Even
including the antagonist and mischief mongrel living dead beings.
You
believe this world gives equal opportunities to everyone,
Even
though those “everyone” only satisfies “everyone” in the
category of “everyone”!
You
live for everyone’s well-being,
Even
though those “everyone” lives for their own well-being.
You
want to remain in a life of the one percent category,
Though everyone around you cannot go beyond the ninety nine percent category.
Ninety
nine percent do not want to know the reason for their existence,
One
percent can’t make them understand the reason no matter what!
Ninety nine percent spend time their life for naught,
One
percent knows what is to be sought.
Ninety
nine percent are indulgent,
One
percent are diligent, vigilant and valiant!
Ninety
nine percent are slave of the senses,
One
percent are master of the senses.
Ninety
nine percent are any way my way and only my way mentality,
One percent are my way different way and for everyone’s way mentality.
Ninety
nine percent seeks excuses in every situation,
One
percent sees opportunity even in an adversity.
Ninety nine percent does one hundred things but only one thing may be sensible,
One percent does only one thing but that is one hundred times beneficial to everyone.
Ninety
nine percent are self-centred and selfish,
One
percent are self-conscious and believe in the self.
Ninety
nine percent are in the herd mentality,
One
percent are in the lone warrior mentality.
Ninety
nine percent do not go beyond the status quo,
One
percent changes the status quo.
Ninety
nine percent acts grossly,
One
percent acts subtly.
Ninety
nine percent cannot understand the one percent at all,
One percent understand everything about the mentality of ninety nine percent!
Ninety
nine percent are pretenders,
One
percent are masters!
Ninety
nine percent are grossly materialistic,
One
percent are very realistic!
Ninety nine percent live for the momentary satisfaction that results in only material advancement and sense satisfaction,
One
percent utilises every moment as a means of progress towards spiritual
advancement and self-realisation.
One
percent sustains the ninety nine percent,
Ninety nine percent try to consume the one percent!
…so ninety nine percent is the actual minority,
One
percent is the real majority!
Corollaries
of:
“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” – Bhagavad Gita – 15.7
“The endeavouring transcendentalist, who is situated in self-realization, can see all this clearly. But those who are not situated in self-realization cannot see what is taking place, though they may try to.” – Bhagavad Gita – 15.11
“Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.” – Bhagavad Gita 7.15
“An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.” – Bhagavad Gita 5.22
“Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor. The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members” – Srimad Bhagavatham 2.1.2 – 3.
“Lazy human beings with paltry intelligence and a short duration of life pass the night sleeping and the day performing activities that are for naught” – Srimad Bhagavatham – 1.16.9.
Inspired by the grand old lady of Tamil poetry Avvaiyaar (Tamil: ஔவையார்; literally means ‘Respectable Woman’) and her classic treatise Moodhurai (மூதுரை) , where the opposite characteristics are beautifully poetically expressed in two consecutive stanzas, I am writing this post on similar lines to my earlier post titled Unknown and this post is titled Mundane!
The intention to depict opposites is because everything is relative and hence opposites are inevitable in this world and may be taken relative to one’s position based on the observer and the observed, perceiver and the perceived.
For example, a person fallen on the ground will not have to fall down further because he is already fallen! but a person standing on the ground or a person sitting at an elevated position can experience a fall 😊.
The purpose of this post is to depict the dual states of being in knowledge and being in ignorance.
Ignorance
is not bliss in all circumstances!
Fire
causes a burn to a little child irrespective of whether the child knows the
characteristics of the fire or not.
Water drowns a person irrespective of whether the person is aware of this fact or not because that has got to do with the chemical composition and physical properties of the person and the water and it will act according to it.
Poison acts on the person irrespective of whether the person knows its side effects or not and whether he has consumed it voluntarily or not.
Medicine acts on the person irrespective of whether the person has the knowledge of its potency or not and whether it is has the propensity or cure or whether it causes adverse side effects.
It is the nature of substances to act according to its composition and properties.
Humans are no exception in this regard, having constituted of five gross material elements in various proportions, each having its own properties and the three subtle elements mind, intelligence and false ego governed by the combination of three modes of material nature – goodness, passion and ignorance.
