Sadguru Murali Krishna Swamigal, once said that in the KaliYuga, the chanting of the sacred mantra ‘Om Sharavanabhava’ is the inner gateway to the supreme self.
Such is the nature of its awesome power and its results cannot fail to be beneficial to the seeker of truth. This mantra is associated with Lord Murugan otherwise variously known as Subrahmanya, Kartikeya, Guha, Skanda, Shanmukha and others.
The first two syllables are said to be Kumarabijas, the middle two syllables are said to be Shaktibijas and the last two syllables are said to be Shivabijas. A bija-mantra is the seed mantra of a particular deity.
The process of meditation is said to involve a shifting of the focal point across six stages or chakras, from the muladhara chakra based at the bottom of the spine to the thousand-petal sahasra chakra located at the top of the head.
These six stages symbolically represent the six abodes of Lord Muruga (Palani, Trichendur, Swamimalai, Tirutani, Tiruparakundaram and Pazhamuthircholai.) He is also credited to be the source of the twenty-five eternal tattvas or principles.
The six faces of Lord Muruga symbolise the manifestation of the supreme self in the execution of its five principal functions including creation, preservation, destruction, involution or veiling and anugraham (grace). The sixth face symbolises Pranava Om (the primal source of wisdom or communion in silence).
According to some, the six syllables express six different attributes including purity, bounty, light, auspiciousness, splendor and infinite power. Lord Murugan is married to Valli and Deivayani and carries a vel, each representing the force of desire, action and wisdom respectively. He possesses all the six divine attributes including wisdom, dispassion, strength, fame, wealth and divine powers.
His mount is the peacock which means that he is totally above pride, ego and vanity. Beneath the peacock lies the cobra which means that the lord is absolutely fearless, immortal and wise.
The cock on his banner symbolises the nada-Brahman (god in the form of sound).
The cock heralds the coming of day and the passing of night symbolises the inauguration of the sunlight of self-knowledge by tearing through the darkness of ignorance.
It should be easily evident from these lines that the grace of Lord Murugan is indispensible to the attainment of liberation.
The spiritual search is the search for absolute happiness. It requires subtlety of mind and suppleness of intellect to grasp spiritual truths. Ordinary human experience is familiar with the relative world.
This world is comprised of duality and the only truth that it admits is the relativity of its own truth. Spirituality is the relentless search for absolute truth.
It consists in undertaking. an uncompromising journey to realise the Self. Its objective lies in merging individual consciousness with the source from which it sprung in the first place.
This source is the Supreme Being, variously described as God, Brahman or Atman.