The Battle for Dharma

The establishment of Dharma is never easy. Today, in the Kali Yuga, we live in a world dominated by extremes of materialism and excess. Lord Subramanium, who is the energy of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara, is often referred to as the avatar of this Yuga. Through his grace unfolded a unique drama in the life of Skanda Vale during the past year.

Skanda Vale was established by the Lord many years ago as a place of excellence to provide the opportunity for peoples of all different faiths, cultures and nationalities to worship and experience God in his Universality, free from commercialism. Freedom of worship is a basic human right and central to Dharma. It has been the foremost duty of the Temple to protect this right for generations to come.

In the summer of 2005 the Community built a coach park in the grounds of Skanda Vale responding to the existing need of many pilgrims who were experiencing difficulties and unnecessary expense in coming to worship at the Temples. The coach park was accessed via a different route to Skanda Vale using a forestry road suitable for large vehicles, a route used by the Temple since 1978.

Local neighbours over whose land the route crossed started to obstruct and narrow the access making it difficult for coaches to pass. They were being wrongly advised that through obstruction they could blackmail the Temple to pay a lot of money to bring coaches and other traffic necessary for the orderly running of the Community. They sought to restrict the access and intimidate the Temple into compromising our use of the route. We firmly responded setting out clearly to them that a legal access had existed since the Temple was established and we had no intention to pay to them money to use the access or restrict in any way the right of pilgrims to travel the route to worship at Skanda Vale.

Wherever a place of great Divine power exists asuric forces will attempt to interfere with and obstruct the Lord's work ultimately aspiring to seize control of the seat of that power and use it in pursuit of adharma, negativity. These forces feed the lower natures of those immersed in materialism and self importance. Envy, greed, jealousy, aggression and ego are all attributes which attract low forces. For those people living in this consciousness ignorance of God and the nature of Divine work can also lead to fear, which in turn fuels their desire to fight that which they do not understand.

The Divine instructed us to act immediately and intensive preparations where made to fight the battle on two fronts. The Lord emphasised that on no account was any form of aggression to be shown and that we must act peacefully at all times with dignity and honour in upholding dharma. We had only a matter of days before our fuel ran out

and Guruji’s return from Switzerland with the murthi of Lord Subramanium was imminent. On one front our legal team was instructed to apply for a High Court injunction to prevent the Temple access being obstructed, on the other, we were to meet the Lord in procession on Guruji’s return and perform a pooja at the point of the blockade celebrating freedom to worship God. Close devotees of the Temple were contacted and asked for their support, it was inspiring that so many people answered the Lord’s request without question and travelled at short notice to join us.

As the day of the procession dawned, the Lord was all about us, manifesting as torrential rain and gale force winds, providing a fitting setting for the unfolding drama.  Despite the weather, a dedicated team of monastics and devotees erected a marquee near the coach park from where the procession would start; a motorised chariot was constructed to provide lighting and drums, as time for the procession grew closer the Divine momentum and direction governing the exact detail of the preparation intensified. As night time fell about a hundred people, monks, nuns and devotees gathered in the marquee and began to sing bhajans.

Soon the word came, the procession began, the weather seemed to calm in response and a mist hung in the now moonlit night.

The atmosphere was electric as we sang to the Lord, the procession advanced up the track with aarthis, drums and bells. As the obstructions were encountered and removed the sound of conches resonated in victory, the Lord was indeed with us as MahaShakti and the elements. We met Guruji holding the murthi of the Lord at the end of the track. We experienced the asuric forces writhing and screaming in the face of such divine power, obstructing Lord Subramanium in his work and from travelling to His Temple, carries consequences way beyond the comprehension of such low forces. The procession turned and slowly returned to Skanda Vale led by the chariot blazing in light with drums bells and conches accompanying the chants of Vel Vel Muruga. The track was now clear; the Lord had re-established His authority.

Guruji giving the discourse after the procession

Now the battle on the legal front developed. A High Court injunction was granted clearing the way for pilgrims to travel freely to the Temple by coach throughout the summer months until the court would finally determine the extent of our right to use the track to access Skanda Vale.

The Lord always provides resources for those who represent him in the establishment of Dharma and this was no exception. It was fundamental to the success of our legal battle that those working for the Temple professionally had the capacity to obey the will of God and work closely as a team with the Swamis in the preparation of our case. A couple, Jaya and Melani, both experienced solicitors and long term devotees of the Temple excelled themselves dedicating many months of tireless work patiently building up to  the final hearing, liaising with our barrister and the courts using their professional skills as a Divine instrument.

