Volume VI, Issue 9
Author: Lopa Mukherjee
Editor’s Note: In the Vedic symbolism, Vṛtra (Vṛitra) means the Coverer; the Serpent; the demon who covers and holds back the Light and obstructs the free movement of the illumined rivers of the truth, he is the personification of the Inconscient. What are the modern Vritras which bind us in tight nets? How do we invoke the power of Indra which can help us conquer these Vritras? Where lies the spark that can activate the vajra of the Indra? Read this profound and delightful story inspired by the Vedic-Vedantic wisdom, presented in 2 parts.
PART 1
A solitary figure walked in a vast desert. It was rishi Dadhichi. A sand cloud rose up before him and took on the shape of a giant. It had two hollows for eyes and a cavernous mouth that said, “Who are you puny mortal to challenge me? Even Indra, lord of swarga kneels before me. Look over there… and over here.”
Dadhichi saw a dark shape of an elephant in the overcast western sky. On the east the black clouds formed a rearing horse that was frozen in space. The sand storm whispered, “That is Airavat and this Ucchaishravas, Indra’s mounts, white no more, free no more. They are servants of the dānav.
“Look!” cried the dānav. He extended his shadowy arms and crushed the elephant and the horse. They fell at Dadhichi’s feet, as grains of sand. The dānav laughed aloud, “I am Vritra, conqueror of heaven and earth. No weapon made of metal, stone or wood can kill me. Nor rain or drought. I am invincible by day and night. You are a speck of dust I can barely see, and you plan my demise?”
“I do,” replied the rishi and sat down to meditate.
Vritra prowled around him in the shape of a gigantic dragon that covered the sun. His toe was the size of a man. The earth was engulfed in a gloomy drought. She thirsted for rain and light. The gods hid in the shadow cast by the formidable rishi. Only he could stop the world from dissolution and end this dull twilight that replaced daytime.
As Dadhichi increased his tapas, his body could hold it in no longer. He exploded into flames. Dadhichi’s flesh burnt up instantly. A mass of white bones remained. Indra quickly made a magnificent gadā linking the bones together. He advanced upon the dānav. Vritra opened his mouth wide to swallow Indra uttering a cry that denies everything. Indra swung the mace at his face and broke his jaw. Vritra howled in rage. He reached out to squeeze Indra, but the god leaped high above Vritra’s head, riding on his Airavat, newly restored to life.
With his magical gadā Indra pierced the thick layer of sand that covered the face of the sky. The fabric was torn and a shower of light fell upon the dark giant. He covered his eyes and screamed in pain. Indra smote the clouds again and a mighty lightning flashed across the sky. The thunder was louder than Vritra’s death pangs. The rains that followed transformed the dānav into a lump of sand. The sun looked upon the earth again and the heavenly waters cleansed her.
***
Kavi woke up feeling fulfilled. He had seen the entire drama today without waking up in between. The same dream was recurring over several nights, as though the dream was trying to convey a message to him. Its symbolic language said there was an age when the earth and heaven were covered by the Vritra, darkness, ignorance. Indra, the ancient Vedic god, battled Vritra with the rishi’s help and restored the light.
Kavi emerged from the mosquito net and blundered into a spider’s net. He had not seen this cobweb last night. Where did it spring from? The phone rang somewhere in the house. There were six devices in a household of four people. This music was from his mother’s cell phone. The next second, his own started chirping. Then his father’s called for attention. His grandfather’s beeped insistently; the laptop was dripping water droplets, the computer uttered battle cries. They all said, “me, me, me first.”
Kavi heard the cacophony of digital voices. He also heard something click in his mind. A key turned in its lock. He realised something in a fraction of a second. It was his dream message. There are many nets that cover us layer upon layer. They are the modern Vritra. The internet, the social media networks, the spider webs of common interest groups. There are other non-digital emotional nets: the insurance net, the job net, the taxation net, the social safety net, the news net, the GPS net that tracks our every move, the phones that listen in our conversations, the algorithms that classify us into data points.
“Where can I find wisdom?” asked Kavi, “Where are the rishis?”
His mother answered, “You may need to rely on your dreams, because the antarjāl will spit out information, sometimes misleading, sometimes contradictory, sometimes useful. It can give you a thousand examples, but cannot teach, for true wisdom is experiential.”
Kavi frowned, “You just used the word antarjāl for the internet. Jāl is a net used by hunters to trap birds. We are trapped, aren’t we in these many fancy nets?”
“Yes. I would call the social networks jan-jāl, a nuisance of sorts. Little wonder that jāl also means ‘fake’. Many networks provide only fake service, such as fake justice, fake medicine, fake news, that keep us trapped in real fear, real anxiety, real sickness. The gods are herded in the storeroom of disbelief. Superstition was the old god. Rationality is the new god. Either way the soul is the sacrificial beast.”
That night before going to sleep, Kavi prayed, “Dear dream guide, if I have understood your message, you are reminding us of a dark age, and warning us that again we are slipping into another dark age. I see Vritra. Now, show me Dadhichi and Indra.”
Continued in PART 2
~ Design: Beloo Mehra