Thus we (mind) are helplessly acting because of the functions of these gross and subtle elements in material creation.
It is to understand this fact that we mundane, needs to transcend beyond the modes of material nature. We are not mundane in the real sense because we have a mind and an intelligence that can discriminate but since everything is governed by the modes of material nature in this material universe and we are also part and parcel of it, we are in the cycle.
Akrura
during his mission to Hastinapura emphasises this fact to King Dhritharashtra
through this beautiful advice:
“In this world no one has any permanent relationship with anyone else, O King. We cannot stay forever even with our own body, what to speak of our wife, children and the rest. Every creature is born alone and dies alone, and alone one experiences the just rewards of his good and evil deeds.” – Srimad Bhagavatham – 10.49.20 – 21.
The accumulation of our good and evil deeds since time immemorial and also the deeds in our present life determines the ever-transforming combination of the three mode of material nature that is responsible for the unique mental composition of each one of us and that drives our way of life in the present and the next destination after death! It’s only by the endeavour to being in the mode of goodness and by finally transcending even this material mode of goodness to a transcendental mode of goodness or Suddha-Sattva, there is an escape from this material existence.
Before
going to the aspects of mundane, first, due respects to the grand old lady of
Tamil poetry Avvaiyaar as to how she brings in the pair of opposite nature of
people in this world:
“It is beneficial to see people
of good character,
It is beneficial to listen to
their words,
It is beneficial to talk about
their lives and
It is beneficial to have them as
friends.”
The opposite has been written with such a minimalistic effort and choice of words and can be noticed just by visually observing the arrangements of alphabets between the two stanzas, even without knowing the language! This is reflected even in the translation!
Mundane
is the Jivatma (due to its externally looking nature and perceiving through
imperfect senses)
Mundane
is the activated (by the Paramaathma, Antaryaama, Indwelling or Supersoul)
Mundane
is the eternal servant (either to senses (during material existence) or to the
supreme lord (after liberation))
Mundane
cannot realise that unknown
Mundane
speculates using the imperfect knowledge of material sciences
Mundane
cannot attain the unknown
Mundane
drives itself using the material senses
Mundane
identifies with the body
Mundane
identifies with the senses
Mundane
identifies with the mind
Mundane
identifies with the intellect
Mundane
identifies with the intelligence
Mundane
identifies with the ego
Mundane
is being in a state of forgetting the original identity
Mundane
is being bound by feelings and actions
Mundane
is being materialistic
Mundane
is being in a tendency to dominate material nature
Mundane
is being in a state of inequilibrium
Mundane
is being bound by the modes of material nature
Mundane
is being superficial
Mundane
is being predictable to circumstances and situations
Mundane
is being known
Mundane is
being slave of the senses
Mundane is
being in the concept of “I” and “Mine”
Mundane is
being conditioned
Mundane is
being in a bodily state of existence
Mundane is
being in a state of lamentation due to failed desires
Mundane is
being afraid of death
Mundane is
being considering oneself as a “doer”
Mundane is
being in a sense of proprietorship
Mundane is
being in a state of sense gratification
Mundane is
being in a state of forgetfulness
Mundane is
being in illusion
But…
Mundane
is to be overcome
Mundane
is to become self-realized
Mundane
is to realise the pangs of four-fold misery – birth, death, old age and disease
Mundane
is to attain the Unknown
Mundane
is to realise it is only spiritual knowledge that is factual and eternal, all
else is temporary and nescience
Mundane
is to realise the tricks of speculators, jugglers and pseudo-mystics and not to
fall into their trap
Mundane
is to listen to the inner voice by shutting out the external noises
Mundane
is to engage in solitary pursuits to purify body mind and intellect
Mundane
is to thoroughly understand the transient nature of material existence
Mundane
is to slowly get detested detached from this transient world through knowledge
of revealed spiritual literatures from a spiritual master (alive or not alive
taking the master by heart)
Mundane
is to learn to tolerate bodily and mental pain inflicted through the three
sources 1. Adhyatmik 2. Adhibhautik 3. Adhidaivik. (miseries inflicted by the
body and mind itself, those inflicted by other living entities, and natural
disturbances)
Mundane
is to realise the futility of senseless exploitation of mother nature and learn
to live in harmony with all the living entities
Mundane
is to reject man-Gods or man-made Gods and understand that there is a supreme controller
who is the source of everything
Mundane
is to learn to surrender to that supreme
Mundane
is to totally understand the helplessness in the hands of material nature and
the illusory energy of the Lord
Mundane
is to learn to activate the intellect to our pursuits towards the absolute
truth through devotional service
Mundane
is to acknowledge the indwelling that is doing its designated duty and functions
in a subtle manner
Mundane
is to acknowledge that it is the indwelling that activates the consciousness to
awaken ourselves from sleep
Mundane
is to acknowledge that it is the indwelling that activates our vital organs to
perform its functions
Mundane
is to acknowledge that it is the indwelling that controls the fire of digestion
that digests four types of food stuff – Bhagavad Gita 15.14
Mundane
is to acknowledge that it is the indwelling that activates the five prana
Mundane
is to acknowledge the indwelling is unknown…no one knows how it does these
activities for our survival in the material world
Mundane
needs to understand that the process of self-realization can only start from inward
to outward.
