Aum Laladakshaya Namaha!

14

Kartikeya Defeats the Demon

I bow to Subramanya, son of Shiva, general of the gods, Who has six faces and is adorned with sandalwood paste,

And who rides the peacock as a vehicle.

“SRI SUBRAMANYA PANCHARATNAM”

Creation and destruction are the opposite poles of existence. They are complementary to each other and both are necessary for living a complete life. Duality is the very nature of existence; without having experienced darkness we will never be able to appreciate light. Thus we see that the Puranas are filled with stories of the wars between the gods and the demons, the devas and the asuras. The devas are creatures of light; the asuras, of darkness. Their mutually antagonistic roles ensure their eternal enmity. Sometimes the gods are victorious, and at other times, the demons prevail. This seesaw provides the dynamism by which our dualistic cosmos sustains itself. The prayers and sacrifices of human beings sustain the power of the gods and in general manage to maintain the cosmic balance between good and evil. Sometimes, however, when the world is passing through a particularly negative period, when the evil propensities of human beings tower above the good, then a demon of extraordinary power and wickedness is born. When this happens the gods are forced to take recourse of Vishnu and Shiva to help them. However, even the gods never have direct access to these cosmic beings but can only approach them through the mediation of the Creator, Brahma. The asura Taraka was born at such a period in cosmic history, when negativity was at a peak. He was a demon of extraordinary might whom the gods could not defeat by themselves, so they went to Brahma, who approached Vishnu, and that is how the union of Shiva and Parvati came to pass. Now, once again they approached Brahma, who placed their request before Vishnu, and all of them went to Kailasa to ask Shiva to fulfill his promise to beget a son, the only one who could kill Taraka.

The ganas, who were stationed outside the cave where Shiva and Parvati were consorting, had orders not to let anyone enter, so they forcibly blocked the gods. Standing outside the entrance, the gods began to praise Shiva.

Shiva and Parvati had been in cosmic bliss for many aeons and were unaware of the passage of time. At last Parvati roused herself from this cosmic embrace and the thought darted into her mind that it would be wonderful to have a child by Shiva. Shiva guessed Parvati’s desire and was prepared to fulfill it. But at this precise point in time the gods arrived at their doorstep. When Shiva heard their distressed cries, he controlled himself and went outside. As soon as he heard their request, he discharged the seed that he had been withholding for so many aeons. The fiery seed fell on the earth. The earth could not bear the heat and begged Agni, the god of fire, to help her. Agni took on the form of a dove and swallowed the fiery seed.

In the meantime Parvati was left totally bereft. She came out angrily and cursed the gods, “O you selfish ones! You are only interested in getting your own ends and never think of the unhappiness of others. Thanks to you, I have become barren. I curse all of you that all your wives will also be barren!”

Agni found the heat of the potent seed to be unbearable. He discharged it in the Himalayas amidst snow and ice, in the hope that it would cool, but it continued to scorch the mountain. Himavan, king of the mountain, was unable to bear the fierce heat of the seed and hurled it into the River Ganga. The river transported the seed to its banks and deposited it on a clump of grass. This grass became the womb for the seed of Shiva and nurtured the fetus. On the sixth day, in the bright half of the lunar month called Margashirsha, the son of Shiva was born. The gods played celestial music and rained flowers on the divine child, who was as bright as a flame.

At this time, when the divine child was gurgling and kicking his legs in the clump of grass, the great sage Visvamitra came upon him and was amazed to see his brilliance. The sage understood that the child wanted him to perform the essential purification rites performed on newborns. The sage grasped the message, which was transmitted mentally, and forthwith did all that had to be done. The child blessed him and said that in the future he would be known as a brahmarishi. On being asked about his parentage, the child replied, “Know me to be Guha (the mysterious one), and let this be kept a secret.” He also came to be known as Sarabhu (born among reeds).

