The classic myth telling of the triumph of light is the story of Lord Muruga and the gift of the ‘vel’. Once there was a demon named Tarakasura who kept bothering the sages and saints. Lord Muruga was called upon by his parents Lord Shiva and Parvati to destroy the fiend. The young Lord Muruga set off with the blessings of his parents and twelve weapons, eleven of which were given by his father Lord Shiva and the twelfth was the vel or lance given by his mother Parvati. Lord Muruga was victorious over Tarakasura on the Poosam Nakshatra day in the Tamil month of Thai. The vel is also known as light. Light won over the dark force.

Lord Muruga, and Jupiter (”associated with Pushya), the ‘Guru’ have been identified in the Siva Nadis to be the most prominent deities for 2010. The Moon is Parvati or the Mother.

Just as a commander vanquishes evil forces for the good of humanity, Lord Muruga, as an ascetic reminds us to control the demonic mind and its tricks, thereby guarding oneself against jealousy, anger, lust and other undesirable qualities. Lord Muruga is known to bestow both material and spiritual abundance to His devotees. Thai Poosam is a day when you can engage yourself in the worship of Lord Muruga by offering prayers to Him. Ask for his divine assistance with your own battles of light over dark.

The mantra to use is “Om Saravana Bhava”.

The Vel of Muruga is a very mystical, divine weapon with mysterious power. The vel is equal to Muruga and is absolute wisdom that annihilates the inner demons, negativity or karma and liberates the soul from rebirth. This is the Divine power of the vel which will vanquish the evil forces that attack you on the spiritual path; you will emerge triumphant and victorious!

The very word ‘vel’ has the mystic powers of invoking the grace of Murugan and therefore devotees chant:

“Vel, Vel”, “Veera Vel”, “Gnanam (pronounced yannam) Vel”, “Shakthi Vel”

(’vel’ pronounced as ‘whale’)

The vel has a lot of significance in the transition from the physical into a life beyond, or in other words attaining a ‘light body’.

For many, Thai Poosam is the most powerful day to pray to the Vel and Muruga for destruction of all enemies, diseases and debts. The eminent spear in the hand of Lord Muruga has a lot of significance in the path of bestowing grace.

The Ascension on Thai Poosam: The Gift of the Light Body
Thai Poosam is also the day on which the great Tamil Saint Swami Ramalinga ascended, or made his final merger with the Jyoti Light of Lord Shiva triumphing over the darkness or the physical, limited body and limited mind.

He lived and maintained his body of light for 1-1/2 years for all to witness. On the Pushya star and Full Moon day, he made his final merger with the light complete and physically disappeared from the earth plane. No traces of his body were ever found.

Interesting that the Vel also is called as Jyoti, or Light.

The mantra of Swami Ramalingam for the light body is:

Arut perum jyoti (a-rroot, pa-rroom joe-tea)

Arut perum jyoti (a-rroot, pa-rroom, joe-tea)

Tannip perum karune (taan-ee, pa-rroom, ka-rroo-naye)

Arut perum jyoti (a-rroot, pa-rroom joe tea)

For Swami Ramalingam, spirituality that secluded itself from the common people had no meaning. His God-consciousness was based on love and compassion and he was never at peace when people went without food. What was the meaning of kindness and love if one did not satisfy the hunger of a fellow human being? Moreover, food was the basic need of the body and body was the seat of the soul. Without taking care of the body how could anyone take care of the soul that dwelt in the body? Thus the very basis of spirituality was, according to Swamiji, the removal of hunger, since removal of hunger mean renovation of the living temple of God, the body.

Dattatriya Siva Baba advocates “The easiest way to access God’s grace is to feed a famished human being starving for food”. The most auspicious day to sponsor feeding is on Thai Poosam. We invite everyone to give food donations to the homeless in your neighborhood or volunteer at a local feeding center near you. Should you also wish donate to feeding the hungry, you can contribute to one of the charities we support, a Feeding Centre Trust set up in the name of Swami Ramalingam.

This act will add lot of spiritual merit to you and help your material pursuits also, as you could lighten yourselves and the Universe does the rest by nurturing that which is light and happy.

For more information on Thai Poosam please visit www.ThaiPoosam.com