See Also

• Kundalini-Serpant
• Video Clip

**PLEASE VOTE (at n7w)** There are only six weeks to January 1, 2006 when the 21 finalists will be announced for the New “Seven Wonders of the World”. Right now Meenakshi Temple is at #24 on the list of nominees.

One of the most beautiful of the ancient temples of India is the Madurai Meenakshi temple. The temple is a huge temple complex that lies right in the heart of Madurai. Madurai Meenakshi temple is also known as Meenakshi-Sundareswarar temple, and by Madurai natives more commonly known as Meenakshi-Amman Kovil.

The temple measures 254m by 217m (covering almost 6 hectares). It has 12 gopurams, of which the four outer gopurams tower over the city and can be seen from a distance as you approach the city. Each gopuram contains over 700 figures; the largest gopuram is 51m high. The entire temple (floors, pillars, ceiling, walls) is built of solid granite. It is said that there are 33 million carvings in the temple.

The oldest part of the Meenakshi temple, the garbha graha, dates back to 1600 BCE, with successive structures added over the next 900 years. The first major additions where built in the 13th century. In the 14th century the temple was damaged by the Muslim invader Malik Kafur. The temple city of Madurai was under Muslim siege for almost fifty years during that period. Reconstruction began in 1560, with major additions added in the 16th century.

Over 10,000 people visit the temple every day just to “see” (i.e. have darshan of) Sri Meenakshi and Sri Sundareswarar. The temple is also known for the Golden Lotus Tank (this tank has a historic significance, in that it was the meeting place of the great Tamil Sangams), the Thousand Pillar Hall (in which each pillar is sculptured), the Musical Pillar Hall (in which each pillar is tuned to produce a specific musical note when struck).

The temple houses two deities Shiva (as Sundareswarar) and Shakthi (as Meenakshi). It is said that the divine wedding of the masculine and feminine cosmic principles of the universe, Shiva and Shakthi took place here on Earth, in Madurai, and this temple encloses the spot were the wedding took place. Normally one enters a temple through the main gopuram (usually the East Gopuram) leading to the main deity (here that would be Sundareswarar). In the case of the Meenakshi-Sundareswarar temple it is customary to first enter through another entrance that leads directly to the shrine of the Goddess Meenakshi.

The temple is particularly dedicated to Goddess Meenakshi. The legend has it that the king of the Pandya kingdom was childless for a long time, and so he performed a yajna (here meaning fire ritual). To everyone’s astonishment from the fire emerged a three year old girl. The king heard a voice from the heavens that commanded she be brought up like a prince, and trained in the art of war. Sri Meenakshi grew up to be a beautiful and valorous young princess winning great combats. She vowed that she will marry only the person who will defeat her in combat. Many suitors came and were defeated. Finally Lord Shiva himself disguised as Sundareswarar came and defeated her. The temple walls and the pillar sculptures illustrate the birth and life story of Sri Meenakshi, as well as the thiruvilayaadals (divine plays) of Shiva.

Cosmology

South Indian Hindu temple architecture is laid out on a rectangular foundation, with concentric prakarams (boundaries) representing the various states of differentiation of the universe: the outermost being the material world to the innermost being Pure Consciousness. Thus the outermost structures, the gopurams, are the most complex, often ornate with granite statues expressing the full range of human emotions. In stark contrast, the innermost, the garbha graha (the womb [of the universe]) at the center is void of decorations; it is plain, simple, tranquil, ancient, eternal, dimly lit by oil lamps. It conveys emptying of the mind, and opening up to God. The garbha graha houses the murti of the temple deity. The murti is not just a statue, nor is it considered God Him/Herself, but is considered a porthole to God.

Hindus believe that by puja (chanting and rituals; i.e. mantra and tantra; the key element being devotion – focus and sincerity) God places Him/Herself accessible through the murti. Or looking at it another way, through constant puja the murtis are energized and act as a cosmic porthole into a higher/subtler dimension, through which we are made closer to God. In the garbha graha, our very consciousness occupies the same mind space, devoid of the attachments of worldly life.

Hindus believe God is present everywhere but unless you are really high up there on the spiritual ladder (which comes with years of practice) only one in a million attain the darshan or vision of God. So God makes Her/Himself accessible through a murti.

Hindus believe that everything is Pure Consciousness, and that matter and energy are nothing but grosser and subtler differentiation of the cosmic vibration, pranava. First starting off as one singular cosmic vibration, Om, originating from a cosmic singularity (bindu), then differentiating into seed vibrations (bija), then these bijas interacting and coalescing to form grosser and grosser vibrations, and finally forming energy, and these energies coalescing to form grosser and grosser forms of matter. See also Hindu Cosmology.

