Shloka 10. 27:

उच्चैःश्रवसमश्वानां विद्धि माममृतोद्भवम्।
ऐरावतं गजेन्द्राणां नराणां च नराधिपम्।।10.27।।

 10.27 Among horses, know Me to be Uccaihsravas, born of nectar; Airavata among the lordly elephants; and among men, the Kind of men. [Uccaihsravas and Airavata are respectively the divine horse and elephant of Indra.]

 Continuing his teaching, Swamiji said, Sri Krishna continues his description of his glories and many glories are available in this world itself for perception such as the sun, moon, and sometimes puranic stories as well. Two stories are prominent, one is Ganga avatharanam and other is Samudra manthanam. We started the Samudra manthanam story in the last class.

Devas and Asuras planned to churn the milky ocean so that they can get amrutham out of it; and then if they partake the Amrutham, they will get immortality. So, with this plan, they brought the Manthara mountain for churning and they brought Vasuki as the rope and later Bhagavan Vishnu had to come as Kurma avathara to hold the Manthara mountain while churning; otherwise it was going down; and initially they had differences of opinion, but somehow they managed and started churning and varieties of things appeared. Fourteen virtuous things came out of the manthanam.

Kalidasa wrote a prayer called Mangalashtakam; which is supposed to be chanted in the morning, and in this prayer he talks about various sacred things including the 14 rathnas or precious things which came out of the milky ocean.

They are:

1) Laksmi Devi; she is samudra tanaya. Samudra raja wanted a boy for Laksmi; Shiva and Vishnu were potential matches; The raja gave Lakshmi to Vishnu as he was well dressed and Shiva did not even know how to dress properly and therefore a poet says that if you want a good girl, dress up well.

Spiritually, by the practice of sadhana, a churning of satvic mind occurs and from this churning various glories come to him such as sidhis.

These siddhis, that are worldly benefits, are more obstacles in spiritual progress. All these ratnams are sidhis and are distractions; and devas were not interested in them; they wanted amrutam or moksha.

2. Halahala: the poison came out. It represents psychological problems in course of spiritual journey. They arise from subconscious mind from past experiences. In Mandukya Upanishad Gaudapada talks of four obstacles in meditation. One of them is called Kashayam, meaning deeply suppressed problems of past arising from mind. For some they come up as anxiety, fear, etc. One Acharya calls it Stabdhi bhava, or a mind stuck, also called kashayam. In Gurukula, when this happens, you don’t to worry about anything as Brahmachari has no family, no cooking to do, etc. These are called Halahala, our own mind problems, rising from churning shastra vichara. Only remedy for this was that Lord had to swallow the problem. For us the solution is to surrender the problem to god and let him absorb the problem.

Lakshmi, Kaustubha, Parijatha are all Siddhi’s. If you persevere you will get amritham or atma gyanam. Another poet wrote that there are five Vedas, Mahabharata being the fifth one.

We have 9 planets that affect us. A daughter, if married, the son-in-law is the tenth planet that affects you.

In Shloka # 27 Sri Krishna says, among horses, I am Uchiravas that came from churning. How did it emerge? It emerged during amrutha manthanam.

He says, among elephants, I am Airavatam, a wise elephant from heaven. Among humans, I am the king. King is taken as a manifestation of God. He has to support dharma and protect it.

Shloka # 28:

आयुधानामहं वज्रं धेनूनामस्मि कामधुक्।
प्रजनश्चास्मि कन्दर्पः सर्पाणामस्मि वासुकिः।।10.28।।

Ayudhanam, among weapons; I am the vajram, thunderbolt, made of the bones of (the sage) Dadhici. Dhenunam, among milch cows; I am kama-dhuk, Kamadhenu, which was the yielder of all desires of (the sage) Vasistha; or it means a cow in general which gives milk at all times. I am Kandarpa, prajanah, the Progenitor, (the god) Kama (Cupid). Sarpanam, among serpents, among the various serpents, I am Vasuki, the king of serpents.

Among the weapons I am Vajram. Vajrayudam is the special weapon of Indra; and in the purana, the

story is given how this special weapon was taken out of the backbone of Dadichi maharishi; that Dadichi maharishi had done plenty of tapas and therefore his body had become very strong for the special purpose of destroying Vrthrasura. To destroy Vrthrasura, Dadichi Maharishi sacrificed his life and out of his backbone vajrayudam was made; therefore it has got the strength born out of tapas shakthi, because we consider spiritual power or meditative power is much stronger than the material power.

Vishwamitra and Vasishta once fought. All missiles of Vishwamitra fell in front of Vasishtas dandas. Physical and material strength is nothing in front of power of Tapas. That is how Vishwamitra became a Brahma Rishi. This shows how Varna can be changed. Thus character is more important than birth.

