The Esoteric Significance of SIVA RAHASYA 3

November 21, 2009

Om Namah Sivaya

Somaskandar

Shanmuga

In common with all Hindu mythological accounts and stories, the descriptions of the legends about Subrahmanya also embody various esoteric truths. Lord Subrahmanya has six faces. He holds a Spear or Vel, and He rides on a peacock. A cock is His banner. He has two wives, Valli and Deivayanai. He is the son of Parama Siva. He came out of Siva's third eye, in the form of Fire or Light Jyotis. His achievements consisted of the destruction of the great Asura Surapadma, who, with his assistants, was enslaving Indra and other Devas. He married Deivayanai, the daughter of Indra. On the advice of Narada he married also Valli, the foster-daughter of the hunter king Nambi, after testing her devotion pretty severely. Even as a boy, Lord Subrahmanya imprisoned Brahma for his ignorance of the meaning of the Pranava Mantra and released him only at the request of Lord Siva. Incidentally He also expounded to Lord Siva the same Mantra. All these accounts are

the interesting details greatly appreciated and cherished by deeply devoted Subrahmanya's Bhaktas. The worship of Subrahmanya is more or less confined to South India though He is not unknown to the Hindus of the rest of India as Karttikeya. He is also worshipped by a large section of people in Sri Lanka. The Tamilians have a living faith in Subrahmanya and are as fond of His Lilas as the North Indians and the South Indian Vaishnavites are of Krishna's sports.

From the esoteric point of view, Subrahmanya is the Lord who incarnated Himself to illumine the intelligence of human beings and liberate them from ignorance of various kinds, which hides the truth from them. Since human beings are in different stages and levels of development, Lord Subrahmanya has to meet them on their own level for fulfilling His mission of enlightenment. This He does in a unique way.

His six heads are symbolical of the six Pranic or Vital centres the six Chakras of nervous activity in the human body, located in the spinal cord and at the junction of the eyebrows. It is through concentration on these centres that the Yogi acquires capacity to subordinate his lower nature, to sublimate it, and to utilize all his energy for establishing his identification with the one Lord of the universe, who is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Therefore, to say that Lord Subrahmanya's six heads represent these six vital centres is only to say that whenever an aspirant attempts to rise above his human limitations and experience oneness with the Eternal, Lord Subrahmanya gives him all the strength he requires for conquering the evil inside him and for the acquisition of the final Truth.

This statues (42.7-meter) is located at the Sri Subramaniar Temple at the foot of Batu Caves in Malaysia

The Spear or Vel is the weapon which pierces through the demon of ignorance. This is the Ekagra Chitta or one-pointed mind so much insisted upon in Raja Yoga without which progress is impossible for a Yogi. It is the preliminary for concentration, meditation and absorption (Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi) all of which together constitute the Yogic Samyama. In the legend, it is Surapadma, the Asura who is slain by the Vel. That Asura is none other than Ignorance.

That Subrahmanya came out of Siva's third eye is symbolic of His being the incarnation of Pure Intelligence, for Siva's third eye is known to be the eye of Wisdom or Jnana.

The peacock (on which Subrahmanya rides) is the most beautiful of all the birds. It is the one bird which can reveal its inner joy by dancing and displaying its gorgeous plumage. When it does so, it evidences its perfect balance for it is a very heavy bird and it has to keep its balance on its two very slender feet. All these points relating to the peacock are utilised for illustrating the ideas concerning the inner significance of the Subrahmanya mythology. We can interpret the peacock as symbolising mental equipoise, the predominance of Sattva over Rajas and Tamas. That tranquillity or mental balance, when once attained, produces contentment and happiness. Such a mental condition reveals itself in a superior sort of self-satisfaction state similar to that of the peacock which spreads out its beautiful plumage. It is this predominating Sattva that is the prerequisite for the acquisition of True Knowledge the knowledge

symbolised by Lord Subrahmanya Himself.

Subrahmanya's cock-banner symbolises the approach or the dawn of Knowledge, it is the cock that proclaims the coming of the sun in the eastern horizon. The sun is the heavenly body that dispels darkness. Likewise the cock on Subrahmanya's banner announces the approach of Knowledge which will destroy all ignorance.

Lord Murugan promises to marry both sisters Sundara Valli (Valli) and Amirta Valli (Deivayanai) in a future life.

The two wives, Deivayanai and Valli, symbolise the two types of devotees among those who strive for Moksha or Liberation through union or oneness with the Supreme. One type consists of those who rigidly and sincerely observe the injunctions and follow the teachings of the Vedic scriptures and are thus the followers of Vaidika Karmas. That type is represented by Deivayanai, whom Subrahmanya married in the regular orthodox way. The other type consists of the ardent Bhaktas who attach more importance to right mental feeling and emotion than to rules and regulations. This type is symbolised by Valli, who grows as the foster-daughter of the hunter king, Nambi. Subrahmanya marries her in the combined Gandharva and Paisacha modes of marriage. He manifests love in wooing her and uses force in fighting against her relations who try to obstruct Him.

Subrahmanya legends also reveal that He is the God of the hill and other tribes whose modes of worship are primitive, crude and barbarous. That shows that Subrahmanya incarnated Himself only for the purpose of conferring knowledge upon all, whatever be their level of understanding or attainment. All the details relating to Subrahmanya legends can be interpreted correctly if we bear in mind the underlying truth that Subrahmanya is Supreme Consciousness in an embodied form.

Swaminatha

This is amply borne out by the story about Subrahmanya having been the Guru of even His own Father. The story goes that He questioned Brahma about the meaning of OM and that, when Brahma revealed his ignorance of it, Subrahmanya put him into prison. When the matter reached Siva, He was naturally amused and playfully challenged Subrahmanya to interpret the Mantra Himself. But child Subrahmanya would not do so unless Siva became His disciple. Siva was fond enough of His child to assume the attitude of a disciple and got the explanation from His boyish lips. That incidentally won for Subrahmanya the name of Swaminatha. Here, too, we see that Subrahmanya symbolises Pure Consciousness which includes in it the meaning of even OM, the highest of all Mantras.

----Sri Swami Sivananda

Sivaya Namah