Koumaram - Worship of Sri Kumara or Skanda
Om Sharavana Bhava
Sri Valli Devasena Samedha Sri Subramanyaya Para Bhrahmane Namaha:

Sparks from six faces of Lord Shiva	Birth of Lord Karthikeya in Saravana Poigai	Karthikai Mothers adorning the children

Sri Shanmuka or Kumara is the incarnation of Sanatha Kumara. Sanatha Kumara was very wise & had the divine wisdom even at the very young age of three. All the Devas were amazed by the Divine wisdom, the child had possessed even in the very young age. So all the Devas requested Lord Shiva, who is the destroyer of all the three worlds to bless the child. So, Lord Shiva went with his divya parivaram & Nandhi to bless the child. Lord Shiva, like all the other Devas was much amazed to see the young Sanatha Kumara's wisdom. He wanted to bless the young child asked the child to ask any boons. The wise child replied that, he had nothing to ask & asked Lord Shiva to ask any boons to the child. Lord Shiva, who was a thrikala gnani made use of that boon and asked the boon that, the child be born as the son of Lord Shiva. The divine child, Sanatha Kumara granted the boon. The child also said that, he doesn�t want to be born in any lady's garb ham or womb again & requested Shiva, to make him be born as an Ayonija. Lord Shiva, accepted for that & at the time a demon called Sura Padhma started doing atrocities, Lord Shiva opened his third eye in all the six faces & a divine spark appeared from each of the faces & came down to a place called Saravana Poigai on this Earth & became six children. These six children were brought up by six Karthikai mothers & finally united into one child with six faces. That's why Lord Kumara is called as Shanmuka - the six-faced one. Lord Shanmuka also is supposed to have the amsham of Manmatha. So, Lord Karthikeya possesses the wisdom of Sanatha Kumara, beauty of Manmatha & the courage of his other Sri Shakthy.

Sri Valli Devasena Samedha Sri Subrahmanya Swami

Sri Arunagiri Nathar Swamigal

There are thousands of devotees of Lord Muruga. But the credit of reviving the Koumara religion in this Kali Yugam goes to Sri Arunagiri Swamigal of Thiruannamalai or Arunachala. Swamy Arunagiri Nathar was an incarnation of a great rishi, who wanted to show the right path tot he ignorant public of this Universe. Swamy Arunagiri Nathar had lived the life of a womanizer, by spending all his time with a prostitute. He had spent all his wealth on the lady, who would sell her body for money. Finally, he had leprosy. The prostitute wanted only the money from him & she started hating him, as his wealth started extinguishing. His wife was a very divine woman & ordered, him not to touch her anymore on the name of the Lord of Arunachala hills. So, he could not control his physical senses. His sister, Aid was the one, who was the basic cause for Swami�s wisdom. He told his sister that, he couldn�t control his physical senses & requested her to give some money. His sister had brought up him & had koti mathru Vathsalyam on Swamy Arunagiri Nathar. She couldn�t see her beloved brother sad of Viraha Thapam. So, she told Swamy Arunagiri Nathar that, she would go to the street, where people gather & sell herself to someone & she asked Swamy Arunagiri Nathar to take that money & go to the lady, who would give mere physical pleasures. For great people, just a moment would be enough to kindle their light of wisdom. At that moment, Swamy Arunagiri Nathar, understood the blunder he was bout to commit by giving importance to his physical pleasures & selling his own sister, who was equivalent to his mother. He regretted for all his sins & climbed upon the temple tower (Gopuram) of Arunachala hills & tried to commit a suicide by jumping from the top. Lord Shanmuka, who was a day samurai or ocean of kindness wanted to save his devotee & direct him in the right path. So Lord Shanmuka protected him by extending his hands. After getting the divine sparsham of Lord Skanda, Swamigal got wisdom & Lord Shanmuka wanted Arunagiri Nathar to sing his glories & Lord himself initiated him by starting the first word for the first hymn as "Muthai Tharu�. His divine sister Adhi, who was also a divine incarnation became one with the divine light of Lord Shanmuka, after kindling the light of divine wisdom in Swamigal. From that moment, Sri Arunagiri Nathar, started traveling in the breadths & widths of the divine land of Bharatham, to all the temples of Sri Karthikeya. His divine collection of the glories of Lord Shanmuka, is collectively called as Thiru Pugazh . The greatness of his hymns are that, they are rich in vocabulary & also have in-depth vedantic meanings. Even until this date, researchers in the Tamizh departments of various universities in Tamizhnad couldn�t figure out the way to parse the terms & find out the meanings. Such is the greatness of his divine wisdom & literature. One of his divine works if called as Kandar Anuboodhi, which means the divine experience of Lord Shanmuka. In this work he explains his adviathic divine bliss. After showing the true path to all the ignorant, mortals of this world, Swamigal reached the abode of Shanmuka permanently. By the graces of Lord Shanmuka, he experiences the Athma Anubhavam & see Lord Shanmuka as a form his won self & pure consciousness.