According to western scientists: Matter is nothing but condensed Energy (E=mc²). Yogis take it one step further: Matter is condensed Energy, and Energy is condensed Consciousness. Thus everything is pure consciousness.

Everything is manifested consciousness, and stars represent a pure, almost unmanifested aspect of the conscious realm, very little tainted by conditioning (as you go higher and higher up the different stratas or lokas). It is a window into another sphere or loka, higher realms of consciousness (as in the seven lokas – bhuh, bhuvaha, swaha, maha, janaha, tapaha, satyam). It’s likely that spiritually enlightened sages could directly see the Kritikkas, not as stars, but in their full form as divine beings, in Pure Consciousness form, the Kritikka dieties.

In material/physical terms the stars maybe light-years away from us, but once one acknowledges that time and space are relative phenomena, distance is irrelevant. In the spiritual realm, the Krittikas are not far away, but within, and directly accessible. Thought waves pass through them, just as all thought waves pass through Pure Consciousness; as in when Krishna makes the statement in the Gita, “all thoughts pass through Me”.

Not just stars

Today modern science tells us that stars are a porthole connecting one universe to another (in particular stars of particular type exhibit this more strongly, such as black holes and neutron stars). Theory of multiple and parallel universes may be hard to swallow for people, but the numbers/results are doing the talking. It forms the basis for Hindu philosophical thought. Mass is condensed energy, energy is condensed conscious.

The same can be said about other heavenly bodies, such as planets and moons. The planet Saturn for example is not just a dense ball of matter floating in space. It is said to represent Shani Conscious, visible as it is projected into our limited three dimensional view of the world.

The same with the Moon. Science can explain away moonlight as light from the Sun reflected. In reality, what science considers as “reflection of light from the Sun” may well be an apparent manifestation of a higher dimensional play. In fact, gravity was found to have nothing much to do with Newtons Law of Gravity, but higher dimensional bending of space-time fabric of the universe that causes what appears to be gravitational “attraction” in our dimension.

The Moon represents Siva Conscious and the Sun represents Narayana Conscious. The cool liquid light, the Soma energy from the Moon works on our intuition and manas, while the bright energy light from the Sun works on our buddhi and actions. In tantra, the left-hand and right-hand currents (ida and pingala) of the Kundalini are treated as the Lunar and Solar currents. The Ida current rules over our nerves, hormones, emotions, intuition, and the Pingala current rules over our circulatory system, heart, intellect.

The picture above is the base of the vimanam of Periya kovil, the people in the picture give you an idea of the relative size of the temple and also the detail of artwork.

Periya kovil (also known as Brihadeswara Temple), is located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The temple was built around 1000 CE by Raja Raja Cholan (who was noted to be the greatest of Chola kings; he is known also for recovering and restoring the Thevaram – one of the most important Shaivite compositions). An aspect about this temple that is notably different from other South Indian temples is that the central vimanam towers over the surrounding gopurams (in most South Indian temple architecture, the central vimanam is very modest, while the gopurams are of soaring heights). Also the domelike crown on top of the vimanam was built from one monolithic block of granite weighing 81 tons. It really boggles the mind how they accomplished the feat of raising and placing it on the top back then.

Periya means “big” in Tamil, and I can see why, they just about super-sized everything (that is, for that period). The vimanam which stands 60m tall houses a massive Siva Lingam (the largest Siva Lingam in any temple). I couldn’t take a picture inside, but the huge 25 ton Nandi sitting outside, in focussed meditation on Siva, will give you an idea of the relative scale of the Siva Lingam inside. Should have had someone standing in front of it just to show scale, but believe me it’s huge, one big Nandhi – the second largest; note the way its tongue is licking up the butter and its row of teeth; the sight is a real treat for little kids).The kovil prakaram (perimeter/courtyard) is lined with rows of Siva Lingams – hundreds of them. It seems my grandfather did abeshakam for each and every one of them at a stretch.

In Hinduism, the Siva Linga represents Siva seated as Pure Awareness. It is also symbolically the masculine aspect (linga; the slender pillar-like top part) seated/merged in the feminine aspect (yoni; the large circular base) of the Universe. Also, the linga is marked by a small dot – the bindu (see Hindu Cosmology), which is depicted as Siva’s third eye, and represents the projection of maya (the construct/matrix/veil that we all see and experience as the visible universe); and at the end of the cosmic cycle everything (all of existance) will get withdrawn into it, the Source. According to yogis, the macrocosm and the microcosm being just reflections of each other, and this “lifting of the veil” can be accomplished by yoga. The Source is described by yogi’s as Sat-Cit-Ananda (Existance-Consciousness-Bliss).

