1220. Unsour Curd....!

“Anamala Dadhi Ksheera Saman” (Unsour Curd is equivalent to Milk).

Ayurveda treats unsour curds as milk. Milk gets converted into curd through fermentation process. A bit of old curd is added to warm milk and the Lactobacillus bacteria present in the old curd converts whole milk to curd. Bacteria consume lactose, the sugar component in the milk and produces lactic acid. Thus giving a tangy taste to curd, the more the lactic acid the more sour it turns out to be.

It so happened in Mahabharata that Shakuni and Duryodhana planned to eliminate Bhishma, Sri Krishna and Bhima. They went into a forest where a Tantrik (Occultist) lived. The Tantrik worshipped Goddess Bhairavi and was practising Vamachara (Black Magic). He was believed to have power to invoke the Goddess and instruct her to eliminate any person.

Shakuni and Duryodhana felt that Bhishma was a hindrance as he was always advising Dritharashtra to consider “Dharma” whenever he had to take decisions regarding his own sons and the sons of Pandu. Then there was Sri Krishna was the power behind Arjuna, without Him Arjuna was a dummy, so Sri Krishna too was to be eliminated. Bhima was invincible and since the day of childhood, Kauravas had failed in many occasions to kill him so he too had to be eliminated.  Shakuni and Duryodhana approached this Tantrik to make offerings to Goddesses and invoke her to eliminate all the three.   

   

The Kshudra Pooja (Occult Worship) started with fire offering and the Tantrik was able to invoke Goddess. The Goddess asked, “Who has to be eliminated?”

Tantrik said, “Bhishma.”

The voice said, “Bhishma has the boon of Iccha Mrityu (Death on Desire), and so it is impossible to eliminate him. Who is next?”

Tantrik said, “Sri Krishna.”

The voice said, “He is divine, no one can touch Him, even death.”

Finally Tantrik said, “Bhima.”

The voice said, “Make appropriate rituals and offerings, let me see.”

Bhima who was hiding behind a tree rushed and pulled down the thatched roof which fell on the fire before the Tantrik. Tantrik was burnt alive. Shakuni and Duryodhana ran away.    

What I understand from this episode is that Sri Krishna was Divine and hence he could not be touched and this made him a bit like immortal. Bhishma by his good virtues had gained the boon of Iccha Mrityu that was equal to Amarattva (Immortality) from his father Santanu which he got for taking a vow to get his father married to Satyavathi, the fisher woman. Sri Krishna is Shuddha Atma, while Bhishma is a Jeevatma. As told in the verse above Curd can also be considered Milk if it is not sour. If the Antahkarana (Inner Conscience) is Shuddha then Jeevatma is also Shuddha Atma.

For the Antahkarana to be pure one has to have Trikaranasuddhi, (Congruence in Trio) indicating purity and harmony in Kaaya, Vaacha and Manasa (Thought, Word and Deed).

(my sincere and special thanks to Nand Kishore Jha ji for the Sanskrit sentence in the Pic.)