Dasavatara and Bhagavatgita-koormavathara

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Next is Koormavathara. This incarnation was taken to help amrthamathana. Amrtha is the nectar of brahmajnana which secures immortality. The mount mandhara is the firm resolve as said in the 5th chapter of the Gita, thath budDhayaH thadhaathmaana HthannishTaah thathapraayaNaaH gacChanthi apunaraavrtthim jnaana nirDhootha kalmashaaH (BG.5.17) Their intellect riveted in the self, being engrossed in the self, contemplating on the self and fixing their goal as the self, the yogis whose impurities are washed away by jnana reach the state of no return.

 

The fight between devas and asuras , who denote good and bad impulses is going on always inside the mind. The only solution to end that, is to acquire jnana which is signified by amrtha. The milky ocean is the mind full of turbulence but calm on the surface. Vasuki is the king of serpents, whch stand for the desires. The king of desires is the desire for moksha. When the desire for moksha, vasuki, is wound around firm resolve, mandhara mountain, the amrtha can be gained. But it needs the help of the Lord at each and every step. He had to help in lifting mandhara and to put it in the ocean, helped by supporting it on his back as koorma, churned the ocean along with the devas , entered into them to give strength and finally as Mohini He took the amrtha away from the asuras and gave it to the devas. This shows that one needs the divine grace at each and every step of spiritual progress.

 

First the poison halahala came out which was swallowed by Siva. Halahala is the bad vasanas or impulses stored in the mind through several births which have to eradicated as the first step. It was absorbed by Siva the annihilator. The Lord as Siva out of mercy takes away the sinful propensities to make the mind pure. Vedantadesika, the foremost of Vaishnava acharyas after Ramanuja and composer of several devotional and philosophical works, says in his dayasatakam, in which he personifies the daya , mercy of the Lord, as dhayaadhevi, that, she eats the sins of the devotees to make them pure and worthy of the grace of the Lord. Theshaam eva anukamoaarTham aham ajnaanajam thamaH naasayaami, the Lord says in the Gita.(BG.10.11) "I destroy the darkness of ignorance (which is the cause of sins) for them out of mercy."

 

All the good things that came out of the ocean like Airavatha, ucchaisravas etc, are the various siddhis that come to one who aspires for jnana at different levels. The devas were warned against being tempted by these and stop churning. The siddhis are impediments to progress and the aspirant for mukthi is not tempted by them. Mahalakshmi represents the mercy of the Lord which is why she chose His heart as her residing place. She is called o purushakarbhooha, who recommends the case of the devotee to the Lord , making Him forgive the faults of the devotee and shower His grace. Finally the amrtha came, only to be seized by the asuras at the last moment. This is to show that one should not be complacent about his spiritual progress as there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. The Gita says, indhriyaaNi pramaaTheeni haranthi prasbham manaH.(Bh.2.60) the senses of an aspirant till he reaches the final stage remain strong and carry his mind unaware and indhriyasyendhriyasyaarThe raagadhveshou vy avasThithou thayorna vasam aagacCheth thou hyasya paripanThinou (Bh3.34) Desire and aversion is attached to each sense object through the respective sense organ. One should not come under their sway because they are his enemies. That is , the senses may get the better of even a wise man who he has controlled them.

 

There is a story to illustrate this: A guru who has mastered the sasthras was teaching his disciples in the forest these linesfrom Mahabharatha. balavaan indhriyagramo vdhvaamsam api karshthi (MB) which means that the senses are strong and tempt even the man of knowledge. The guru, who was proud of himself as a master of his senses changed it to balavaan indhriyagramo vidhvaamsam naapi karshathi, that is, the senses do no tempt the learned man. Sage Veda Vyasa, the author of mahabharatha was angered by this and wanted to teach him a lesson. He created a heavy shower and took the form of an attractive woman and came to the place where he was teaching, seeking shelter. The guru told her to go inside his hut and take shelter from the rain. When she brushed past him the guru was attracted by her and dismissed his students. Then he knocked on the door of the hut which she did not open. Then he got on the roof and tried to get in but was caught in between the bamboos of the roof and called out to his students to come for his rescue. Then he found, when the door was opened that there was nobody inside He learnt his lesson and later taught the same passage as balavaan indhriyagraamo vidhvaamsam api karshathi karshathi karshathyeva.

 

Koorma signifies the sthithaprajna portrayed in the second chapter of the Gita. Yadhaa samharthe chaayam koormaangaaneeva sarvaSaH indhriyaaNi indhriyaarThebhyaH thasya prajnaa prathishTithaa (BG.2.58). When one withdraws his senses from sense objects on all sides like the tortoise withdraws its limbs, his wisdom is firm. The koorma is the aadhikoorma who supports the entire universe on His back to whom the mandhara mountain was nothing. Desika says in his dasavathra sthothra that the Lord was not at all affected by the churning and felt as though his back was being scratched. This is the state of sthitha prajna described in the Gita.baahyasparSeshu askthaathmaa vindhathi aathmani yath sukham(BG.5.21) The one whose senses are not drawn towards sense objects outside, acquires joy within himself, being engrossed in Brahman which gives him undiminished joy.