Related to maya is the prithvi-naryana principle, i.e. the self-limiting principle that makes us think we are the just the “body” and that mind is confined to the small space inside our head. Yoga is the act transcending the self-limiting conditioning and to realize our true nature, true potential, our true Self.

Click here for a full view of the temple.

“On that fall day in 1995 it’s possible he [Sri Ganesha] gently reminded people everywhere that the ultimate purpose of life lies not in serving themselves but in serving God.”
- Linda Johnsen, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hinduism

To make this more poignant here is another illustration. 70 million people attended the 2001 Kumbha Mela. The point is not whether the millions who attended the Kumbha Mela were all ignorant people (Hindus are very educated and intelligent people). It goes to show a people who have not lost a deeply metaphysical connection to God. I say metaphysical because in Hinduism faith complements the intellect (as opposed to subjugating and displacing it – as it so happens in most fundamentalist religions). For that reason, in India, along with deep love for God (in whatever name and form one wishes), you find at the same time an unquenchable desire for learning and a reverence for knowledge.

“Pilgrims plodded for months in heat to get here, worn, poor and hungry, but sustained by unwavering faith.”
- Mark Twain (Allahabad, India; 1895)

Some notables: She addressed the 100th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s address to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. She was awarded the Gandhi-King award at the United Nations, Geneva, 2002, for her innumerable and innovative humanitarian activity (devotion through work and vice versa; the concept of doing work with bhakti has been around for ages; she has taken it on to a global scale). She was also honored to speak at the United Nations Summit for World Peace, 2000. Like the great sages and saints before her, she is an inspiration to the hearts and minds of many. Her contribution to the upliftment of India’s underprivileged is immeasurable (in many areas: education, health care, disaster relief, housing, orphanages, pensions for poor women, hospices,…).

She has also done a lot in empowering women, including talks encouraging women to take a stand, to harness the full potential of their femininity (as opposed to trying to emulate male traits) and using it to participate and take more share of their role in the world at all levels. She said something like, for there to be peace in the world, their needs to be balance. Right now there is no balance, as the world is masculine dominated. On top of that if women try to emulate masculine traits it’s going to make the imbalance deeper. The masculine order of the world has to be balanced by the feminine, as in Siva and Sakthi.

As for is she really god-realized (or as some people think, God?). Excerpts from an interview with Amma:

In your biography, there is an incident mentioned when you felt as if there was no difference between you and Lord Krishna. Could you tell us about it?
“Yes, I did feel that. It was an experience. The way I see my face in the mirror, Krishna’s face seemed to sort of merge with it. It was an intense experience.”

There is also the belief that you are an avatar of Goddess Durga.
“That’s what people say. That’s their belief. I don’t worry too much about these things.”

You have many critics.
“Critics will be there…..And criticism should be there. The easiest way to destroy a nation is to not criticize the prime minister. Only when criticism comes will the flaws be highlighted. I am not angry with them. There will always be differences of view.”

- from Rediff interview of Mata Amritanandmayi (full article)

 

As a tip: if you decide to meet Amma (or any great spiritually enlightened master), keep your noisy intellect outside at the entrance along with your footwear :-). The intellect is a guardian (against cult worship for example), but don’t give it too much credit beyond that, else it will start building castles and there is no end to the way it can rationalize for you anything that reinforces it — and irrationalize anything that it feels is threatening. If you’re intellectually inclined, it is best to always temper it with any form of yoga which helps move from intellectual reasoning (buddhi) to wisdom/insight (jnana).

NGO’s, kings, and temples

If at all there is an efficient institution for the people, I feel it is not the government, but ashrams (and NGO’s that function like ashrams) guided by spiritual leaders. Much has to do with the efficiency and dedication of the guru’s devotees. It’s all about devotion, and with that comes sincerity in the work you do. Just pick any guru and you can see for yourself the massive amount of contribution to society. As a sample, do some research on Mata Amritanandamayi, Jagi Vasudev, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Satya Sai Bhaba, etc. I don’t like some of those gurus, but regardless of how genuine they are or not (and any controversies surrounding them), their impact on the people to mobilize and do good (whether it be seva or changing themselves) has been enormous and phenomenal.

