Cure for Corona- Spiritual way 

Tiruchendur Murugan

A couple of months back , Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar addressed a spiritual  gathering in Chennai .He insisted the people to recite the popular tamil hymn , " Skanda Sashti Kavacham ",and added  "I get a sankalpa in my mind ( meaning an intuition ) that you all should chant the popular and most favourite hymn of Tamil people  ," Skanda sashti kavacham" in the whole of Tamilnadu and create a huge wave.  Can you all form groups and  start chanting  the  Skanda Sashti Kavacham daily ? "

 Many a times the words of  an enlightened master carry some deeper insights foreseeing a major calamity and proper solution would be delivered from them well beforehand  . This piece of advice from Gurudev also seems to be a divine intervention  just before the outbreak of Covid-19 . You can listen to the clipping of Gurudev's talk  in the above video.

The Skanda Sashti Kavacham video with English subtitles is given below :

Following Gurudev's advice, His sister Bhanu Didi also had sung the hymn   "Skanda Sashti Kavacham" , in a satsang at the Art of living ashram stating the significance of the hymn and presented that in her facebook post in order to facilitate more people to chant the same .  Following the Master's instructions ,the Skandar sashti chants have been happening all over Tamilnadu  in schools, art of living centres , gatherings etc. At that time, lesser did the people know the actual reason for the sudden need to chant same in a mass scale. 

Just within a very short gap , China started witnessing the fear and the suffering due to the new Corona virus epidemic break . Soon  spreading it's poisonous tentacles far and wide throughout the world , the situation is getting worse day by day creating a panic and warlike situation .The whole world is keeping the fingers crossed on how to tackle and bring the covid-10 situation under control.

Can we not join the above dots to make a line...The divine plan  seemed to create a huge wave of positivity at one part of the world to combat for the outbreak of a major epidemic in the whole world.

Let's first  have a look at the brief introduction of the "Skanda Sashti Kavacham " and it's significance.

"Skanda Sashti Kavacham" is a Hindu devotional song composed in tamil by Bala Devaraya swamigal in 1820 on Lord Muruga ( Lord Subramanya is fondly referred as Lord Muruga in Tamilnadu and is also believed as Tamil's favourite God)  , who is the younger son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi Devi. Skanda is the other name of Lord Muruga ," Sashti" in sanskrit  refers to number 6 and "kavacham " means armour or protecting shield. The name implies chanting  this hymn  serves as the protective armour for the 6 types of sufferings of human birth viz, Physical ailments, mental ailments, devils & demons, harm by poisonous venom ous creatures , poverty, progeny related issues etc . Lord Muruga is also depicted as having six faces .

 Tiruchendur is a temple town  situated in the southern most tip of Indian peninsula . Lord Muruga is depicted as great warrior with valor and courage  , who protected the Devas from demon , Badmasura  . He carrying His sharp spear ( called as VEL in tamil) fought six days war with the demon and killed him after which the demon got liberated and stayed with the Lord as his vehicle Peacock and Cock in His flag. Even today , every year the 6 days fast is observed and celebrated as Skandar Sashti day all over Tamilnadu . Lord Muruga is also known for His beauty and youthfulness ( The purity of heart or the inner beauty of a person will be reflected  in his face says a popular tamil saying )

Bala Devarayar  was once caught under the grip of an incurable disease of his times .Losing all his hope , he went and surrendered to Lord Muruga at Tiruchendur as his last resort and wanted to breathe his last.At that time, Lord Muruga having been touched by the devotion of Devaraya , believed to have appeared before him and prompted  him to sing a hymn on Him , the singing of which Devaraya got relieved off his illness. And Lord  also added whoever sings the hymn with faith devotion and surrendering attitude  would be liberated from the illnesses / miseries in the world.

Filled with gratitude , Devaraya visited all the 6 different abodes of Lord Muruga in Tamilnadu and sang the hymn and finally presented the composition to the world as "Skanda Sashti Kavacham" .In Tamilnadu , they say wherever there's a hillock , Kumaran or Lord Muruga resides there. The ancient scriptures say the people whenever they come across any outbreak of epidemics , used to sing this hymn and had got the relief.

