[Advaita-l] SKANDA SHASHTI

[KAMESWARARAO MULA]

Dear Members,                             Indra was back to his kingdom with the help of Skanda and there by offering his daughter Devasena to the devasenadhipathi as a gift. How ever Murugan also married Valli to avoid distinction between poor & rich.

Valli Kalyanam:  There was a king called Nambirajan of the Kuravas or the hill tribes. Nambirajan worshipped Shiva,praying for a daughter, his prayers were answered and it was revealed to himthat he would discover a baby in the nearby woods and that she would be hisdaughter. 
Accordinglythe kurava king discovered ‘Vallinayaki’in the woods and brought her up as his own. Valli grew up to be a beautiful maiden and Subramanya - son of Shiva and Parvati sought her hand in marriage. Murugan assumed the form of an old bangle seller,and sold bangles to Valli, in return for a local delicacyof honey soaked corn flour. A conversation ensued between the two, which wasinterrupted by the arrival of Valli's brothers. Skanda appeared again, in the guise of an oldtribal king and sought her hand in marriage. The brothers materialized again,and Skanda transformed himself into an oldascetic from the Himalayas, and they left the spot. Upsetby the ongoing hindrance, Skanda sought the help of his brother Vinayaka - the remover of obstacles, whoappeared on the spot as a wild elephant. The scared Valli, embraced Skanda andpromised to offer him anything in return for protection from the wild beast. Skanda sought her hand in marriage, and Valliconsented gladly, realizing that her suitor was none other than Murugan,whom she and her tribe held in great regard. Valli married Murugan  and the marriagewas celebrated in great splendor by Nambirajan, the king of kuravas.
 Six days of the war over the evil forces, devotees  undertake fasts,prayers and devotional singing to Lord Muruga.  Most of the devotees stayin the temples during these six days. In  Tiruchendur and Tiruparankundramevents leading to the conquest of the  Asuras are dramatized and enacted, Offering of Kavadi on Skanda Sashti  is a form of popular worship.
According to Swami Sivananda " the Lord spent His childhood in Tiruchendur and took Mahasamadhi at Kathirgamam. If anyone goes to Kathirgamam (Sri Lanka) with faith, devotion and piety, and stays in the templefor  two or three days , the Lord Himself grants His vision to thedevotee."  
 Sri Guru Padaravindarpana Mast
Kameswara 


    On Sunday, 3 November 2019 10:14:43 am IST, KAMESWARARAO MULA via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:  
 
 Dear Members,     
Kartikeya also known as  Skanda, solves the mystery of his birth. The word “Skanda” is derived from skanda which means to “spill”(Ejaculation). The legend says that Shiva and Parvati were disturbed while making love and Shiva spilled his semen on the ground(Agni) in the Sharavana Pond which was later protected by six kritikka's, born as baby Kartikeya. Kartikeya also means, “ Krittikas” (Agni Nakshatram), six of the seven highest stars clustered in the night sky. It is believed that these six mothers wanted to nurse baby Kartikeya who, in order to end the argument, grew five more heads so that six mothers can nurse six heads.
 The child laments, “I have no name, no parents, no one who can tell me why I was discarded on a mountain side” due to his birth as a a secret Kartikeya, in fact, was born to fulfill a divine mission-to save the devas and the universe as well, more so, to kill the asura Surapadman, the soul-stealer who was granted a boon by none other than Kartikeya’s father Shiva that no one except for Shiva’s offspring, born without Shiva’s union with a female, could either kill or defeat him.In the background of this tale is Surapadma who is so powerful that Indra, king of all the devas, holds his spittoon, Surya and Soma hold the royal umbrella over his head, and Vayu fans him like a slave girl. Surapadma, known as Andhakaara or darkness and Bhayanaka, the terrible one, also steals souls of the living, leaving them behind gibbering in terror, waiting for death to come.
Surapadman, in a fierce battle, was defeated by Murugan (Kartikeya) but when he asked for forgiveness, Surapadma was granted the honour of becoming Kartikeya’s vahana, the peacock, a symbol of joy, rains and liberation from fear. 

Kartikeya hitted Tarakasura on his chest with his weapon Shakti resulting in his death .Kartikeya went to mother Parvati, who affectionately took him into her lap. He was appreciated by all the deities and made the supreme commander for chief of army of Deva's.
Yesterday was Tarakasura Samharam & today is Valli Kalyana (Skanda Shasthi)
Sri Guru Padaravindarpana Mastu

Kameswara

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