The Significance of Thai Poosam Festival

Significance of Thai Poosam

The Month of 'Thai", is very famous for 'Thai Poosam' or 'Day of Light'. This event/festival occurs on the full moon day of the "Poosam" Nakshatra Day. Thai Poosam is the most powerful day to pray to the Vel and Muruga for destruction of all enemies, diseases and debts. This is a time for ascension from a material to pure spiritual domain. It is one of the best opportunities to enhance our thought patterns so that we are holistically much better than before. 

Why Should I Participate?

It is the day when Lord Muruga was given the powerful 'Lance' or 'Vel,' (Divine Spear Weapon) by Mother Goddess Parvathi to assist in His battle with the demon Surapadma. The vel has a lot of significance in the transition from the physical into a life beyond, or in other words attaining a 'light body'.

- Pushya means "nurture". Pushya is in the sign Cancer owned by the Moon, the Mother. The deity associated with Pushya is Brihaspati, the 'Guru'/ Teacher. Brihaspati has a property of enlightening spiritual growth. "Poosam" or "Pushya" is considered by many to be the most auspicious star for spiritual development.

The Story of Lord Muruga:

This is the story of the birth of Muruga or Kumara and the fulfillment of the purpose of His divine incarnation. "Tormented by the asura (demon/anti God) Sura padma, the devas with Indra as the leader, went to the world of the creator" (dated back to the history of Kumara Sambhava 2.1) The creator said “only the spark of Shiva can produce the hero who will defeat the powers of the evil" Unfortunately, Shiva The king of the yogis was lost in a deep state of meditation. None of the Devas dared to disturb him... least of all convince him to create a progeny.

The deity associated with Pushya is also Brihaspati, the 'Guru' or teacher and so it has a property of enlightening spiritual growth.

Upon Brahma's suggestion, they sought the help of Parvathi and Kama (the god of love). Parvathi agreed to help and engaged herself in severe penance to attract Shiva's attention. Kama also agreed to help and engaged himself in the suicidal mission of arousing Shiva from His state of Samadhi.
The penance of Parvathi and the sacrifice of Kama paid off. Shiva was aroused from his Samadhi. However, none could bear the sparks of His fiery seed. Thus Saravanabava was born. He was also Skanda - Shiva's power of chastity preserved through penance. Skanda was raised by the six mothers of the divine constellation of Krithika (Pleiades). Karthikeya divided himself into six babies to be nursed by six mothers. When Parvathi gathered all the six babies, He became Shanmukha - the one with the six faces and one body. Shanmukha became Kumara - the powerful virile adolescent who was also the beautiful and the handsome (Muruga). Indra was restored to his kingdom and gave his daughter Devayanai or Devasena in marriage to Skanda.

Who is Lord Muruga?

Lord Muruga, the younger brother of Lord Ganesha, is the protector of our earth plane. He has always been concerned about the progression of human beings and the planet earth we live in. Muruga is also the Lord of the Pleiades (A star cluster in the constellation Taurus). Lord Muruga is associated with the birth star Krithika; a very precious birth star. Thus, he is an epitome. He represents the primordial energy and force in its own imagery. Muruga is also addressed as "Lord Subramanian/ Aarumugam (the six faced deity), Karthikeyan, Muthu Kumaran" and so on. As per the myths and Indian epics, he is well known for having played a major role in taming the humans towards a higher life. He is basically a celestial warrior, constantly involved in killing demons that prevent good things (the grace of light) from entering the earth plane.

The Significance of the Vel/Lance:

It is believed that in every Yuga, only one incarnation is the most powerful. Muruga is one such incarnation who is currently powerful. His main role is to diffuse bad karma, whether it is money, health or relationship. One can access the energy of Lord Muruga through his weapon called the Vel (spear/ lance). The Vel is not just a killer weapon; it also destroys ignorance and bad karma. Worshipping the Vel will keep away one’s bad karma; a great device towards the righteous path of life, which is matchless in power.

Why you should pray to Lord Muruga?

Lord Muruga (Nyana Kadavul), as an ascetic reminds us to control the demonic mind and its tricks, thereby guarding oneself against jealousy, anger, lust and other undesirable qualities. He is known to bestow both material and spiritual abundance to His devotees.

It is believed that during the Nine Nights of the Goddess (Navaratri), the three goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi get involved in destroying the dark forces; and from the start of October, Lord Muruga takes over - Lord Muruga the Protector and Guardian Angel for our peaceful living!

Secrets of Murugan’s Worship

Modern science divides the dormant area of the brain into ten parts, whereas in kundalini yoga we divide it into six. The qualities or manifestations of the brain are also six fold, e.g. the psychic powers, These manifest in different individuals according to the degree of awakening in the corresponding areas of the brain. Lord Murugan is also known as Shanmukha because He has six heads which represents the 6 parts of our brain. With the right Murugan’s worships you can invoke Him in the form of Vel ( the spear) which symbolizing the ascension of Kundalini energy along spinal column and activate the whole brain (naturally by birth we will only use 1 / 6 of the brain, the rest 5 / 6 part of the brain can be activated only through chakras activation ).

In Kundalini yoga it was discovered that the different parts of the brain are connected with the chakras. Certain areas are connected with mooladhara chakra, others with swadhisthana, manipuraka, and so on. When you want to turn on a electric lamp, you don't have to touch the lamp itself, you operate it by means of the switch on the wall. Likewise, when you want to awaken the brain, you can't deal with it directly, you have to flick the switches which are located in the chakras. Sa Ra Va Na Ba Va is one of the mantra to invoke our six chakras. You need to close your eyes and consciously concentrate on mooladhara chakra while reciting ‘Sa’ for 4 seconds / counts, then concentrate swadhisthana and recite Ra for 4 seconds, and so on. You can ask your Guru to reveal further on the secrets of Mururugan’s worships.

The Shatkonam's Significance of Lord Murugan

The Shatkonam or the 6-konam of Murugan denotes the merging of Shiva chakra and Shakti chakra. The bless of the goddess Shakti comes down from the sky and is denoted by the triangle which is coming down. The mind of sadhaka which always wants to get the higher things (thinking of the grace of Devi) (i.e., always in nishta) denotes the Shiva chakra (the triangle which goes up), when both these triangles merges the Shiva-Shakti aikyam (union ) happens and where lord Murugan appears. This is what the Somaskandhan Thatvam also explains. The sadhaka who gets the grace of both Shakti and Shiva remains always young as Kumaran and beautiful like a star like Karthigeya.

On this day Lord Muruga showers his divine grace to his devotees on the earth plane, abundantly. One is advices to chant the mantra “Hmmm / Om Saravanabava” to help facilitate his divine blessings!