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Samudra Manthan
On the journey of inner self-observation, the biggest obstacle is negative emotions. They hypnotise one to the sleep of life and disturb the state of consciousness or awakening. These negative emotions cannot be suppressed but have to be dealt with in a very tactful manner. Because truth is poorn (whole), the positive and negative are both a part of the truth. The negative emotions have to be consciously used to extract amrita (the energy of essence of consciousness), the bridge to the inner divinity.
Negative energies (demons) are of four types:
Asura comes from the root ‘as’ and ‘un’, meaning to throw or to cast; it is that negativity which fragments our energy.
Daitya comes from the root ‘do’ and ‘tin’, meaning to cut, split, or divide; it is that negativity which divides and fragments our attention and does not allow it to be one-pointed.
Rakshasa comes from the root ‘rakhsa’, meaning protected; it is that negativity which steals the very vital energy that protects us and looks after our well-being. This is done through seduction of attention by attacking the sex centre or through day-dreaming about sex.
Danava comes from the root ‘danu’ or ‘daana’, meaning to share. Danava is the opposite of these – that is to forcibly separate. This is negativity that separates one from the facts of life and manifests as moods that bring about illusory phases such as depression and loneliness.
In the Mahabharata, there is the story of the churning of the oceans, where the devas (or gods/conscious energy) on one side, and the asuras, daityas, rakshasas, and danavas (or demons/negativity) on the other, churn the oceans to extract amrita, which would give them eternal life. Eternal life does not mean to live on forever but to free oneself from the cycle of birth and death.
They cut Mount Meru and put it on the ocean-bed to be used as the churning rod and wrapped the serpent Vasuki as the churning rope. The devas tactfully held the tail while the demons held the head. Once the churning started, the poor demons started suffocating because of the poisonous fumes that came out of the serpent’s head. Before they could go any further, Mount Meru got covered by water and was drowned in the oceans. The Devas and Demons were at a loss of what to do. They went to Lord Vishnu begging for help, who took the incarnation of tortoise (Kurma) and went into the oceans and lifted Mount Meru on his shell. Again, the churning began in right earnest and many things came out of the oceans, the last being Amrita, the nectar of life.
This ancient mythological story is in reality an explanation of a secret yogic exercise called Gold Nugget. The floor of the oceans is the perineum. Mount Meru depicts the Sushumna Nadi (backbone). Lord Vishnu as a tortoise (Kurma) represents our tortoise shell shaped diaphragm. The Devas is the positive side within us and the Asuras the negative. The holding of breath, the pulling in of the perineum and a constant pressure brings about tremendous pressure between the diaphragm and perineum, making an inner circuit that connects them to a centre in the brain called the 'silent area'. Then, begins the shallow breath (churning) through the two nostrils i.e. the 'Ida' and the 'Pingla', the two ends of Vasuki Naga. Initially, lot of negativities pour out and as we continue practice over a period of time, the silent area gets activated. This results in, from a trickle to a flow of tremendous spiritual energy.
To a seeker on the path, apart from the yogic practices, one must practice the Samudra Manthan in one’s everyday living. The question in any disciple’s mind is how to work in a situation where negativity manifests and takes control. Let us take the instance of the most common negativity – anger or rage. In such a situation, one should pause and not express the anger. The minute one does this, the anger tries to seduce one’s attention and hypnotise one with the event that caused the anger but the consciousness works in an opposite manner by trying to free one of this negative emotion of anger. Both work in opposite directions, that is they are churning the ocean of our mind, with the consciousness (or devas) on one hand and the negativity (or demons) on the other. If this churning is done in a balanced-manner, that is the consciousness balances its pull to match that of the negativity, then at one point both the negativity and the controlling function of the consciousness vanish and free consciousness without the attitude of control prevails, bringing about a balance and awakening of the body-brain system, which is amrita.
One day, the Taoist master Lieh Tzu went fishing for the first time. He took a rod, lined a worm, and sank the hook. Immediately, a fish came and bit the bait. Lieh Tzu was so excited that he pulled on the rod in a flash, but the fish ate a part of the worm and ran away. He then repeated this process, this time around thinking that he had pulled too quickly the first time, he waited a little longer. The fish ate the whole worm to its fill leaving Lieh Tzu standing there holding the rod. He then decided to take a different approach and every time the fish pulled on the bait a little, he matched the fish’s pull, neither more nor less. Eventually, the fish was trapped in the hook. That day, Leih Tzu went to his disciples and told them that he had learnt a new law of life – when any negativity pulls you, allow your consciousness to pull only that much so as to match the pull of negativity. If one allowed the consciousness to overpower the anger, the anger would be suppressed one would not be free of it. Also, if anger was allowed to overpower consciousness, then one would again be hypnotised with the event.