Samudra manthan—the eternal quest—churning of the ocean

 

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Said Paulo Coelho in his book The Alchemist; this happened in the Vedic story of the churning of the ocean— the samudra manthan

 

You may also read this story:

 

http://bhoj11.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-does-story-of-shiv-avatar.html

 

 

The nectar was lost in the vast ocean and so were the blessings; In order to regain them the ocean required to be churned (separation process), the ocean represents the collective consciousness, both virtue and vice; the ocean is both stable as well as chaos, symbolizes formlessness, the unfathomable, the ocean is considered to be boundless, a place where one can easily be lost, and can therefore be seen to represent the boundless span of life, and the way one can get lost on the journey through life.

 

The churning was only possible with the Devas and Danavas (Asuras) coming opposite and participating, the tug of war, the eternal quest between the good and evil

 

Vasuki the King of snakes became the churning rope--Snake represents creative life force

 

Mount Mandara was used as the churning rod—Mandara comes from the root word mana meaning mind, and dhara meaning one line or flow, so it was very obvious that amidst the pull between the good and bad (balancing the yin yang) the mind soon become unstable and could not hold on; here comes the Kuma the turtle, who comes below the mount and gives it stability, the turtle represents the withdrawal of ones senses, like it withdraws its limbs from the outside world; hence the mind can only be stable when senses are withdrawn

 

Samudra manthan symbolizes the spiritual endeavour of a person, trying to achieve his desires and also self-realization by concentrating his mind, withdrawing his senses, while all the time engaging in the eternal tug of war between what seems to good and evil

 

We do not always get what we desire and hence instead of nectar first came out the halahal (poison), the Gods had drank the nectar of immortality before, yet they were afraid to drink the initial outcome of the churning-- the poison—everyone wants only the good while not accepting the bad which comes on their way, no one realizes that they also deserve the bad as per their karma

 

Here comes the Mahadev, who starts drinking the poison the mahadav represents Tamas guna, not only he has the ability to absorb the poison but also the character to voluntarily consume the poison to save all, the snakes too voluntarily (by free choice) came to drink the poison, Parvati his consort came besides him and by putting her hand on his throat stopped the poison from entering his body hence only his throat became blue, hence he is also called the Nilkanth—the one with the blue throat…the story goes on

 

Enjoy the video

 

A good Mahadev chant: