“Thank you, Rama. Does his name mean anything?”
“When I was in school, Nickolas, I was taught
about a powerful king who built Angkor Wat.
Suryavarman II was a great leader who ruled
during the first half of the 12th century and my
father told me that Suryavarman was named after
him.”
|
Angkor Wat - Built by Suryavarman II
photo by:
Colin Payne |
After talking for awhile, another monk entered the room
and handed Rama some salve for Nick’s forehead.
He was feeling tired. Saying thank you, a
few minutes later Nick laid back as Rama turned
around and went outside. His eyes
growing heavy, Nickolas soon drifted to sleep,
questions about Vishnu, Buddha and Christ
waiting to be answered. It would be a couple of
hours before he woke up.
____________________________
Back in his vegetable garden, Rama thought about
the American’s question. Again his mind took him
back to Angkor Wat. Lord Vishnu was
everywhere. That was because Angkor Wat
had been built to honor Lord Vishnu and generations
of early Cambodians had worshipped Him as God—long
before all the Buddhist came.
Rama recalled the day he had asked his father
the meaning of the stone statues. Some of the
older boys had told him that Vishnu was churning
an Ocean of Milk. You can imagine how such a
statement would play within a child’s mind.
Later that morning Rama asked his father where
the Ocean of Milk was, so he could go see it.
Ajita took his son by his hand and led him to
the front of the temple and up a stone
stairway. After finding a place to sit they
both looked down at the destruction below. The
Phimeanakas Temple was slowly being
ravaged by the marching armies of time and
Mother Nature. Smiling warmly at his son, Rama’s
father began to speak.
“Rama, it is only natural to wonder about the
stories that these statues are telling. The
Churning of the Ocean of Milk is the
greatest.”
Rubbing his son’s head, Ajita continued. “Rama,
Phimeanakas was my favorite place to play
when I was a small boy. I brought you here
because this is the exact spot where I first
heard the story from my father. Now I will tell it to
you.
|
Demons and Demigods Holding a Divine Snake
to Churn
The Ocean of Milk
photo by:
Kevin King |
|
Demons and Demigods: Churning The Ocean
of Milk
photo by:
John Campbell
|
“Rama, you know how soldiers come here every now and
then looking for the bad men. In the heavens
there are also good and bad men. A long time
ago, these divine beings were fighting each other. The
good men were called demigods. The bad men were
called demons. Both the demigods and the demons
were fierce warriors.
“Even though the demigods were very strong, they
were being defeated by the demons. Besides being
defeated on the battlefield they had become
weakened in other ways.”
“What do you mean, father?”
“Son, one of the most powerful mystics in heaven
is Durvasa Muni. One day he gave his
flower garland to Indra, who was the King of
Heaven and one of the leaders of the demigods.
“But sadly, sometimes men of great power become
puffed up and forget how to act properly. When
Indra was given the flower garland, instead of
thanking Durvasa Muni, he put it on the tusk of
his elephant who then trampled on it. This made
Durvasa Muni very angry at the demigods so he
placed a curse on them for being disrespectful.
In this way the demigods were in a very
precarious position, having been defeated both
in battle and now, in spirit.
“Rama, you are probably wondering why the
demigods, who are suppose to be righteous, acted
in such a bad way. In fact, son, when you learn
other stories about Lord Vishnu you will see
that the demigods made other mistakes. Even so,
Rama, although the demigods are not perfect, the
most important thing that sets them apart from
the demons is that they never forget God.
Ultimately, whenever they find themselves in
great danger, the demigods turn to Him for
protection.
“Now I am going to tell you about someone who is
very important and who played a vital role in
the churning of the Ocean of Milk. At the
dawn of creation, the
first person that Lord Vishnu created was Brahma. Because he was the first, Brahma is also
the most famous and honored demigod. So
naturally, when the demigods realized how the
demons were about to destroy them, they went to
Brahma and explained to him what was happening.
“After hearing about their plight, Brahma began to
pray to his Father. He then gathered together all the
demigods and along with Shiva took them
to the Ocean of Milk. Do you understand the story so
far?”
“Yes father, but who is Shiva?”
“Rama, soon you will learn about Lord Shiva. He is a
very powerful god.”
“What happened next, father?”
“In the middle of the Ocean of Milk is an island
where Lord Vishnu lives. Standing on the shore and looking toward the island, Brahma started to recite
many wonderful prayers to his father. In all, Brahma
offered the Lord 24 prayers. At the end of the last
prayer—so brilliant that at first the demigods
couldn’t even see Him—Lord Vishnu appeared before
them.”
