Samudra Manthan

Samudra Manthan

This is one of the oldest of Yoga stories called the समुद्र मंथन Samudra Manthan, or the churning of the ocean of Consciousness. 

Samudra means an Ocean. 

Manthan, means to churn.

Contexts

Here we can think of as the energy field of Consciousness, not just body of waters.

In the modern context the word Manthan is used to describe a conference of intellectuals who churn ideas in public forums, to arrive at fresh insights, typically about solutions to modern socioeconomic ills.

We present here the Yoga interpretation of the original lyrical description of the primordial Yajnya as narrated in the incredibly hoary Vishnu Purāna.

The Purānas literature applies Yoga concepts to how the whole Universe itself was formed, a time when there were no human beings, and possibly no Earth even, but the insight here is that these self-same principles manifest at different levels of reality, right down to the society, and to individual lives. Even today.

The Issue

The Devas are losing their “light” because their chief Indra has been "cursed" by a seemingly short-tempered Yogi called दुर्वासा Durvāsā (meaning that which comes from a "bad" space).

Seemingly because, from a Yogic interpretation, it means that our "inner-Indra’s" commitment is being tested as to whether we are consciously aware of our sense-abilities. 

Recall Indra is the super-sense organ that consolidates all other sense-organs. In other words, are we in fact seeing the situation correctly or have our faculties been clouded over by layers of psychological conditioning.

The situation becomes dire as, sensing the Deva's weakness, the Asuras have dislodged Indra and taken over the kingdom of the Devas. 

In other words, we are being ruled by a purely mechanical Mind, no longer the domain of the usually creative, organic, etc. Indra. 

Consequently our Natural Intelligence has ebbed tremendously and been replaced by a Mechanical, or Artificial Intelligence.

The Devas rush to Brhma for a solution, and on his advice the Devas then approach Vishnu. 

Brhma is when we need a new Thought Form from scratch, like in a startup, and not for a full working process which is the domain of Vishnu the all-pervasive energy, and Shiva the dissolver/transformer - which responsibilities are clearly divided as such even in the Ramayana story.

The Yajnya

Vishnu advises the Devas to do a Yajnya and churn the ocean of Consciousness.

Yajnyas are characterized by:

• a tangible outcome for an issue to be resolved,

• a proper apparatus, 

• some key participants, and 

• an intense process.  

And many twists in the tale, for there is no formula / template when it comes to conscious transformation!

A Yajnya is the core process of intense transformation.

Outcome is Immortality

The objective of this Yajnya is to help the Devas get some Amrit nectar of immortality.

अमृत Amrit = A (to negate) + Mrit (literally mortality) meaning immortal.

In story-speak, all our conscious Beings desire to be immortal.

This is exactly equivalent to laying a claim for an idealized Identity, like a Brand in the material world, because once we build a brand the grunt work to accomplish objectives is far easier. Everything will just flow, nearly immortal.

Using the terminology from our System of Thought, all our Thought Forms lodge themselves in our constructed identity that they wish to propagate themselves forever, in immortal fashion. 

Of course, some Thought Forms that: 

• stem organically from Mantras/Intent are deserving of being treated as immortal Devas, whereas

• others that arise templatized from the Mechanical Mind, are to be continually churned back into consciousness. 

Psychic Apparatus

This particular section is to be understood really deeply, for it is the core concept on which transformation hangs.

A churning stick in the form of the mountain मंदार Mandāra = Man (Mind) + Dāra (like in tear/rip), in the sense of a set of core values which will hold strong, even as we rip apart the accumulated fossilized fabric of the Mind.

A rope in the form of a snake coiled around Shiva’s neck called वासुकि Vāsuki, the living Pranic energy that threads the whole system together.

Key Participants

Vishnu advises the usually enlightening Devas to get their counter-forces, the machine-like Asuras, to participate because it takes two forces to pull on the rope.

It would be tempting to think of this duality of Devas & Asuras as good vs evil, and that we need to retain the good and throw out the evil.

But counter-forces amp up the churning of our consciousness, like adding lemon to milk and we churn out the butter.

Incidentally the use of clarified butter called Ghee in the Yajnya ceremonies is an allegory to our clarified consciousness that we pour into the flames, maybe someone who has done their own work of inner transformation to assist in the collective churn.

