By N.V. Karthikeyan

Ganesha, the Lord of Five-arms — their functions — Skanda Avatara — Skanda's different names — functions of the Six faces of Skanda

"Om Velum Mayilum Thunai" Mantra — Avatara of Ganesha; Subdual of Gajamukha Asura as His Vahana — Glory of Nama Sankirtana

Six Attributes of Lord Murugan (not the traditional ones) — Aarupadai Vedu — The Sadhaka's Goal and its nature

Nature of Reality and its ascertainment — contest between Brahma and Vishnu for superiority and Lord Siva's becoming the Arunachala Mountain — Relinquishment of ego is realization of reality

Surapadman, the mango-tree destroyed by Skanda's Vel — Agastya curses Krauncha Asura to become a mountain to be killed by the Vel

The power of Mahamaya — The need for Japa to be coupled with Bhava or Feeling to overcome Maya

Previous Life of Deivayanai and Valli — Valli's birth and marriage with Skanda

Vishaya-Chintana and Bhagavat-Chintana — Charity: its broad meaning — Charity and Meditation break the bonds of karma and confer liberation

Dakshayani (Uma Devi) born as Parvathi — Her tapas and marriage with Siva — Birth of Skanda — Body mistaken for Self — Guru's upadesa removes ignorance

Arunagirinathar's life, in brief — Power of infatuated love for sex

Indra kills Asura Vala — Surapadman tortures Indra — Skanda destroys Surapadman — Prayer to ward off death

Greatness of Naagaaasala or Thiruchenkodu — Four kinds of Kavis or Tamil poems

What is an Avatara — Skanda steals Valli — Mowna, its different types — "Language" or speech, its different kinds — Dakshinamurthi's instructions to the four Kumaras — Speechless upadesa and its import

Nature of reality analysed: reality transcends all concepts; Transcends the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep; Transcends duality — Reality non-understandable but experienceable — Glory of Divine Grace

Desire; What it is and what to do — sublimation of desires through meditation — Bhagavat-Chintana an antidote to Vishaya-Chintana — Sleep and Spiritual communion

Eight-fold attributes of God — The Power of Lord's Name — Repetition-melting-experience — Vasanakshaya-Manonasa-Tattva Jnana — Japa, a complete Sadhana

Desire, the real disease — Non-discrimination, the cause of suffering — Skanda shows visvarupa to the Devas

Our education and knowledge are God-given; They are God-coming in states as Sat, Chit, Ananda — Napa-rupa Prapancha and its essence Sat-Chit-Ananda — Be rooted in the Self, casting away delusion — Bakthi, the means to and an expression of knowledge

Greatness of devotion and jnana — Lord Siva's greatness — Clues for meditation on the Self

Poverty, the great sinner — Material, moral, and spiritual poverty — Avidya, the original sin or real poverty

Rishi Narada's sacrifice and Goat-vahana for Skanda — Upadesa, different kinds; Pesudhal and Unarthudhal — Need for initiation by a competent Guru — Reality difficult of attainment

Thinking and forgetting, functions of the mind — The atman beyond these functions — Existence is consciousness; It is moksha — Clue to real meditation: Abolition of I-ness and Mine-ness

Valli and Deivayanai, Iccha and Kriya Sakthis — Kaalai-Kumaran-Isan: Sat-Chit-Ananda — Svarupalakshana and Tatasthalakshana of God — Popular and mystic religion — Action and feeling to go together

To forget God is suffering — Vishaya-Chintana and Bhagavat-Chintana

Power of lust — confession: a great purifier; draws Lord's grace

The working of the inexorable law of Karma — Cosmos a balance — The Lord is "all-red" perfect — Resort to God to overcome Karmas

God beyond the reach of the Vedas, Agamas, mind, etc. — Effort and grace — Jiva's supports — A study of consciousness in the three states — The "Supportless" state or super consciousness — Meditation, the means to it

Transitoriness of Life — What is wanted comes — Resort to God, the only means to overcome Karma and Samsara

God-thought like nectar — Vel, its significance — God, an embodiment of wisdom — The three final stages of experience in meditation — Dvaita, Visishta-dvaita and Advaita — Experience cannot be related — Nature of Absolute existence: Satchidnanda — Exeriences of verses 13 and 28 compared

Nature of reality and maya — Maya overcome by Divine Grace — Self-effort and Grace — How to obtain grace

Sense-experience and God-experience — What is real death — Experience: an inner revelation

Evanescent life; Perishable (Padu) Maya; Law of Karma — God's compassion for us — The world-show: God's hide and seek play — Ninda-Stuti

Purpose of learning — Defective education — Learning is to lead to living and to experience

Family and wealth cause mental afflictions — Compared to Vindhya mountains, so difficult to be disentangled — God's grace: the means for freedom from samsara — Avatara of Skanda, the mandakini-given — Spiritual significance of Skanda-Avatara