As the summer progressed Guruji was retreating more and more from the mundane aspects of the administration of Skanda Vale, becoming totally immersed in Divine Consciousness. This was another aspect of the Divine play. The Swamis and members of the Community themselves had to constantly refer every development and difficulty directly to God seeking grace, guidance and protection to uphold the right of pilgrims to freely worship at the temples. The Lord opened every avenue, through Divine inspiration records and correspondence was checked, hours spent researching archives opened new doors of enquiry, devotees by chance visiting the Temple became crucial witnesses. We could only marvel at the thoroughness of the Lord. To fully represent the Lord, we had to learn to detach ourselves from the results of our actions and have the genuine capacity to say to God “May Your will be done” as long as we obeyed God implicitly without question, that was all that was required.

When we were notified by the court of the date for the final hearing, the first day of Skanda Shasti, we realised more than ever the extent of the Divine drama. It was crystal clear to us now that this was to be the re- enactment of the great battle between Lord Subramanium and the asura Sura Padma. This demonic force had previously been a great rishi who through many lifetimes of austerities had received tremendous boons from the Lord the foremost being that he could not be slain by anyone born of a woman. However he had forgotten where his strength and boons had come from and became so immersed in his own self importance and power that he wreaked havoc, causing mayhem and destruction preventing devotees from the orderly worship of Almighty God. In the ensuing battle the Lord was ultimately victorious using the power of the Vel. However he had such compassion on Sura Padma that he refrained from destroying him instead turning him into his vahana, the peacock. The Lord is thus often depicted riding the peacock showing Divinity dominating the ego.

We could not be better prepared for battle. The Swamis representing the Lord at the hearing carried with them the full authority and power of Almighty God taking with them many sacred relics and items of immense grace and Shakti, for this was not just a civil dispute about a right of way it was the fight to uphold dharma. Many devotees and well wishers came forward to give evidence on behalf of the Temple. The hours of dedicated work and preparation by our legal team was about to be tested by four days of scrutiny.

The hearing unfolded like scenes in a play, the Leela of the Lord. An amazing presence of Divine Shakti permeated the court room. The Lord inspired the barristers to ask questions to expose the truth; The Lord gave evidence through his representatives establishing in open court the true nature and purpose of Skanda Vale; The Lord was able to show the immense benefit of the Community to humanity in providing the opportunity to serve and worship God; the Lord expressed the importance of our freedom from attachment to materialism; the Lord guided and inspired the judge to seek truth through justice. Both parties where given every opportunity to call and cross examine all witnesses; every detail was intricately managed and orchestrated by the Divine.

Whilst the drama was being played out in court intense devotion was taking place in Skanda Vale with daily Mahabishekam to Lord Subramanium. Even the final day of the hearing was scheduled for Guruji’s birthday, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Sri Ranganatha Temple. We travelled to court taking with us the murthi of Lord Subramanium, the commander in chief of the heavenly forces, to whom we had performed a pooja of special dedication. The last witnesses were called and both barristers summed up their side of the case. As the day unfolded it became clear from the judges guiding comments that we had a very strong case. Returning to Skanda Vale with the Lord we drove once again down the disputed track thanking God for his every assistance and seeking His grace to uphold Dharma.

When we received the final judgment, all that we had set out to achieve and more, was given to us. We offered the judgement to the Divine Mother and thanked her on behalf of all pilgrims for her immense grace in protecting the right of freedom to worship. We also pray that through this traumatic experience those who obstructed the work of the Divine will be able to take a step forward on their path of evolution.

So many people contributed to the success of the case. We all express deep gratitude to those who supported the Community. Our legal team worked tirelessly to achieve a result to benefit future generations.  People who trusted in us to represent the Lord gave us the financial resources to take the case to the high court. The Community trustees unanimously backed every stage of the proceedings coming in person to support the Temple at the hearing. Many devotees and supporters took time to write witness statements and appear in court on behalf of the Community and many devotees offered their prayers appealing to the Divine for a successful outcome.

The Divine created this drama so that many people would come to realise God. The purpose and nature of Skanda Vale has been firmly established in the eyes of the outside world through the comprehensive judgment handed down by the high court. Many battles await us on our journey through life in the upholding of Dharma. As a Community we have a tremendous responsibility to safeguard the spiritual power and heritage we have inherited. The Divine has given us a unique experience of what it means to surrender and rely on God. We pray that through the grace of God we can all grow in this Consciousness.