The Churn

Visualize, if you will, the: 

• pot of our body, (the whole organization if you will)

• filled with the milk of our consciousness, (the nebulous thing called corporate culture)

• in which we place a mountain as the churning stick of our spine (actually the nervous system, or the core values), 

• which is being rotated by Shiva’s snake-rope of our two Nādis as the breath goes in/out, (balancing inside/outside stakeholders) and 

• this churning is being done by the Devas and their counter-force the Asuras (this is actual work)

As the churn happens the mountain starts to collapse so Vishnu takes the form of a turtle and goes underneath the mountain to support it.

• The turtle is known for its ability to pull in its limbs indicates the inward focus of our sense-organs, and we enter a state of synesthesia. (this is how the magic happens, when the actual realization is perceived)

Poison

As the Universe goes through this intense process first some poisons are generated. 

Shiva is brought in to center stage now, to consume the poison which he expertly transforms, turning his throat chakra dark blue but Pārvati the embodiment of nature, and thus our own rising Natural Intelligence, stops it from infecting the body, and the poision is neutralized. 

Now we are able to finally accept and tell the Truth to the world.

Gifts

All kinds of magical & and “other worldly” entities emerge from the churning - our psychic gifts engendered by various psychic intelligences.

Then the much awaited Amrit nectar of immortality is generated.

The Trick

To prevent the Asuras from grabbing the Amrit, Vishnu transforms into Mohini an enticing female form to distract the Asuras, the existing fossilized stakeholders, while she quickly distributes the Amrith to the Devas.

Remember the Asuras are easily satisfied by surface level phenomena - because that's how they are also able to scale with machine-like efficiency since everything is simplified, but at the risk of becoming too simplistic they disconnect from the spiritual essence.

Except for one trickster.

Twist

One of the Asuras called Rāhuketu disguises itself as a Deva and tries to steal some Amrit, as the Asuras want to be immortal also.

However, the Sun & the Moon notice this and warn Vishnu of this devious tactic who then lops off the head of this snake-like Asura. 

But a few drops of the Amrit still enter Rāhuketu, and therefore we partially deify the 

• Rāhu bit, albeit it has an Asuric flavor, and

• the Ketu bit as an intensely Daivik character, unforgiving in wielding its whiplash of past Karma, and thus hardly feeling like a beneficial Deva, albeit it is.

In the cosmos today, Rāhu & Ketu are invisible astronomical points where the Sun & Moon orbits cross, and help the human psyche interact with the psychic Universe.

The Yoga implication is that the points where the Sun (Pingala Nādi) & Moon (Ida Nādi) cross over in the body are in the Chakras, and thus it is that our Intent and Purpose act in harmony to manifest deeply held desires, each taking the nature of the particular chakra.

This is what is meant by "balancing/aligning Chakras", for when Intent & Purpose are integrated Dharma truly flourishes, and thus it is that Yogis are not under the influence of astrological events. 

Most Humans are impacted by Rāhu and Ketu, because few are Yogis, so:

• they have to time the impact of Rāhu, so as to ensure an auspicious window for materialistic objectives, governed by Yang, Sun, etc.

• however most don't consider Ketu's effects because it is more to do with spiritual progress, the intuitive, Yin, Moon, type activities, which priority pales in front of materialistic progress in today's world - and hence we are where we are!

Result

• Rāhu is essentially the God-in-the-Machine, having an Asuric flavor

• Ketu is essentially the Guru-in-the-Cloud, having an intensely Daivic flavor.

Both are useful to support, but not the end goal, of our core transformation.

The core of the Yajnya extracts the intelligence of the Asura (templates, frameworks, rules, etc.), and helps Devas to structure their intelligence, because although the Devas are true Natural Intelligence, however they need some structure to guide them, albeit not overpower them.

It would be more appropriate to classify these extracted bits of Asuric intelligence as meta-frameworks, guiding principles rather than rigid rules, which prompt reflection rather than allegiance to strict order. 

In the western model these would be loosely referred to as Ethics, but lacking a fundamental transformational model rooted in Yoga, these becomes challenging to agree upon, let alone implement.

The Cosmic Yajnya essentially helps us to balance Universal Dharma with individual Sva-Dharma, and the host of other related Dharmas.

In other words, the quagmire of "moral relativism", "subjectivity", etc. - all derided terms in the Western model - are integral to the Yoga model of transformation, a web of individually crafted psychic Universes, yet harmonized, affording sustainable Freedom to each who commits to their own transformation, and the evolution of the whole.

Indeed, a multi-verse!