Shiva, Skanda and Biology

Episode -7

Shiva, Skanda and Biology

 (Continuing with the earlier discussion on Bhagavad Gita…….)

Shukracharya:

पुरोधसां च मुख्यं मां विद्धि पार्थ बृहस्पतिम्। (purodhasam ca mukhyam mam viddhi partha brhaspatim)

सेनानीनामहं स्कन्दः सरसामस्मि सागरः (senaninam aham skandah sarasam asmi sagarah)

Of priests, O Arjuna, know Me to be the chief, Bṛhaspati, the lord of devotion. Of generals I am Skanda, the lord of war; and of bodies of water I am the ocean.

Chandreswara: Can there be an argument Swami !

Shukra: God takes several forms, sometimes other Godly Forms, sometimes as reincarnations and sometimes in normal human forms. The Skanda (Murugha) form taken by Shiva is a very interesting God-form.

A slightly complicated yet short story…..

…… Once Bhrighu was doing a severe penance to please Shiva to make him appear before him. To make sure that no one disturbs him, he issued a curse that any one who disturbs his tapas will forget the four vedas and will only regain knowledge of Veda if only taught by Lord Shiva. His students went around warning everyone about the curse. Everyone knows the power of Bhrighu, who once cursed Shiva that he would never be worshipped in any form other than Lingha.

Pleased by the Tapas of Bhrighu, Lord Shiva appears before him and calls Bhrighu. However, Bhrighu’s curse is an irrevocable weapon and afflicts Lord Shiva. So complicated is the curse that the Cursed is Shiva himself. How can he regain knowledge of Veda from himself when he has already been cursed to forget. Now Lord Shiva decides to cure the curse from his own form, viz., Skanda (Subramanya, Murugha, Shanmugha) and decides to create Skanda for whom he has fixed other divine duties.

Shukra: Thus came Kumara (Skanda) in to this Universe.  (Incidental yet major object for the creation of Skanda: Lord Siva  had once granted Surapadma the power to live for a hundred and eight yugas, to rule a thousand and eight kingdoms and to be undefeatable even by the forces of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva)

Chandra: Yes, really a complicated story. I have  read that a bit in Kumara Sambhava of Kalidasa.

Shukra : Having talked about Kumara Sambhava (meaning how Skanda came in to being or the birth of Kumara), I must tell you another interesting of that book by Kalidasa. The name is a misnomer. Here is probably the ONLY book where the Hero never appears. The hero of the book as the name says is Kumara, but the book stops just before  Lord Skanda is born. 

Interesting.

……………………. Skanda’s birth is not only a mythological milestone but also a biological milestone.

Chandra: Swami, What do you mean? Biological???!!!!!!!!!!?????????

Shukra: Yes of course. As the Nobel Laureate Erwin Schrödinger a throughbred in Quantum Mechanics says, most of Scientists job is to validate concepts stated in the Upanishads, Skanda’s birth has given clues to the modern world on Child birth.  (Schorodinger did not say anything on Skanada’s birth…..for the benefit of people who love to read in between lines)

Chandra: Swami, how is that possible? Skanda is a divine creation by Lord Shiva, how can that be replicated by the ordinary humans.

Shukra: Did I say replicate? You can understand the underlying concept and draw suitable conclusions for mankind.

Now tell me how was Skanda Created?

Chandra: Lord Shiva opened  his third eye and the emanating flames fell on six lotuses. Each of these lotuses became a child. All six children became one, hence name Shanmugha or Six faces or Arumugham.

Shukra: Good, that is correct. In other words, this an asexual procreation. (Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single organism, and inherit the genes of that parent only; it does not involve the fusion of gametes and almost never changes the number of chromosomes)

Skanda, hence is Shiva himself, created for a purpose to handle some responsibilities which technically he cannot do himself (like teaching himself Veda, killing Surapadma who took a boon that he shall not be destroyed even by Shiva or Vishnu)

Essential requirement for the cloning process is availability of a molecular fragment or cell. In other words a small component of a donor’s cellular body.

In the case of Skanda, the flames originating from Lord Shiva’s third eye, cannot be an inorganic fire  but essentially an organic cellular fire brought about by fission. Biology is not new to Cellular fission.

Have you heard of any similar invention in the modern world?

Chandra: Yes Swami, sounds like the process of “Cloning” .

            But Swamy, cloning involves a mother, called a biological mother. But Skanda’s creation did not involve a biologicalmother.

Shukra: First of all my apologies for drawing parallel between the birth of the Lord (Skanda) and a sheep, but some times an analogy makes concepts easy to understand.

My son, Did you hear about cloning in the 19^th century or earlier.

Chandra : No.

Shukra: Only towards the end of  the 20^th century, successful cloning stories emerged.

This earth has been in existence for more a few million years, but it has taken these million years for the world to achieve the first success in cloning. You have miles to go, before Eggless cloning or motherless cloning happens in this earth. You need to have patience, but the first success has been achieved.

Chandra: Swami it is true. We are not Gods to create another God, but atleast we will make our  own little progress in science. But the Skanda analogy was interesting.

Shukra:  What is difficult to believe today will one day become a reality! Who thought we will be able to talk to someone 3000 kilometres away, without our room-mate overhearing that.

Our Rishis talked about “Alchemy” a technique of using an organic process to convert one metal into another metal. Iron in to Gold etc.

Today we hear about Cow’s urine having samples of a compound of Gold. If you have not read yet, research on the urine of a hundred cows over a period of time has proved that Gold in a compound form (not sheets of metal, not granules, not bars & Pellets). How in this world will you explain conversion of the organic food eaten by a naïve cow, to a compound of Gold, which is an inorganic compound?

Today it is beyond of acceptance or comprehension but tomorrow you may have an answer. Not having an answer today is on account of lack of knowledge and not because of lack of answers.

I don’t mean to suggest these hapless cows can  replace Gold mines, but our knowledge is so limited and devoid of comprehension. Science needs to develop and grow and probably the future generations would have scientific explanations to several celestial  Puranas (stories).

Chandra: I agree Swami. We are shrouded by the giant shadow of Aggyanam( lack of knowledge).

Shura:  Shankaracharya says

गिरौ मन्निवासे नरा येऽधिरूढाः
तदा पर्वते राजते तेऽधिरूढाः ।
इतीव ब्रुवन्गन्धशैलाधिरूढाः
स देवो मुदे मे सदा षण्मुखोऽस्तु ॥६॥


(Salutations to Sri Subramanya) Those Persons who Ascend the Hills of My Abode (and completely surrender to me), ... they thereby Ascend the Great Silvery Mountain which leads to the path of Liberation (referring to Mount Kailash which appears Silvery due to snow), Thus You seem to proclaim Abiding on the Sugandha Hill,  Let me always Rejoice in the contemplation of You, O my Lord Shanmukha.

We too shall pray Shanmukha to enlighten us even while we pause before going on to the next subject.

Would be delighted to talk about God and Quantum Computing one day.  Are you ready?

Chandra: My respects to you Gurudeva. Waiting to get enlightened..