I remember HH relating some years ago that he was having severe tooth problems because in a previous birth he had been troubling some snakes and now he had to atone for his indiscretion. Snakes play an important part in our lives whether we acknowledge it or not. People need to understand this important symbiotic relationship in their lives.
This year Subramanium Shasti an auspicious day for Subramanium Swami falls on November 29th in India. Sri Swamiji says its a good day to pray for the wellbeing of all those pertaining to the curse of serpents, unknowingly killing of serpents or the sarpa doshas (sins one acquires by harming serpents), and Psoriasis the skin diseases. The food that is offered to Subramanya Swamy is especially to cure the skin diseases. If taken in small quantities, it helps a great deal in curing the skin diseases.
NAGENDRA SHIVA
In Karnataka State in which Mysore is situated, it is popular to perform Naga or
Snake worship, to get rid of troubles caused from killing or harming snakes in any way. Since we all are constantly living in houses or working in buildings , we incur the wrath of snakes who may have been living there underground. Ashrams are no different!
Shiva- Infinite Cosmic Energy
The whole Universe is oval shaped like the Shiva Lingam, and there is in essence no difference between Lord Shiva and Maha Vishnu! In the womb also the baby curled up resembles an egg, so “anda” / egg is like a miniature Brahmanda or Cosmos. So we pray that infinite oval shape Lingam, the Cosmic Energy, known as the invisible, formless God to eventually be freed from the prison of Samsara or bondage to worldly attachments! From the time we are born, we must experience our karma, the result of our actions, both good and bad!
The Grace and blessings of Lord Shiva is essential to help us! It is he who wears the snake as an ornament, since he is beyond earthly attachments, and therefore can help us to control our desires and bless us to rise spiritually! Another important manifestation of the Seshnaag is the bed of Lord Vishnu who also has the Divine King cobra, as his bed! All deities, all religions, come from that One Supreme God, as the daily Ashram Prayer ‘Shiveti Shoureti’, reveals.
The kavadi ritual
"We need Subramanya Swamy energy and His blessings. He is the commander of the army. Army here means sense organs. He is leading all the sense organs from darkness to light. Today many different pujas are being conducted to Marakata Subramanya Swamy . To us the puja may look like children play, but it is not true. Each act in Puja has a scientific reason.
The kavadi ritual (the two pots carried on each side of the stick ) also has a scientific reason. Sri Swamiji is giving the details of kavadi rituals via bhajana yogam with kavadi Bhajans. There are different types of kavadi for example : milk kavadi, honey kavadi, flower kavadi etc. Some devotees who want either knowledge or want to get rid of sickness take a vow to carry the kavadi to Subramanya Swamy, praying to fulfill their desires. In ancient times there are big stories told about this kavadi ritual. We are all servants to Subramanya Swamy. Subramanya Swamy is a very important diety in our body. Sri Subramanya Swamy is also the main deity for snakes, and praying to this form of God also relieves one of past sins and daily common troubles of all kinds, incurred from treating snakes badly." SGS on Subramanya Shasti day– Dec.8, 2013 – Mysore
He also signifies the control of shakti or divine power present in all the energy centres in our body. When this divine energy is aroused and controlled in a balanced way through Yoga such as Datta Kriya Yoga, with the essential Grace of Sri Datta Sadguru, it gradually leads to liberation of the pure devotee who surrenders! So we are led according to our level, inclination and karma, step by step on the journey to Moksha!
Nagara Thota Shiva Shrine
I set out one morning to discover the less visited Nagara Thota Shiva Shrine at the back of Shuka Vana.
After a little walk I could feel a difference as I approached the shrine tucked away at the end of the path! Legend has it that at one time a healing Nagamani (gem on certain divine King Cobra) had come into Appaji’s possession, but after a certain time it cannot be used in the public. In this tiny Shrine, the simple Darshan of Sri Muruga/Subramanya picture is so enchanting that I did not feel to move and stood almost transfixed though I was feeling cold in the early morning air. I did not feel to move looking at the small, seemingly humble and simple Shiva Lingam there.
