The mind that matters

It is said that most of what we see is like the ‘tip of the iceberg’. In some ways our thoughts and actions are related in a very similar manner.

I am reminded of the story of the churning of the ‘Samundar’ or the ocean by the Devas and Asuras.

Devas (goodness embodiment) and asuras (evil embodiment) churned the ocean of milk to obtain the nectar of immortality.

This churning, as it turned out, was an eventful one. The mount Mandara was used for the churning as a churning rod. The snake Vasuki, who was the king of serpents served as the churning rope. The Asuras wanted to take hold of Vasuki’s head and the Devas, most willingly acceded to this demand.

The snake emitted poisonous fumes during each churn. Devas and Asuras relentlessly churned on. The mount Mandara started sinking and Lord Vishnu took his Koorma avatar (turtle) and held the mountain on his back.

As Devas and Asuras continued, ‘halahala visha’, a deadly poison was coughed up by the king of serpents.

It was now the turn of Lord Shiva, who promptly appeared on the scene and swallowed the poison. Goddess Parvati, in a bid to save her husband, pressed against Lord Shiva’s throat before the poison could enter his body.

The poison stopped at the God’s throat, making his neck blue (Shiva was thereafter known as ‘Neelakanta’ or ‘blue throat’).

The churning produced, among other wonders, the moon or Chandra, a divine flower called parijat and the Amrut or the nectar of immortality.

Every time I read this story I wonder, how metaphorically, it denotes the churning of the body by the mind.

The body, as the churning rod, is churned by the mind that acts as the churning rope. The churning produces many desired and some undesired by-products.

The ‘man’ or the mind and the ‘tan’ or the body forms the ‘Mantan’ or the churning!

The thoughts that emerge in our mind translate into actions performed by the body. If we are aware of the thoughts and in a conscious state acknowledge these thoughts, we will be able to regulate the mind and body to produce desirable action.

While, like the tip of the iceberg, only the action is visible what directs this action is the invisible mind!

I read a very different explanation to the sholka,

‘Vakratunda Mahakaya Surya Koti Sama Prabha!
 Nirvighnam Kurume DevaSarva Kaaryeshu Sarvada!’

Through the curved forehead, go into your body. This will give you the power equivalent to one crore sun (immense power). Before you begin anything do this, so that you face no obstacles.

This explanation, perhaps means that before you begin any job, take stock of your resources - both the physical and the meta-physical resources. By doing this, you will understand if you are equipped to carry out the given task. The process of taking stock can be termed as the ‘churning’.

Our actions are a mere reflection of our thoughts, churned by the mind!

Sita – The graceful power…

Any great epic that has withstood the test of time, always has something to offer, every time you read it. Ramayana is no exception to this.

What is most appealing about Sita’s character is the grace behind her power.

As a child she was found abandoned by the King of Mithila. Hence she was also known as Maithili. Sita grew up to be both beautiful and physically strong. 

 Once she picked up a bow that was very heavy with nonchalance! On seeing this her foster father decided to find the right match for her. During her swayamvar, where a girl finds her future husband, many Kings and warriors found it difficult to lift the bow that Sita had lifted when she was only a child!

Her loyalty towards her husband defined the person that she was all through her life. As a young bride she would have dreamt of being by the side of her husband as Queen of Ayodhya. But what was in store for her was the life of a nomad, wandering with her husband and his younger brother through the scary landscape of unknown terrains and finally even being kidnapped by a demon.

Her loyalty towards her husband defined the person that she was...

Apart from the one moment that she asked her husband to go after the beautiful deer, not knowing that it was a demon in disguise, Sita exhibited utmost grace and dignity. Throughout her stay in the forest she endured hardships and served her husband sincerely.

One would only expect a woman who has undergone such hardships to brazen up, lose her kindness and become bitter. On the contrary, Sita remained the epitome of virtues and high ideals.

When Hanuman came to meet her, she could have urged him to take her with him. Instead she told Hanuman to bring Lord Rama and his army to help the many women in Ravana’s prison, whose conditions were worse than hers.

This act of Sita’s can be termed as women’s liberation in the true sense.

Yudhistra's rare curse

We have heard many people say that women find it difficult to keep secrets. There is an interesting story from the Mahabharata that explains how it all began.

Kunti, known as Prithi, was the daughter of Vasudeva’s sister and King Surasena. She was given in adoption to her cousin, Kuntibhoja, who was childless. King Kuntibhoja was the ruler of Kunti Kingdom.

Kunti had once served Sage Durvasa, who was known for his short temper. But the sage was so pleased with her hospitality that he taught her the Atharvaveda Mantras, by which she was bestowed the power to invoke any God of her choice to be-get a child. When this boon was granted to her she was a very young girl and curiosity got the better of her and she wanted to test the boon given by the sage to her. She prayed to Sun God and got a child through him. Karna was born to Kunti even before her marriage to King Pandu.

Unable to take the child home with her, she left it in river Charmanwati.

Unable to take the child home with her, she secured it in a basket with her sari and left the basket in the river Charmanwati (modern day Chambal River, a tributary of Ganges).

Kunti married Pandu later and since he was not capable of producing off-springs, she invoked her powers and gave birth to Yudhishtra (son of Dharma), Bhima (son of Vayu) and Arjuna (son of Lord Indra). With their step brothers Nakula and Sahadeva, the five brothers were known as Pancha Pandavas (the five sons of Pandu).

