Humbled by a Pig!

It was the stare between two worlds; one of the modern domesticated kind who had a fight-or-flight response limited to his autonomic nervous system versus one who had to fight to stay alive and keep his place in the hierarchy of the pecking order of the jungle.

https://borderlessjournal.com/2023/06/14/humbled-by-a-pig/

Humbled by a pig!

“It is 5.23 am,” I told myself as I glanced at my watch. “I guess I got up early. Anyway, SK should be here right about now, right on the dot at 5.30am, as he has always been. Today is not going to be any different.”

I plugged on my earphones to hear the continuation of a podcast that I listened to all through the previous week. It was a day before the full moon, but the cloudy skies and the lack of street lights made the street look pretty dark. I sat on the raised stone fence as the auto-gate slowly closed from inside.

Far behind a parked car, I could see a moving shadow. It looked like the silhouette of two stocky legs pacing haphazardly as if they were swaying. At once, I thought that it must be the neighbour’s son who must be struggling back to his home after a long Saturday night out with the guys.

“Wow!” I was thinking as I symbolically pat myself on the back for keeping up with the routine all these years despite the raging inner demons and concerned naysayers who keep advising me to slow down on account of being a half-centurion! “Only madmen would be running on a Sunday morning when the sane recovers from a stuporous night-out!” they say.

Just as I was drowning in the nectar of my self-praise, I realised that the shadow cast under the car was not that of a man. The contour of two legs soon became four, and a greyish horrendously ugly looking face with a tinge of what appeared like thick whiskers soon manifested. I was 10 feet away, looking eye to eye at Vishnu’s third avatar, Varaha, a wild boar!

Here I was, I thought, at the comfort of city living, enjoying the fruit of my lifelong struggle to benefit from the support of privacy and security of the gated community, I felt I had had it all. Within the luxury of economic independence and intellectual reasoning, the brutal combat of our ancient ancestors and the street smartness of the lesser beings have taken a back seat. Even in my wildest dream, I never envisaged a moment I had to face off a wild beast!

It was the stare between two worlds; one of the modern domesticated kind who had fight-or-flight response limited to his autonomic nervous system versus one who had to fight to stay alive and keep his place in the hierarchy of the pecking order of the jungle.

Hey, they knew even then that the Earth
 was spherical, even before Galleili!

The stare looked like it lasted for eternity. The boar, of course, hungry and desperate for food, did not want a competitor. As if he knew that I was not interested in his food, thank you very much. Negotiation naturally was out the question, so did all civil niceties. 

I turned around to ring the bell to my house as I did not have the gate key. The sudden movement must have startled the beast. It gave a low-pitched snorting grunt as if it was showing its displeasure. Interesting, it was my neighbourhood, and the visitor or rather an intruder, was displeased! Well, that is the law of the jungle. Might is right, and there is no place for logic. This is the ‘id’ that Freud is trying to tell that is put under check by societal pressure and would manifest in a mob situation or when enforcement crumbles.

Just when I thought that nay was near, of me being gored by a wild beast, a beacon of hope came in the form of a beam of light from an SUV. My ride arrived right on the dot just in time to turn the table on the aggressor. Awed by, all it knows could be a more giant animal and a louder roar, its fight mode downgraded to flight as it turned its back to return to where it came from. It retreated.

As we drove along, we saw a humbled pig strutting its behind with its tail between its legs heading towards the secondary jungle. Probably my friend must have been reminded of the carefree days of his childhood when sauteed and spiced wild boar meat with toddy was a delicacy among friends.

That is why we are repeatedly advised by wise men to get back to Nature. Nature gives a purpose to our existence. Its massive structures like the trees, the mountains and elements of Nature awe us to the ground. It impresses upon us our deficiencies and our feebleness. It drills unto us that we are nothing, just a passerby who makes a cursory presence while Mother Nature and the Universe goes on and on without a gap. We are not even a single fragment of a tiny dot in the Milky Way, what more in the ever-expanding dimensions of the Universe.

Lord Vishnu’s bodyguards were cursed to be demons by 4 Brahmans for refusing their entry. These guards (demons) terrorised Earth and submerged it into the ocean. Through Lord Brahma’s breath came a boar. With Vishnu’s powers, it became Varaha Avatar. It valiantly fought the demons and scooped Earth out with its horns. The wild boar, being the third in Vishnu’s 9 Avatars, after fish (water creature) and the tortoise (both land and water creature), is said to be the most primitive of the firmly footed land animal. Long before the Darwinian theory of Evolution, the Avatars actually describe the slow transformation of mankind, from a water creature slowly evolving to gain wisdom and finally achieving priestly states.

The 9 Avatars of Vishnu

http://www.hindu-blog.com/2007/06/ten-incarnations-of-lord-vishnu-in.html

The ten incarnations or ‘Dasa Avatara’ of Lord Vishnu is an extraordinary recording of the evolution of human life and advance in human civilization. In Hindu religion, the three main deities are Lord Brahma, Vishu and Shiva. Brahma creates, Vishnu protects and Shiva destroys - three faces of Mother Nature. Lord Vishnu descends on Earth to uphold dharma and to cleanse the Earth of evil. So far, Lord Vishnu has appeared nine times on Earth and the tenth, kalki, is expected.
The sequence of appearance of Lord Vishnu on Earth is in tune with the evolutionary theory. In fact, the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu is an amazing recording of the advancement of human civilization. All this was recorded by Hindu sages thousands of years before Christ.
The first incarnation or avatar of Lord Vishnu was in the form of a fish and is known as ‘Matsya Avatar.’ It has now been confirmed by Science through various experiments that the first life forms evolved underwater.

