of a pot is ever distinctly different from the pot and can never be the pot – so too, you, the perceiver of your body, are distinct from your body and can never be the body – this you firmly ascertain in yourself. Similarly be sure that you are not the complex of the gross and the subtle-bodies, and intelligently determine, by inference, that you, the ‘seer’, are entirely distinct from t