Mundane
needs to understand the futility of material existence and want to give it up.
Mundane
needs to understand whether to transcend from this mundane existence to a
transcendental state is self-discretion…
To summarise, a mundane should realise that human life is a misery at every step, confronted with dangers due to the propensity of the soul to lord it over material nature through the deluding power of false ego, injecting the concepts of I and mine, having lured by the unsurmountable illusory potential of Maya (at least in theory) to get entangled perpetually through the attractions of opposite sex, progeny and wealth remaining in the trap of material existence, the way out of this trap is self-realization through knowledge and surrender through devotional service to the Supreme Lord.
The subtle variations of intrepretations by great acharyas of various sampradayas/schools and the many liberated souls, combined with our own understandings of their philosophies that give rise to brainstorming with meaningful interesting discussions thus clearing our doubts and ignorance and broadens our insights.
All of them are identified by subtle variations and even have sub sects in them having further subtle differences in their main tenets.
For example, Sri Sampradaya is branched into two subsects – the Northeners (Vadagalai – the sect i belong to by birth 🙂 ) – the progressive, and the Southerners (Thengalai) – the more orthodox…
You may excuse my limited knowledge of variations between various manifestation of Lord Krishna/Lord Maha Vishnu/Lord Naaraayanaa and the interchange in terms of name/usage – Lila-incarnations, incarnations, expansions, primary expansions, secondary expansions, expansions of an expansion, portions, plenary portions, portions of plenary portions etc.
But the ultimate thing to note is that they are all specially empowered beings designated with a specific purpose during the course of their descent into the material plane and subsequent ascent into the spiritual plane once their mission/purpose is accomplished.
They are Nitya (https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5717/nitya), determined to bless us jiva souls to also to transcend/ascent to their plane and it is up to us to utilize the teachings and follow their path (in whatever ideology that one may find comfortable to follow because of their modes of material nature -apart from the above four , not to ignore / forget the Advaita school of thought propounded by Aadi Shankaracharya, an empowered expansion of Lord Shiva/Rudra as mentioned in the Padma Purana and Shiva Purana, refutations of this school of thought is the primary factor behind the tenets of the vaishnava sampradayas that came into existence/prominence after the ascent and descent of Aadi Shankara).
It’s only the spiritual evolution and the realisation of the impermenance, ever-changing and ever-transforming attributes of the material universe and the need to transcend beyond it that is of primary importance.
This concludes my 150th blog post!
Note: Regarding transcendence, one may refer to this amazing, mind-blowing book – Transcendence – My Spiritual experiences with Pramukh Swamiji and be blown over by it! – A dialogue between The People’s President, The Missile Man, above all a great human being to have walked on this earth, Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam(1931-2015) and Pramukh Swamiji(1921-2016) – the acharya from the lineage of Bhagwan Swami Narayan school of Vaishnava Sampradaya – the treatise Vachanamruta being the bible of the teachings of this Sampradaya, and the establishment of Akshardham temples all over the world under his leadership, particularly the amazing Akshardham temple at Noida, New Delhi, India.
