Amritha-The celestial nectar!

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.

Saturday (November 14, 2020) is Diwali. May the Festival of lights give every mind, the light of truth in these dark days of pandemic, world chaos and confusion. Diwali is the festival of lights where the light of truth overtakes the darkness of ignorance. May the light of truth, shine in every heart bright and brilliant! Happy Diwali!!

Diwali - The festival of lights
Image credits - Pixabay.com

Last week, we discussed how ultimately only the Satya- truth prevails. Rahu can come in many different forms, as cheat, charlatan, chaos, confusion, fake news and even fear or hate. All are forms of Rahu, the rakshasa. But when the truth- Vishnu as Satya comes, Rahu, the demon of lies and fake news gets destroyed.

This fight between truth and falsity has happened all through ages and eons. Now also, it continues to happen. Only faces, people, age and the perspectives have changed. If in the mythology it was between Sri Rama and Ravana or Sri Krishna and Kamsa, today it is between truth and falsity, fake news and real authentic, news or fear/hate and justice/equality. This fight has happened always between good and evil. Hinduism has two epics- Ramayana and Mahabharatha and a manual for living- Bhagavath Gita, written on it.

But we humans, read all of them, whether it is Gita, Bible or Quran as a sacred book and worship them. Instead, they should be treated as a manual for living. They are guides that show the correct way of living. Humans have every kind of guidance available. But it becomes our duty to take them, read, understand the meaning and knowledge, then reflect on our life experiences and see how we can use these concepts in our life. But in this modern age, who has the time for that?

What has happened? We as humans gorge on every kind of news, information and data, without any awareness or idea- is that piece of data/information truly useful to us? Yes, I go through Facebook, Quora and many other websites. But half the time, I am skipping on reading. My question-why should I read and use my mind on things/ concepts that add zero value to my life? Correct? In this age, the data and information has exploded. But is everything of use to us-the human? That is the question.

The reality of the modern age- Fake news
Image credits - Pixabay.com

Mind-Intelligence: This is where the logical/ rational mind comes into the picture. We need intelligence to know, what is of use to us and what is of no use? Mind is a fantastic computer, we have been fitted with. The age of the computers came about only in the 1980s. But much before that, we have been using our mind, one with zero awareness. Our mind is the stellar computer we have, even before anyone ever started to put together the idea of one.

Have we ever given a thought to our own inner personal computer? Let us consider, the outer physical computer or tab or laptop. It has amazing capabilities -it can create a Word, Excel, graphics, PowerPoint or any number of documents. But the person using the computer needs to know what they want to create or do. For example, I write a blog. The computer can help me to write a blog. But I, the person needs to know- what is my current blog topic, what are the concepts, how am I going to develop it and  how should I present it? The computer can help me with all of these. But I the person, should know what I need to do- whether to write a good blog post as organized thoughts or a whole lot of jumbled words that makes no sense. How to use the computer, is in my hand-the individual.

It is the same with the mind, each of us are fitted with. How to use and what to use it for, is in our hands. We can voraciously read up on every feature or write-up that comes in front of our eyes or we can choose using our intelligence of the mind, what to read or what concept to imbibe into our life. Life presents us with everything. All the experiences are showcased in front of us like a market place. It becomes our choice and free will, what to choose and what to discard. Many times, people have no idea about this concept. We accept everything that comes along.

But once we make that "seemingly very inconsequential" choice, we are stuck with the good or bad outcomes for four years or for lifetimes. Because we have a say in what we do in the first choice. But once that choice is made, things start to appear as experiences in our life. For example in my own life, I decided at eighteen years of age to choose Biology for my pre-degree ( Eleventh and twelfth in other countries). That is all, I did. After that until my 45th year, I found myself in the field of biology and biotechnology.

Mind map for the realm of Creativity, Sales and marketing (can see another language)
Image credits - http://mindmapping.bg; Wikimedia Commons

A seemingly very small choice, of taking Biology decided my career and creativity for the next 35+ years of my life. But once I took that choice, bachelors, Masters and other education, happened one by one. During my pre-degree, I didn't even think for a longtime, is this what I really want. Those days, I deeply loved Science and just wanted to study that. Today also, I love Science. But along with that my deep love for spirituality, mythology and Vedic philosophy also has emerged. I have decided to pursue both, that is all.