Later Sri Swamy Sekhizar has elaborated various abodes of Sri Skanda. There are six abodes of Lord Kumara in Tamizhand, which are called as "Aru Padai Veedu". Each of those abodes is associated with important events in Skanda's avatharam & have been glorified by Swamy Arunagirinathar. They are as follows:

• Thiru Erakam or Pazhani Malai - Sri Baladandayudhapani - Sri Skanda in his Childish form.
• Thiru Chendur - Sri Karthikeya's Sura Samhram from (destroying the demon called Sura Padhma).
• Sri Swami Malai - Sri Swaminatha - Sri Kumara's Gurupara from (acting as a master to Lord Shiva)
• Sri Pazha Muthir Solai
• Thiru Paran Kunram - Sri Devasena Pathy - Lord's marriage with Sri Devasena or Kriya Shakthy (daughter of Deva Indra or head of the celestials)
• Thiru Thanikai Malai or Thanikachalam - Sri Valli Pathy - Lord's marriage with Valli or Icha Shakthy (daughter of Sri Maha Vishnu)

Sri Shanmuka is a from of Gnana Shakthy & his divine consorts Valli & Devising represent Icha Shakthy & Kriya Shakthy respectively. So, Sri Shanmuka with his divine consorts represent the IchaShakthy - the force of creativity, Gnana Shakthy - the force of Wisdom, & Kriya Shakthy - the force of action. Sri Lalitha Sahasranamam praises Sri Matha as "Icha Shakthy Gnana Shakthy Kriya Shakthy Swaroopini". Thus Shanmuka & his divine consorts represent none other than the divine mother or Shakthy. That's what both of them the same Bheeja Aksharam �Reem� represents. Also Sri Shankara Bagavadpada established the tradition of Panchayudhana Pooja, in which Sri Matha or Shakthy & Kumara are represented by the same moorthy in accordance with the order of his six religions or Shan Mathas. That's why it is Pachanyadhana - five idols/ weapons & not shad ayudhanam (six idols). Sri Bagavadhpada used the word Ayudhanam, as those idols are weapons to show the great truth of self & grant salvation for the mortals. Sri Shankara Bagavadpada during his Ksethradanam visited all the temples in India & also visited Thiruchendur, where he composed his famous work, Subhramanya Bhujangam.

There are lots of renowned devotees or bhakthas of Sri Skanda like Bhogar, Kachi Shivachariar, Pamban Swamigal, etc. Some of the works like Skanda Sati Kavacham, Skanda Guru Kavacham are the renowned works on Lord Gangeya & are recited by the devotees to get rid if bad effects & get protection from Lord Kumara. Among the puranic works, Skanda Puranam is the grantham, which glorifies Lord Sunramanya. Thiru Kachi Shivachariar, at Vayalur, rewrote it. Lord Skanda, got the Shakthi Vel or the divine weapon from his mother Para Shakthy at a place called Sikkal in Tamilnad & marched towards, Sri Lanka & with the help of the soldiers like Veera Bahu, he won the demon at a place called Thiru Chendur. On seeing the victory of Lord Skanda, the head of the deva, Devendra offered his daughter Deva Sena as a gift to him. Sri Devasena Vivaham took place in a hillock called Thiruparan Kunram. Thus Sri Shanmuka blesses us with his various forms.

Thiru Gnana Sambhandar	Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi	Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar

In addition to his various forms, Lord Skanda has been taking various forms in this Kali Yuga, to show his supremacy of Gnana & bestow the divine self-knowledge to the mortals of this Universe. Some of the renowned incarnations of Sri Shanmuka are:

• Kumarila Bhatta
• Thiru Gnana Sambandhar
• Sri Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi
• Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar

There are lots of evidences for the fact that, all the above-mentioned souls were forms of Sri Karthikeya. As we have seen earlier, Sri Skanda came from the divine light of Lord Parameswara all the above mentioned people became one with the divine light.

