August 23, 2004

Last night I had a wonderful vision of my dear Lord Skanda. He appeared in front of me in the form of a black vigraham (statue) just like the form that was present in the Thiruchendur Murugan Temple. This was a message I think from Sri Skanda to His devotees due to the recent events that have taken place in the temple.

Recently, the temple management decided to change the murthi and replace it with a larger one. My mother and many other devotees were upset since they had grown attached to the smaller form — the bala (“baby”) Murugan. Some devotees even wanted to stop coming to the temple since they were very unhappy with this change.

So, in my dream, I saw the same bala-Murugan that used to be present in the Thiruchendur temple. He was situated in the centre of the mulasthaanam (altar) where He used to be. However, to the right (outside the altar) was the new vigraham. It was supposed to be installed in the altar instead of the bala-Murugan. However, I saw a priest performing a kumbabishekam towards the new-yet-to-be-installed murthi, which was outside the mulasthaanam.

I was a little dumbfounded by seeing this since I was wondering why the priest was doing the abishekam to the new murthi when there was the bala murthi (the original bala-Murugan) already installed in the altar?

When I awoke, I reflected on this dream and realized that Lord Skanda was trying to convey a message thru me to His devotees. He wanted to show that even though the murthi had been changed, His other form is still present within the new large murthi. This was a message to those devotees who were considering to stop attending the temple because they would be missing their bala-Murugan. Lord Skanda thru this dream indicated that He will still be present in the form of the bala-Murugan for those who adore that form. He further shows that regardless of the form of the murthi, His presence will be there in that temple — encouraging those who were doubtful and were about to stop attending the temple to continue their sadhana (spiritual discipline) of temple worship.