on Makara Vilakku day. It is believed that on Makara Vilakku day, Lord Dharmashasta stops his tapasya to bless his devotees. The day is also called Makara Shankranthi. Makarajyothi This is the star that appear at the moment of Makarasankranthi before the holy arathi and the worship of Makaravilakk at Ponnambalamedu. It is the custom that after seeing Makarajyothi,the lighting of Makaravilakk shall begin. Tattvamasi The most important message written at the temple facade is one of the four Mahāvākyas of Advaita or the non-dualistic school of philosophy. Tat Tvam Asi, the 3rd of four Mahavakyas which in sanskrit translates to "Thou Art That" is the principal philosophy that governs the temple and pilgrimage. As the pilgrimage is symbolic for the journey to self-realization that all living beings possess the essence of Brahman, pilgrims refer to each other as Swami, acknowledging their divinity. The oneness of jIva and Ishvara is described by enquiry into the inner meaning of the statement ‘tat tvam asi’as follows: "Tat" refers to Ishvara, the Lord - the word Ishvara has a literal and an implied meaning; The literal meaning of ‘Ishvara’ is ‘satyam-brahman together with mithyA-mAyA’; The implied meaning of Ishvara is pure Brahman devoid of the superimposition of mAyA; "Tvam" refers to the jIva, the individual; The literal meaning of ‘jIva’ is ‘AtmA identified with mithyA gross and subtle bodies’; The implied meaning is pure consciousness-AtmA without mithyA gross and subtle bodies; In advaita AtmA and Brahman are different names of the one Reality; Thus, jIva and Ishvara are Absolutely non-different in reality, and only relatively different because of the superimposed names and forms through which the one Reality is experienced. The history behind the worshipping methods The customs of the pilgrims to Sabarimala are based on five worshipping methods; those of Shaivites, Shaktists and Vaishnavites. At first, there were three sections of devotees – the devotees of Shakti worship their deity by way of yajna, literally sacrifice., the devotees of Vishnu who followed the strict penance and continence, and the devotees of Shiva who partly followed these two methods. Another name of Ayyappa is Shasta. All these can be seen merged into the beliefs of pilgrims to Sabarimala. The chain the pilgrims wear comes from the Rudraksha chain of the Shaivites. The strict fasting, penance and continence is taken out of the beliefs of the Vaishnavites. The offering of tobacco to Kaduthaswamy can