“Rama, you and I can only see the stone statues of Lord
Vishnu but what the demigods saw in person was much
more wonderful. The Lord
was
dressed with
yellow garments and His
entire body was attractively decorated. They saw His
beautiful smile and earrings, and His head crowned by a
helmet bedecked with valuable jewels. Around His
waist He wore a belt.
They
saw
bangles on His arms, a necklace, and ankle
bells. He also wore a beautiful flower garland and
carried His personal weapons—His
disc and club.”
After pausing for a few moments, Ajita continued.
“Gazing upon the beautiful form of his father,
Brahma and the others immediately fell to the
ground. Then
the Lord spoke in a voice that sounded like deep
thunder. He told the demigods they needed to make a
truce with the demons for the specific purpose of
churning the Ocean of Milk. Doing so would produce a
delicious nectar and whoever drank it would become
immortal.
“The Lord said that churning the ocean would produce
many things, including a deadly poison. However, the
Lord told the demigods not to fear. Later when the
demigods approached the king of the demons—Bali
Maharaja—about establishing a truce and making the
nectar, the demons falsely agreed. Actually, the
demons planned to steal the nectar from the demigods
as soon as it was produced, giving them all immortal
life and certain victory over their eternal enemies.
“Soon after making this agreement, both the demons
and the demigods worked very hard. Together with
their mystical powers they uprooted the
mountain—named, Mandara—that was made of
solid gold. They were going to use the mountain to
stir the
Ocean of Milk. But
because the mountain was so
heavy, Lord Vishnu had to help them carry it to the
ocean. This was an easy task for the all-powerful
Lord. He carried the mountain on His shoulder.
“Then Garuda, the huge bird that carries the Lord on
his back, removed the golden mountain from the
Lord’s shoulder and placed it in the ocean.
“In order to spin the mountain and churn the Ocean of
Milk, the demons and the demigods asked Vasuki—the Snake
King—to wrap himself around the
mountain. With the demons pulling Vasuki from one
end and the demigods pulling the snake from the
other end, their plan was to churn the ocean and
make the eternal nectar. They promised Vasuki some
of the divine potion if he would help them.
“Unfortunately, because the mountain was so heavy,
as they started to churn the Ocean of Milk, it
immediately sank.
Not to fear, when this happened Lord Vishnu turned
himself into a huge tortoise and on his back, lifted the mountain
to the surface. The rotating motion of the
mountain felt wonderful on His hard shell—exactly
like the pleasure one gets when someone scratches
your back.”
Rama smiled as he remembered how his father then
reached out and scratched his back.
His father continued. “When the demons and demigods
saw the mountain, again they began to work very hard. Even the Lord helped. The snake,
however, being pulled back and forth so quickly,
started to breathe out smoke and fire which soon made the demons and demigods
very sick. Once again Lord
Vishnu came to the rescue, this time in the form of
a huge rain storm which cleared the air.
“Continuing their hard work, still they could not
churn the ocean fast enough. Seeing this, Lord
Vishnu grabbed the snake with His strong arms
and churned the ocean so fast that all the fish came to
the surface.
“Then the deadly poison that the Lord had mentioned suddenly appeared.”
Looking at his son, Ajita reminded him of his
earlier question about Shiva.
“When this happened, Lord Vishnu and the demigods
went to see Lord Shiva. After offering him nice
prayers they told him about the deadly poison. Shiva
turned to his wife, Bhavani, and reminded her about
the glories of acting benevolent to relieve the
suffering of others. Thus speaking, Shiva asked his
wife to let him drink the poison in order to save
everyone. Bhavani agreed and with his mystical
powers, Shiva condensed all the poison into the palm
of his hand and began to drink. Although the poison
was very deadly, the only effect on Lord Shiva was a
blue line that appeared on his neck.
“With the poison no longer a threat to the demons
and the demigods, once again they took up the task
of churning the Ocean of Milk. It was then that many
wonderful things began to magically appear.
“One of the first things that the ocean produced was a
surabhi cow, whose milk, yogurt, ghee, dung and
urine are used by the sages in ritualistic
ceremonies.
“Next, a beautiful white horse appeared. Bali
Maharaja took the horse for
his own.
“Then many elephants were produced by the churning.
