Dear All,
Greetings and Namaste. Tomorrow is Makara Poornima and happens to be Makara Pushya (Thaipusam in Tamil) too. Thaipusam is associated with Lord Subrahmanya and in that connection, I am happy to share a very rare, short and sweet hymn on Lord Skanda from Shiva Purana, Kailasa Samhita, Chapter 11. The short Phalashruti mentions that one who chants this hymn gets superconsciousness, Bhakti to Lord Shiva, Longevity, Health, and fulfilment of all desires.
In stanza 6, Lord Shanmukha is personified as shivasya-shiva-dAyine. Roughly translated, Lord Skanda is said to bequeath Shiva-hood to Lord Shiva Himself (of course, Shiva actually means Mangala and therefore he provides Mangala to Lord Shiva, His own father!) But it is also said that Lord Shiva and Lord Skanda are one and the same. So, how do we reconcile these two statements?
But the puzzle does not end here. Lord Krishna says, senAnInAM ahaM skandaH - meaning, I am Skanda among Senapatis (and Shankara among Rudras - rudrANAM sha~NkarAsmi).
Varaha Purana prescribes a Vrat (Kanti Vrat) to be observed on Lord Vishnu in the form of Shanmukha (ShaD-vaktra) and the six names to be used are Skanda's names. The same Purana explains the origin of Skanda in a different chapter - as being originated from Mahat and Omkara.
Yet another twist - Shatru Samhara Trishati is a very potent Archana on Lord Skanda (an expensive but very potent prayer performed on Lord Skanda in Vaitheeswaran Koil, Thiruchendur and Kundrakudi). In this Trishati, Lord Skanda is personified as Vishnu sthiti Karana as well as viShNave namaH. In the same Trishati, He is also personified as vAgdevI nAyakAya namaH (i.e. consort of Saraswati, Brahma).
A final twist - Lord Skanda is also considered an incarnation of Sage Sanatkumara who is one of the originators of Kumara Sampradaya of Vaishnavism!
So, the Hindu scheme of things in the form of multitudes of deities and worships is not that that difficult to comprehend if we pay a little attention. All anomalies and polymorphism vanish once the underlying principles, which are very simple, are recognized and understood - going one millimetre deep would suffice.
May Lord Skanda (who is given to be Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) Bless Us All!
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