These are the books that has the capability to alter the course of our thought process for good!
Unknown
cannot be known by the knowledge of material sciences
Unknown
is unknown to be attained by the mundane
Unknown
is the driving force behind everything
Unknown
is unknown to the body
Unknown
is unknown to the senses
Unknown
is unknown to the mind
Unknown
is unknown to the intellect
Unknown
is unknown to the intelligence
Unknown
is unknown to the ego
Unknown
is unknown to thoughts feelings and actions
Unknown
is transcendental
Unknown
is beyond the modes of material nature
Unknown
is enigmatic
But…
Unknown
is to be known
Unknown
is supreme consciousness
Unknown
is eternal everlasting
Unknown
is to be attained
Understanding
towards that unknown is real knowledge, all else is nescience
Unknown
cannot be attained by speculation jugglery and pseudo-mysticism
Unknown
can be attained only by directing and listening to our own inner voice by shutting
out the external noises
Unknown can be obtained only by solitary pursuits and through purification of body mind and intellect by thoroughly understanding the transient nature of material existence and slowly getting detested detached through knowledge of revealed spiritual literatures from a spiritual master (alive or not alive taking the master and the matter by heart)
Unknown can be attained only through tolerance of bodily and mental pain inflicted through the three sources 1. Adhyatmik 2. Adhibhautik 3. Adhidaivik ((miseries inflicted by the body and mind itself, those inflicted by other living entities, and natural disturbances).
Unknown
can be attained only through alignment and in cooperation with mother nature
and not by senseless exploitation
Unknown
can be only realised when we understand there is a supreme controller who is
the source of everything
Unknown
can be attained only through surrender to that supreme, totally understanding
our helplessness in the hands of material nature and the illusory energy of the
Lord
We
cannot get to that unknown residing in our heart…
Only
the unknown has to be made to activate our intellect to our pursuits
towards the absolute truth by directing our mind inwards through surrender and proper
application of intelligence attained by the mercy of the Lord
Unknown
is to be understood to be already doing its designated duty and functions in a
subtle manner by dwelling in the body of every living entity
Unknown
is the one that activates the consciousness to awaken ourselves from sleep
Unknown
is the one that activates our vital organs to perform its functions
Unknown
is the one that controls the fire of digestion that digests four types of food
stuff – Bhagavad Gita 15.14
Unknown
is the own that activates the five prana
Unknown
is unknown…no one knows how it does these activities for our survival in the
material world
Unknown needs to be reached to give directions to elevate the atma to eternal bliss by making the process to start from inward to outward, while it has been the reverse all through – atma is being endowed with minute intelligence and discretion – either to align with the permanent supreme reality or trying to dominate the material nature and in the process forget its original identity and get entangled in material existence.
Unknown
is the eternal well-wisher that gives directions only to the atma residing in
the form of a human body that thoroughly understands the futility of material
existence and want to give it up.
Human
soul is endowed with all faculties in full strength the five sense organs the
five organs of action the mind the intelligence and a highly evolved
consciousness for discrimination.
You
see the answer is already there…
Mind
is the best friend as well as the best enemy – Bhagavad Gita 6.6
To
control the mind is more difficult than controlling the wind – Bhagavad Gita 6.34
…but controlling the mind controls everything
Controlling
the two basic urges of tongue and genitals controls the mind
This
is just a hint…
Whether we continue our existence in the category of other species of life and remain in four-folds of misery (birth, death, old age, disease) or to elevate ourselves to the highest destination is our own discretion…
This
is the inference that is to be gathered from the Puranjana saga in Srimad
Bhagavatham – Canto 4 chapters 25-29.
To summarise, Human life is a misery at every step, confronted with dangers due to the propensity of the soul to lord it over material nature through the deluding power of false ego, injecting the concepts of I and mine, having lured by the unsurmountable illusory potential of Maya (at least in theory) to get entangled perpetually through the attractions of opposite sex, progeny and wealth thereby remaining in the trap of material existence perpetually.
