p173 _
-chap- _
toc-1 _
p174w _
toc-2 _
+chap+ _
p175
----- bhagap174.html
by His help got the better of the Asuras. This is the churning of
the Ocean of Milk. It averted a crisis and is therefore a great event
in the history of the Universe.
The Asura element could not be altogether wiped away. For
the Deva or spiritual nature evolves out of Asura or selfish and
material nature. Unselfishness grows out of selfishness, spirituality
rises out of materiality.
In the act of churning, the Devas could not do without the
Asuras. Churning itself, implies the action and reaction of two
contending forces. " Make peace with them, as long as you are not
strong yourselves." The compromise of the Devas with the Asuras
is the development of spiritual faculties out of the personal element
in man. It is the grafting of higher Manas on lower Manas. The
element of mind is in the Asuras as well as in the Devas. But the
Asuric or lower mind thinks of self as separate from other selves.
The Daivic or higher mind breaks through the trammels of personality
and finds oneness all round.
To use a better expression, we shall say higher self and lower
self, rather than self and non-self.
Jivas are carried on in their course of life evolution by the
force of past tendencies, and nature unaided produces the personal
man. But when the past tendencies are exhausted, there is nothing
to keep on the Jivas in their course of evolution.
Kurma comes to the help of humanity at this stage. He gives
a new power to men, the power of discrimination. With this power
men become free agents, and they become responsible for their
actions. They then generate new Karma for themselves, which takes
them through infinite births and becomes a most potent factor in
their future evolution.
The three Purushas have three Oceans as their correspond-
ences. The first ocean (Karana) gives the materials of the Jiva body.
The Second ocean (Garbhoda), gives the germs of all Jivas. The
third (Kshira) is the ocean of Jiva evolution. This ocean is churned
for the spiritual evolution of Jivas, and it yields all that is necessary
for that evolution. Vishnu himself appears as Kurma and becomes
the sustaining force of that evolution.
It is a Kalpic revolution. Vasuki sustains the earth and its
inhabitants for one Kalpic period. The thousand hoods represent
the thousand Maha yugas of every Kalpa. The Asuras held the
mouth end of the serpent king and the Devas held the tail end. And
[[174]]
p173 _
-chap- _
toc-1 _
p174w _
toc-2 _
+chap+ _
p175
v?