Primordial Cosmic Ocean Khirasagara

Primordial Cosmic Ocean Khirasagara

Ksheerasagara Manthanam
I'm always doing research and I wanted to find a story that told the creation or lack thereof in a way that was in alignment with my own contemporary understanding of things such as the current state of affairs with chaos theory, nuclear physics etc... Usually people don't believe in something bcause it's proved to be true, they adopt it because they believe it will protect them or they've had a direct perception of it often in the form of an experience of horror, order or beauty which is the real basis of faith. They've perceived what appeared to be gods or the structure of the universe in as direct a manner as might be possible and don't just believe because they were born into a church that told them to believe.

They don't just believe because they need to believe in order to be accepted into their thickly ethnocentric communities. They actually encountered it with their own eyes or with their inner eyes. Of course such experiences are always subjective but there are reasons to say one believes in the unseen if they HAVE seen it, however visionary an experience it may have been.

It doesn't have to be some profound vision though, it can just be a general sense or intuition. Many Hindu stories resonate well with me. One story of the Hindu creation says that before the universe there was the primordial ocean(that was NOT a void which is an idea the ancients never held).

From within the cosmic ocean stirred the World Serpent Sheshnaga. The sound of Om started to reverberate through the murky depths and this created an egg. From within the egg was born Vishnu who then slept on the unmanifest coils of cyclic time that is the body of Sheshnaga.

From his navel sprang a lotus blossom which contained the god Brahm with 4 heads. Vishnu intended Brahm to create the universe which he did. I like this story because it shows the Asian creation idea that things can be made from chaos. And that chaos and order are not mutually exclusive.

A related story is the churning of the cosmic ocean. Here is a link to a very short version of the story. http://www.sanatansociety.org/indian_epics_and_stories/the_churning_of_the_ocean.htm
Essentialy the gods and demons wanted to get the elixer of immortality known as Amrita and needed each other's help. They wrapped the world serpent-this time Vasuki-around the cosmic mountain that they placed upside down in the waters in order to turn it.

They gods pulled on the tail and the demons pulled the head. As they churned the ocean the snake vomited poison which Shiva put in his mouth. Then the mountain began to sink so Vishnu became a giant turtle to support the mountain under the water.

The ocean produced many things both terrible and wonderful. This story is told in stone at Ankor Wat in Cambodia as well as in other places. The story exactly explains how I see the creative process. The elements are just small steps similar to molecules of water, fat, calcium etc... different things come together in a formless mixture.

Then as an artist goes through all of the possible permutations of combinations he is able to form both good and bad ideas. He probably needs help from others as well to arrive at that point just as in the story. It's the artist's job to know which ideas are bad, good and great and which are worth persuing.

I relate a great idea to creating the elixer of life Amrita. So, I've adopted this story as a truth which I believe and am happy to see the Southeast Asians see it's value as well.