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Saturday, October 10, 2015

Sagara Manthan - Churning of the Ocean

I started off trying to write on Mahalaya.

Mahalaya got me thinking of the Shanka or the Conch Shell.

That got me to the cosmic ocean and its churning.

In the stories from the Puranas, we hear of the churning of the ocean.

Indra, king of Gods, cursed by Durvasa lost all his good fortune in the cosmic ocean.

Indra went to Vishnu and asked for help. Vishnu asked Indra to churn the ocean as one churns milk, and all the lost wealth would arise, like butter arises from churned milk.

Using the Mandar mountain as the stick and Vasuki, the serpent as the rope, the ocean was churned.

First came poison that Shiva swallowed but held it in his throat, and became called Neel Kantha. Then many things , along with them Lakshmi and the conch shell, Shankha, and the holy cow , Kamdhenu. Finally , Amrita, the nectar of immortality.



If I try to analyze what this means, this what I could find out , after reading.

Indra is related to Indriya, or senses. If we take our thinking process and divide into two, we can think of something that gives us happiness and then something that gives us pain or unhappiness. If the later is Asuric, then let that be called Asura and then the former become Sura or Deva or Gods.

Our mind is vast, limitless. A lot is hidden there. That is like the great cosmic ocean. Our thoughts are the waves of the ocean.

Mandar could also be spelt as Mandhar. That could be broken into Mana (mind) and Dhara (line) in Sanskrit. So a single line of the mind , or our concentration becomes the mountain with which we churn.

As the Puranas state, to ensure that the mountain would not sink, Vishnu took the form of a tortoise and held the mountain on his back.

The tortoise has a strong back. The tortoise can also withdraw itself completely into its shell. So a withdrawal of the senses and also ensuring that the concentration does not waver, is what the tortoise could stand for.

The serpent is desire. The desire that will eventually help our concentrated mind, to achieve results.

In the beginning we will get distracted. That is the poison. Shiva is the destroyer of all illusions. Shiva helps us breathe deeply. Shiva factor thus helps us take off the distractions and the deep breathing helps us concentrate better.

Then start coming the objects of our desire and the culmination of the ultimate truth.


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