From a socio-economic perspective, the spiritual gurus and ashrams are serving the same function as kings and temples in those days: redistribution of wealth (material and spiritual) for the benefit of society.

See also:

• Mata Amritanandamayi’s 50th brithday

Shani symbolizes a fundamental law that permeates all of nature. He is the ruler and maintainer of the Law of Karma: the principle of cause and effect, action and reaction, as you sow you shall reap. As the embodiment of the Law of Karma, Shani is viewed as a teacher, a strict and stern disciplinarian, imparting the lessons in life, rewarding one if one reflects and learns his lessons, or ratcheting up the lesson/reaction so that eventually one is forced to reflect, learn, and grow. It’s all about being proactive and avoiding these unnecessary lessons, or being reactive after suffering the lessons. Shani doesn’t let anyone escape from the law of karma (though you can transmute or burn off your karma through genuine yajna, dedicated tapas, or true bhakti).

Attributes:

• Ruler of: Karma
• Keeper of: Time
• Planet: Saturn
• Number: 8
• Day: Saturday
• Sun Signs: Capricorn & Aquarius (mid-December through mid-February)
• Color: Black, grey, or dark blue
• Gem: Blue Sapphire
• Metal: Iron
• Food: Sesame, black sesame, sesame oil
• Vehicle (vaahanam): Crow
• Body Part: Bones, teeth
• Cloths: Old, traditional, sober, and not flashy
• Places: Ancient, old, neglected, deserted
• Direction: West or south-west
• Avatar: Matsya (turtle)
• Animal: Turtle, tortoise
• Mantra: Om Sri Shanaischaraya Namaha (or Om Aim Hrim Srim Shanaischaraya Namaha – औम्  ऐं  ह्रीं  श्रीं  शनैश् – चराय  नमः )

Governs:

• Longevity, misery, sorrow, discipline, restriction, responsibility, delays, anything old, ancient, tradition, elders, humility, integrity, wisdom born of experience.

Likes:

• Proactiveness – Never put aside your problems for a later date. Especially problems that you have caused to hurt yourself or others. Either seek to resolve while it is in front of you, or Shani will orchestrate the Universe to put new problems for you in a different perspective, that is, until you “get it”. You cannot destroy energy, it can only be transmuted from one place/form to another. Same with karma. Your best friend, the Param-Atman, via Shani, will do whatever it takes for you to grow. And why pick on you? your vasanas (residual karma and conditionings; could be anything ranging from negative karma, to your desire to seek Truth in former lives).
• Humility – nothing in life is free, respect and be thankful for that which is given, never forget how it was given. For those who don’t have humility, Shani drives in the point through very hard lessons in life, repeating it as often as needed. Also as bad as lack of humility is false-pride (मद) – such as “I’m proud to be a Indian (or Hindu, Tamilian, American,…)”, considering most of what you are proud of as a culture is what you have inherited (not earned). Be thankful with humility that you’re born into your culture, and be compassionate to others who have been unfortunate not to. One can argue, that’s their karma. That’s not for you to say, it’s Shani’s. Shani is quick to puncture false-pride (and that can be really painful), so it’s better to stand on guard and not have it in the first place.
• Patience – Shani is often caricatured as slowly churning the Universe in the Wheel of Time. Often depicted as a giant sesame seed oil mill (எள்ளுச் செக்கு). He is never in a rush, and appreciates those who are likewise. Don’t be anxious for anything. Don’t look for the fruits, even the smallest effort never goes to waste, you will be rewarded. The greatest reward is that you grow. The Greek word kronos (time, as in chronology) comes from crow, which is Shani’s vimana (the vehicle on which he travels).
• Diligence/Persistence – Do your work sincerely, don’t give up too quickly. That is, if you do a half-baked job, you can’t crib if later something else (your car, computer, surgery,…) doesn’t work the way it should (because he also probably did the same half-baked job). If your car works great it’s because someone did a diligent and dedicated job in building it. It is important that you return this, else eventually nothing will work (and you’ll be blaming the “other” person – and you don’t want Shani grinding you on the wheel of karma to make you realize your part).
• Tradition – Shani is the ruler of all that is ancient, old, and timeless — tradition and wisdom. This also means showing kindness and respect for the weak and the elderly. Also either follow or respect traditions or leave it or give constructive alternative if you feel the tradition is detrimental. Never criticise just for making a mockery of it.
• Equanimity – Do your work with equanimity. Don’t be too judgemental. Leave it to Shani or whichever denomination/flavor of god you like to do the needful. As the saying goes, love your friends, be compassionate to those in need, and be indifferent to your enemies.
• Ascetism – This doesn’t mean becoming an ascetic, but Shani being the ruler of asceticism, rewards and protects those who live simple minimalist lives, as opposed to having material excesses. Like those environmentally conscious and believe in sustainable simple living. People hardly stop to think about the shear mount of greed they have (i.e. not even hesitating to think about the consequences of their actions on the Earth and society at large). As an example, millions of acres of forests and wildlife have been depleted, millions of tons of greenhouse gases dumped into the atmosphere, millions of tons of trash mindlessly dumped. We must learn to share the Earth with all its living inhabitants. Partake only what we need, and don’t abuse our privileges.