"Skanda Sashti Kavacham" consists of 238 lines and  has a very deep hidden meaning in it.. The hymn starts with a promise of protection from the miseries to the one who chants it . Next comes the meditative couplet which fixes the Lord in the worshiper's heart. 

The main song sings the Glory of the Lord , praising Him and invoking Him in the devotee's heart.

Followed by the lines which refers to every part of the body starting from forehead till the toes , seeking the protection of the part by calling out the distinct names suffixed by  the spear of LORD  as Veera Vel , Vetri Vel  etc. The modern science adopts the same technique of taking attention to each part of the body and curing it as a meditative curative therapy  .

The protection from various types of miseries are also specifically mentioned in the hymn.

There are also certain single letter , double & triple letter syllables in the hymn uttered repetitively like ra ra ra , la la la , ri ri ri  , du du du, dagu dagu , digu digu  etc in various rhythms to produce certain types of vibrations in the body , influencing the chanter positively , getting him rid off negative vibrations.  The modern science also agrees any illness can be attributed to the negative vibrations either in the mind or in the body and insists on the shock therapy by giving electric shocks. To add to the theory, the bells in temples are designed to cause certain positive sound effect and associated vibrations in the environment. And proper chanting of "OM " causes the invoking of positive energy . The whole idea is to activate the energy centers  from the Muladhar chakra to sahasrara chakra , base center to crown center , balancing the energies in the system.

Chanting the "Skanda Sashti Kavacham" not only causes good to the one who chants but also spreads and purifies the surrounding . History says the ancient sages and people who prayed to Lord Muruga are cured of illnesses and lived a long life. Even disastrous Sunami of recent times had not dared to touch Tiruchendur temple ,situated on the sea shore , though it devastated the other adjacent  places.You can watch the below video for the interesting story of Tiruchendur temple shared by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar :

One striking line in the hymn which is noteworthy of mentioning is , " Petravar nee Guru, poruppathu un kadan " meaning " You are the Guru who gave birth to me (he refers to the spiritual awakening ) and it's your responsibility to take charge of me and give protection ." He also mentions " Having complete faith in you , I totally surrender at your Holy feet .So, you save me " .

Some of the instructions to be followed while chanting this hymn , Baladevarayar points out...One needs to chant with purified body and mind ,fixing the mind on the Lord , with complete faith and devotion without wavering the mind , to be chanted both mornings and evenings.Then , Lord Murugan would bestow that person with His Grace , relieving him from his sufferings and pain, however severe it may be.
Also we learn from the spiritual history , many other sages have sung the praise of  Lord Muruga through their devotional hymns with unshakable faith and have records of miraculous escape from their miseries.

The ghastly corona virus outbreak which is threatening the world and spreading like  a wild fire,  claiming thousands of lives  needs to be addressed giving  topmost priority . But the struggle continues endlessly without any ray of hope to conquer it is a great matter of concern ..Need of the hour is the relief required from Corona  . All the countries caught under the grip of fear know no ways to stop the spreading and eradicate the Corona virus. Now is the time, we can use the ancient and proven technique of chanting the Skandha shashti kavasam with faith and devotion and if not possible to chant ,atleast we can sit with eyes closed after lighting an oil lamp , fixing the Lord Murugar in mind and listen to the chants for 20 mins . This not only dispels our fear and gives protection to us from Corona virus fear but also to the surrounding people and the people of the whole world.

The divine law says " You will not be given a problem , which you cannot solve or handle !! The solution or the way out of a problem is given first and then the problem follows ." The divine or nature grows the medicinal plants first and then gives the disease. Nature gives shady trees first and then the hot summer follows . It gives food in form of fruits /grains first and then follows the hunger. It's only the small intellect of the humans, which fails to see the hidden secrets . It's always better late than never. In the wake of the alarming situation of covid-19 , it is high time , we resort to recite  or chant or listen to Skanda sashti kavacham daily with faith , devotion and surrendering attitude towards Lord Muruga or Subramanya and save ourselves and  the world.
Lord Muruga would definitely bestow His blessings upon the whole of humanity and save the world !!
Om Saravana Bhava !! Om Saravana Bhava !! Om Saravana Bhava !!