A self-realised soul understands this and sees every difficult moment as a step to God realisation to move to next step towards the ultimate purpose of our existence.
Sage Narada describes about himself on his earlier life to Ved Vyasa: ”I don’t have any caretaker except my mother who was a maid-servant, when she had to quit the world to a snake bite when I was a mere child of 5 years, I took It as a special mercy of the Lord and decided to travel North to realise the Absolute Truth!” (How much of us can do that? That is why Narada is Narada and we are we!) – Srimad Bhagavatham 1.6.6 – 1.6.10
The supreme
Lord has a purpose for all of us depending on our pre-disposition and our
spiritual evolution continues that way. Even a small step in this direction has
a permanent effect and can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear. (Bhagavad Gita 2.40) and (Bhagavad Gita 6.40)
This special
mercy of the Lord is beautifully summarised by Srila Prabhupada:
“Confidential
devotees of the Lord see in every step a benedictory direction of the Lord.
What is considered to be an odd or difficult moment in the mundane sense is
accepted as special mercy of the Lord. Mundane prosperity is a kind of material
fever, and by the grace of the Lord the temperature of this material fever is
gradually diminished, and spiritual health is obtained step by step. Mundane people
misunderstand it.” – Srila Prabhupada purports to Srimad
Bhagavatham – 1.6.10
Notes:
Avijnaata is the main character behind the scenes in the Puranjana Saga – the Supersoul that comes in the end of the Puranjana Saga, being the observer all through, as the king Puranjana continues his material existence and becomes a woman in his next birth due to his own injunctions, and when he begins to lament for his (her) husband’s death, Avijnata makes a grand appearance and explains to Puranjana(who is a well-situated woman full of good character), the futility of what (s)he has been doing and undergoing all through. That passage alone is enough for us to awaken our dormant spiritual consciousness – Srimad Bhagavatham – Canto 4 – Chapter 28 – Puranjana becomes a woman in the next life – Slokas 51-65.
It Is also to be noted that Avijnaata (Name 483) is a name of Lord Vishnu as mentioned in Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam. The meaning is “One whom not a single person has realized fully” which is condensed to a single word as “Unknown”
Puranjana Saga can also be considered to be the explanation of concepts and is a commentary of what is mentioned in Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 15 (Verses 7-11)
As
mentioned in The
Thrashing Incident, I now mention the conversation that took place between
the father and the kid(s) after the incident on the way home. For brevity, I
use the following abbreviations to refer to them.
Mr.F – The Father.
Master EK or Simply EK – The elder
kid
Master JK or Simply JK – The junior
kid
EK: I just observed what you have been doing and I am really shocked by your behavior and reaction to that man (I mean buffalo 😦 ). Your reaction only reminds me of the similar situation from the movie Baasha:
Subtitles: Brother, what is this? He has beaten you so much. You haven’t even reacted a bit and haven’t shown any emotion at all and got yourself beaten like this? Even a cat will react as self-defence and will show some aggression under these circumstances. Have you not been beaten anyone before? Will you ever get angry? (The brother – Superstar Rajinikanth laughs sarcastically and walks away from the scene…)
I want to
know the reason for this behavior of yours. See Master JK was crying so much
that It was very difficult for me to console him. I thought one of your
thrashings would have helped the situation.
Mr.F: (smiling) Do you remember I having ever beaten anyone of you anytime? It was my mistake first. I should have used careful choice of words in the first place in front of these intoxicated people. I should have expected how deranged people will react under least provocation in these circumstances.
Mr.F: I already told the story of The logic of the mouse and the snake to your little brother sometime back while walking on the way to his school. You may hear that story from him. That could make you understand the logic of the situation.
Mr.F: There are several possible ways to react to the same situation. 1. Confront him head on and give a thrashing. 2. Call the police 3. Gather your friends to confront if you are weak. There are a lot more uncivilized options but that is not worth going into 🙂
Mr.F: You should realise as a science student – The Newton’s third law, “For every action, there is a equal and opposite reaction.” So you can easily think about further consequences of these actions that would bring and the subsequent unpredictable chain reactions, that is again not worth thinking about because they are all imaginary situations running in the mind that doesn’t have any reality!
