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THE STORIES OF LORD KATHIKEYA II

Om: The Wise Child-Guha-Teaching His Father

The Lord Karthik is seen as the embodiment of youth, compassion, beauty andknowledge.

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In the 206-odd songs of Tamil poet and devotee of the Lord Muruga known collectivelyas the Thirupugal or praise of the Lord we hear the praise of Lord Muruga in a majorityof them.

Lord Guhan is considered as the source of all knowledge and according to Hindu

mythology was even believed to have instructed his father, Lord Shiva. Thus the divinechild Thirukumara even as a toddler became guru or teacher to his father.

A Tamil prayer in praise of this miracle translated approximately to:

You come as the Divine Teacher Lord Guhan and are praised for it. ( Guru ay VaruvayGuhane potri ).

In Kailash, the young Lord Karthikeya was believed to have crawled onto his father, Shivathe divine destroyers lap and whispered the meaning of the most important mantra ofthe Hindu religion. Lord Muruga taught Lord Shiva the meaning of the Pranava Mantra

( , AUM) and with this miraculous act gained the name Swaminathaswamy. The name

means that Lord Muruga is god/guru to his father the power god Shiva himself.

The Omkara or the pranave mantra AUM thats included in most Hindu chants finds itsorigin in Lord Muruga who is believed to be the very incarnation of the vast Space fromwhich the universe evolved. The omkara is the primordial rhythm of the universe andthus finds resonance in all beings. Thus when a person is taught to meditate he is askedto repeat AUM and mentally concentrate on the form of the letter to gain the perfecttrance. The primordial chant resonates beautifully with all the chakras and helps

achieve the right state of mind and body to benefit from meditation. It is this mantrathat the toddler Guha taught Shiva and thus became Guru (Teacher) to the Almighty.

According to the ancient text Skanda Purana Lord Murugan is the origin of the Omkara.This is supported by the fact in the formula containing the names of Lord Muruganfollowed by Pranava. Lord Murugan in his whispered lecture to his father also explainsthat Lord Shiva also is part of this Omkara which encapsulates the entire universes.

From Lord Shiva, the sages learnt it and pass it onto the rest of mankind.

The Omkara is the basis of all creation. Thus the primordial sound resonates with all of

creation. So Lord Muruga is considered as the supreme deity: Swamynathaswamy.

Lord Muruga is Himself the Pranava or AUM, thus He alone has full knowledge of It. Thisgives Him the authority to question the divine creator Lord Bramha and teach the divinedestroyer Lord Siva its meaning. Thus putting the son above the father and the divinetrinity Bramha-Vishnu-Shiva (Creator-Protector-Destroyer).

In one of the Arupadai temple Swamymalai, in Tamil Nadu, Lord Karthikeya isworshipped as Swamynathaswamy and the instruction of Lord Shiva is believed to havehappened in Swamymalai (Hills of the Lord) rather than in Kailash.

March 7, 2014, Friday