Skanda

In Chinese Buddhism, Skanda Bodhisattva or Wei Tuo is a devoted celestial protector of temples who protects Dharma...

Very interesting is the fact that some ancient manuscripts, or preserved oral heritage of various tribes contain information about the "mythical twins" in reference to the beginning of the world - the Creation of life. Allegedly, also the Hopi Tribe has a prophecy about the Twin Warriors... In the culture of the Toltecs, Quetzalcoatl was considered the God of the morning star and his twin brother, Xolotl, the God of the evening star...

The word "twin" is used here because Lord Skanda is sometimes perceived as twin God - Skanda-Murukan. The introductory part of Vamsa Brahmana (one of commentaries on the Samaveda), for example, enumerates the list of deities (to whom water libations are to be offered) and among these deities is the Skanda-Visakhau twin figure. 

Skanda (but also Subrahmanya, Kumara, Arumugan, Shanmugan, Murugan, Guha...) belongs to the Shaiva system. Ramayana has chapters on His birth. Some Indian epics and puranas seem to indicate that He was the eldest son of Shiva. But because of the fact that Lord Murugan (He is mostly "God of the South" - Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Australia, Mauritius, South Africa) has not so many devotees as Lord Ganesh (in India), the prevailing opinion in India is that Lord Ganesh is older than Lord Murugan. Both views have their support in ancient Indian texts.

Skanda, the second son of Shiva and the younger brother of Ganesha - but some scholars oppose this view and consider Skanda to be older than Ganesha, is also known as Kumara, Karttikeya, Shanmukha, Subrahmanya, and He has many other names. His weapon is spear and He is considered to be a war God. He has a strong support in South Asia (South of India - Indian state Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, Singapore...).

Followers of this God consider Him to be the Avatar of Lord Shiva. They also think that Lord Skanda and Lord Krishna are one, and as evidence they use this verse from Bhagavadgita (Chapter 10), where Lord Krishna says this to Arjuna: "Senaninam Aharn Skandah," - "Of the Generals, I am Skanda."

A good article about Skanda can be found on the Murugan.org website: http://murugan.org/research/child_god.htm

Sadkona Yantra

Yantra is a symbolic visualization of a deity; yantras often look like a matrix with geometrical lines and when we visualize it in our mind, we clear the path on our way to God (mantra is a sound, usually a holy word, a syllable, or a sequence of such words we repeatedly pronounce, most frequently in Sanskrit).

Skanda emerged from the light of the six Shiva's sparks, which flashed from the Lord Shiva's Third Eye. Skanda Yantra is almost identical with the famous hexagram - the Jewish Star, or the Star of David. The Seal of Solomon also contained the hexagram image - the "yantra" of the Biblical God YHVH - Yahve (the word "yantra" is not used in Jewish-Christian religions, though).

The Atharva Veda describes Kumaran as "Agnibhuh", or son of Agni, the fire god. The Satapatha Brahmana refers to Him as the son of Rudra and the ninth form of Agni.

The Seal of Solomon was a magical signet ring said to have been possessed by King Solomon, which gave him the power to command demons, or to do other miraculous things. The God's name - Tetragrammaton ("word with four letters" - YHVH) - was written on it. The identical depiction of the God Skanda's symbol and of the Jewish one - Sadkona Yantra / Star of David - gives a strong tinge to any argumentation in favor of the fact that humankind has one common history and that the same God spoke to Jews and to other people on this Earth in ancient times.

The pillar of Shaivism, Buddhism, and other denominations, too, is Mt. Kailasa - a 6638 meter high mountain in the Himalayas (Tibet). It is also called the "Svastika Mountain".

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