Boon, its import — Skanda, son of Ganga — Formation of the Ganga from the Bhagirathi, Mandakini, and Alakananda — Ganotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath — Pilgrimage from Rudra-prayag to Kedarnath — Mandakini-source, the birth-place of Skanda

Classification of Karmas — Body, the experiencer of Karmas — Karma-Yoga not enough — God's grace grants moksha — What is a Jiva — The condition of a Jnanin

Brahma's pride quelled — Pranava Upadesa to Siva — A study of Om or Pranava: the relative and the absolute are Om

"Parivaaram" of God, a position to be aspired for — The greatness of Thondars or Devotees (Parivaaram) of God — Humility destroys egoism — Esoteric import of "Iraiyon Parivaaram": Aham Brahma Asmi — Advaita Bhavana (feeling) leads to Advaita Avastha (experience) — Mahavakya upadesa — Meditation, the effective method for realization — Knowledge called serenity: being in consciousness

Hope even for the meanest and low

84 Lakh Yonis distributed into 7 categories — Eshanas, the cause of birth — The three eshanas — "Seven Births": birth in the seven higher worlds — The three conditions of Maya: gross, subtle, and causal

The Vel and its true significance — The phenomenal life — Skanda's search for Valli and its significance — Creation, the "House" (manai) for the Jiva

Last thought and next birth — The need to remember God every moment — Death of the body and death of the soul — Mukthi, not necessarily an after-death attainment — Liberation here and now: Jivanmukthi — Contrast between verses 10 and 41 — Lord's feet and Vel-consciousness are One

Knowledge by process and by Being; Meditate and immediate — What is self-consciousness — Knowing by Being — The five Kosas or Sheaths — "Thinking without thinking" and "Thinking without thinking and knowing," or Dhyana and Samadhi — Different interpretations of "Thinking without thinking"

Murugan, the beloved of Valli — Valli Tattva: pure devotion draws divine grace in full measure — Self-effort and grace or Anbu and Arul — Divine experience is the commingling of the Two — Effort is grace in another form — Desire-chain smashed by grace — Speechless-experience or God-experience — Heart, the touchstone of spirituality — Verse 43, the fulfillment of the prayers (aspirations) of verses 39 and 2 — Jivanmuktas, the succour of the world

The nature of the Lord's feet — Feet grant moksha — Feet shine everywhere: in moksha, on the Deva's heads, in the Vedas, and on this Earth — Glory of the Vel — Vel, the relative and the absolute, Saadum and Thani — Static and dynamic identity: Samadhi and Jivanmukthi — Vel is moksha

Learning and wisdom — Glory of Jnana-dana — Guru and His greatness — Qualifications of a Guru — Indra and Deivayanai

Cause for our mental afflictions and its removal — Bodily parents and Divine parents — God is both Father and Mother — What is it "to be accepted by God" — Brahman and maya — The mystery of maya — Grace, the means to overcome maya

36 Tattvas according to the Saiva Siddhanta philosophy — Reality transcends Tattvas — What are Tattvas and how to transcend them — An analysis of Dream — Paramarthika, Vyavaharika, and Pratibhasika Sattas — The six religions or cults and realty beyond them — The six charkas or plexuses and reality beyond them — Salient features of the Kundalini yoga

Sense-perception, the fundamental mistake in seeking God — Pratyahara or sense-control to precede contemplation and meditation — "Union without the least separation" — Chidabhasa and Kutastha — Difference between sleep and meditation — Destruction of Avidya and super-consciousness — kathopanishad compared — Three distinct stages of union with God — Sat, Chit, and Ananda aspects: Ajnana, Dhyana and Anubhuthi Avasthas

Ekameva Advitiyam Brahma: One without a second is Brahman — The world is a mere appearance like wave in the ocean — Meditation, the royal road to experience — Soul, world, and God: what we are, what we see, and what really is — Freedom from Samsara — God, a grace-mass

Factors that bewilder the seeker's intellect — A true devotee or seeker never comes to perish — God's grace, an assuring factor — Phalasruti

Sahaja Samadhi Avastha, the mystic experience of a Jivanmukta — All is God and God is All: Sarvam khalvidam Brahma — The gulf between "description" and "experience" of reality — Concepts of mutual exclusion and contradiction, of substance and quality, and of mutual dependence and determination — God is Guru — Glory of Guru — Kanthar Anubhuthi, a mantra-sastra — Significance of the name "Guha" — Description of the supreme being in the Narayana Sukta — The mystic God-vision: Abheda Darsanam Jnanam — God is Satchidananda — Samadhi and Sahaja Avastha: static identity and dynamic identity: pesaa Anubhuthi and nadamaadum Anubhuthi — The Jivanmukta's benediction for all mankind

References:

Karthikeyan, N.V. Kanthar Anubhuti (God-Experience) of Saint Arunagirinathar. 2nd ed. India: Divine Life Society, 1990.

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