(Mohini)
The Vagrant's eyes turned from brown to blue. The voice that came from his mouth was not his, but Vishnu's reaching back through time and space to speak the truth.
"First, you must know of the delusions of the mind. You must all hear the story of the nectar of the gods, Amrita. You will learn how it was created through the strength and the will of the most powerful beings to inhabit this universe. How it was obtained and how it was lost. Through strength the opportunity was captured. Through focus and desire, the sweet milk of the ocean was churned. Despite these noble characteristics, it was mere delusion of the mind, lust, and want that lost the Amrita. Through my body were the demons fooled and the righteous rewarded. Come. Lend ear to the story of me at my most deceitful. My most enticing. And how you might lose your enlightenment."
There was a time when the gods, the Devas, were weak. They were not the immortal deities that you have known and and they were often bested in battle. The demon Asuras fought the Devas at every opportunity, beating them back time and time again until all of the Devas were captured. Ha ha, you should have seen the looks on their faces as they pleaded to me. "Help us, Vishnu, help us!" Pathetic little creatures, ha ha, how I adore them. I told them that they must not fight, they had to sit and be friends with their captors, and to practice the lost art of forgiveness.
When they had, I appeared before them all, Asuras and Devas, to give them a message.
"Churn the Ocean of Milk. You will produce Fourteen Treasures and among them Amrita."
"Amrita?" asked that buffoon Indra. Ha ha, silly Indra, so young then.
"It is the nectar of life. In short, if you drink it, you will be immortal. This will be no easy task and you must work together. Devas AND Asuras."
"But how, my lord?"
"You will use Madaranchal the mountain as the dasher and Vasuki the snake as the rope. Together you will push and pull, good and evil working together to produce everlasting life. Out will come jewels, my weapons and the Doctor, who will be holding the cup of Amrita. Now get to work or I will EAT YOU ALL." Ha ha, that always gets them going.
So they did as I said.
Out
of the milky sea came the Amrita. However, once the Asuras had their
hands on it, they quickly overcame the weak Devas who could not yet
hold their own. Once again the Devas pleaded to me: "Vishnu, please,
the
Asuras have taken the Amrita! You must get it back for us!"I answered with my actions.
I closed my eyes and my body changed. The whole universe spun around me as I shifted and shaped
a new me. I fashioned myself into a beauty immeasurable and indescribable. I inhaled a Supreme Being. I exhaled Her.
MOHINI. Dazzled by
my stunning beauty
the Asuras looked on, cameras in hand, trying to capture my essence.
They were left standing there, astounded and woozy. As
the Asuras gave into Delusion, I grabbed the Amrita. I returned to the
Devas as quickly and gracefully as I had come to the Asuras. "What beauty!" screamed all of my loyal fans.
"Here you go, as I promised: drink up and live forever." One by one my favourite Devas took their sip of the Amrita, which they had toiled and persevered so hard to acquire. The last Deva I didn't recognize however... It was Rahu, that rapscallion Asura! Oh, little one, know better than to try and fool me!
I leave you with this lesson at the end of this story:
The mind is an ocean; your thoughts, waves;
to focus and desire is to churn churn churn.
Clear away your self-indulgence--
and don't give into delusion.
With these words may your realisation be realized,
and may you not give into illusion.
The Vagrant's eyes turned from blue to brown, as the crowd looked onward in disbelief and wonder. He wept and grasped the conch shell that appeared in his left hand.
End of Story I
Author's Note:
This is the story about Mohini, which takes place in the Samudra manthan. The Samudra manthan is the tale of how the nectar of life was churned from the Ocean of Milk. In fact, several other treasures were received upon the churning of milk, which in turn are key characters and symbols in other stories. There are several versions of the story present in The Ramayana and Mahabharata. I did not include Vishnu's avatar Kurma, who was the tortoise and support of the churn. This is because in some stories it is not Kurma but Akupara, the great turtle on which the world sits. I did this because I thought it would be awkward to have a story about one avatar have another avatar in it. I guess I could have, but I wanted to keep the focus on Vishnu as the Supreme Being and Mohini only. I also severely shortened the story for the sake of time and energy. I was surprised at how difficult it was to include everything that belongs in these stories, and how crucial everything is. It gives me a whole new respect for the re-tellings provided by Buck and Narayan.
I included Megan Fox to represent Mohini because she is the perfect example of beautiful delusion, clouding minds and looking good doing it.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
Image Info (in order of appearance):
Mohini Statue Wikipedia
Vishnu overlooking churning of the Ocean of Milk Found Here
Megan Fox as Mohini NyDailynews pic 9 of 36
Decapitation of Rahu Science of Hinduism
Mohini Dancing Exotic Art
Coverpage
Introduction
Storybook II: Krishna
Storybook III: Narasimha
Author's Note:
This is the story about Mohini, which takes place in the Samudra manthan. The Samudra manthan is the tale of how the nectar of life was churned from the Ocean of Milk. In fact, several other treasures were received upon the churning of milk, which in turn are key characters and symbols in other stories. There are several versions of the story present in The Ramayana and Mahabharata. I did not include Vishnu's avatar Kurma, who was the tortoise and support of the churn. This is because in some stories it is not Kurma but Akupara, the great turtle on which the world sits. I did this because I thought it would be awkward to have a story about one avatar have another avatar in it. I guess I could have, but I wanted to keep the focus on Vishnu as the Supreme Being and Mohini only. I also severely shortened the story for the sake of time and energy. I was surprised at how difficult it was to include everything that belongs in these stories, and how crucial everything is. It gives me a whole new respect for the re-tellings provided by Buck and Narayan.
I included Megan Fox to represent Mohini because she is the perfect example of beautiful delusion, clouding minds and looking good doing it.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
Image Info (in order of appearance):
Mohini Statue Wikipedia
Vishnu overlooking churning of the Ocean of Milk Found Here
Megan Fox as Mohini NyDailynews pic 9 of 36
Decapitation of Rahu Science of Hinduism
Mohini Dancing Exotic Art
Coverpage
Introduction
Storybook II: Krishna
Storybook III: Narasimha
Bibliography
Various Contributors. Story of The Samudra Manthan. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan. 2009.
Various Contributors. Vishnu. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu. 2009
Various Contributors. Mohini. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohini. 2009