We have already seen that the ascent of spirit commenced in the
Vaivasvata Manvantara. If the fourteenth Manvantara or the second half
of the Seventh Round he left out of consideration, as the Manvantara of
Dissolution or Pralaya, the middle of the remaining 13 Manvantaras will
be in the Vaivasvata Manvantara. But the ascent could not commence
without preparation. That preparation was made in the Chakshusha
Manvantara or during the latter half of the Third Round.
Sri or Lakshmi is the Satvic energy of preservation. This energy was so
much overpowered by Materiality, that she was not to be found in
Triloki. The spiritual forces, the Devas, lost life and energy. The
Asuras were at the height of their power. But as the ascending arc was
near at hand, the Devas were promised Amrita _i.e._ immortality for the
remaining part of the Kalpa. But that Amrita was to be obtained, the arc
of spiritual evolution was to be raised by the churning of the ocean of
Milk.
The ocean of Milk does not appertain to Jambu Dwipa, but it is the ocean
of Saka Dwipa. The seven oceans are transformations of Prakriti,
differing in the admixture of Satva, Rajas and Tamas and determining the
character of the globe they surround. Vishnu, as the Third Purusha, is
the divine source of evolution in every Jiva. The seat of that Vishnu is
the ocean of Milk, the ocean where Satva prevails.
It is Vishnu who from His seat in the Ocean of Milk sends down Pranic
Energy and the mineral becomes a vegetable. He sends down the power of
perception and then the power of conception and the vegetable becomes an
animal and at last a man. Throughout this course of evolution, there is
a development of the self element in us. There is no idea of self in the
mineral or in the vegetable. It faintly asserts itself or rather makes
an effort to assert itself in the animal kingdom. The early history of
humanity is the development of the selfish element in him. The Jiva has
two sides in himself and non-self. The self side is caused by limitation
due to his own senses They put him in contact with the outside world,
and make him a centre of sense perceptions. He becomes lost entirely in
the sense products, which form a world by themselves. The non-self side
of a Jiva, is his spiritual nature. He begins with this spiritual
nature. But the development of selfishness eclipses this nature, the
true, the real nature of Jiva, and he identifies himself entirely with
the acquired and false nature.
Then comes a crisis in the evolution of Jivas. Were men to be lost for
ever to their spiritual, their real nature? Were they to be tempted away
by the senses, which had done their work of training, past all chance of
return?
Vishnu, the God of human evolution, willed otherwise. He caused a
re-adjustment of the Daivic and Asuric forces, and the Devas 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 correspondences. 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 the Devas acted wisely. For as the
Kalpa waned, they got the supremacy.
The tortoise thrusts out its limbs and draws them in. Man is drawn
outside by his senses during material descent and he is drawn in by his
spiritual ascent. It is by the power of discrimination when fully
developed that a man returns to his higher nature.
Sri or Lakshmi is the divine energy of Vishnu. She is the Energy of
preservation, of evolution and progress She works out all that is good,
all that is beautiful, and all that is powerful in this Universe. The
possibilities of purely material development or of Nature's own
evolution, are limited, and they are worked out in time. Then there is a
void. There was this void in our universe and Triloki become deprived of
Sri. This was the curse of Durvasas, an Avatara of Siva.
The Churning took place as a remedy for this evil. Fresh forces had to
be brought into requisition, fresh elements that could secure the
spiritual evolution of the universe. Lakshmi herself reappeared in a
most enchanting form, as the energy of a new evolution, the very best
that man was capable of. The necessaries of this evolution also appeared
and became powers in the hands of those that had to take part in the
spiritual evolution of the universe.
All evolution is preceded by dissolution. Unless we give up the evil
element in us, we can not acquire the good. The evil has to be destroyed
and the Lord of destruction, in his infinite compassion, accepted this
poison for himself, to do away with the evils of the Universe.
The Poison only opens the door for Amrita, the spiritual nectar. The
famous Purusha Sukta says: -- "He placed Amrita or eternal bliss in the
higher three Lokas." The Bhagavata renders this famous saying into the
eighteenth sloka of the 6th. chapter of the Second Skandha. Commenting
on this sloka, Sridhara says, bliss in our Triloki is only transitory
and the dwellers of Mahar Loka have also to leave their abode for the
higher Jana Loka, when they are oppressed by the fire of Kalpic
dissolution. Amrita was secured to the higher Lokas, as there is no
selfishness in them. (III. 10-9.) Could the Asuras, the gods of
selfishness, aspire to have life immortal and unlimited bliss. Vishnu
decided otherwise.
The way was thus prepared for the Vaivasvata Manvantara, when men
learned to discern between right and wrong.