Part 3 – Understanding the story of Churning the Milk(y) Ocean (క్షీరసాగర మధనం, क्षीरसागर मधन)

Click here for PART 2

Moving on to the next episode, the demons and the Gods had come together to Mt. Mandara and they started to plough all the earth around and beneath it. The design of instruments used in lifting the big mountain was done by the one of Architects in the Gods named Thwasta. They had put big rods under the mountain, tied long ropes around it and finally were able to move it. Few of them were shouting their names, few of them were shouting about their greatness and few of them were just make huge sounds. When we lift heavy objects, this is so common and we should understand the weight of the mountain keeping in mind the super powered demons and Gods were trying to lift it. Moving it few units towards the ocean, they lost all their energy and dropped it. With this, few of them died underneath the mountain and few of them were injured. Some wanted to drop off this idea.

Gods went into depression and said

ఏలా హరికాడకేగితి | Why we went to the God?

మేలా దొరకంటి మధిక హేళనశైలిలో | Why we started this work with illusion?

న్మూలనము వేసి తెచ్చితి | Why we plucked this mountain and brought it?

మేలా పెక్కండ్రు మడిసిరేలా నడుమన్ | Why so many died?

ఏటికి మము బని బంచెను | Why He appointed us for this work?

నేటికి మనబోటి వారికికింతలు పను లిం | Is this possible for people like us?

కేటికి రాడు రామేశ్వరు | Why He didn’t come and neglected us?

డేటికి ఉపేక్షించే మఱవనేటికి మనలన్ | Why He forgot us?

Image Source : www.indomagic.com

Just read the poems and correlate with our daily life. Didn’t you ever asked this question to yourself at least once in your life? This is true with almost every one of us to go to depressed state when we start something and it starts back firing. In such scenario, they thought of Lord Vishnu and immediately he came to the rescue on his Garuda, the eagle. He didn’t ask anything to anyone, lifted the mountain off the ground with so much ease (remember Govardhanodharana?), placed it on Garuda and ordered Garuda to drop it on the shores of the Ocean. Adding to this, those who died came alive, those who got injured got healed and those who ran away, came back. This is all the empathy of Him. This is why, when we start try doing something and face difficulty in doing it and get depressed, we should practice to say “Narayana”.

 Now, the Gods and demons were happy, called up on Vasuki, the serpent king and talked to him so that he turned pleasant and agree to get tied around the mountain. They gently soothed the skin of the serpant, praised him saying there was no one capable to do it and finally tied him around the mountain. Looks like, the concept of appeasing others to get the work done is there from long time J. Now the Milky Ocean was made like a pot with milk in to which the Mt. Mandara was put as a churning stick with Vasuki as the thread. See the images to get the idea.

Source : krishna.com

Source : krishna.com

At this time, Lord Vishnu ordered the Gods to stand on the head side of Vasuki and demons on the tail end of Vasuki. The Gods were surprised by it because they did not want to stand on the head side which was dangerous end. However, the demons started to fight saying that the Gods were on the UPPER (head) side and we were on the LOWER (tail) side and we do not accept it. So on Lord Vishnu’s advice, they changed sides and started churning. Now, all the fire and venom from the Vasuki’s mouth was getting sprinkled on the demons because of which some of them died. Now they did not have an option to change because they opted for it. Lesson learnt, do what God saysJ. Every damn thing that happens is for your good. Be satisfied with what you are and what you have and say bid farewell to greed. One who says I do not need what I have been given but I need what was given to others is a demon and will face consequences.

Let’s move on to next episode. As soon as the churning started, since there was no base, Vasuki couldn’t hold the mountain and it slipped off into the ocean. Everyone were disappointed again and they felt ashamed. Its impossible to go against fate. Immediately, on the other side, Lord Vishnu dived into the ocean, incarnate into a Tortoise which is called Kurma Avatar. It was a gigantic tortoise with area of its back about few hundred acres, a big mouth enough to drink an ocean’s water and stomach enough to keep all the life, a mouth which moved inside and outside and eyes as good as lotus. On seeing this, everyone praised Lord Vishnu, “Hail Srihari, Hail Srihari”, just like how people praise their favorite leader. He put his back under the drowning mountain and brought it back to top of ocean. It formed as a base to the mountain.