Yajna

Executing the above with diligence is what is real yajna, or sacrifice. For example, when one forgives others or chooses to live a simple life, when one burns ones desires (of “I want this and that,…”, ranging from material desires to emotional desires)  in the sacrificial fire pit… he is gifted with tremendous spiritual energy to focus on and achieve success in all his endeavors.

Shani Yantra

A Shani Yantra found on Saturn (compare with the Shani Yantra in the photograph of Shanisvaran Lingam above). Coincidence? or have they (the ancients/yogis) shown us once again with their cosmic insight, or is it just Jesus on a tortilla. It’s all about a test of faith, or a poetic license to take your mind into different heights; not really about whether it is true or not.

“This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides,” said Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif in a statement. “We’ve never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn’s thick atmosphere where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you’d expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is.”

Taken from the following links:

• Saturn’s Hexagon. Also read the insightful comments of “N.S.Parasuraman” in this link.
• NASA

 

Further Reading

• “The Greatness of Saturn” by Robert E. Svoboda (a retelling of the Shani Mahatmya) is a great book to read for the story of Shani.

The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all science… To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the lightest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms – this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. The deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, form my idea of God.
– Albert Einstein

Bhakti is devotion. More accurately, it is the transcendental feeling that comes from deep devotion or pining for Truth or God. It is accompanied by a blissful feeling of sublimation or transcendence. The feeling may last only a few seconds, like the inspiration one might get from reading a piece of elevating poetry, or listening to particular raga/music, or a profound insight into the workings of nature. Like the awe that scientists, yogis, and siddhars felt that inspired their bhakti – enough to make them write scores of inspirational poetry.

It has nothing to do with being religious (nor even what belief system you subscribe to). To use myself as an example, it was only when I hit my mid-30′s that I developed any sense of the word bhakti. Till then, even the most beautiful rendering of bhakti poetry would fail to move me. If you pursue Truth sincerely, eventually you’ll find that it doesn’t become just an intellectual or meditational pursuit, but you’re “engaging your heart” also (i.e. engaging your Atman), in the form of genuine pining, desire, dedication, devotion to seeking the Truth. That’s when bhakti starts taking root, you’ll start appreciating bhakti, and the use of bhakti as your preferred method of divining and diving [into Truth] starts growing on you. So it doesn’t matter where you start, they all complement each other (bhakti vs jnana). It’s still the same act of pursuing Truth, which like any science requires one to hypothesize, experiment, assess, and reformulate. Only the tools of exploration have changed. Instead of using only the mind, this is a direct tap into the Atman, where you’re feeling your way expanding the current limits of your conscious horizon into new territories, making discoveries that cannot be expressed in analytical terms (and if you attempt to do so, your progress not only becomes impeded but regresses). Not to mention any analytical rendering would be as inert as trying to capture the fragrance of a rose on paper.

True bhakti doesn’t make you a zealot of your faith, but transcends and crosses beyond the borders of faith and religion. A genuine bhakti saint of one faith will feel equally exhilarated by the bhakti poetry/literature from other faiths. Like the language of music, bhakti represents a very transcendent religion – a religion of the heart, of self-expression, and self-actualization (as opposed to suppressive doctrinal religions). Bhakti has inspired and motivated tremendous levels of contribution to Hindu culture (poetry, classical music, classical dance forms, temples, puranas, etc.) from across numerous faiths.

Like all yoga, I believe bhakti should also be integrative into life, as opposed to something you do only in your puja or temple. The feeling/inspiration that one feels for the divine has to be distilled and transformed to appreciation and admiration for all living things around you – loved ones, friends, acquaintances, strangers, environment. That’s when bhakti really takes root as a yoga, i.e. a tool for evolution, spiritual growth.