Soon after, Agni came to the spot and recognized the boy to be his son, since he had carried the seed within himself. He presented him with a javelin, or vel, which then became Guha’s weapon. Thus he was known as Velayudha (the one with the spear). He was also known as Pavakatmaja (son of fire).

Meanwhile six ladies known as the Krittikas, who are really the constellation known as the Pleiades, descended to the earth, saw the boy, and were enchanted by him. All of them wanted to nurse him and started an argument among themselves as to who should suckle him first. Knowing their desire, the child assumed six faces and drank milk from all their breasts. Hence he came to be known as Shanmukha (sixfaced). The Krittikas took him to their own abode and fed and fondled him to their heart’s content. Since they were his virtual mothers, they called him Kartikeya. He became their dearest treasure, and they never let him out of their sight, even for a minute.

In the meantime, Parvati went to her Lord and begged him to find out what had happened to his seed that had fallen on the ground, which she knew could never be destroyed. Shiva called the gods and told them to discover what had happened to it and who was concealing it. Agni confessed that he had swallowed it, since the earth could not support its heat, but that he himself had been unable to bear the heat and had deposited it on the mountain, which in turn had thrown it into the Ganga. Even Ganga could not cool the fiery seed and had deposited it on the banks amidst a clump of saras reeds. The wind god now took up the tale and told Parvati that the maidens known as the Krittikas had taken the child to their abode, where he was in their custody. They were nurturing him as lovingly as if he were their own son. Hearing this, Shiva sent his ganas to the abode of the Krittikas. The emissaries of Shiva surrounded the residence of the Krittikas, who became terrified at the sight of these extraordinary creatures and begged Kartikeya to save them. He told them not to be afraid since he could easily conquer the ganas. Before he could confront them, Nandiswara, commander of the ganas, stood before him and recounted the whole story of his birth and urged him to return to Kailasa where Shiva and Parvati and the whole concourse of gods were awaiting him. Kartikeya agreed and took leave of his foster mothers, the Krittikas, and went with Nandiswara to Kailasa. A huge entourage was there, ready to welcome him and escort him into the assembly. Eulogizing him, they took the boy, also known as Kumara, to the presence of his divine parents. As he strode into the assembly everyone was astounded to see his amazing presence. He was the color of molten gold and had the brilliance of the sun, with a halo round his head. Both Shiva and Parvati were filled with joy when they saw their son and embraced him with great love. Parvati kept the boy on her lap and gave suck to him and fondled him. Then Kumara sat on Shiva’s lap and played with the snakes round his neck.

After a while the gods urged Shiva to crown the boy, so Shiva seated him on a jewel-studded throne, and the sages worshipped him with Vedic chants. Jeweled pots filled with water from all the holy rivers of the land were brought, consecrated by mantras, and poured over the boy’s head to the accompaniment of Vedic chants. Brahma performed his upanayanam ceremony and gave him the holy thread, a water pot, the invincible arrow called the brahmastra, and the famous Gayatri mantra. He also gave him all knowledge of the Vedas.

Vishnu presented him with a crown and many bracelets, including his own vanamala (garland). Shiva gave him a trident, the bow called the pinaka, an axe, and the missile called the pasupata. Indra, king of the gods, gave Kartikeya his own weapon, the thunderbolt, and a royal elephant. Varuna, king of the waters, gave him the white umbrella of royalty and a necklace of gems. The sun gave him a chariot swift as the mind and a coat of invincible armor. The moon gave a vessel filled with nectar. Kubera gave him a club, and Kama, the weapon of love. His mother, Parvati, blessed him with all power and prosperity. Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, gave him divine wealth, and Savitri, the goddess of siddhis, or supernormal powers, gave him the knowledge of these powers. The powerful rooster was given to Kartikeya as his insignia and became the emblem on his flag, and the peacock, his vehicle.