తరిగాండ్ర లోన ఒకడట | He is one among the people standing on the shores

తరికడవకు కుదురు నాక త్రాడట చేరుల్ | He is the One forming the base of mountain and as rope

తరి గవ్వంబును తానట | He is acting as the churning stick and the pot (Vasuki, the mountain and Ocean)

హరి హరి ! హరి చిత్ర లీల హరియే ఎరుగన్ | Oh Hari, only you can know your magic. (Remember this line, it comes useful later)

There are lot of padyams (poems) like this which determine the quality of the Brahman, who/which primarily got divided into the Creator, the Maintainer, the Destroyer and the Energy behind all these.

So the Gods and demons took the sides of Vasuki again and started churning it. They were churning it with their full power that the sounds of churning reached the higher worlds where Lord Brahma stayed. Everyone showed their power as the mountain was quickly rotating clockwise and anticlockwise while churning. All the ocean life was scared and got scattered as they reached the shore for safety. It had been written that the itching of the tortoise’s back has not been soothed because of the churning.

Because of this heavy churning, a dangerous venom got generated from the ocean. It was so mighty than the fire that gets generated after the end of a Kalpa (a Hindu chronology time unit) when all life comes to an end. It set fire everywhere from all high worlds to lower worlds in the universe. This was the HalaHal. Some were burnt to ash, some were poisoned, some got disappeared, and some fell on the ground. It looked like the mistimed apocalypse.

This time, they went to Lord Siva for rescuing them.If something goes out of hands, who can give the direction and help us out? The Brahman himself.  Till now, if they got a problem, every time, they went to Lord Vishnu. This time everyone including Lord Vishnu, went to Lord Siva. Initially in the story, everyone including Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, went and prayed Lord Vishnu as the rescuer. Why? What made them choose? Things to note here are that, whether they go to Lord Brahma or Vishnu or Siva (Creator, Maintainer and Destroyer), it is equivalent to going to the Brahman. By the virtue of responsibility, they might be different but by the virtue of mind they are all same. They chose Lord Siva here because they might have thought that the Destroyer had some plans of partial Apocalypse with the venom that got generated, although Lord Siva had no plans about it. Also they might have thought that, he is the One who wore snakes and should have ideas to deal with poison.

……….. [Watch out for Part 4 to understand abouthusband wife relationships and other story]

Part 2 – Understanding the story of Churning the Milk(y) Ocean (క్షీరసాగర మధనం, क्षीरसागर मधन)

Read part 1 here....

Ok, now let us put on some magnifying glasses to understand what happened here. The story gives us obvious lessons with out in depth analysis in both spiritual and motivational perspectives like,

“When we aim a target in life to achieve something, the first thing you face is generally something that hinders your travel towards the target either mentally, relationally or physically. That is, you might face troubles or you might encounter people who support you in life to reach your goals. No matter what, you should not give up to reach that top position of the ladder, and SUCCESSfully reach your target. When you lose hope, God will assist you. However, there is another point to note that, he will assist you when you put the effort but he will not do anything like spoon feeding. This is what Lord Vishnu, the Brahman, did while the Gods and Daemons churned the ocean to get Amrit. They got dangerous venom first and later they got some wealth in different forms, they didn’t fear nor got satisfied with what they got before getting Amrit.”

However, analyzing each episode of this story will be giving us more satisfactory explanations and observations.

First of all, this story did not happen on Earth. So humans need not discuss about whether it happened or not, as if they have clues about it. One has to either believe it that it happened on the upper worlds or just run through the story.