Matsya Avatar

The second incarnation of Lord Vishnu was in the form of a tortoise known as ‘Kurma Avatar.’ Tortoise is an amphibious creature capable of living both on land and in water and it indicates the moving of life form from underwater to surface of Earth.

Kurma Avatar

The third incarnation of Lord Vishnu is the boar known as ‘Varaha Avatar’. Boar is a complete land animal and in this incarnation, life form has moved out of water and has adapted to land.

Varaha Avatar

The fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is the half-man half-animal form known as ‘Narasimha Avatar.’ This incarnation starts the transformation from animal to human form.

Narasimha Avatar

The fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is the dwarf or pigmy sized human being known as the ‘Vamana avatar.’ A transition from the beastly form to human form and the development of intelligence.

Vamana Avatar

The sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is the forest dweller known as ‘Parasuram.’ He has developed weapons and axe is his first weapon. Any sharp stone can be transformed into an axe and it also indicates the first settlement of humans in forests.

Parasuram

The seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu is Lord Ram. He is civilized and has developed more superior weapons like the bow and arrows. He has cleared the forests and developed small communities or villages. He is very vigilant and protects his villages and people.

Ram

The eight incarnation of Lord Vishnu is Lord Balarama. He is portrayed with the plough – the beginning of full-fledged cultivation. Human civilization has developed agriculture and is no longer depended on meat and forest for food. The beginning of agrarian economy.

Balarama

The ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is Krishna. He represents the advancing human civilization. He is associated with cows, the beginning of domestication of animals and development of economy, which continues to the present day.

Krishna

The tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is Kalki and is yet to arrive. He is believed to ride on a swift horse Devadatha and destroy the world. A clear indication that human beings will bring an end to life on earth. The numerous natural calamities created by human beings and the numerous nuclear weapons stored illustrates this.

Kalki - Before Armageddon?
Horseback again? 666?

After complete annihilation, Lord Vishnu alone floats on a pipal life - perhaps the last remaining life form. Thousands of years after the complete annihilation, life will begin again in water.

N.B. My friend, as they always say, religion is but with symbolism. We should not interpret it literally at face value but at its essence. The pitfall is that we may always conveniently choose the part that just suits us nicely. An example would be a polygamous philandering blue bearded Alpha Male may justify his companionship may relate the various Gods with more than one consort!

Beginning of life?

Sculpture depicting the churning of the ocean at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand

Now that everyone can fly, everyone has a chance to see the wonders of nature and man made structures near and far! A point in question is the mammoth man made structure in Swarnabumi airport in Bangkok. Incidentally, 'Swarnabumi' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'land of gold'. It was initially used by Indian traders to describe the strip of land protruding from the mainland of south east of Asia, i.e.peninsular of Malaya.

The giant elaborate structure depicts an event in Hindu scripture (Puranas) of Lord Vishnu's second avatar. It all started when the God of Sky (Indra) was given a garland by a passing sage. Indra placed on his elephant's trunk who threw it away because of the strong scent. The sage, angered by this action of throwing away God's offering, passed a curse rendering all the demi Gods and Devas powerless. (Hey! I thought saintly sages are supposed to be patient and able to control their animal emotions!)

Same story in Angkor Wat

Lord Vishnu joined forces with Lord Shiva to save the world as demons, with special powers acquired from Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva at different times were terrorizing. Lord Vishnu assumed his second avatar as a turtle assisted by Vasuki, a serpent and a mountain. They had to churn out the nectar of immortality from the Ocean of Milk to restore powers of the Devas. Vasuki became the churning rope, the mountain became the churning rod, Vishnu sat on the mountain to stabilize it. On the tail end of the serpent were the devas and the demons at the head. This process produced lots of toxic power which was engulf by Lord Shiva but it got stuck in his throat after the neck was clenched by his consort. Shiva became blue in the face but the toxin got permanently stuck in his throat. The end results of the churning were aplenty. Beside the nectar which was held by the divine physician who flew on giant bird, Garuda, other by-products were Lakshmi who became Vishnu's consort, thulsi plant and many more. Lord Vishnu had to disguise as a pretty maiden, Mohini, to steer the attention of the demon while Garuda scoots off with the nectar. Unfortunately, things became complicated when Lord Shiva also gets excited. That is another sub-plot on the evolution of the Ayyapa and the justification of same sex union in the Hindu religion.
At one look, all these may look like a fictional tale coined to entertain the masses at an era where there were no outlet of entertainment to spend those long winter nights. Others may say it denotes symbolism of our daily life - our eternal fight with our inner demons to bring out the best in us.
I would say it sounds very much like a 'Big Bang' theory. An explosion of sorts in Ocean of Milk (?Milky Way) emitting radioactive explosion resulting in production of many lives, planets and beings.
Just a point to ponder...

Sagar Manthan

http://hinduwebsite.com/churning.asp