Dear All,
Greetings and Namaste.
As Skanda Shashti falls on Saturday this week (02-Nov-2019), I am delighted to share a rare 108 names of Lord Subrahmanya which contains 18 names for each syllable in the Subrahmanya ShadaaksharI mantra (Sharavana Bhava). I found this one from a Tamil book on Siruvapuri Sri Balasubramanya Swami (a famous Subramanya Temple near Chennai). As usual, there might be some mistakes in translating from Tamil (due to lack of numbered consonants in Tamil alphabet) as my own Sanskrit knowledge is just very basic.
There is yet another Shadakshara Ashtottara Shata Namavali but that is very well known and commonly used. There is a Trishati (300 names) as well.
We have seen in the past that Lord Narayana declares that Lord Vinayaka and Lord Kartikeya are none but Amsas of Lord Vishnu (as told in Brahma Vaivarta Puranam). We also know that Lord Kartikeya is Lord Shiva Himself. So, it does not require a Quantum Mechanics brain to understand that all these are nothing but different names attributed to the one and only Brahman.
Our scriptures never advocate fanaticism on any one form. People who are fanatics of one form are unfortunately the ones who have not imbibed the basic tenet of Sanatana Dharma as expounded by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita:
AkAshAt patitaM toyaM yathA gacChati sAgaraM | sarva deva namaskAraH keshvaM pratigacChati ||
(Meaning : As the rain water that falls from the sky reaches ocean ultimately, all prayers to different Devas (forms) reach Lord Keshava ultimately.)
Sometimes some Upanyasakas deliberately or inadvertently fan the flame of fanaticism over forms - perhaps just to add spice to their discourses. But their utterances are typically half truths showing only one side of the full picture. It is true that scriptures extol one form of Brahman as superior when talking about that form. But it would be only fair to add that the same message gets repeated for every form of the Brahman which make the very concept of superiority redundant and irrelevant. It will be fair to add that nowhere there is a mention that it is OK for knuckle-headed people to have their nose up in the air on the presumed superiority. (If at all it is true, it is those forms who need to have their nose up in the air - not ordinary people).
It will only be fair to add that the Devas are not running parallel Indian political parties in their celestial abodes to bring their politics to the gutter. It is outright silly of us to even think about such factionalism. It is not the fault of our scriptures if we can't even get beyond the basic tenets of Sanatana Dharma.
May We Pray To Lord Kartikeya with this unique Ashtottaram on Skanda Shashti day!
With Pranams,
K. Muralidharan Iyengar (Murali
Excellent. Well Said. Great Service.Our Best Wishes. Namaskarams.
ReplyDelete