Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik Read online

  Indra, who does not practise control, loses Lakshmi. Keeping the indriyan in control can restore Lakshmi—an avataran of her is possible. Just like a fruit has a kernel which is very potent, this story too has a lot of philosophy packed inside it.

  Indra invites the asuras to the churning. Why is that?

  Today one political party would ideally not want any other party around—no opposition. But that’s not how the world works. You have to work with everyone. You have to befriend your enemies too. Likewise, in the Amrita manthan, the collaboration of devas and asuras is an important element. Devas are said to be afraid of the serpent so they stay on the side of its tail and the asuras near its head. In stories, the devas are usually depicted as weaker and more cautious, whereas asuras are strong and confident. So this force and counter force continues for many yugas. Slowly, like you get butter from milk, different treasures (ratna) emerge from the Kshir Sagar.

  What emerged from the Kshir Sagar after the manthan?

  The list changes from one Purana to another. Traditionally it’s believed that fourteen ratna emerged. In a wedding ceremony, when they chant the mantra describing marriage as a manthan, it is wished that these fourteen jewels also emerge from the couple’s marriage. These are symbols of dharma (governance, law), artha (economics) and kama (pleasure, bhog).

  During the manthan, the symbols of dharma that emerge are the elephant Airavata, the horse Ucchaishrava and the bow Saranga. These are symbols of a king, who is responsible for dharma—to determine people’s role and responsibilities in society, to maintain law and order, etc. The symbols of artha that emerge are the cow Kamadhenu, the Kalpataru or Parijat tree and the Chintamani or Kaustubh jewel—animal wealth, plant wealth and mineral wealth. The symbols of kama or pleasure that emerge are the handsome and romantic Chandra, the beautiful and talented apsaras and the musicians or gandharvas. Though some are unsure since it is a controversial item, wine or alcohol (varuni or soma rasa), and Nidradevi (sleep), because sleep gives pleasure, are also believed to have emerged from the Kshir Sagar.

  All these are then divided among the devas and asuras: one wants the horse, another the elephant, and so on. The concept of division (batwara) begins from here. As in a business, while there is collaboration in the effort, when it is time to share the profits, disputes break out about who will get what percentage—so it happens between devas and asuras.

  Importantly, Lakshmi too emerged from the Kshir Sagar. She combines dharma, artha and kama. She sits on a lotus, is surrounded by apsaras and gandharvas, and she wears a lotus necklace (vyjayantimala). It is said that anyone who wears this necklace will always be victorious. After the manthan, the devas and the asuras both wish to marry her, but she says she will choose her own husband. She chooses Vishnu who had come up with the idea of collaboration, and managed to make two opposing forces work with each other.

  Interestingly, when an enterprise brings treasures, it also brings problems. There is a dark element to this story as well. Several versions exist. One says that the trees on the mountain rub against each other and their friction causes fire, which produces smoke. The snake inhales that smoke and starts vomiting. When all this smoke, fire, vomit, and the tears in the eyes of the devas mix with the Kshir Sagar, poison or halahal is created. Neither the devas nor the asuras want this. Vishnu wonders what is to be done now. There’s only one being who can swallow it all and that’s the deva of devas, Mahadeva, or Shiva. He is Bholenath, the innocent one, and he does not care whether it’s milk or poison. He starts to drink it. He is a vairagi, an ascetic, but his wife, Parvati, is worldly (samsarik). She protests: How can you give my husband poison? She squeezes Shiva’s throat to stop him from swallowing the poison, so it just sits there. He becomes Neelkantha, the blue-throated one. Philosophically, the idea is that work will bring with it problems, which, like Shiva, you should have the ability to absorb, else you will not progress.

  There’s always a concept of balance at play: force–counter force, nectar–poison, ascetic–worldly, etc.

  Now, everything else has emerged, and the climax of the story is the appearance of Amrita. The commonest version of this story is that a god known as Dhanvantari emerges, bearing a pot of Amrita. Both devas and asuras rush towards it and start fighting for it. Eventually, Vishnu assumes the form of a beautiful apsara, Mohini, and deceitfully takes away the pot and gives all the Amrita to the devas.

  I’ve heard that the Kumbh Mela is associated with the Amrita manthan story.

  It is believed that at the Kumbh Mela, after the shahi snan (noble bath), the river becomes like Amrita, and if you bathe in this water, you’ll absorb the qualities of Amrita. All your paap (sin) and bad karma will be washed away and you’ll start with a clean slate. It is also believed that when the pot of Amrita was being carried towards heaven, a few drops fell to the earth—at Haridwar, Prayag in Allahabad, Nasik and Ujjain. That’s why the Kumbh Melas are held here.

  When both devas and asuras worked on the manthan, why were the asuras cheated out of the Amrita?

  The argument about this goes on forever. One simple, rather dissatisfactory, answer is that the devas are good, the asuras bad, so the good should benefit. But this doesn’t carry any philosophical depth. Another is about who started the enterprise. It began with the devas. The one who starts the enterprise brings everyone else in, so the fruit should go to the yajman, who’ll then decide how it is to be divided. Here, Indra is the yajman.

  There is another aspect to this. When devas and asuras are fighting, Vishnu becomes Mohini and tricks them with beauty. The asuras aren’t aware that Mohini is pouring Amrita only in the mouths of the devas. Only one asura, Rahu, notices this. He stands among the devas and receives some Amrita. When Vishnu realizes this, he beheads the asura with his Sudarshan chakra—the head becomes Rahu and the body becomes Ketu. On the face of it, this is unfair. But while Vishnu gives the devas Amrita and immortality, he does not give them paramsukh, supreme happiness. Worldly pleasures and wealth cannot bring happiness. So who has actually been cheated? The devas merely got immortality, the enjoyment of bhog, not happiness. A philosophical gap has emerged here. In a move that complicates things further, Shiva grants the asuras Sanjivani Vidya, the knowledge by which they can bring a dead person back to life. So the devas have Amrita, the asuras have Sanjivani Vidya. Whether this will result in a manthan or a tug-of-war is an eternal question.

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  Forest and Field

  There is repeated mention of van, forest, in the epics—in the Ramayana, Rama goes to a forest for exile, while Krishna is associated with Vrindavan. Why is the van so important in our texts?

  It’s a basic part of Indian philosophy. Until we understand what this is, we cannot fully comprehend Indian sampradaya and parampara. Van refers to prakriti, or nature, where there is no human intervention, and everything is in its natural form. There are no rules. The stronger creatures survive—survival of the fittest, also called matsya nyaya in Sanskrit. The bigger fish eats the smaller one and that’s not wrong or a sin.

  Van is the most natural form of existence. Man comes and changes this pristine state of being. He establishes villages, farms and controls the land. He decides which tree will live and which will die. He decides which seeds to plant, what is crop and what is weed. He creates boundaries; he brings fire and marks a space for havan (fire worship), another for his village, and so on—basically, he assumes control of the ecosystem.

  This division, with the van or aranya on one side, and the village, town, fields on the other, separates prakriti and sanskriti. Prakriti does not have rules; only nature’s rules or laws. In man’s world, you have concepts of neeti, niyam (morals, laws), riwaz (customs), nyaya and nyayadheesh (justice, judge), and property. This separation of two worlds is the fundamental principle of Indian philosophy.

  When was this concept first introduced?

  It was first mentioned in the Sama Veda 3500 years ago. The songs of the Sama Veda are of two kinds—Aranyageya Gaan (s