Image Source : geeksutra.blogspot.com

The first episode is about Indra getting cursed by Maharshi Doorvaasa and the Gods losing their riches before consulting Lord Brahma for getting them back. Lord Indra had that arrogance or self-pride when he won the war against the daemons. He was going back to heaven on his holy and mighty elephant Iravat when Maharshi Doorvasa had passed through. Maharshis are people who see oneness, the Brahman, in the universe. They will neither have love nor hatred towards anyone. They occasionally curse others so as help others get away and learn through their mistakes. That is the reason why they immediately give a solution to the problems faced by the curse. The same thing happened when Indra neglected the gracious “garland” gift by Maharshi. He wanted to curb the arrogance of Indra and then he cursed him that whatever the Wealth that you were proud of, would be gone. The lesson learnt is never ever disrespect great people, adults and neglect any kind of gift (“prasad”) of God. If you are in deep troubles and problems, you will anyway trust God and behave with all respect in His matters for his blessings but when life is happier than you ever expected, when you were on a winning streak wherever you go, there is a fair chance to forget that God has given you his blessings and behave as if it is your achievement. Even in such comforts of life, you should behave with all respect in His matters. Else the results will be disastrous. Here the garland was the outcome when Maharshi prayed Lord Vishnu. Indirectly, lord Vishnu got angry over his children (the Gods) because they were arrogant. But Lord Vishnu himself is an embodiment of Brahman. He does not have any feelings that He keeps in His mind forever just like how a Father treats his kids. Today he might be shouting at them but tomorrow, he will take them close and lullaby them. He is just a representation of indefinite love and sympathy. So effectively, because of the curse, the God lost wealth, in other words, they lost the blessings of the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi.

Next episode was that all Gods were lost to Daemons in war and lost their riches because of the curse. They went to Lord Brahma, the creator, to find a solution to the problem. Here Lord Brahma says you confessed your mistake before me and it is thus the right thing for me to excuse you. The lesson learnt here is that if you do a mistake, agree that you did it and confess it before the right people which might result in a lesser punishment. Then Brahma said for whatever that you have lost, you can gain them back only by praying the Brahman, He who does not have any beginning or end, He who does not have defined qualities and He is who is there in everyone and who has everyone inside Him. They prayed and praised Lord Vishnu in many ways and he appeared before them.

అన్నమవనీయందు నమృతంబు గోవుల | Rice from earth, Amrit (milk) from

యందు అగ్ని శమిధలందుసమక |cows, fire in dried grass

యొగవశతబొన్దు నోజానబుద్ధీచే | just the way these are found people with knowledge of soul

సగుణు నిన్ను గాంతు నాత్మ విధులు | will see you in this universe everywhere through their wisdom

They requested them to suggest a way to get their glory back. He was happy about the prayers offered. He told the Gods, “I will give more than what you wanted. Do friendship with Daemons and churn the milk ocean by putting Mt. Mandara into it and tying Vasuki snake around it”. This represents the infinite love of God towards his children. They asked for just the wealth they lost but God has given something extra because he was pleased with their confession. This also represents leadership qualities. A leader should bring all the people together irrespective of their qualities to achieve something great. Lord Vishnu would be taking the side of Gods just because they accept Vedas and follow them. This is not the case with Daemons who always go against Vedas and question their credibility. So He punishes Daemons just to bring them into the right path as a Father of the worlds. Also, Alliances with good or bad parties is a must to form the government J. This also shows that relationships are need dependent.

Then He said, “When you churn the ocean, you will get dangerous venom, and few other good perks. Don’t think about owning them, I will distribute them to the right people. Finally, you will get Amrit”. A great difference between Gods and Daemons is that they request the Brahman (Vishnu) to suggest them the way to achieve the goal and they trust him in good and bad. On reaching the goal, Gods give credit to the Brahman. This is similar to our daily worship to God where to the idol in our prayer room of our home, we offer the Gandha (sandalwood), Pushpa (flowers), Dhoopa (incense sticks), Deepa (small light lit in oil) and Naivedya (food) in a gratitude towards He giving us the 5 sense organs. On the contrary, the Daemons say, it is our achievement and we need no one to do this, although they fail to reach the target multiple times. They take the credit to their name. Humans can associate yourself to which side you belong to. Gods listen to Him when He says I will distribute whatever that comes out of the ocean. Lets see what Daemons do.

On hearing this, Lord Brahma and Lord Siva went to their homes (the World of Brahma and Mt.Kailash respectively) while rest of the Gods started their plans to make deal to share Amrit with Daemons and their emperor Bali. Gods heard Lord Vishnu and just trusted his words but never questioned or had doubts in what He said while Daemons expressed their doubts like is it ever possible? Is there Amrit in Milk Ocean? Etc. Who can tell what is there is every nuke and corner of His Creation other than the Brahman himself? :) 

That is how they started the Ksheera Sagara Madhan, the Churning of the Ocean of Milk and this is purely based on the trust on Him. Lesson learnt, trust the almighty even when you do not have options.

……….. [Watch out for Part 3 to analyze the next few episodesof the story in greater sense]