Skanda Shashti - Rare Subrahmanya Siddha Ashtottaram by Sri Atmanandanatha Yati

Courtesy:Sri.K.Muralidharan Iyengar

Dear All,

Greetings and Namaste. As Sri Skanda Shashti is just round the corner (next Wed. 25/Oct/2017), I am delighted to share a very rare Ashtottaram (108 names) on Lord Subrahmanya titled Sri Subrahmanya Siddha Ashtottara Shata Namavali taken from the book titled "Ashreya Subrahmanya Stotram" published by Sri Lopamudra Trust. This Ashtottaram apparently was composed by Sri. Atmananda Natha who belonged to the lineage of Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetha. The Ashtottaram is very sweet and mesmerising to chant - though most of the names are complex phrases. 

Sri Atmanandanatha was born with the blessings of Sri Sringeri Jagadguru (near Thirunelveli in Tamil nadu) and was ordained into Mutt Service when he was nine. He was given Sanyasa Diksha at the age of 17 by the Guru himself and bestowed him the Diksha Nama "Atmanandanatha". He apparently lived only on fruits and managed many temples all over India. He spent his final 50 years in the Shiva Temple in Bithoor near Kanpur and attained Siddhi at the age of 109 in 1926 in Bithoor itself. 

We have seen that Lord Mahvishnu claims in Brahma Vaivarta Purana that Lord Subrahmanya is Lord Vishnu Himself. But Lord Subrahmanya is considered equivalent to Lord Shiva thereby confirming the equality of Trinity and those infuse difference among the various forms are just confusing themselves and others (which can't be termed as a divine service, anyway!!). Puranas declare that those who hold sectarian views and commit the gory sin of performing Aparadha to His forms will be condemned to the goriest of the hells for thousands of years.

I was pleasantly surprised to know that, similar to Durga Saptashati, there is also a Subrahmanya Saptashati. Similar to Chandi homam, a homa is performed with this Saptashati with purnahuti for each chapter. The 700 verses are taken from Skanda Puranam, Shankara Samhita. Now that this book (Subrahmanya Saptashati Homa Vidhanam) has been published (with Tamil/Grantha scripts), I hope this is put into practice in various temples during Skanda Shashti days.

My friend Sri. Sivakumar Thyagarajan from Dubai is trying to source 12 sahasranamas on Lord Subrahmanya when he got lead that they exist. I have seen 6 (one for each face) in the Namavali form - but there seem to be 6 more (or 12 more). Most likely these exist (if they exist) in the form of palm leaf manuscripts somewhere. It is a shame on all of us that we have lost such immense treasures bestowed to us for safekeeping by our forefathers and sages.

May We Pray To Lord Subrahmanya with this rare and beautiful Ashtottaram during Skanda Shashti!

Samskrutam

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