Also a very beautiful gem appeared out of the
ocean. Lord Vishnu took it and hung it around His
neck. The demons and demigods then saw parijata
flowers float to the surface of the milk. These
flowers are used to decorate the celestial planets.
“After the flowers appeared, very beautiful women were
produced.”
Looking at his son,
Ajita said, “Rama, remember the stone
carvings of the Apsaras—the beautiful damsel that
we looked at last
week?”
|
Image of a heavenly Apsara
-
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
photo by:
Kevin King |
“Yes Father, I remember looking at them with you.”
“Some of those are carvings of the heavenly damsels that
came out of the
Ocean of Milk. Then, right after the
apsaras were produced, another beautiful
woman appeared. Her name is Lakshmi.
|
Lakshmi: The Goddess of Fortune
Painting By: Raja Ravi Varma |
“She is the Goddess of Fortune and the embodiment of
beauty, grace and charm. Upon seeing her unique
beauty, the King of Heaven, Lord Indra, offered her
a jeweled covered seat. The sacred rivers in their
human forms brought her pure water and golden pots.
The earth, personified, brought her many herbs.
Everyone worshiped her including the elephants,
clouds and sages. Flowers, jewels, beautiful
clothing, ornaments, earrings, and other nice things
were given to her.
“Lakshmi then looked around for a suitable husband.
Unable to find one among the demons and demigods,
she turned to Lord Vishnu and accepted Him as her
husband. She placed a flower garland of fresh lotus
flowers on the Lord’s shoulders. Bumblebees looking
for honey surrounded the flower garland. When the
demigods saw the Lord accept Lakshmi as His wife,
beautiful music and dancing greeted the Divine
couple. From the heavens above, flowers showered
down upon them and
they could hear wonderful prayers.
Lakshmi-Narayana
(Vishnu)
|
“Unable to attract Lakshmi for their own pleasure,
the demons became very agitated. Then out of the
churning milk appeared the goddess, Varuni, who is
sought after by those attached to strong drink and
intoxication. The King of the Demons took the young
girl. This made them very happy.
“Still churning the Ocean of Milk with great
fury—Lord Vishnu—in the form of a young man suddenly appeared
and was very strong, young,
and handsome. In His hands He carried a large jug
filled to the top with the nectar of eternal life.
However, even though He was very strong, by the will
of Providence the demons were able to steal the
jug.
“When the demigods saw this disaster again they
turned to God for help. Always protecting those who
approach Him, the Supreme Lord entered the hearts of
the demons and made them argue amongst themselves as
to who would take the first drink. Because of the
fierce argument that ensued, none of them tasted the
nectar. During the height of their fighting the Lord
transformed Himself into His incarnation of a woman.
Her name was Mohini and because of her
incomparable beauty she captivated the demons who
became like soft clay in her hands.
“With her smiles and shyness, She set into motion a
colossal trick to take back the jug of nectar and
give it to the demigods.
“Desiring Mohini’s favor, the demons asked her to
settle their argument. She consented and the demons
gave her the nectar, allowing her to disperse it
however she saw fit.
“After fasting and other rituals, Mohini had the
demons and demigods sit in separate rows across
from each other. First she approached the demons,
offering them only her sweet words. She then
appeared before the demigods and gave them the
nectar.
“One of the demons, who was called Rahu, spotted the
trick and disguised himself as a demigod. Sitting
with them, he had just barely taken a sip of the
nectar when the sun and moon gods revealed Rahu’s
true identity. Quickly, Mohini used Her disc and
severed Rahu’s head from the rest of his body.
“However, because the nectar had touched Rahu’s
lips, although his body lay dead on the floor, his
head remained alive. Brahma then took Rahu’s head
and turned it into the planet that causes both the
sun and the moon to eclipse.
“Now, my Son, you know the story told by
these stone statues.”
“Thank you for telling me the story father. Now I
can tell it to my friends.”
“But don’t forget—there is a great lesson to be
learned from this story. You see, both the demons
and the demigods had desired the nectar but only
the demigods succeeded in obtaining it. Despite
their foolish actions, their folly never left them
completely blind. Whenever trouble rears its ugly
head they always turn to the Lord for help. The
demons, however, were cheated out of their share.
The Lord only blesses those who take shelter of Him.
The demons hate God. They never take shelter of Him
because they deny His existence.
Therefore, the demons were thwarted in their
attempts to steal the pot of nectar.
“Rama, this is just one of the countless stories
about Lord Vishnu. As you grow older you will learn
many more.”