Thus blessed by all the gods, Kartikeya was ready to face the demon. Shiva told the gods to take him as their general and kill the demon Taraka. Thus he is also known as Devasenapati (general of the gods). Seated in a celestial aerial vehicle, Kartikeya led the gods to the region of the asuras. Taraka led out the demons, fully armed with all types of weapons. Virabhadra, leader of the ganas, rushed at the asura and fought a terrific battle with Taraka. At last Virabhadra was defeated, and the asuras exulted. Then Indra came forward and fought with Taraka and was defeated. The apparently invincible Taraka defeated all the gods, one by one. When Vishnu set out to fight with him, Brahma advised him not to fight, for only the son of Shiva could kill him; that was the boon that Brahma had given Taraka. The gods eulogized Kartikeya and begged him to save them from the scourge of this terrible demon. Thereupon ensued a terrific duel between Kartikeya and Taraka. They charged at each other like maddened bulls with their spears raised. As they grappled with one another, the wind held its breath, the sun became dim, and the earth quaked. At last, when the specified time for Taraka’s death had come, Kartikeya brandished his spear and struck him hard on the chest. The asura fell with a tremendous roar and died before the gaze of all the astounded spectators. The rest of the asuras fled in fear, as Shiva and Parvati came to congratulate their beloved son and the whole world rejoiced.

Bana, another demon, had fled from the battle. He now started harassing the mountain Krauncha, who came to Kartikeya for help. Kartikeya killed Bana and delivered the mountain. In order to commemorate the killing of all these asuras, Kartikeya installed three lingas of Shiva. He then delivered Kumuda, the son of the serpents, from harassment by the asura Pralamba. After this, the jubilant gods escorted Kartikeya back to Kailasa, the abode of his father, Shiva. He was received with great delight by his parents and stayed with them for a while on the mountain.

The esoteric meaning of Kartikeya’s birth and life are worth investigating. He was born to destroy the demonic forces of the world; therefore he had to come from the seed of Shiva, who personifies the destructive aspect of the trinity. His birth actually is an allegoric representation of the story of creation. In the beginning the light of Brahman filled everything. From there it passed on to become air, fire, water, and earth. This is the etymology of Kartikeya’s birth—the descent of the formless Brahman (embodied as Shiva) into the forms of the five great elements (pancha bhutas) of nature. He was born from the seed of Shiva that was ejected into etheric space and transported through the air (vayu) to Agni (fire), who dropped it into the waters of the River Ganga. She deposited the seed upon her banks in a clump of reeds. Thus the five elements of ether, air, fire, water, and earth combined in order to nurture the seed of Shiva. The two great forces of nature are gravity and electromagnetism. Ganesha is the force of gravity and Kartikeya the god of electromagnetism. His power is electric. His vel, or spear, works deeply within us like the powerful force that binds electrons and neutrons together. This power is said to emanate from his spear like energy particles expanding and filling the universe in the form of sound and light waves. The seed was strengthened by contact with fire and then cooled in the purity of the Ganga. The baby was nurtured by the heavenly constellation called the Krittikas. His six faces represented the six seasons, thus he was master of time. He sucked from the breasts of heavenly damsels and was thereby sustained by the power of their heavenly bodies. His weapon was the spear, with which he routed all demonic forces. His vehicle, the peacock, is noted for its vanity. Kartikeya is eternal youth, most handsome to behold, but his vanity is totally under control, for he rides on it. His insignia is the cock, noted for its virility and arrogance. The man of strength and beauty who has mastered himself has no pride in either of these personality traits and is ever immersed in the bliss of the Supreme. He is wedded to a tribal girl, for he sees all humans as the same. The king of gods rewards him with his own daughter as consort. Heaven itself rewards one who is above the lure of physical beauty and strength and who concentrates only on the supreme truth, which is the source from which all of us have come.

The moving and nonmoving universe is but the manifestion of his subtle and unmanifest form. He by whose glance all these manifestations disappear with the realization that nothing exists except tbe Supreme Brahman: to that Dakshinamurti, the Supreme Being embodied in the benign Guru, I offer my profound salutations.

"DAKSHINAMURTHY STOTRAM”
BY ADI SHANKARA

Aum Namashivaya!