Not much is revealed about why this God was placed here, in 2013, but some devotees testify that if a married lady who has problems becoming pregnant, and she does pradakshina daily praying intensely with concentration here , she will become pregnant by the Lord’s Grace and compassion! Others say that the divine Naga Devatas are always residing beneath the Lingam, since the nature of snakes is to crawl underground.
Hence they are ready to bless devotees who pray sincerely to Ananta Nagara Swami in this Lingam form, sending their divine or healing vibrations upwards to the Nagara Swami Lingam, in order to bless the sincere devotee. There are certainly some indefinable powerful vibrations there. When I returned the next day some more construction was started on this tiny, yet powerful, mystical shrine!
In 2013 Sri Subramanya, also known as Muruga, was installed at the side of the Sri Ventatesha Temple and behind it is the Nagendra Katta.
Experience of Sr Madhcharyaarva
In the words of the Main Priest at Sri Datta Venkatesha, who also had served before in the Sri Sri Venkatesha Temple in Chakradharpur, Bihar:
“Before the construction of SDVT, that area of the Ashram was extremely bushy with a lot of trees like a forest. Once, Sri Swamiji called me and told me to take charge of cleaning up the place. “Be careful, you will stay here and look after everything, the workers too and supervise the work.” I agreed. I had to clean up the section also where the Hanuman Purna Phala Puja coconuts are now tied. As I was leaving Swamiji, I took two steps then he calls me back and again says, pointing His finger at me,
"Madhu, be careful.” This happened many more times. As I took a few steps He would call out to me, “Be careful!” As I walked I started wondering,
“Why is Sri Swamiji warning me so many times to be careful?” I asked the construction manager, John Babu what could be the reason but he said he did not know of any dangers on that site. After awhile, the workers completed some work and then we saw a huge “ Nagendra katta” natural circular canal for snakes, with Nagendra Pratimas (snake murthis.)We carefully cleaned up the place around it.
King Nagendra/ divine cobra
That same afternoon, while going back to that place it was very very hot and I was sweating. I was thinking again about the many times Swamiji had warned me to be careful and why He said this?
As I reached near the Nagara Katta, suddenly, I heard a voice in my head saying, “ We humans are very big and suffer a lot, so how small animals must suffer even more. How do they survive"? Usually I walk barefoot but for some odd reason that time I had put on slippers I don’t know why. At that very moment that I had that message, I stepped on a twig and so looked down. I can still see him—-a huge black snake about ten feet long— suddenly appeared at my side and seemed to be walking right by my side with me, not even a foot away!
It was a King Cobra! I stopped a split second as it raised its huge hood, placing himself a little in front of me at one side. It looked at me as I stared back at him, instinctively stopping for a split second in wonder!
Then it gave a sudden long kind of jump with his hood and as I continued walking following him, it went to a big hole, his canal, by the Venkatesha Temple. He had not harmed me! The workers came running to see if it had bitten me, and were surprised to see that I was as good as ever. They too were not hurt in any way right till the end of the construction of the Temple!
I had to convince the scared workers that it was a divine snake and would not hurt them. So we completed the work for the day.
The next morning I went to tell Swamiji about the snake, but before I could say anything, He told me,” We are going to his place. “Only one of the ancient snake Murthis we had uncovered was perfectly intact, so we shifted it to the Nagendra Katta behind Sri Subramanya Swami Temple!
Sri Swamiji revealed that the ancient maharajas would worship that Nagendra Swami I had seen, that divine snake would go for himself, after some time. He was protecting this place! As we were going to interfere with that divine snake’s abode, He, Swamiji, had kept warning me first after he fed the cow, a banana, again after He finished puja at the Datta Temple, He called me again and as I was leaving, called me several times after I took a few steps, to tell me “ Be Careful !” I felt extremely happy listening to this from Sri Swamiji!
Photo Credit ;Avadootha Datta Peetham
Compilation -Ganga Rani