The point is, many times, as humans we are not aware of what we are choosing for ourselves and we make the choice. Then, we are stuck with that choice, it's outcomes and consequences for a pretty long time. Here is where the next faculty of mind comes into the picture-Intellect.

Mind-Intellect: It becomes very important to know, what we are choosing for ourselves? The choices make or break our lives. Sometimes even that of some countries. Only in the case of a country, the choice is decided by millions of people. Four years back, USA chose to go one way where it found itself in almost a mental darkness of fake news, Russian and Chinese interference, conspiracy theories, Tweet storms, hate, rage, anger, divisions and other players taking advantage of the situation.

Think about it in the mythology terms. Isn't this the true Samudra mathana- the eternal churning of the ocean within- that is the mental realm, with Rahu and rakshasas on one side and Indra and devas on the other side? In this case, the demons become fake news, hacks, conspiracy theories, anger, hate, divisions. As the mythological stories suggest, the mouth of the snake Vasuki is near the rakshasas in the modern world as well. It spews toxins, poisons and the Halahala poison- in this modern age as fake news, hacks, conspiracy theories and other negative communications.

Many times, we think of mythology as stories that happened eons ago. Instead, we should think of them as metaphorical stories that happen in our every day life. For that, we have to develop deep insight and intellect. In today's modern world, Halahala poison can be taken as the fake news, conspiracy theories, mental-dirt tweets, anger, division, rage, hate, race issues and more. The Samudra is the emotional and mental ocean of our inner world. Where does all these hate and anger come to roost? Within our mind-  through our emotions and thoughts.

Samudra Mathanam - Churning of the milky ocean
Image credits - Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons

What are emotions in the Vedic astrology chart? The Moon, the mind and it's associated emotions. Can we see where and how the Halahala poison is affecting us? Mythology is not some stories that happened in some other Universe or in another age. They are the truths of every day life and world, that instead of dry concepts are given in story forms. 

Now, another small piece of information. In the last one year, the planet of personal Karma- Saturn, the planet of ancestral Karma- Kethu and the planet of Universal Karma- Pluto, had a conjunction in the sign of Capricorn. Even though Kethu has moved out of this conjunction, the dance of Saturn and Pluto are going to continue for some more time. The ancestral Karma has moved away. But Universal and individual dance of Karma is still happening. Enough distance comes between these two planets only around August to September of 2021.

Doesn't this show, a new administration in the US, then country-wide, global new shifts in thoughts and new vaccines for Covid and more normal times happen after half of the 2021 is over? It also shows that the Chinese new year of metal Ox fully comes into effect, only around June/July. Until then, it is Samudra Mathana-churning of our emotions and mind with Rahu and vices on one side and Indra and devas on the other side. 

So, as a person we need to use our rational mind, to come out of this churning to find our truth. For that the intellect, Buddhi in Vedic philosophy -is needed, to see what is good; works for us and what doesn't? We need to have sharp intellect of a sword to know what is truth and what isn't? Nowadays, the internet and the social-media has exacerbated this problem. Along with experts, people who know their craft/skills deeply, it has given a platform to the most common of humans among us. That is actually great. But along with good information and knowledge, lot of hacks, scammers and con-men also has gotten their hands into the communication realm. 

So, what is our choice? To develop a fantastic sharp intellect, to cut the head of fake news and conspiracy theories. If we truly understand, our intellect becomes the disc in the hands of Vishnu, the truth, to cut the head of Rahu-fake news, scams, hacks, and all the con-man business, in every country. The Earth has become a melting pot of every kind of perspective. Earth was always like that. Internet and social-media are bringing it more to the front and center.

Social media - Blogging - SEO - Internet
Image Credits - Pixabay.com

Amrit - The celestial nectar: Finally, after a long churning, a lot of great things and awful things started coming out of the milky ocean. Same way, this churning of the human minds as a whole is bringing a lot of  good as well as evil things. I somehow, consider the Covid pandemic is similar to a third World war. In World wars, there were a lot of chaos, diseases, deaths, injuries, heart breaks, pains, and suffering. Isn't the world going through the same emotions by virtue of this pandemic?