Among milk cows, Dhenu, I am Kama dhenu. Why Kama dhenu? Because she can yield anything you want. Pray to her; you will get your wishes. Kamadhenu also came from churning. Mind is kamadhenu. It can create anything. All our advances are from our intellect. We can also attain moksha by using our intellect.

Desire: is called Manmatha or Kandarpa. Desire is greatest producer of things. First a desire rises then it becomes an actuality. As per Vedanta this comes from our Karmas. Necessity is the mother of creation; it expresses as desire. Among creators I am desire, including desire for children.

Among serpents, poisonous ones, I am Vasuki, Shivas ornament. Snake symbolizes ahamkara . So ahamkara is the greatest poison, which leads to kartrtvam and karma phalam and punarapi janamam and punarapi maranam samsara.

Lord Shiva knows how to handle this snake hence it is an ornament. Atma Gyanam teaches how to handle ahamkara. And therefore for a Gyani, ahamkara becomes a bhushanam, an ornament. Just as poisonous snake is an ornament for Lord Shiva; the poisonous ahamkara is an ornament for a Gyani.

Shloka # 29:

अनन्तश्चास्मि नागानां वरुणो यादसामहम्।
पितृ़णामर्यमा चास्मि यमः संयमतामहम्।।10.29।।

Naganam, among snakes, of a particular species of snakes; asmi, I am Ananta, the King of snakes. And Varuna, the King yadasam, of the gods of the waters. Pitrnam, among the manes; I am the King of the manes, named Aryama. And samyamatam, among the maintainers of law and order I am Yama.

Among nagas, I am Anantaha. Nagas are non-poisonous snakes, while sarpas are poisonous snakes. Philosophically ananta means nirguna Brahman that remains after destroying everything. Thus Adi Sesha remains after everything has been destroyed. Hence the name Seshasayi means the ultimate remainder.

Yadas: Water Devata is Yada. There are many of them such as river gods, lake gods etc. Among them all I am Varuna Devata who presides over ocean. Varuna is worshipped in Sayam sandhya as well. In evening once sun has set, Varuna is worshipped.

There are many devatas in Pitrloka. Depending upon one’s punya you go there. It is presided by Aryama, a Vedic deity. I am Aryama, says Sri Krishna. All Shradhas , ancestral offerings, go to Aryama.

Among controllers of universe I am Yama or Kala Tatvam. Yama is controller of time.

Shloka # 30:

प्रह्लादश्चास्मि दैत्यानां कालः कलयतामहम्।
मृगाणां च मृगेन्द्रोऽहं वैनतेयश्च पक्षिणाम्।।10.30।।

Daityanam, among demons, the descendants of Diti, I am the one called Prahlada. And I am kalah, Time; kalayatam, among reckoners of time, of those who calculate. And mrganam, among animals; I am mrgendrah, the loin, or the tiger. And paksinam, among birds; (I am) vainateyah, Garuda, the son of Vinata.

Diti is the wife of Kashyapa Prajapathihi, who is an important personality mentioned in the puranas. When Brahmaji created 14 Prajāapati came first and from the 14 prajapatis alone, the entire humanity emerged.

And therefore these Prajapatis are enumerated; among them the most prominent one is Kashyapa; and Aditi is his wife; Didi is another wife and Adithi’s children are called Devas and Diti’s children are called asuras. So Devas and asuras are born to two different mother’s while father is one and the same; Devas represent positive healthy thoughts; asuras represent unhealthy thought; all from one Kashyapa Prajapati. Thus, we get both Deva vritthis as well as asura vriththis; out of two different wives; one is called satva guna wife; and the other is called rajo guna wife; out of these three gunas, especially these two gunas; satva and rajas, two types of vrithis are generated; one is called daivi sampath; and the other is called asuri sampath; we will see more on this in the 16th chapter.

Even among asuras a great devotee called Prahlada was born to Hiranyakashapu. Prahlada is remembered among great devotees in morning prayers. He was born an asura but he was a person with satva guna. This shows that Jati is not important it is one’s guna that makes it important. Therefore caste system is not correct.

Among one’s who keep account, as accountant, of punya and papam I am Kala Tatvam. Every deliberate action is a karma. Every karma has to produce a result at appropriate time; Kala or Dharmaraja performs this. I am kala tatvam responsible for manifesting every karma.

Vaishyas are called Guptas, or secretive one’s. Kshatriyas are called Varmas. Brahmanas are called Sharmas. Thus, we also worship Chitra Gupta.

Among animals, I am Lion.

Take away:

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy