Namaste!
Recap from last week: Vishwamitra, Rama and Lakshmana continue their journey towards kingdom of Mithila.
Parvathi Kalyanam - Shanmukha Jananam:
On their way, Sage Vishwamitra explains his disciples- the Shanmuka uthpaththi- Birth of the six faced lord Shanmuka. He says, "O mighty warrior prince of Ayodhya- Rama, listen as I tell you the story of the birth of Lord Shanmukha. Once upon a time, Manmadha- the God of love was proud of himself that he could make anyone fall in love with his pushpa-baana, the floral arrows. Manmadha being proud of himself shot an arrow of love at Shiva who was in deep meditation at that time. Upon being disturbed, Lord Shiva- the Peaceful one turned into Lord Rudra- the destroyer! He at once opened his Third eye and cast a glance at Manmadha thus reducing him to ashes. He then calmed down and went back to his meditation. Goddess Rathi, wife of Manmadha was crying profusely at the loss of her husband and begged Parvathi to help her. In the meanwhile, Parvathi took hold of the floral arrows and sugarcane bow of Manmadha and made Lord Shiva fall in love with her. That form of Parvathi is what today we pray as Kanchi Kamakshi Devi. Thus Shiva and Parvathi married each other. They became the parents of this world. To Shiva, she is Shiva Kaama Sundari- the eternal beauty; but for us she is Jagath Janani- the Mother. So seeing Rathi crying for Manmadha, out of motherly love towards Rathi Devi, she gave Manmadha an invisible body and gave him his life back thus making them happy. She gave Manmadha the permission to shoot arrows at normal people being invisible thus help create progeny.
In the meanwhile, it had been hundred divine years that Shiva and Parvathi were married but they still did not have kids. One day, curious Devas had a doubt. They thought Shiva and Parvathi are divine but powerful- if they have a son he would be even more mighty and we would not be able to bear his strength so let us ask them not to have their children! Thinking so they made the blunder of requesting Shiva to not have children. Lord Shiva being Bholenath (one who is easy to please) accepted their request but said that, he already made up his mind to having children and so if not with Parvathi who would accept his divine male 'power' (Shiva Veerya) and bear his child. Devas put forward the idea of Bhoomi. Shiva agreed and sent his 'power' to create a son and Bhoomi accepted it. Meanwhile, Parvathi got to know the request of the Devas and Bhoomi accepting the 'power' of Shiva and she became really angry and cursed the Devas, "O foolish Devas! Any woman would not forego the chance of becoming a mother but since you asked for such a boon that I would have to forego being a mother, I curse you that you Devas would not be able to create any progeny with your wives! You would also remain childless!" That is why our Gods are always 33 crores and that is why Lord Brahma during the birth of Rama asked Gods to procreate sons (vaanaras) with other apsaras and kinneras but not their wives. She then turned to Bhoomi and said, "O Bhoomi! since you snatched away my right, every ruler on this earth would be your husband (bhoopathi) and his son who becomes the next king would not be your son but would be your husband again! Thus you would have to face the fate of being a wife to your son!" Hearing this, Bhoomi could no longer bear Shiva's child and out of guilt gave that 'power' to Lord Agni to search for a suitable bearer.
In the meanwhile, a demon named "Taarakaasura" got to know about this whole chaos and started meditating for Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma appeared and asked him his wish and so the demon asked for a boon that he would die in the hands of only the son born to Shiva and Parvathi. Lord Brahma could not refuse his wish as it was not wrong and thus granted him the boon. That was all he wanted and the next moment he started fighting with Gods and made them suffer. Lord Indra was deeply disturbed by this and requested Lord Brahma to help him. Brahma told him about the request of Gods. Now they cannot go back and ask Parvathi and Shiva to have sons and also cannot live under this demon. So Brahma asked him to find if any woman could bear Shiva's 'power' that is now in Agni's care. They thought a lot about it and finally decided that Parvathi would be angry at any woman who would agree, but would she be angry at her own sister if her sister would agree to this? They found their answer. When Agni requested, Ganga, Mountain king Himavantha's daughter and Parvathi's elder sister though not married yet agreed to bear the 'power' and give birth to Shiva's son. Now this son would be called Shiva- Parvathi's son because Ganga is her own sister and a sister's son is always her son. Everyone is now waiting anxiously if the son would be born. Ganga who flowed as a river and is very cold at all times, burned up as Shiva's power entered her. She could not bear it and left it at the foot of Himavath Parvatha on the grass. Then suddenly a great light rose from the grass- thats when Gold, Silver, Iron and Glass are born. But the Gods were not happy looking at this precious metals because they wanted a child. After a little while they again saw light and heard a small but sharp cry of a baby!! Lord Shanmukha was born! Gods' happiness knew no bounds! They were happy that Tarakaasura's death and a great army leader of Gods is born. Gods asked Krittikas (the Grass on which he was born) to feed the child with milk. Krittikas said they would feed him only if he could drink it with six faces. The baby now had six faces and drank the milk and smiled, thus the name- Shanmuka- the six faced lord. Since the child drank the milk of Krittikas, he is also called Kaarthikeya. Since he was under Agni's care till he was born, he is also called Paavaki. Since he was born on the grass, he is called Sharavana Bhava. Since is born with Brahmagnana, he is called Subrahmanyam. Since he was born out of the mother's womb, he is called Skandha. He instantly became a young adult and became the Devasena Adhipathi- Army chief of Gods, killed Taarakaasura and later married Sri Valli and Devasena- the beautiful daughters of his Uncle Sri Maha Vishnu. He thus is also called Murugan (nephew to Lord Vishnu) and Marumagan (the most handsome because he inherited all of Parvathi's beauty).