Isn't there, death? Diseases, sickness, injuries, pain and suffering? All the emotions are there. Emotions even ran wild in the USA with summer protests against race and other people wielding their guns and hate. All the emotions were there. Only instead of a war, it became a war against the virus with vaccines, masks, hand-sanitizers and social-distancing. So, as of now, the emotions and minds of people are getting churned big time with virtues on one side and the vices or lower vibrations on the other side.

Now, the central mountain of Mandara, is the human values and humanity, itself. Isn't actually the world in a deep battle with itself? It was after a long time of churning, finally another form of Vishnu, Dhanwanthiri came to the top with the pot of Amrit-celestial nectar in his hands. Then, of course another drama between Sun, Moon, Swayambharu and Vishnu as Mohini, ensued.  

Here also, my hope is someone with the knowledge of Amrit, the concept of immortality of the Soul would come along to teach humans about the eternal churning of the mind and emotions. Some times, this happens at the Universal/ global levels and sometimes at the individual levels. But each Soul has to go through this, either in this lifetime or another lifetime. The outer reality of material life-Maya- the illusion becomes so unbearable due to the chaos, the human finally turns within to find their own answers. That is where the actual churning of the milky ocean happens.

The material realm cannot give a person calm, peace and balance, because it involves seven billion Souls who have their own thoughts, mindsets, perspectives and emotions. So, it is a cauldron of mixed and very varied energies. If we keep our balance on things that are outside of ourselves, each high and low would shuttle our mind and emotions through the different energies and news, vying for our attention.

Instead, the celestial nectar of wisdom is within, in our heart with the higherSelf. This is what the story of Samudra Mathana depicts. But even today humans, try to find the balance and peace outside. In every human's Soul journey, somewhere the churning of the ocean of mind between virtues and vices happen. As of now, I suspect that churning is happening to the whole world itself. Every mind is bogged down by pandemic, worry, stress, pain and suffering. Above that fake news, hacks, con-men, conspiracy theories and other numerous distractions. All of our minds are getting churned.

Dhanavantri, the ancient Hindu god of medicine with his pot, at the outer wall of the
Somanathapura temple, Karnataka, India
Image credits - prashanthns, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

I am praying to the Universal healer- Dhanwanthiri, to come with the pot of celestial nectar or Amrit of wisdom, as Science, vaccine, correct information and deepest truths. But in that churning, Dhanwanthiri, appeared very last after the devas and asuras were dead tired. This also I feel there is an underlying concept. The virtues (devas) and vices (asuras) are within the mind. The mind creates these virtues and vices. But when the mind due to this churning becomes dead tired, it surrenders to the heart.

Until the mind surrenders to the heart, the fight between virtues and vices keeps on happening. There is no way out of it. The way is through the heart. But the heart comes into the picture only when the mind and it's shenanigans trying to figure out life stops. Then, when our heart comes into picture, our truth and Dharma- wired in our heart comes to front and center. In my own life, Dhanwanthiri was my spiritual gifts-the celestial nectar that opened my path and purpose.

Same way as of now, I feel the world itself is in the churning of the mental and emotional ocean of the collective consciousness of humanity. Let the wisdom, of the celestial nectar of Dhanwantiri appear soon enough, to put balm on our suffering due to the pandemic as well as the fake news galore. Before leaving, let us all together, invoke the grace of Dhanwantiri with a prayer- 

Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaye
Amruthakalasa Hastaya Sarva |
maya Vinashaya Trilokya Nathaya
Dhanwantiri Maha Visnave Namah ||

Meaning: I bow to the God who is the son of Vasudeva, who has the pot of nectar (Amrit) in his hands, who removes all illusion and who is also the lord of three worlds, to that Dhanvantiri form of Mahavishnu (the Ultimate truth), I give my obeisance!!

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

Next week: Vishnu - The Truth!
Image Credits - Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay.