The Legend of Recapitulation

The Legend of Recapitulation

While traveling through India, I was fortunate enough to befriend a Bihari yogi. We both spoke broken English and often communicated in our own languages, understanding the meaning of words on that intuitive level so brilliantly depicted in "Peculiarities of National Hunt." I taught him how to attune to the energetic centers of the hands, and he showed me the secret mudras of the Bihari school. This forged our friendship. One night, when a tiger attacked our camp, we stood night watch, and out of boredom, he began to recount legends of his country. One of them pleased me more than the rest. I will describe it to you briefly:

Throughout many incarnations of Shiva, a struggle raged between gods and demons. Only the highest of the high — Indra, Brahma, and Shiva — remained aloof from the conflict. Though, in truth, it was only with Shiva's assistance that the demons gained the power of resurrection, thereby maintaining the balance between the two forces. The demons learned to revive themselves with magical enchantments that Shiva had bestowed upon their priest, and from that moment, the gods' battles ceased to be successful.

Concerned by the outcome of the battle, the gods approached Brahma, who interrupted his meditation long enough to instruct them on how, with the demons' assistance, they could churn and foam the cosmic ocean to obtain amrita — the elixir of immortality. The demons agreed to help, for by drinking the nectar, they would no longer require resurrection spells. The battle eventually paused, and the churning of the great sea commenced.

The cosmic serpent Ananta uprooted Mount Mandara, with all its rocks and trees. Lord Indra fastened its base to the back of the Tortoise King. The great serpent Vasuki became the rope for rotating the mountain. The demons were entrusted with holding the serpent's head, while the gods took its tail. Initially, the demons were proud of their position, but many of them were scorched by the fire that burst forth from Vasuki's throat. The serpent coiled its long body around the mountain and alternately rotated it first one way, then the other. While the cosmic ocean was being churned, smoke and flames erupted from Vasuki's mouth. A low and terrifying roar issued from the depths of his maw, and a powerful vortex of fire swept away the trees that grew on both edges of the Earth. All living beings were destroyed during the churning, and the energy of their lives slowly drained into the ocean, mingling with its waters.

The churning lasted a long time, and from the ocean began to emerge wondrous objects: the sun and the moon, the millstones of fortune, Vishnu's precious gem, a ladder to heaven, and other treasures. When the gods and demons grew weary, Vishnu granted them new strength, and they continued their task, anticipating the appearance of the nectar that would allow them to live forever. But alas! From greed and spiritual suffering during the churning, not nectar but a black, poisonous mass emerged — the terrible kalakuta. The poison appeared on the ocean's surface and threatened to annihilate the universe.

With shame and despair, the gods went to Lord Shiva. "We alone are to blame," they said, "for greed consumed us in our search for amrita. The demons are also steeped in avarice, but that could be expected of them. Yet we desired immortality, and now only death awaits us all."

Hearing the gods' confession, Shiva showed them compassion. Dipping his head into the poisoned sea, he drank the kalakuta and retained it in his throat for purification. But the concentrate of greed and spiritual torment proved so potent and toxic that Shiva's throat turned blue. This is why among his many names is Nilakanthus — Blue Throat.

As soon as the poison was consumed, the churning resumed, and finally, from the depths of the cosmic sea, milky-white amrita appeared. It protected gods and demons from death and was kept in a white vessel. But it brought no happiness. Even greater disputes and wars began between the gods and demons, which ultimately erupted into a fierce battle. The gods seized the celestial nectar and entrusted it to Vishnu. Since then, the elixir of life has been with him, while in Shiva's throat, the poison, whose name is "riddle of time", still swirls.

At that time, I was diligently engaged in dreaming cartography and the recapitulation of my own life. And it occurred to me: Wow! How everything aligns! During recapitulation, we churn the cosmic ocean of our memories, and in this process, various wondrous things emerge: "the millstones of fortune, a ladder to heaven," and so on. If a warrior is impeccable, they receive amrita — the immortality of their consciousness. If impeccability is absent, glimpses of the wonders of second attention poison the adept with kalakuta — a bitter longing for lost opportunities, envy towards those who succeeded. Look around, and you will see broken warriors, poisoned by the venom of greed. They traded their achievements for money and fame. But most of the failures don't even have that — neither money nor fame. Only envy, arrogance, and malice remain.

Nevertheless, the churning of one's personal ocean is mandatory for all. More precisely, for those who seek amrita.