In one of the recent comments it was stated that Bhagavan was an avatar of Subrahmanya,
the second son of Siva. This was a widely-held view in Bhagavan?s time, primarily because
Ganapati Muni had confidently made this assertion in the eighteenth chapter of Sri Ramana Gita.
Krishna Bhikshu, Bhagavan?s Telugu biographer, accepted this claim and devoted several pages
of his book (Sri Ramana Leela, chapter 49) to a series of examples and arguments which he said demonstrated that the claim was a genuine one.
Ganapati Muni?s conviction that Bhagavan was an avatar of Subrahmanya arose from an incident
that occurred in March 1908 when he was with Bhagavan at Pachiamman Koil, a temple of the
outskirts of Tiruvannamalai. Early one morning he saw a bright light appear and touch Bhagavan?s
forehead. The light enveloped Bhagavan, and within that glowing effulgence Ganapati Muni discerned
six stars of different colors which eventually merged into a single light.
Subrahmanya was created from light that came out of Siva?s third eye. Siva gathered this light in
his hands and passed it on to Vayu, the god of wind. The power of the light was too much for Vayu,
so he gave it to Agni, the god of fire, who deposited it in the Ganges. Ganga, the goddess of the Ganges,
was also unable to bear the power so she carried it to a small pond and left it there. In this pond the
light transformed itself into six babies. Parvati subsequently joined the babies together in a form that
had one trunk, twelve arms and six faces. This is Lord Shanmukha, ?The Lord with Six Faces?.
His name Skanda means ?the joined one?, a reference to the way Parvati amalgamated his bodies.
The six visible stars of the Pleiades are known as ?Karthika? in India; Karthikeyan is another of
Subrahmanya?s names. When Ganapati Muni saw six stars merge into one in Ramana Maharshi?s
form, he naturally came to the conclusion that Bhagavan was a manifestation or avatar of the God.
A few years before Seshadri Swami had also come to the conclusion that Bhagavan was Subrahmanya, although there appears to be no record of how he came to that conclusion. Seshadri Swami identified
himself with Parvati, Siva?s consort and decided that Bhagavan was ?her? son, Subrahmanya.
Proponents of the avatar theory have drawn up long lists of facts and coincidences to demonstrate the validity of their belief. For example, Bhagavan?s occasional references to Arunachala as his ?father? are taken to be proof that he must be one of Siva?s sons. For those who are interested, there is a list in chapter 49 of Sri Ramana Leela, and an even more exhaustive compilation in an article by Ra Ganapati that appeared in a 1984 edition of The Mountain Path.
Since the original claim can be traced back to Ganapati Muni?s vision, I should like to make a few comments about the nature of jnanis and visions. Bhagavan appeared on several occasions to devotees in forms that they desired. He had the power both to grant visions (see, for example ?Bhagavan gives Rama darshan? by T. K. Sundaresa Iyer) and to manifest in a different form. The following story is narrated by K. Vithoba Kamath:
I used to sit in the hall in the last row. One day an idea flashed that I should see Lord Krishna. I intently looked at Bhagavan and saw a dark cloud engulfing him and within that emerged the Lord. I was at my wit?s end. I thought it was a hallucination and a projection of my own mind. I wanted to try again. This time I thought of Gandhiji. Ramana was nowhere, but in his place there was Gandhiji. Being bewildered, I looked at Bhagavan. There! He was looking straight at me with a benign smile on his face. I felt highly blessed. (Arunachala?s Ramana, Vol. V, pp. 114-123)
(David Godman's Compilation)
Arunachala Siva.