Art Films and Bhakti Films

Some time ago I was having a conversation with a non-Hindu White American about art films. I ended up telling him about genre of films that he (and probably most of the West) never new even existed – that of bhaki films, and that bhakti films took art films altogether to a different height. I told that why is it that the West finds it so easy that “Pure Evil” can manifest itself in the world (in a multitude of personifications – as shown in loads of horror flicks), but finds it so revolting that God in all its beauty can manifest itself in the world (as in numerous bhakti films in India, like Murugan, Krishna, Durga, numerus saints, sages, etc). In fact, of the supernatural films, bhakti films  celebrating the beauty of God is what is dominant in India. India (i.e. the 80% of India outside the cosmopolitan cities) still runs house-full for bhakti films, but not as much horror films. Perhaps the West didn’t have the vision (or the freedom?) to extend their artistic/poetic license to different expressions of the beauty/concept of God, beyond what is fed to them by one particular religion, and the scope of their vision being stifled by it (namely, Christianity and its impact on Western culture).

A good art film runs like a haiku, like poetry, and elevates your heart and mind to something transcendental. If you take that a magnitude higher, the feeling you get is bhakti. While art films elevate your heart and mind, bhakti films make it soar, uninhibited, into a different realm/dimension of conscious experience.

One of the most important festivals of celebration to Murugan devotees, is the Kandar Shasti festival – the six day celebration of Lord Murgan’s victory over the asurus (ego, ignorance) around October/November. Here is my retelling of the story behind celebration, in very brief.

The asuras (personifying ego, ignorance) had gone rampant and were torturing all the devas (personifying all that is evolved or pure). Siva was powerless to stop them since it was through His boon that the asuras had assumed such power (from a penance performed by the leader of the asuras). So with this thought in mind, during a divine union of Siva and Sakthi (which generally lasts for an entire cosmic cycle), Siva’s concentration gets interrupted resulting in Him releasing his seed – as a divine spark emanating from his forehead / third eye. The fiery spark, as it falls to the Earth, splits into six, and made its way to the wombs of six wives of the sages of constellation Kritikka, the “Karthigai Pengal”, while they were bathing in a river, “Saravana Poigai”. The six children were delivered to lotus flowers that found their way into a thicket of weeds (sara vana). After they were nursed by the Kritikkas, Parvati unites the six into one, assuming the form of a youthful, valorous, six-headed divine being, who came to be popularly known through different names and manifestations as Muruga, Shanmugha, Saravana, Karthikeya, Kumara, Subrahmanya, Guha, and Skanda. When he is of age, Sakthi gifts him the Vel, a spear embodying the total of her own Sakthi energy.

The Kandar Shasti festival celebrates the victory of the self over the aspects of the ego (arrogance, false-pride, sense attachements, selfishness,…) – and hence realization of the Self. To cut the story short, skipping over to the climax, Murugan goes after the leader asura Soorapadma. Soorpadma hides himself by morphing into a mango tree. Murugan sees through this cloak and sends his Vel (his trademark astral weapon, the spear) into the tree, which splits the tree/Soorapadma in half. One half of Soorapadma becomes a peacock, the other half becomes a cock. Murugan is often depicted with his Vel, riding on a peacock in full bloom, carrying a flag with the symbol of a cock.

That is, an aspect of the ego (Soorapadma) which had taken over the body/mind/senses, confronts the Self (manifest as Skanda/Murugan), becomes exhausted in the duel (runs and morphs into the tree), submits to defeat (the Vel splits it open), and serves then after in union with the Self (as the peacock and cock), and is inseparable from the Self.

This is celebrated on the sixth day at Thiruchendur, where the duel took place (in a different time and space – in Hinduism the macrocosm and microcosm are both two sides of the same coin). The duel is reenacted every year and watched by a crowd of over a hundred thousand people.

A similar concept is seen in Navaratri celebration, the evil Mahishasura (morphed in the form of a raging bull, the bull representing stubbornness and inertia – ego) is slain by Durga. The very same bull now appears as Nandi (well actually there is another story), with his gaze merged in Siva. Note also that in both cases: Murugan’s defeat of Surapadma and Durga’s defeat of Mahishasura – the demons (representing aspects of the ego) were not destroyed – but transformed.

What is the Nature of Lord Karttikeya? Lord Karttikeya, Murugan, first guru and Pleiadean master of kundalini yoga, was born of God Siva’s mind. His dynamic power awakens spiritual cognition to propel souls onward in their evolution to Siva’s feet. Om Namah Sivaya.
- Sloka 24, Dancing with Siva