'Samudra Mathanam' - The churning of the milky ocean! - Part 1

Hello all,

 Namaste! We discussed how historical figures like Sri Krishna and our own ancestral archetypes can affect our behavior and thought patterns. How about today we analyze one particular mythological story and connect it to our every day life and see how we can learn to overcome some negative processes and thought patterns we get associated with.

 Many of you have heard about the story that is called 'Samudra Mathanam' that occurs in Hindu Mythology in Mahabharatha, Vishnu Purana and Bhagavath Purana. Let us visit the story to brush up our memory and for those persons who have not heard the story, this would be a chance to read it. So here is how it happens.

 Indra, the king of demigods (Devas) and the other Devas  were cursed by the sage Durvasa, who was famous for his terrible temper. Being cursed by the sage brought about depletion of energy, strength and power for the Devas. Devas are considered the good folks among the demigods while Asuras are the bad ones among them. Both Devas and Asuras always fight to get the control of the World or the Universe.

 Now due to the curse of the sage Dursava, Devas started losing every battle with the Asuras and got driven away from their abode of heaven. The Asura king Bali took over the charge of the heavens and  started ruling over the whole world. Now Indra and Devas got upset with this status quo and wanted to change this and recapture their right to heaven. They started thinking deeply what to do? Finally they decided to ask the  Supreme God Mahavishnu what can be done to reclaim their glory.

 Mahavishnu, always the strategist among the Gods, told the Devas to churn the milky ocean (Ksheerasagara), to get and drink Amrita, the nectar of immortality,which can bring the strength and power back to Devas. He also told them as they cannot churn the ocean alone, to become diplomatic and get the help of Asuras as well. So armed with the help of Asuras, using Mount Mandara as the churning stick and Vasuki, the serpent king as the rope, Devas and Asuras started churning the milky ocean. When Mount Mandara started sinking into the milky ocean, Mahavishnu took the form of a turtle (Kurma avatar) and helped to keep the mountain afloat.
Samudra Mathanam (Churning of the milky ocean)
Both sides kept on churning the ocean for a very long time and  the first thing that came out of the churning was the most vicious poison named Halahala (Kalkoot), which can destroy the whole world and to save the world, the other God Shiva swallowed the poison. But as Parvathi, his consort became afraid of his well being, caught hold of his neck and the poison spread on his throat and he became known as Neelakanda (the blue throat-ed one). After this many divine gems started coming out of the ocean, which was accepted by Gods, some by the Devas and some by Asuras.

 Later divine animals like Kamadhenu (divine cow), Airavatha (divine elephant) and Uchchaihshravas (divine horse) all came out which was given to sages and to Indra. After that  Chandra (Moon), Lakshmi (Goddess of prosperity, who became consort of Mahavishnu), many Apsaras (divine dancers) and Varuni (Goddess of liquor) came out. Then came Dhanvantari (God of health and herbs, divine physician) came out with the pot of Amrita (divine nectar of immortality). This is the story how the Amrita came out of the ocean. Then there are many more things that happened later, which we are not going into in this particular post.

 Now this is the Mythological story. Is it just a story or can we find some hidden gems from this story towards our every day normal worldly life?  Can we dissect the story and see what we can find that gives us some lesson towards our true potentiality as humans? Let us start from the Devas and the Asuras. Are they just mythological characters or can we extrapolate them to something else? Okay, let us start the analysis. Here we go.

 Think the Devas are the good qualities we have like honesty, patience, justice, integrity, humility and diligence. Let us also take the Asuras as the vices we can have like greed, envy, fear, pride, lust, anger and sloth. What is the milky ocean? It is our mind where constant churning of thoughts in the form of waves happens.Here let us assume the churning of our mind happens constantly with the virtues on one side and the vices on the other side. The rope is our unending desires and the churning rod Mount Mandara is our ego. So our ego gets constantly churned or tossed in the materialistic desires with the virtues on one side and the vices on the other side.
Kurma avatar (MahaVishnu)
 All this churning is supported by the divine grace (Mahavishnu) in the form of turtle, which means even in the midst of worldly chaos of  vices and virtues there is the constant presence of God that helps our ego not to sink in the materialistic world and lose ourselves in the 'Samsara Sagara' (the ocean of materialistic existence). But this presence is not explicit, as the turtle was underneath the  Mount Mandara and the waves, hidden from plain view, but always present underneath the churning mind of thoughts and emotions.So only after removing or balancing our ego (Mount Mandara) and our emotions (waves in the milky ocean) we can see the divine providence.

