Om Saravanabhavaya Namah!
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!

Namaste!

Lord Skanda -- The Concentrated Divine Energy
by Sri Swami Krishnananda

When the forces of darkness began to assault the angels, the Purana tells us that the forces were threefold. They are named, in the Skanda Purana, as Surapadma, Simhamukha and Taraka; and in the Mahabharata as Duryodhana, Kama and Duhsasana. No one, however virtuous and good he may be, could stand these forces. These demoniacal forces were too much for all the angels put together. The Gods were trembling in fear, just as virtuous men in this world tremble in the presence of the evil dacoits and the unscrupulous thugs, who attack people inwardly as well as outwardly. Virtue seems to have no place in this world. Angels were driven out, the Gods ran away from the heaven and evil reigned supreme. What is the solution? Not mere goodness, not mere virtue, not a little charity, not a little sweet speech,--none of these can stand their onslaught. These things will not cut ice in this evil world. Angels are good enough and they are far superior to humans in virtue, in goodness, in knowledge and in everything conceivable. But they could not stand this vicious force. They had to invoke God Himself. And I may tell you that the solution for all the evils of the world today is God only and not anything that man can do. Not I, not you, not anyone can solve the mystery of the evils of the world. Unless God is invoked, there is no hope. Lord Siva, the great Master of Yoga who was immersed in Samadhi, the abysmal universality of experience, was the only succour and the source of hope to the Gods and angels, in the war depicted in the Skanda Purana. When this triple force, Surapadma, Simhamukha and Tarakasura, attacked the celestials from all sides, they did not know whom to appeal for help. They ran to Brahma, the Creator. He said: "There is only one solution which is difficult to conceive, but there is no other alternative. The force, the energy, the militant expression of Lord Siva is the only answer to this problem of yours." When God becomes militant, nobody can stand before Him. When the lion stands up, you know that there can be none who can face it. God always keeps quiet. He is always in a state of Samadhi, as it were. He gives a long rope to everyone and never interferes with anybody's affairs. You may do anything that you like, you can hang yourself if you like and God is not bothered about it. But, when things become too bad and intolerable, when the whole world begins to cry, these great incarnations take place, If you or I cry individually in a corner, that may not be sufficient to bring down the incarnations. God tolerates when one man cries or two people cry, because many others are happy. But when everyone starts crying, He cannot bear it anymore. This was the condition before the birth of Skanda. The whole world was in a state of travail, turmoil and agitation. The birth of the War-God, Kumarasambhava as Kalidasa puts it, is the story behind this religious festival called Skanda Shashthi.

Without going into the details of the whole story here, I would like to pin-point only the significance of the occasion, viz., the impossibility to confront evil without the help of God, the power of Divinity. No one can face the world except with the help of God. Armaments, military and police are nothing before the evil of the world. No one can overcome it and it shall continue. So, the Skanda Purana says that the War-God was born from the universal contemplation of the great Creator Himself. The Samadhi-Bhuta Sakti or the energy born out of the great Samadhi of Lord Siva, whom we call Skanda, is the answer for all the evils of the world. The force of cosmic desire became a cumulative focussing weapon, as it were, and with a sixfold face the divine energy began to confront the multifaceted dark forces. We have a sixfold psyche within us. The central, pivotal feature of it is the ego as I called it, or you can say the mind, which expresses itself as the five senses. The five senses energised by the mind drive us outward in the direction of the objects of the world. You would have heard it said that the occasion for the birth of Skanda or the War-God was the stimulation by the god of Love, who darted his weapons towards the great Siva, who was then in a state of deep absorption, in Samadhi. These mysteries are difficult to understand. Ordinary minds are not made in such a way as to probe into these intricacies of Divine action. The energies that are required to face the evil of creation are potentially present inside us and they have to be worked up by a particular means. Desire is neither good nor bad. But, it can become bad or good according to the circumstances and the way in which it operates, under given conditions, in the history of creation. The birth of Skanda had to be occasioned by the activity of desire personified as Kama or Cupid, for the sake of overcoming the evils, one of which is desire itself, whose comrades are anger and other manifestations of egoism. The Bhagavadgita says: "Dharmaviruddho Bhuteshu Kamosmi." Here God refers to Himself as desire, bereft of or free from any contravention of Dharma. Here is a clue to the mystery of how it became necessary for the Gods to employ Cupid as an instrument to rouse the divine desire in Siva for confronting the evil desire of the demons. Desire is like a diamond which cuts itself.

Read complete article

---

November 20th is the holy celebration of Skanda Shashthi.

---

The following article has been posted at Sri Swami Krishnanandaji's site:

• Facets of Spirituality - May 1979: Part 2

 

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

---

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Lord Shanmukha and His Worship
By Swami Sivananda

The Advent of Lord Skanda or Karttikeya, the purpose of His incarnation as an Avatara and its significance should be of great importance and of immense value to seekers after Truth. Lord Skanda, also known as Shanmukha, is adored and worshipped with intense faith and devotion throughout South India and Sri Lanka. And naturally it will be of great interest to all His devotees, in particular, to know more about Him, the significance of His birth and His life and career as a victorious General.

Sri Swami Sivanandaji, the author of this book, graphically describes the above-mentioned subjects in his usual style,—inspiring and direct, instructive and illuminating, soul-elevating and at once impressive. It is needless to introduce him to the readers, who is so very well-known as a versatile genius in all the spiritual subjects and as an author of many an immortal and monumental work that breathes the spirit of ancient wisdom and of direct and intuitive realisation of the Supreme.

We consider the book as a masterpiece production and that it ranks with the other prominent works of Sri Swami Sivanandaji.

For more information, please see: Lord Shanmukha and His Worship

---

SPECIAL CONCESSION

The discount on publications is as follows:

20% on Orders Above Rs. 300/-
30% on Orders Above Rs. 3,000/-
40% on Orders Above Rs. 25,000/-

40% Special Discount on the following Pictorial Volumes of Worshipful Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji and Worshipful Sri Swami Chidanandaji:

1. ES8 Glorious Vision                Rs. 650
2. ES4 Gurudev Sivananda        Rs. 250 
3. EC70 Ultimate Journey           Rs. 500
4. EC71 Divine Vision                 Rs. 300

Please visit our online bookstore for further details.

---

SOLUTION TO ALL PROBLEMS: A well-known political leader once came to the Ashram in 1953. At that time the Master used to provide a large table and a couple of chairs to be used by guests. The man sat on one of the chairs.

“Swamiji, I would like to place before you a picture of India and the world as I see it.”

He went on talking for forty-five minutes. The Master, a picture of patience, listened to everything, sitting with his arms on the table and looking straight into the visitor’s eyes.

The man gave a beautiful talk on the world situation—about the poverty, hunger and depression everywhere—and ended up by asking the Master what his solution to the problems would be.

The Master looked at everyone and said, “Only God’s Name is the solution to all this.”

---

“Lord Subramanya is a ray born of the Divine Consciousness of Lord Siva. Valli and Deivayanai are His two wives. They represent the power of action and the power of knowledge respectively. He is a Godhead easily accessible in this dark age of ignorance and lack of faith. In this He is no different from Hanuman. He gives material and spiritual prosperity and success in every undertaking of His devotees, even if they show a little devotion to Him. He is worshipped with great devotion in South India. Lord Subramanya's other names are Kumaresa, Kartikeya, Shanmukha, Guha, Muruga and Velayudhan.” – Swami Sivananda

---

Sivananda Day-to-day is sent out weekly.
Please click here to subscribe to this mailing list.

Other Sivananda related lists:

1) Various Selections from Sivananda's Works