THIRUPARAMKUNDRAM

Thiruparankundram or Sathyagiri

Kundruruva Vel vaangi nindra mugam ondre

Salutations to the face that took the Mountain like Spear

The Spear or the Velayudham is the gnanashakti of Lord Subhramanya and used by Him to rid the world of the torture heaped on the people and rishis and the devas by the terrible demons Tarakasura and Soorapadman.  Both Taraka and Soorapadman had performed intense tapas to gain boons of invincibility from Lord Brahma which they used to torment and torture the three worlds.  On the sixth day of the advent of Skanda as Shiva’s son, He took the form of a six year old and was crowned as the commander in chief of the vast army of the Devas (Deva Senani). In order to overcome the invincibility of the demon Tarakasura, Murugan chose to perform tapas seeking the blessing of His mother Goddess Durga.

He chose Sathyagiri near the famous temple town of Madurai and performed intense tapas invoking Durga who appeared before Him and blessed Her boy with the Spear, nay She Herself became the Spear in the hands of Her son. That is why the Vel is called Shakti. The term Durga has many meanings – Fort, Hill, that which cannot be crossed and that which is invincible. So, to fight the demons who had the power of invincibility, the Lord was armed with Shakti, His own mother in Her form as Durga the terrible. Arunagirinathar beautifully describes this by the term ‘Kundru Uruva’ which means in the form of a hill. Durga, as seen above also conveys the meaning of hill which cannot be crossed. Although Taraka got a boon from Lord Brahma that he should meet his end at the hands of the son of Lord Shiva, he did not bargain that his end would come from the VetriVel which was none other than Shakti thrown playfully at his chest by the little boy Subhramanya.  The same Velayudam was used by the Lord for laying low Soorapadman and his siblings.

There was once a contest between Adhisesha, the serpent bed of Lord Mahavishnu and the god of Wind, Vayudeva as to who was stronger. They both decided that Adisesha would hold tight the five peaks of Mount Maha Meru with his thousand hoods, Vayudeva would try to dislodge the peaks with his force. The contest began in right earnest and Vayu shook the mountain with all his might while Adisesha held the mountain intact by tightly coiling his body around the mountain and held together its peaks. In the tussle a small fragment of one of the peaks got dislodged and was blown away by the force of the wind and landed itself near Madurai and got embedded in the earth.  This peak came to be known as Sathyagiri or the mountain of truth.

The absolute truth is one and is the primordial Sound OM called Nadam. Its form is pranava which is denoted as Bindu from which has sprung the universe. This is also called Para or the Supreme which is beyond everything. Param is the term which denotes that which is beyond and when associated with the absolute truth it becomes Para Brahman. The Para Brahman has two aspects – Nirguna, that is without any name and form or qualities and Saguna in which it takes a name and form and the resultant qualities.  In the Nirguna form it is called Shiva and denotes potential energy which is pure consciousness where matter and energy are latent. When this equilibrium is disturbed it leads to the flow of energy activating inert matter to start creation. The energy is called Shakti and the flow is called Vishnu (that which moves fast). When matter is energized the first movement is spanda or rotation on its axis and the second movement is spurana, revolution around another. Together these two constitute the basis of creation.  Vishnu denotes the male aspect and is called Purursha and Shakti denotes the female aspect and is called Moola Prakriti.  They are considered to be brother and sister and together they manifest themselves as the universe and all the bodies that are present in the universe.

Thus the Holy trinity of Shiva, Shakti and Vishnu are considered to be the different aspects of the primordial Parabrahman and are denoted by the term Param.  When the three aspects of the absolute decided to take lodging in the dislodged peak of Mount Maha Meru lying embedded in the earth, the hill itself became home for the absolute truth and hence called Sathya Giri (Truth mountain).  Lord Shiva, called Satyagiri Ishwarar is in the form of Shiva lingam facing west and in a bass relief are the images of Lord Shiva and Shakti behind the lingam.  Facing the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Shiva is the shrine for Lord Mahavishnu who gives darshan with Maha Lakshmi. As Lord Mahavishnu is positioned facing Lord Shiva which rightfully belongs to Lord Nandikeswara, the temple is called Mal Vidai kshetram (Mal – Vishnu, Vidai – the divine bull Nandi and kshetram – temple), that is the temple of Maha Vishnu in the place of the divine bull.  That Nandikeswara is Shiva Himself and hence Vishnu, is another matter. The name of Shakti is Govardanambikai and Her shrine is situated separately one tier below the main temple.  Again the name Govardanam is associated with Lord Mahavishnu in His Krishnavataram and hence the relationship between Maha Vishnu and Shakti is established. 

