![]() The story of Samudra Manthan is a legendary one. Once Lord Indra, the King of Gods, while riding his elephant came across Rishi Durvasa who offered him a special garland. Lord Indra received the garland but placed it in on the trunk of the elephant. The elephant got annoyed by the aroma of the flowers and threw the garland on the floor. The sage Durvasa got infuriated as the garland was a dwelling of Sri or fortune and to be treated as 'Prasada'. But Lord Indra committed crime and insulted the sage Durvasa by throwing the garland. Against this deed Rishi Durvasa cursed Indra and all Devas or gods to be deprived of all their celestial, power strength, vigor, and luck. There was a combat between the Gods and Asuras or demons, where the Gods were defeated by Asuras. The leader of the demons army was king Bali who achieved control of the universe. All the Devas were to Lord Vishnu for help and Vishnu advised them to treat asuras in a tactful and intelligent way. The gods formed an association with asuras to jointly stir up the ocean for the nectar of immortality and to divide it among them. Lord Vishnu additionally informed the Devas or gods that he would organize a plan in which the gods alone will receive the nectar of immortality. Samudra Manthan or the churning of the ocean of milk was a complicated process. In the process of Samudra Manthan, Mount Mandaranchal was used as churning rod and Vasuki, the King of Serpents, became the churning rope. On one side the gods held the tail of Vasuki while on the other hand the demons held the head end of the snake and they pulled on it alternately causing the mountain to rotate which in turn churned the ocean. Nevertheless, once the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Lord Vishnu in is his second incarnation, in the form of turtle Kurma, came to rescue the gods and asuras and supported the mountain on his shell back. Throughout the Samudra Manthan made by the gods and demons, Halahala, a pot of poison came out of the ocean. This poison terrified the Gods and demons as the poison was so deadly that its effects would have wiped out the entire creation. On the counsel of Vishnu, Gods approached Lord Shiva for assistance and protection. Shiva drank the poison out of sympathy for living beings. Then Goddess Parvati, wife of Shiva pressed his neck so that the poison does not reach his stomach. Thus, it stayed in his throat neither going up nor down and Shiva remained uninjured. The poison was so strong and effective the color of Shiva's neck was changed to blue. Thus Shiva is also called Nilakantha or the blue-necked one. Shivaratri, the festival of lord Shiva is celebrated relating to this event. ![]() ![]() Inspite of hiding the nectar the Asuras got hold of the nectar and started rejoicing. Terrified and worried the gods pleaded to Vishnu, who then took the form of Mohini. Mohini was beautiful and enchanting lady and fascinated the Asuras with her beauty. The Asuras were engrossed and Mohini took the amrita from the asuras and distributed it amongst the Adityas or the gods who drank it. One of the Asuras, Rahu, disguised himself as Deva drank some Nectar. But due to their luminous nature the Sun God Surya and the Moon God Chandra noticed the change. They both informed Mohini about how Rahu had disguised himself to be a god. Before the Nectar could pass his throat, Mohini cut off his head with her divine discus, the Sudarshana Chakra. As the head of Rahu contacted with the amrita, thus the head remained immortal. To take revenge on Sun and Moon for revealing the story the immortal head of Rahu occasionally swallows the sun or the moon that causes eclipses. At this moment the sun or moon passes through the opening at the neck, putting an end to the eclipse. After this the Adityas or Gods rejoices at attaining immortality and defeating the Asuras or demons. ![]() In Samudra Manthan the gods and demons symbolizes the positives and negatives personalities. The involvement of both the Devas and the Asuras represents that when one is seeking ecstasy through spiritual practice the other has to integrate and harmonize both the positive and negative aspects and put both the energies to work for the common goal. Again the ocean of milk in Samudra Manthan is the mind or the human realization. The mind is like an ocean while the thoughts and emotions are the waves in the ocean. ![]() In Samudra Manthan Vasuki portrays desire or aspiration. Vasuki is used in the churning of the ocean signifies that the gods and the demons held desire to seek immortality as a rope and churned the mind with the help of meditation and discarding other needs. Thus if desire is not controlled, will overshadows an individual and destroy him The Halahala poison is a sign of suffering and pain that is the counter-reaction of the mind and body, the one undergoes at the beginning of spiritual sadhana. When the intellect is subjected to excessive concentration, the foremost thing that comes out of the process is intense suffering and great inner disorder. These must be solved or hence no further process can be progressed. ![]() In Samudra Manthan Dhanvantari represents physical condition and signifies that immortality or spiritual success can be achieved only when the body and the mind are hale and hearty. Mohini signifies vision of the mind in the human form, originating from pride. Mohini is the pride of achievement to which the demons or asuras surrender and thus lost sight of their goal. The last obstacle a person has to overcome in achieving spiritual life before experiencing self-realisation is arrogance and self-centeredness. The Amrita symbolizes the ultimate achievement of the goal of self-realisation. Goddess Lakshmi in Samudra Manthan signifies universal enhancement which comes out automatically by one's own eternal realization or Amrita. |
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