Mandala Vratham: In religious concept Mandala is forty one days. The thirty days from the prathipada, after the full moon to the next full moon day and eleven days to the Ekadasi is the period of Mandala. How is the Mandala deeksha is related to the devotional activity of Shri Ayyappa?
Hariharathmajam: The concept of Ayyappa is HARIHARATHMAJA, i.e, a molecular re-union of Hari and Hara.
41 Days significance: In the digit forty one, four symbolises Vishnu and the One symbolises Siva. The morph of Vishnu is having four arms, having bodily resemblance of four Vedas. The number of letters in the Mantras related to Lord Vishnu is also in the multiples of four like 8,12,16 and 32. The "one" is the real Sivaswarupa. The Lord Siva or Mahadeva is the one who has no transformation, unrelated to any aspects, God or Gods and dwells in the solitude as the single and unrealized form,from the time before the creation of the world and after the merge( Pralaya).
Other Mandalas: The Universe can be called a Mandala ( Akhilanda Mandala), the pooja Mandala, the Vayu mandala and other mandalas are in use.
4+1=5, 4-1=3, 3,4,5: Eka, the one, as the meaning of the truth or reality, i.e., Eswar or Omkara. This is a word of Sri SHANKARA. The forty one is very important number in the mantra sastra. When we add four and one get five, if one is reduced from four get three. The 3,4,5 are the formulae of the Universe. The "three" is the form of time (like yesterday, today and tomorrow), the four is the form of the world( four directions) and the five is the form of Panchaboothas used to create this Universe, viz., sky, wind, water, fire, and earth.