Benefit of reading this: Sage Valmiki who never tells about phalashruthi (benefits of reading) tells us that -
Shanmukha stotra:
Precap of Next week: Ganga avatharanam- the descent of heavenly Ganga to Earth. This is also the chapter mentioned by Sage Valmiki with Phalashruthi.
In the meanwhile, it had been hundred divine years that Shiva and Parvathi were married but they still did not have kids. One day, curious Devas had a doubt. They thought Shiva and Parvathi are divine but powerful- if they have a son he would be even more mighty and we would not be able to bear his strength so let us ask them not to have their children! Thinking so they made the blunder of requesting Shiva to not have children. Lord Shiva being Bholenath (one who is easy to please) accepted their request but said that, he already made up his mind to having children and so if not with Parvathi who would accept his divine male 'power' (Shiva Veerya) and bear his child. Devas put forward the idea of Bhoomi. Shiva agreed and sent his 'power' to create a son and Bhoomi accepted it. Meanwhile, Parvathi got to know the request of the Devas and Bhoomi accepting the 'power' of Shiva and she became really angry and cursed the Devas, "O foolish Devas! Any woman would not forego the chance of becoming a mother but since you asked for such a boon that I would have to forego being a mother, I curse you that you Devas would not be able to create any progeny with your wives! You would also remain childless!" That is why our Gods are always 33 crores and that is why Lord Brahma during the birth of Rama asked Gods to procreate sons (vaanaras) with other apsaras and kinneras but not their wives. She then turned to Bhoomi and said, "O Bhoomi! since you snatched away my right, every ruler on this earth would be your husband (bhoopathi) and his son who becomes the next king would not be your son but would be your husband again! Thus you would have to face the fate of being a wife to your son!" Hearing this, Bhoomi could no longer bear Shiva's child and out of guilt gave that 'power' to Lord Agni to search for a suitable bearer.
In the meanwhile, a demon named "Taarakaasura" got to know about this whole chaos and started meditating for Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma appeared and asked him his wish and so the demon asked for a boon that he would die in the hands of only the son born to Shiva and Parvathi. Lord Brahma could not refuse his wish as it was not wrong and thus granted him the boon. That was all he wanted and the next moment he started fighting with Gods and made them suffer. Lord Indra was deeply disturbed by this and requested Lord Brahma to help him. Brahma told him about the request of Gods. Now they cannot go back and ask Parvathi and Shiva to have sons and also cannot live under this demon. So Brahma asked him to find if any woman could bear Shiva's 'power' that is now in Agni's care. They thought a lot about it and finally decided that Parvathi would be angry at any woman who would agree, but would she be angry at her own sister if her sister would agree to this? They found their answer. When Agni requested, Ganga, Mountain king Himavantha's daughter and Parvathi's elder sister though not married yet agreed to bear the 'power' and give birth to Shiva's son. Now this son would be called Shiva- Parvathi's son because Ganga is her own sister and a sister's son is always her son. Everyone is now waiting anxiously if the son would be born. Ganga who flowed as a river and is very cold at all times, burned up as Shiva's power entered her. She could not bear it and left it at the foot of Himavath Parvatha on the grass. Then suddenly a great light rose from the grass- thats when Gold, Silver, Iron and Glass are born. But the Gods were not happy looking at this precious metals because they wanted a child. After a little while they again saw light and heard a small but sharp cry of a baby!! Lord Shanmukha was born! Gods' happiness knew no bounds! They were happy that Tarakaasura's death and a great army leader of Gods is born. Gods asked Krittikas (the Grass on which he was born) to feed the child with milk. Krittikas said they would feed him only if he could drink it with six faces. The baby now had six faces and drank the milk and smiled, thus the name- Shanmuka- the six faced lord. Since the child drank the milk of Krittikas, he is also called Kaarthikeya. Since he was under Agni's care till he was born, he is also called Paavaki. Since he was born on the grass, he is called Sharavana Bhava. Since is born with Brahmagnana, he is called Subrahmanyam. Since he was born out of the mother's womb, he is called Skandha. He instantly became a young adult and became the Devasena Adhipathi- Army chief of Gods, killed Taarakaasura and later married Sri Valli and Devasena- the beautiful daughters of his Uncle Sri Maha Vishnu. He thus is also called Murugan (nephew to Lord Vishnu) and Marumagan (the most handsome because he inherited all of Parvathi's beauty).
Benefit of reading this: Sage Valmiki who never tells about phalashruthi (benefits of reading) tells us that -
- If a Pregnant woman reads/ listens/ writes/ tells this event, she will be blessed with a beautiful son with Lord Shanmukha's blessings and will be saved by him till the end.
- If a diseased person reads this, he shall be blessed with long healthy life by Shanmukha.
- Any one who will read/listen to this with utmost devotion shall be blessed with wealth and Punya and be sent to Subrahmanya loka after death.
Shanmukha stotra:
shakti hastam virupaaksham, shikhi vaaham shadaananam
Daarunam ripu roghaghnam, bhaavaye kukkuta dhwajam
Skandham shanmukham devam, Shiva tejam dwishadbhujam
Kumaaram Swaminaatham tham Kaarthikeyam namaamyaham.
(" One with power, one with peacock as his vehicle and one who is six faced
one who cures dangerous long lasting diseases, I meditate upon him
O Skandha, O shanmukha, You are the form of Shiva's power with 12 arms
O Kumara, O swaminatha I bow to you my Kaarthikeya")
Precap of Next week: Ganga avatharanam- the descent of heavenly Ganga to Earth. This is also the chapter mentioned by Sage Valmiki with Phalashruthi.
