Indra, the king of devas, goes out of Swarga on his elephant, Airavat. He meets sage Durvasa and greets him reverentially. Sage Durvasa gives Indra a garland that Shiva had gifted him. But Indra does not understand the sacredness of this gift. He wonders how he can use a used garland. So he casually places it on Airavat’s trunk. But Airavat cannot tolerate the heady sacred fragrance of a sacred garland. So he immediately flings the garland to the earth.
Sage Durvasa instantly loses his temper because the garland was the sacred abode of the goddess of fortune (Sridevi). He curses Indra and tells him that he will lose all his everlasting strength and fortune. Indra is shocked but there is nothing he can do to turn the tide of events in his favour again.
And in all the subsequent battles between the devas and the asuras, the devas end up losing much to Indra’s dismay. The asuras, lead by Bali slowly gain control over the universe. Indra and the devas have no other choice. So they decide to seek Vishnu’s help.
Vishnu tells them how to solve the problem and asks the devas to first discuss the matter with the asuras. The devas convince the asuras to churn the ocean of milk to get Amrit, the nectar of immortality. They agree to share it equally with them. But they do not reveal the most crucial detail with them. ( Vishnu had secretly assured the devas that they alone would get all the Amrit).
So the devas and the asuras churn the ocean of milk, Ksheerasagara using Mount Mandara as the churning rod. Vasuki, the king of serpents, who adorns Shiva’s neck, agrees to become the churning rope. The asuras are adamant that they will hold Vasuki’s mouth. Vishnu advises the devas to agree to it. So the devas hold Vasuki’s tail.
The devas and the asuras start churning the ocean after placing mount Mandar mountain on it. When the mountain starts sinking Vishnu takes the form of a turtle, the Kurma avatar, and supports the mountain on his shell.
The churning begins in right earnest after this. Several things emerge during the Samudra Manthan. The first thing that emerges is the Halahala poison. This poison is potent enough to destroy the entire universe. The devas, therefore, request Shiva to consume the poison. The poison is so toxic that it burns the throat of Shiva and turns it into blue. Shiva is now known as Neela- Kantha.
The ratnas that emerged during the Samudra Manthan
Kamadhenu, a wish-fulfilling divine cow, also known as Surabhi, appears next from the Samudra manthan. Brahma gives this cow to the sages so that they can get as much milk, curd and ghee as they wanted to perform the yagnas. Bali, the king of the asuras takes Ucchaishravas, a seven-headed flying horse that appears next. Indra takes Airavat, the white flying elephant.
Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune appears right after Alakshmi, the goddess of misfortune. Lakshmi chooses Vishnu as her husband. But Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva ask Alakshmi to dwell in inauspicious places and ask her to preside over suffering and misery.
The divine nymphs, apsaras emerge next. They choose the devas as their companions. The asuras ask Varuni, or Sura, the goddess of alcohol to reside with them. And she agrees to it reluctantly.
Vishnu wears the Kaustubha, the divine jewel and Indra takes the Parijat, the divine flower that never wilts with him to Indralok. Vishnu accepts the Saranga, a powerful bow that symbolises the belligerence of the Asuras as His weapon. And Shiva adorns his head with Chandra, the moon.
Vishnu instantly takes the conch and holds it in one of his four hands. Varuna takes the umbrella that emerges next. And Indra gives the pair of earrings that emerge next to Aditi, his mother. Indra takes Kalpavriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree to his abode, Swarga. And finally, Dhanavantari, the physician of the devas, the god of Ayurveda emerges with Amrit, the nectar of immortality.
Amrit- the divine nectar
The devas and the asuras start fighting amongst themselves the minute the pot of Amrit emerges. Garuda, the mount of Vishnu takes the pot of Amrit and flies away. The devas plead with Vishnu and ask for his help. Vishnu takes the form of Mohini, distracts the devas and divides it amongst the devas.
Rahu and Ketu
But Rahuketu, an asura, sees through their plan. So he transforms himself into a deva and drinks some of the nectar. Mohini cuts off the head of Rahuketu with her Sudarshan Chakra when she comes to know about it. But Rahuketu had already managed to drink a bit of it. So he becomes immortal. His body exists as two planets – Rahu and Ketu – even today.
The devas get to drink all the Amrit and finally manage to defeat the asuras.
The Kumbh Mela
According to some, a few drops of Amrit fell at four different places on the earth while the asuras and devas were fighting amidst themselves. They are Haridwar, Prayagraj, Nasik and Ujjain. The confluence of the three rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and the invisible Saraswati also occurs in these places so these places are believed to have mystical powers. The Kumbha Mela is celebrated in these four places once in twelve years.
Our Sur – Asur tendencies
Why does Mahaprabhuji use the phrase “Sur Asur” in the first verse of the Shree Yamunashtakam? Is the Samudra Manthan a metaphor that represents our emotional turmoil? It does seem so. For all said and done, no matter how highly we think of ourselves, the reality is this: we all feel positive and negative emotions on any given day. This is quite normal and fine too. For only if we experience these kinds of conflicting emotions – go through this kind of emotional turmoil – can we imbibe the invaluable treasures that come to us in the form of life lessons.
But unfortunately, we all have inflated fragile egos too. All of us. And we refuse to acknowledge and accept our negative emotions let alone our negative traits. Perhaps Vallabhacharya wants to correct our perspectives by showing us that if we acknowledge and accept the fact that our ego is always at work, we will learn to deflate it with humility and try to see things from others’ perspectives. Only then can we unearth treasures like peace and bliss that are buried within our souls.
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