courtesy : featurepics.com
MOTHER
Ocean of love churned*
Our ambrosia Mother
Rises with a smile
Tender most and hard
She’s a wondrous gift to us
By doting Nature
Childhood’s paradise
Is only her creation
We stay fearless
You can tell which girls
Lack mothers by a simple
Look of their hair
Precious possession
Of every living being
Pawns her life for us
* The Churning of the Ocean
Source : Wikipedia
Hindu mythology contains a story about the churning of the Cosmic Ocean in
order to obtain
Amrita
(Ambrosia) - the nectar of immortal life. At the suggestion of
Vishnu the gods, (
devas)
and demons (
asuras)
churn the primeval ocean in order to obtain
Amrita which will
guarantee them immortality. To churn the ocean they used the Serpent King,
Vasuki, for their
churning-string. For a churning pole they use
Mount
Mandara placed on the back of a Great Tortoise - the
Kurma Avatar of Vishnu.
As the gods and demons churned the sea, a terrible poison issued out of its
depths which enveloped the universe. The devas and asuras approach
Shiva who took the
poison into his throat and swallowed it. Shocked by his act, Goddess Parvati
strangled his neck and hence managed to stop it in his neck and prevent it from
spreading. However, the poison was so potent that it changed the colour of his
neck to blue, thereby earning him the name of Neelakanta (blue-throated one).
[3]
When the Amrita finally emerged along with several other treasures the devas
and asuras fought over it. However Vishnu in the form of
Mohini the
enchantress manages to lure the asuras into handing over the Amrita to her,
which she then distributes to the devas.
Rahu, an asura,
disguises himself as a deva and tries to drink some Amrita himself.
Surya (the sun-god)
and
Chandra
(the moon-god) alert Vishnu to this deception. Vishnu then decapitates Rahu
just as he is about to swallow the nectar, leaving only his head immortal.
According to Bhagavata, outcome of the churning of Ksheerasagara is
Halahalam (terribly destructive poison), Amrita (nectar) with Dhanvantari
(physician of Gods), Lakshmi (Goddess of Riches), Jyestha (Goddess of Poverty),
Chandra (the Moon), a white elephant named Airavata, a horse named
Uchchaisrava, Kalpavriksha (the tree that yields whatever is desired).
The Churning of the Cosmic Ocean (the Milky Way) is told in several ancient
texts, notably in the
Valmiki's Ramayana Canto 45
[4] and
in the
Mahabharata.
[5]
For : Real Toads
My inspiration was : “You can tell which girls lack mothers by the look of
their hair...”
&
For : Haiku Heights
Day 29 Sept.
Prompt : Mother
