How My Existence is Thanks to Lord Murugan (Kartikeya)

Some of us may have grown up hearing ancestral stories that evoke an almost fairy-tale-like nostalgia. They enrapture us, infusing our imaginations with wonder and nurturing a connection to our unique slice of shared human history.

Though precious, they seldom have meaning or relevance in our mundane daily lives.

I believed this for most of my life, until the messages began to quietly deepen and unfold in recent years. What seemed like minor detail to a child, was possibly a seed that continues to take root to this day, selectively choosing which fruits of knowledge to reveal and which are to be kept secret, for now.

With that said, I’ll share one of the few interesting back stories of my life. I won’t qualify it as anything more than interesting, because it simply is what it is.

It is about Lord Murugan, who is also known as Kartikeya or Skanda. He is a warrior and commander of the divine celestial army, akin to the Archangel Michael. He is the son of Shiva and Shakti and brother to Ganesha. He is a beloved deity for multitudes of people due to his compassion, divine wisdom and protection of devotees. It may also help that he has a very graceful and beautiful countenance!

For my family, specifically through my mum’s side, he’s been a very involved family member. My maternal grandfather was a pure-hearted devotee of Murugan. In fact, his devotion was intensified to the point where his deepest prayers at times of need would often be answered by Murugan directly speaking through my maternal grandmother as a channel. In Tamil this is known as “Arul Vakku”. As a father, teacher and friend, he helped the family through various trials.

While my mum’s childhood was filled with incidents of this Divine Being, I feel called to share just the ones associated with my parents’ wedding and my birth.

Murugan orchestrates my parents’ relationship

My parents met due to both families having a background in the Indian Armed Forces. Despite both being from respectable families, as they were about to be engaged, some relatives objected to the match purely on the grounds of caste. As a child I never understood this mindset and with a little more maturity now, I realise that dogma really does die hard.

My maternal grandfather was unphased by the noise and as was his habit, he turned to Murugan for guidance. The answer received was that my parents were brought together intentionally, giving the reason that my father was also his devotee. I’m unsure if they knew at the time, but as a medical student in Madurai, my dad would regularly cycle to Meenakshi Amman temple in the early morning hours just to sit quietly in front of Skanda.

This celestial confirmation was all my grandfather needed to stand up against anyone who had something to say. And of course, people always have something to say! “I don’t believe you. You’re making it up just to get them married,” and so on.

At this point, my strong-minded grandfather determined that if this marriage is per Divine Will, nothing would stop it from taking place.

Murugan reschedules a wedding!

24th May 1991, Chennai.

That was the date and place they had chosen. All the preparations were being made to meet this timeline, except fate had other plans.

Once again, the divine command rang clearly in my grandmother’s voice.

Do not go ahead with this date. There will be a significant obstacle to the wedding. _

My grandfather didn’t need to be told twice. He promptly rearranged the wedding and as events unfolded, it was clear to everyone that he had made the right decision.

Looking back at history, we know that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on 21st May 1991 in Tamil Nadu. This shocking event led to a period of heightened security, public unrest and temporary shutdowns throughout Chennai and Tamil Nadu.

Murugan protects and blesses me in the mother’s womb

By the time my parents were engaged, the family had received some devastating news. My grandfather had been given a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and in the short time he had left, he wished to see one of his daughters married. This was the reason for a shortened engagement period.

My mum was a young newly-wed aged only 20/21 years old. During her pregnancy (with me), she had to witness her father’s health deteriorate rapidly over just a few months, and lose him just a month before I was born.

Without getting into any further upsetting details, it’s clear how much pain was endured by everyone involved. I’m aware of the tremendous level of emotional stress she suffered during almost the entirety of her pregnancy. So much so that I often feel I’m simply lucky to be alive and well!

At around the 8 week mark, my mum had gone for a check-up and was told by the doctor that the baby may not be viable as there was no detectable heartbeat. When she shared the distressing development with her father, he turned to the only one who he trusted wholeheartedly.

My grandfather prayed to Murugan for my well-being and my grandmother’s hand was placed on my mother’s stomach while the divine presence was speaking through her. The Lord then not only reassured them that I would be fine, but he told them that I was his child and that he would take care of me.

I later found out that for over half of her pregnancy, my mother wasn’t able to cope with eating much normal food or keeping it down. Nothing was palatable to her except vibhuti (holy ash) from Murugan temples. She lost an alarming amount of weight despite family members trying to make her eat. Despite this, we were all kept safe. I choose to see this as divine protection.

Lord Murugan’s presence and connection in my life is still somewhat of a mystery to me. There’s more to the story, but I simply share what I feel permitted to.

Spoiler: I was born just fine. Sort of.

Fun fact - the doctor told my mum during her check-up the day before I was born, that it would be another month until the due date. I was alive and kicking the next morning!

Born on Krittika nakshatra (associated with Kartikeya), both sides of my family turned up to the hospital with the same name on their lips…Kiruthika.

One of my relatives thought I was a boy initially, but we’ll overlook that. It might have been my own dad.

Kiruthika Rajeswaran