Samudra mathana : Churning of Ocean

MahaBharata
AdiParva AstikaParva Section 18,19

Saunaka asked Sauti, "Why did Gods churn the ocean for Amrita?"

Sauti narrates, On Mount Meru, the holiest of mountians, which nobody without austerities can climb, gathered a conclave of gods, wishing to obtain Amrita (nectar, celestial ambrosia).

On seeing their desire, SriNarayana, instructs Brahma and other gods to churn the ocean to obtain Amrita. He also asks Gods to take help of demons for this difficult task.

Gods select the mount mandhara as a churning rod, vasuki (the serpent) as a chord. Ananta the king of serpents tears up Mt Mandhara with his strength, and then places it on Tortoise king's back in ocean. Demons hold the head side of Vasuki, and gods hold the tail side of Vasuki and started churning the ocean.

Ocean shook with a deafening roar at this churning. The following things rose from the ocean,

Moon, Lakshmi goddess of wealth, Soma, Divine horse Uchchaisrava, Kaustubha gem, Dhanvantari(divine physician) arose with pot of nectar in his hand, and Airavath the elephant.

The churning has continued. Atlast came Kaalakuta Visha(The Poison-Fire that can burn everything). The scent of the kaalakuta has stupefied the three worlds. To save the worlds from dissolution, Lord Shiva out of his compassion drank the kaalakuta poison and held it in his throat. His throat turned blue as a result of it. Hence he is called as Neelakantha.

A great war broke out between demons(Asuras) and gods(Suras) for the possession of nectar and other divine items. Lord Narayana decieves Asuras with his mohini form and procures Amrita for Devatas (gods). Demons lose the war and enter lower worlds.

Probable meaning of this Story :

Sagara is life, with the experiences of life, our thoughts mature. Thoughts can be good (godly) or bad(demonaic). Churning of intellect or mind happens with various experiences and thoughts. This churning can also happen by kundalini yoga. By whatever means the churning of mind happens, the following things are produced, Moon (stands for purified intellect), Lakshmi (prosperity) etc and finally Amrita is acquired. When SriNarayana wields his maya form, asuras(base thoughts) are bewitched and lost the war and enter lower lokas but not devatas (elevated thoughts become divine and acquire amrita).

The churning of mind is the search of truth. For example upanishads teach a technique called 'neti neti'. This technique calls for a mental churning of rejecting all thoughts as 'not I'. When the Amrita (I) is acquired, this technique has to stop, if you reject the 'I' as 'not I' by continuing with technique, you will product Kaalakuta (Ignorance) again. There is a definite goal, There is an end to churning or vichara process.it cannot go on endlessly to reject the truth as untruth and keep on churning.

Lord Shiva is the witness. The only way to surpass kaalakuta is to be situated in witness or saakshi bhava.

Hail Shiva, the eternal witness and the Inner self. The Iswara, Sadguru and Shiva are same.

Hari OM