 May be we can even relate the milky ocean or the Ksheerasagara to the material existence. Think that it is our mind or our mind space that constantly reacts to the thoughts and the external stimuli that is bombarding us. Every time the mind churns with a thought we become happy, elated, sad, angry, irritated or furious. If we can control our mind, calm our ocean of thoughts with the help of the divine grace (Mahavishnu, the turtle) and keep our ego ( the churning rod-Mount Mandara) constant without toppling over, then we can continue the constant churn of our mind space (Ksheerasagara) and see what jewels or rocks we can get out of it.

 There is the remaining story of the gems, divine animals and other divine beings that came out of the 'Samudra Mathanam' (Churning of the milky ocean). That part of the story let us tackle next week. The first part of the story may be enough Philosophy and Mythology for one week. Let us think and try to digest this part of the story first. Deep Philosophy only makes sense after extensive contemplation and  review. So let us all keep our personal 'Mandara mountain' (Ego) without toppling in the constant churn of the ocean of thoughts and emotions (Ksheerasagara), between virtues and vices (Devas and Asuras) with the constant grace of the divine presence (Mahavishnu, in the form of the turtle).

  I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉

 Next week: 'Samudra Mathanam' - The churning of the milky ocean! - Part 2

Note: Images taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".  

  All rights reserved to the author (SwaroopaStargazer) and SwaroopaBlog.

 To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the regarding the collection of user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds for their service for subscription. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and viewpoints shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time. This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
© SwaroopaStargazer and Swaroopa, 2017.







Comments

Post a Comment

Give an opinion! Post a comment! Ask for a topic!

Most liked ones!

Moola Nakshatra - A Curse or a blessing?

Image
As mentioned last week let us discuss the characteristic of the nakshatra, Moola and whether it needs to be feared as many in the society do. Before that, two weeks back we discussed what are Nakshatras and why they are calculated according to the placement of the Moon in the horoscope. In the Nakshatra group, when starting from Ashwini nakshatra, Moola comes as the nineteenth nakshatra. Now, why am I writing this post? What is so special about Moola Nakshatra? This post is an afterthought to the fact that in South India in some communities, there are two proverbs prevalent about the Moola Nakshatra. One is, "Aan Moolam arasalum, Pen Moolam Nirmoolam." Meaning- If a man is born in the Moola Nakshatra, he would rule the kingdom. If a woman is born in the Moola Nakshatra, she would uproot her base or home (in other words, she would destroy her home). The second proverb is "Moolathu mamiyar moolayile." Meaning- The mother-in-law of the Moola nakshatra becomes a ...
Read more

Ardra nakshatra - The inconsolable human!

Image
In this new year to help people, I am putting a sale on my readings. I have reduced the prices drastically 70-80%. Hope people take advantage of this price reduction.  As life was interfering, I was not able to write for the last three weeks. Also, the personal readings on my store are catching up slowly. That also keeps me away from writing. But I decided this week, I need to write and post a blog. As per the amazing response and comments I got for Moola, a Kethu ruled nakshatra, this time I thought I would tackle Ardra or Thiruvathira(i) in Malayalam/ Tamil, a Rahu ruled nakshatra. And today of all the days, the nakshatra under which I am writing this blog post is exactly Thiruvathirai or Ardra in the lagna of the current place chart where I am. Lagna is the physical form taking shape of the Ardra blog. Numerology: We have discussed Rahu many times. According to my perspective, Rahu is the grand illusion of the material world or Maya. Every human and even celestial beings ge...
Read more

Ashwathama - A lesson to be learned!