Mr.F: But one thing that is surely going to happen, a waste of lot of time and our limited valuable energy for this useless endeavour. As per The logic of the mouse and the snake, our position was weak in the sense that, that person was many times physically stronger than me and the gathered crowd was also highly insensitive. Under the situation, confrontation is not going to help, only logic and common sense will help! The immediate need was conflict resolution and get out of that place ASAP and one has to compromise. In his animalistic state, I am 100% sure that I could expect nothing of that sort from him because of the obscenities that emanated from his mouth before the thrashing that you cannot manage to stand even for a moment! if you know its real meaning 🙂 (Don’t ask me the meaning of them (LOL). You will learn it anyway in your college (hostel) from your friends and well-wishers 🙂 )
Mr.F: Every person goes up or goes down only by his own actions. No external influence is required! I know you also have endured similar situations in your school by actions of bullies and they have become your best friends now. So you need not be surprised by this.
EK: (smiling) 🙂 But we are kids. We will fight for sometime and get united the next minute. I thought adults are not like that because generally they are more prejudiced and conditioned and sense of rivaly, enmity and revenge is much more dominant!
Mr.F: You
can’t say that. A really matured person is a kid at heart. You should read
biographies of great personalities like Dr. Abdul Kalam, Dr. Nelson Mandela,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. etc., how much they have endured violence for a
higher cause.
EK: Yes, I totally
agree with you. I have to improve my reading habit and read more useful things.
JK: Yes, and you have to tell all these stories to me 🙂 you know I love listening to stories.
PS: The acronyms EK and JK have been chosen after careful thought and for obvious reasons. Anyone would aspire their sons to become someone like Master.E.K or JK THE Master. (You can say Mr.F as Mr.Father, the Mr.Fool (LOL) )
“It is the duty of every spiritual student to reduce one fool in this Creation before he dies and that is oneself. He should also see that there is one more wise man on this Earth, and that is also oneself…” —- Master. E.K (Acknowledgment to this quote from the tag line of the blog – Hints to the Ancient Wisdom
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu said: O demigods, fulfilling one’s own interests is so important that one may even have to make a truce with one’s enemies. For the sake of one’s self-interest, one has to act according to the logic of the snake and the mouse.” – Srimad Bhagavatham – 8.6.20
What
is this “logic of the snake and the mouse” and why this had to be invoked
by the master of masters of all Acharyas, Lord Vishnu to the devas?
Surely, this has got to be the master of master of all raja-tantras or political brilliance of the highest standard to outwit the most strong and formidable opponent!
The
strength of the devas reduced drastically and the
demons/asuras taking full advantage of it defeated the devas and took the
control of the entire universe.
The
devas, having been driven out of their own residence, approached the supreme
father of material universe Lord Brahma for help, who in turn approached his
father, Supreme Lord Vishnu and offered prayers for assistance.
Lord
Vishnu mentioned churning the milk ocean to produce nectar that would make them
immortal is the only solution.
He
asked them to sign a truce with the demons following “the logic of the mouse and the
snake” because a massive physical labour is required to undertake this
task and because the demons are in the rajasic
mode of nature (Mode of Passion), they are very suitable for this purpose…
Thus
the concept of signing an armistice with an ultimate enemy to achieve the
ultimate purpose outwitting and utilise the resources of the enemy to achieve
one’s own mission is the logic of the mouse and the snake.
The
logic (story) goes like this:
Once a snake got into an earthen pot and was relaxing in it.
A naughty but very clever mouse running around the pot jumped and
fell into the pot accidentally and in the process closed the lid.
Now both the mouse and the snake got caught inside the pot.
The mouse got terribly afraid of the snake and pleaded not to eat It.,
mouse being natural food for the snake.
The mouse said to the snake: “Both of us are now trapped inside
this pot and so we both of us will be captured and killed!”
The mouse continued: “If you will not eat me now, I have a plan by
which both of us can overcome this danger and get out of this pot!”
