Subrahmanya (the Generalissimo of the Divine army) - (SSS Vol.9)

Those afflicted with barrenness or serious illness or skin diseases of virulent types vow to proceed on pilgrimage to shrines of Subrahmanya (conceived in the form of a Snake). People laugh at this practice. "Indians offer adoration to snakes, because, in their opinion, they have poison in their fangs!" The Truth is quite otherwise. The inner meaning of snake worship is quite different. The spinal column of man ending with the thousand-petallied lotus in the brain is very much like a serpent poised on its tail with hood widely spread. (SSS Vol.11)

What exactly does Subrahmanya mean? Spend a little thought on that. It means, He who has attained the realisation of Brahman the Universal Absolute, the Primal Cause, the Cosmic Consciousness. Every appellation of God has deep significance. In the Vedas, Vishnu, for example, is named Parama. It means Paramanu, the Atom: He is omnipresent, as omnipresent as the atom, found as the substance and substratum of the Universe. Vishnu is the cause as well as the effect, for, there was nothing else when Time began. The One became many; the many disappear, the One remains.(SSS Vol.11, p.33)