Image
Before starting this post, I want to reminisce a bit on our Blog journey. Last year in 2017, it was on Kerala (a state in India) New Year Day called Vishu, I published my first post. This year Saturday (April 14, 2018) is Vishu. So it has been one year since I started my writings. At this moment, I would like to Thank all,  for the encouragement I got from my immediate family, extended family, friends, blog readers and the greater world. It is your comments. views and encouragement that helps me to post every week topics that I assume to be important. I would also very much like to interact with my readers as well. If you feel any Moral, Ethical, Mythological, Philosophical, Astrological topic worth pondering on, please let me know through comments and I would try a stab at it. Thank you for a wonderful and inspirational year. Wishing all a very Happy Vishu! Namaste! Now to the post. Last week, we discussed a bit on the spiritual law of justice through the post of Kannagi , ho...
Read more

Satyam Vada! Dharmam Chara! (Speak your truth! Walk your purpose!)

Image
Hello all, Namaste! All of you, my dear blog readers, know about my website- swaroopa.net . I have started my business, Swaroopa store , which can be accessed from Shop tab on my website, for Souls who are interested in a personal reading. There is also the Swaroopa Store link, on my blog's left side. Now to the post. We have been dealing with a lot of philosophy for a long time. So, thought, why don't we discuss some leadership concepts by virtue of Saturn. Any way, the US is going to go through a momentous election, in another three weeks. So, thought, why don't we discuss some leadership perspectives? To make matters a bit interesting, I thought we would discuss it through the eyes of Saturn. Who is Saturn? In astrology (always Vedic astrology in this blog), Saturn is the time keeper. He is also the ruler of the material realm. In Hindu mythology, he was the son of Sun, and his mother, Chaya, the shadow of Sun's wife Samjhna. Once, Sun became very bright and she...
Read more

Kannagi - The incensed lady!

Image
Wishing all a fantastic week where you are able to put into actions the deeds needed to capture your true authentic Self and purpose. Every step we take intentionally leads to that greater realm and once we really figure out our true purpose the doors that open for us are grander and lovelier. The last couple of weeks we discussed two strong mythological ladies who stood strong on their principles, spoke their mind and are true and authentic examples of the divine feminine. Why don't we this week analyze a third lady who due to her anger and rage burnt down an entire city? This story comes in the Tamil history and mythology called 'Silapathikaram' (The tale of an anklet) where a very angry lady, Kannagi took to task the King as well as the city that did injustice to her. The anger of a lady when she feels truly deprived of justice is something to be fearful about. That is why Durga in the form of the protectress is worshipped even by the trinity of Gods in Hinduism, B...
Read more

Ganda Moola Nakshatra -The transformation!

Image
Hello all, Namaste! Hope all of you had a beautiful week where you were able to take all the disparate energies of your life, align it well towards the goals you have kept for your life. Last week we discussed the Nakshatra 'Moola' and how there are many social misconceptions associated with it's energies. Today let us discuss another aspect associated with Moola nakshatra and the house it sits in, which bring a more fear for those who know a slight bit of Astrology. It is called 'Ganda Moola' and Moola is one of the Ganda Moola lunar mansions. So this concept for Moola is called a 'Ganda Moola'.  What is Ganda Moola? In Astrology there are houses, and each house brings the energy of fire, earth, water, and air. Most of you know the Astrology houses, I assume. So according to the energies mentioned above the different house energies are- 1, Fire houses - Aries (Mesha), Leo (Simha), Sagittarius (Dhanus) 2, Earth houses - Taurus (Vrishabha), Virgo (Kan...
Read more

Draupadi -The bold Queen!

Image
Hope all of you are having a great week where you find the inner strength deep hidden within you to traverse the tough or challenging circumstances that could have been placed in your path. Every single experience in this earthly existence is a little bit more to know truly who we ourselves are. But many times in the chaos of the material realm we forget to capture the true essence of every experience. Last week we delved into the realm called 'Collective Unconscious' where all the historical experiences and the struggles we as humankind had to go through gets recorded in the human collective psyche as the 'Collective Unconscious'. The struggles we are going through with the fundamentalist movements all over the world can be looked at as an example of the 'Collective Unconscious' trying hard to prevent us from taking a wrong step towards progression lest we are wiped out as a race. But then the 'Collective Unconscious' also has no knowledge of the ne...
Read more