To the right of the shrine of Satyagiriswarar, facing south is the shrine of Karpaga Vinayagar who was worshipped by Lord Skanda before He entered into tapas. As the name denotes, Lord Vinayaga will instantly grant whatever one prays for like the celestial tree Karpaga vriksham.  To the right of the sannidhi of Lord Karpaga Vinayagar and again facing south is the shrine of Goddess Durga who manifested Herself as the divine spear Vel when Muruga prayed for Her blessings to conquer the asuras.  The shrine of Subhramanya is situated next to the shrine of Durga and again faces south. The Lord is swayambhu and the image is reinforced with a mixture of various ingredients to give an appropriate shape.  The Lord’s image is in the sitting posture with the Sungod and Moongod in bass relief on either side on the top and the images of sage Naradha and Goddess Devayanai in sitting posture on either side of the image.  This is the depiction of the marriage of Lord Skanda with Devayanai after the annihilation of Surapadma and other asuras.

Lord Mahavishnu had two daughters who performed severe penance to get Lord Subhramanya as their husband.  They were blessed to grow up in the care of the king of Gods, Devendra and the king of hunters as Devayanai and Valli.  Skanda was offered the hand of Devayanai after the extinction of the scourge of asuras Soorapadman and his brothers, by Devendra and the marriage is believed to have taken place in Param Kundram or Satyagiri. Devendra represents the indriyas or faculties in a human being. His daughter therefore represents Kriya shakti, that is the action which follows the functioning of the faculties. Valli devi is the Icha shakti or the desire that impels one into action. Marriage of Devayanai to Murugan after the asuras were conquered would signify that after annihilation of the bad tendencies (vasanas), there is rightful action which leads one to the union with the supreme.

Sage Parasarar was the father of Sage Veda Vyasa. He had six other sons who were cursed to become fish. When they prayed for deliverance, they were told to perform penance in a small pond called Saravana Poigai on the foothills of Sathyagiri and that when they have the vision of Lord Skanda, they would be redeemed from their sin. The muni kumaras waited for the return of Lord Subhramanya from the conquest of the asuras and when He returned, His glance fell on them and they regained their position. The images of Sage Parasara and Sage Vyasa are present in the temple as testimony to this tale.

Nakkeerar was a poet par excellence during the sangam period.  He had challenged Lord Shiva by finding fault in a poem written by the Lord Himself and was chastened by the Lord and given a new lease of life. He was directed to take upadesa from Lord Skanda in Tamil grammar and hence he performed tapas in Thiruparam kundram. One day when he was performing Shiva pooja beside the Saravana poigai, he was distracted by the tussle between a stork and a fish.  The stork had caught hold of a big fish and was unable to pull it out of the water as the fish was too huge and kept dragging the stork into deeper waters.  Immediately a demon caught hold of Nakkeerar and imprisoned him in a cave where there were ninety eight others who had violated the code of conduct while performing Shiva puja. The demon was in search of the hundredth victim so that he could complete his number for sacrificing them to Goddess Kali.  Nakkeerar was non plussed and sought the intervention of Lord Skanda and sang the beautiful hymn Thiru Muruga Atru Padai and no sooner than the hymn was completed, the Lord’s spear Shaktivel came out of the Lord’s hand, clove the cave into two and killed the demon too.

Satyagiri represents the Anahata chakra which is associated with the heart, mind and its functionalities.  The presiding deity of the Anahata chakra is Lord Shiva.  The mind has four functionalities known as Manas or the mind, Buddhi or the intellect, Chitta or the thought and Ahamkara or ego. Kundalini shakti after crossing the manipuraka chakra has to cross one more knot called Vishnu granthi which opens the gates of the heart chakra. Here begins the transformation from the gross to the subtle realms in spiritualism. The heart is the seat of emotions triggered by ego acting on the Mind. If the mind is controlled through the intellect, there will be purity of thoughts (Chitta sudhi) which will in turn subdue the ego and make it absorbed in Shiva.  Shiva represents limitless love and compassion. Love when released from its limitations caused by attachment to ones near and dear, kith and kin and so on, becomes pure and limitless and embraces Shiva whose form is Love supreme. In this state the aspirant experiences sublime bliss caused by contentment.

Satyagiri stands for the absolute truth with manifestation of Maha Vishnu as Sad (energised matter), Goddess Govardanambikai as Chit (consciousness) and Parameshwara as Ananda and hence is the whole (poornam). Subhramanyam is the pure form of the absolute Brahman as Shiva putra and worshipping Him with His consort Devayanai (kriya shakti) along with the holy trinity of Shiva, Shakti and Vishnu at Sathyagiri, He will touch us with His gnana Vel which will immediately dissolve all our past karmas and make us realize the truth of ourselves being the Supreme Brahman.