On the occasion of Vaikunta Ekadasi, what is the lesson we must remember and strive for? Bhagawan lovingly explains the inner significance of a Puranic story!
That legend of Samudramanthana (churning of the ocean) has great value for you, as you too have to churn the ocean of your heart and win the nectar for yourself. The legend is only a reminder. The heart full of satwa guna (purity) is the ocean of milk. The steady contemplation of the Divine (manana), either as your own reality or as the ideal to be reached, is the Mandara mountain planted in it as the churning rod. Vasuki, the serpent that was wound around the churning rod, represents the senses, emitting poisonous fumes during the process of churning. The rope is held by the good and the bad impulses and both struggle with the churning process; eager for the results which each has set its heart on. The grace of God is the Tortoise Incarnation, for the Lord Himself comes to the rescue, once He knows that you are earnestly seeking the secret of Immortality. He comes silently and unobserved as the tortoise did, holding the process of manana unimpaired and serving as the steady base of all spiritual practice. Many things emerge from the mind, when churned, but the wise wait patiently for the appearance of the guarantor of Immortality, and seize upon it with avidity. That is the lesson of this legend.
– Divine Discourse, Jan 13, 1965.