The snake thought: “I am anyway going to outwit this mouse and will
eat it when I am out of this pot. So for the time-being, let me agree to
this mouse’s proposal and cooperate with him to get out of this imminent
danger.”
The snake said to the mouse: “Let it be so!”
The mouse said: “Okay. Sit tall and raise your hood so that I can
climb and sit on top of it. And remember this: You should close your
eyes and not open it till I say so, Otherwise this plan will not
work out and we will continue to be trapped inside the pot!”
Since the snake also wanted to make a desperate escape, it had no
other alternative.
The mouse, very happy, having convinced the snake about his plan,
climbed to the top of the snake and sat on it and situated itself close to
the lid.
The mouse said to the snake: “Thank you very much for your
cooperation. Just close your eyes for about 10 seconds and both of us will
be done!””
The snake said: “Okay, make it fast. We don’t have much time left!”
The mouse with all his strength, jumped high, able to pierce the
lid and escape to the outside world through that hole and started to run
towards its hole as fast as possible.
The snake opened his eyes and was happy to notice the hole, also
escaped from the pot.
The snake now thought about catching that mouse for prey, watched
it running at a distance and started to chase it.
By the time, this realisation came to the snake, the mouse was fast
enough to reach its safe haven!
The snake standing outside the rat hole said to the mouse: “Can you
please come out of this rat hole for a minute? I want to thank you very
much for what you have done to me and I have a gift for you!”
The mouse said to the snake: “I very much know your plan. We are
natural enemies and I am sure if I come out now, you will surely eat me
because we are in our natural environment now. I only asked your
assistance inside the pot because I was in dual danger that time. One was
yourself and the other the owner of the pot who is sure to kill me when he
find me inside. It’s only out of providence that my plan also provided the
escape route for you! That truce is now over and we both are now back to our
natural habitat.”
The snake realised this mouse is too smart for him and so decided
to let him go to search for a different prey.
The
devas thus executed this plan to perfection in the Samudra
Mandhan (Churning of Milk Ocean for
Nectar) described in the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatham to regain their lost
glory.
Having
been asked to accept to whatever be the demands made by the demons during the
churning process by the Supreme Lord Vishnu – from the start of the churning
process – to accept the tail portion of the snake Vasuki (since tail was
considered inauspicious and head auspicious according to the demons) and leave
the head to the demons to accede to the various outputs during the churning process
like Vāruṇī, the lotus-eyed goddess who controls drunkards, a horse named
Uccaiḥśravā, which was as white as the moon etc. to the demons.
The
devas clearly realised that it is the final product of churning – the nectar – is what they ultimately
want and the intermediate products are just transformations and hence there is
not much value associated with them.
So they are happy to let them go, but when the jug of nectar was snatched by the demons from the hands of Dhavanthari, the expansion of Lord Vishnu as God of Medicine, the devas became morose.
The Supreme Lord Vishnu, to fulfil His promise, appeared as Mohini-murti incarnation, bewildered the demons by creating a quarrel among them, retrieved the nectar from the demons and distributed the entire nectar to the devas.
This entire episode – “the logic of the snake and the mouse” or the churning of the milk ocean for nectar by devas and asuras is best summarised by these last two verses of Srimad Bhagavatham in Canto 8: Chapter 9 – The Lord Incarnates as Mohinī-Mūrti.
“The
place, the time, the cause, the purpose, the activity and the ambition were all
the same for both the demigods and the demons, but the demigods achieved one
result and the demons another. Because the demigods are always under the
shelter of the dust of the Lord’s lotus feet, they could very easily drink the
nectar and get its result. The demons, however, not having sought shelter at
the lotus feet of the Lord, were unable to achieve the result they desired.”
– Srimad
Bhagavatham 8.9.28
“In human society there are various activities performed for the protection of one’s wealth and life by one’s words, one’s mind and one’s actions, but they are all performed for one’s personal or extended sense gratification with reference to the body. All these activities are baffled because of being separate from devotional service. But when the same activities are performed for the satisfaction of the Lord, the beneficial results are distributed to everyone, just as water poured on the root of a tree is distributed throughout the entire tree.” – Srimad Bhagavatham 8.9.29
Spirituality is the only way to solace 