• Kumarila Bhatta - He was a renowned scholar during the time of Sri Shankara Bagavadpada. He was a practitioner of the Karma Marga & Shankara won him in a debate & proved that, Gnana Marga or the path of wisdom was superior one. He burnt himself in a flame as he had deceived a Buddhist Guru & reached Lord Shanmuka.
• Thiru Gnana Sampandar - He was the dearest to Lord Parameswara. He had the thiru mulai pal of ThripuraSundari or Seer Kazhi & started singing hymns on Lord Shiva even from the tender age of three. He finally, merged into a big flame at the age of sixteen in a Shiva temple. All the people who were witnessing that event also joint him & reached Shiva Lokam. He re-established the perennial Vedic religion of Shaivam & drove away the non-vedic religions like Buddhism & Jainism from the Vedic land of Tamizhnad.
• Sri Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi - He is the greatest Guru of Kali Yuga. He made the Advaithic bliss & the divine knowledge of self to be practicable by all the living beings of this Universe. When he was doing the circum-ambulation of the Divine hills of Arunachala (Giri Pratakshinam), the six Kathikai mothers, came down & showed their respect to him. Finally he became one with the Lord after attaining Self-knowledge. Unlike all other masters, he had granted salvation even to a squirrel, a cow, a dog & several other human beings. He has composed a hymn called "Kolaru Pathikam", which removes any bad effects of the nine grahas or planets. Such is his greatness.
  
• Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar - He was an incarnation of Sri Muthukumara Swamy of Sri Vaihteeswaran Kovil. He had mastered Vedas, Shasthra, astrology, carnatic music & Hindustani music at a very young age. He was blessed with a Veena made of silver in the river Ganga. After coming back from kashi he visited ThiruParan Kunram. There Sri Kumaraswamy gave gnana upadesham to him by placing a small sugar candy in his mouth, in the disguise of a sanyasi. Sri Agasthyar or Kumbhodhbhavar was also present with him. He burst out with the first Kruthi, which started with the verse "Sri Nathadi Guruguho Jayathi jayathi", which means that, "Let Sri Natha Yogi & Lord GuruGuha win". Sri Natha Yogi was the great man, who had initiated Sri Dikshitar into the tradition of Navavarna Pooja & given him deeksha in hindusthani music. Sri Natha Yogi was the physical Guru of Dikshitar, who had asked Dikshitar to visit Thiru Paran Kunram after Sri Natha Yogi's demise. At Thiru Paran Kunram, Lord Skanda, who was the celestial Guru of Sri Dikshitar, blessed him with the divine grace. So, Dikshitar shows his respect to both his Gurus in the very first like of his very first Kruthi. Another one greatness of this kruthi is that, it is composed in a Raga, which is taught first to the music seekers & this line has the basic seven swaras in Aarohanam. In this composition. Sri Dikshitar describes the qualities of an ideal Guru & pays his homage to both of his Gurus. From then onwards Sri Dikshitar used the word, "Guruguha" as his mudrai or the word to that, shows us the auhtor's name. This indicates that, Sri Dikshitar is none other that, that Lord of Thiruparan Kunram. Dikshitar was an ardent devotee of Sri Thripura Sundari. He has composed various Krithis based on various Sukthams in Vedas & various Upanishads. Finally he attained salvation on Naraka chathurdashi, which is associated with the Soora Samharam festival of Lord Karthikeya in Thiruchendur. Sri Dikshitar has composed totally 300 songs in Sanskrit. He was the youngest of the trinity & he exhibits his divine wisdom & mastery over music in his krithis. His songs are the most complicated of the songs & are rich in Vedantic meanings. One of the disciples of Sri Dikshitar had an end-less stomach ache. So the astrologers suggested him to chant NavaGruha Sooktham, which is a part of the Krishna Yajur Veda. Since Vedas were supposed to be chanted only by Bhramins, Dikshitar composed the Navagruha Krithis, which were the musical version of the nine hymns in Nava Gruha Sooktham. His disciple sung those songs & got his stomach ache cured. Similarly, he has composed several krithis on Sri Lakshmi, which contained the essence of Sri Sooktham. Dikshitar visited various temples & sung in praise of the dieties of those temples. The uniqueness of Dikshitar Krithis are that, he would use the name of the raga occur atleast once in the kruthi & give all the puranic & Vedic details of the Diety being sung. From Dikshitar's view the diety of the raga & the diety being sung were same. Thus he established the equivalence of music with the form-less "ParaBhramham".His songs are none other than the musical representation of Vedas. Sri Dikshitar is a divine Guru, to all musical seekers & bestows his divine grace to all the students of music. He also gives his divine graces along with the self- knowledge. As, he sings in praise of his Gurus, we need to sing his praise as,
  "Sri Deekshito Jayathi jayathi"
  Note: It's a tradition, not to mention the name of one's Guru. So, I haven�t used the word Muthu Swamy. The word Deekshitar represents only Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar as, he only can be a perfect Guru & fits for the definition of the word Diskhitar!! Let's all seek the grace of Sri Shakthi Vel Muruga & attain Self Knowledge.