Meanwhile, Karna was saved by a childless charioteer from the river. The charioteer, Adhiratha and his wife Radha, brought up Karna as their own child. He was also known by the name Radheya, as he was brought up by Radha. Karna met Duryodhana and soon they became very good friends. Duryodhana parted with a piece of his Kingdom, Anga, and made Karna its King. 

Eventually, war broke out between the Pandavas and their cousins, Kauravas. Before the war began, Kunti met Karna discreetly and told him that she was his mother. Karna was a loyalist and refused to join the Pandavas.

Kunti met Karna discreetly and revealed the truth about his birth.

Karna, being the embodiment of generosity, promised Kunti that she will have five sons at the end of the war and he will only fight Arjuna in the battle. Karna knew that Arjuna was under the protection of Lord Krishna and no harm can befall him.

Karna also requested Kunti, not to reveal this secret until his death. After Karna’s death in the Kurukshetra war, Kunti took the lifeless body of her first born and declared the secret of Karna’s birth. The Pandavas were furious as they had committed fratricide. 

Yudhishtra in particular was so furious with his mother that he cursed all women. The curse that fell upon womanhood was that they will never be able to keep secrets.

Birds of a feather fall together…

One day a saint was walking along a forest. As he was walking he saw a hunter running past him. As the hunter was looking up towards the sky and running, he did not see the holy man and would have banged into him. But the saint caught the hunter and brought his speeding toes to a halt. 

“Why are you running so fast?” asked the saint to the hunter. The hunter did not seem in a mood to answer the saint and yelled at the saint to move and give way. By now the saint was also looking up into the sky, curious to know what made the hunter drop his bows and run. He saw two birds labouring with the net, that, until a few minutes back, belonged to the hunter. 

The saint chuckled and told the hunter to give up his chase as the birds were flying high and it was common sense that a man running on the ground will never be able to catch up with flying birds.

Hearing the saint’s words the hunter stopped dead in his track. He sharply turned around and remained silent for a moment. It was now the turn of the hunter to chuckle.

The holy man was astonished, but said nothing. The hunter signalled the saint to follow him and started walking swiftly in the direction of the birds. The saint gathered speed to keep pace with the hunter.

“Oh holy man”, he addressed the saint. “Looking at you I thought you would know the happenings of the world. But you seem to be naïve and innocent” said the hunter much to the amusement of the saint. 

The hunter told the saint that the birds were from the same breed and hence would soon start fighting with each other and the weight of the net would eventually pull them down. Much to the surprise of the sage, the net started descending in a while and the hunter pounced upon his catch in a jiffy.

As the hunter started walking towards his hut, the saint followed him. “How did you know that the birds would fall?” he asked the hunter.They are birds from the same flock and therefore there will be argument between them which will turn into a fight. When birds from the same feather fight, they fall said the hunter to the saint. 

The saint thanked the hunter profusely and headed towards Hastinapura where trouble was brewing between the Pandavas and Kauravas!

What you give is what you get!

The death of Abhimanyu serves as a gory reminder of the fact that hate be-gets hate. Arjuna and Krishna were distracted by Susarma in order to form the Chakravyuh and capture Abhimanyu. Once Abhimanyu entered the Chakravyuh, the Kauravas broke all warfare rules followed hitherto, and killed the young lad.   While the Pandava brothers were in grief, Arjuna vowed to kill Jayadrada who prevented the entry of any sort of help to Abhimanyu. Arjuna, overcome by grief, also declared that if he failed to kill Jayadrada, he would kill himself by self-immolation.  Lord Krishna remained calm, as he sensed the mood of the Pandava camp. He knew that the enemies had an advantage over the emotionally distraught Pandavas. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that the consequence of the vow he had taken was dire as Jayadrada’s father, through his severe penance, had obtained a boon.  The boon served almost as immunity against death for Jayadrada.  "The person that was responsible for his son’s head to fall on the ground would have his head shattered to pieces!” Krishna told Arjuna. But Arjuna was not perturbed. He simply told Krishna that he trusted his Lord to save him! Lord Krishna decided to fight the rest of the war, with the new rules that the Kauravas had set.  He advised Arjuna to ensure that Jayadrada’s head is carried far and fell on his father's lap.  Krishna told Arjuna that only this would save him from a certain death.  The next day, Jayadrada was protected by the Kaurava army and remained completely hidden from Arjuna. The Kauravas anticipated an aggressive backlash from the Pandavas.  The Pandavas could not find Jayadrada and their hunt for him ended in vain. The sun was just about to set and within seconds the battlefield was completely dark.  Meanwhile Arjuna lit a pyre and was just about to jump into it. Lord Krishna told him and the audience that had gathered to witness the death of the brave Pandava that it was just an eclipse and once the eclipsed sun came out, the battle should continue till sunset.  But alas! Even before the Lord could speak, Jayadrada came out and presented himself before Arjuna. Mocking Arjuna, Jayadrada stood; bold and courageous, assuming that he had escaped certain death. Krishna’s words and the sun God’s reappearance robbed Jayadrada of his momentary bravery. Arjuna made use of the Gandiva to behead Jayadrada. Such was the force with which the arrow was shot, that his head was carried in air, only to land on the lap of his meditating father. In a moment’s panic his father rose causing his head to fall on the ground. Thus Jayadrada’s father became a victim of the boon he had obtained! In the end, though, what you give is what you get!                          Jayadrada's head was carried in the air and fell on his father's lap Jayadrada's head was carried in the air and fell on his father's lap