Vaikasi Visakam - Muruga -- The Guru of the Universal Guru!
- 11 years ago
வைகாசி விசாகமும் முருகப் பெருமானும்
The hallowed full moon day in the month of Vaikāsi, under the Visākam star is the Vaikāsi Pournima also termed Vaisāki Paurnima. The Vaikāsi moonlight floods the world with a glorious effulgence making the over arching sky infinite and vast. In our tropical skies, the moon, 'slowly and silently walks the night in her silver shoon.' The transparent clouds seem to salute her as she moves unhurriedly. This is indeed Nature's magnificence manifesting itself with an overwhelming grandeur. And with this mysteriously beautiful soft light of sanctity, comes a hush, deep and strange reminding the Hindus and Buddhists of the significance of this sacred day.
It is well known that the asterism Visākam is considered to be the birth star of Murukan who is called Visākan. The Visāka asterism is a combination of three stars which shine brightly in the sky and its pattern in the sky resembles the torana or entrance. It is the fourteenth asterism in the month of Vaikāsi when the sun's vernal equinox falls which accounts for the hot days during this month.
Vaikāsi Visākam is important to the Saivites, Vaishnavites and the Buddhists. To the Saivites, it is the day of the descent of Murukan; to the Vaishnavites it is Periyalvar's jayanti and to the Buddhists it is the day of the great miracles of nativity, enlightenment and maha samadhi of Buddha.
Muruga -- The Guru of the Universal Guru!
An outgoing student is the award bestowed on a smart performing candidate. It is a credit given to him/her for being an outperformed in academics and knowledge. In that case, can we call Lord Muruga the Divine Legend for having out intellectually excelled his Father?
Lord Shiva accredited with the term Universal Guru in the form of Dakshinamurthy (the South-facing deity) is widely recognized in Vedic traditions. None of us can deny the fact that Shiva is the most superior to all the Gurus. Ironically, Muruga, the son of Shiva, is one-up not only in terms of the number of heads (Muruga has 6 heads, while Shiva is normally depicted with 5 heads), but is also renowned as Swaminatha Swami (Guru of the Universal Guru Shiva).
The legend goes that once, owing to a curse, Shiva forgot the knowledge of the Supreme Primordial Sound 'Om'. He requested his son Muruga to teach him the secrets of Om. The child Muruga immediately asked over Shiva to accept him as his Guru. Shiva readily accepted. He placed Muruga on his lap, and joyously received the wisdom of Om in his ears. This happened in Swami Malai (Hill of the Lord) -- Muruga's powerful shrine in Kumbakonam, South India.
No wonder, Muruga is known as 'Jnana Panditha' or "the God of Knowledge". He is said to have taught the Tamil language to Sage Agasthiar, and also inspired Sage Arunagirinathar to compose the set of devotional poems called Thiruppugazh.
The Lyric of this "Madhavan Maruga" is composed by Dr. Lalgudi G.Jayaraman and sung by Dr. M. L. Vasanthakumari
The hallowed full moon day in the month of Vaikāsi, under the Visākam star is the Vaikāsi Pournima also termed Vaisāki Paurnima. The Vaikāsi moonlight floods the world with a glorious effulgence making the over arching sky infinite and vast. In our tropical skies, the moon, 'slowly and silently walks the night in her silver shoon.' The transparent clouds seem to salute her as she moves unhurriedly. This is indeed Nature's magnificence manifesting itself with an overwhelming grandeur. And with this mysteriously beautiful soft light of sanctity, comes a hush, deep and strange reminding the Hindus and Buddhists of the significance of this sacred day.
It is well known that the asterism Visākam is considered to be the birth star of Murukan who is called Visākan. The Visāka asterism is a combination of three stars which shine brightly in the sky and its pattern in the sky resembles the torana or entrance. It is the fourteenth asterism in the month of Vaikāsi when the sun's vernal equinox falls which accounts for the hot days during this month.
Vaikāsi Visākam is important to the Saivites, Vaishnavites and the Buddhists. To the Saivites, it is the day of the descent of Murukan; to the Vaishnavites it is Periyalvar's jayanti and to the Buddhists it is the day of the great miracles of nativity, enlightenment and maha samadhi of Buddha.
Muruga -- The Guru of the Universal Guru!
An outgoing student is the award bestowed on a smart performing candidate. It is a credit given to him/her for being an outperformed in academics and knowledge. In that case, can we call Lord Muruga the Divine Legend for having out intellectually excelled his Father?
Lord Shiva accredited with the term Universal Guru in the form of Dakshinamurthy (the South-facing deity) is widely recognized in Vedic traditions. None of us can deny the fact that Shiva is the most superior to all the Gurus. Ironically, Muruga, the son of Shiva, is one-up not only in terms of the number of heads (Muruga has 6 heads, while Shiva is normally depicted with 5 heads), but is also renowned as Swaminatha Swami (Guru of the Universal Guru Shiva).
The legend goes that once, owing to a curse, Shiva forgot the knowledge of the Supreme Primordial Sound 'Om'. He requested his son Muruga to teach him the secrets of Om. The child Muruga immediately asked over Shiva to accept him as his Guru. Shiva readily accepted. He placed Muruga on his lap, and joyously received the wisdom of Om in his ears. This happened in Swami Malai (Hill of the Lord) -- Muruga's powerful shrine in Kumbakonam, South India.
No wonder, Muruga is known as 'Jnana Panditha' or "the God of Knowledge". He is said to have taught the Tamil language to Sage Agasthiar, and also inspired Sage Arunagirinathar to compose the set of devotional poems called Thiruppugazh.
The Lyric of this "Madhavan Maruga" is composed by Dr. Lalgudi G.Jayaraman and sung by Dr. M. L. Vasanthakumari