Caduceus Mercurius
Holofractale de l'hypervérité
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- 14/7/07
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Pariksit Maharaja is a king who, like all kings of the era, regularly went on a hunting expedition to practice his archery skills. One day, overcome with thirst, he knocks on the door of a cottage. Not getting a reaction, he looks inside and sees a brahmana sitting there, absorbed in meditation.
Feeling offended by that brahmana's neglect, he picks up a dead snake with a stick and, criticizing the brahmana for faking trance to avoid offering hospitality to a king, puts the snake on the brahmana's shoulder and departs. The king has some ego issues.
When the son of the brahmana finds out, he curses Pariksit, saying a snake will bite the king in 7 days, burning him to ashes.
The brahmana himself doesn't feel offended and reprimands his son, but the curse cannot be reversed.
And so Pariksit (whose name means 'examiner') settles to his fate, renounces his kingdom and enters the forest of Naimisaranya to consult the sages living there as to how to prepare himself for his inevitable death.
The young Sukadeva Goswami (who has a bluish complexion), is selected as the highest authority on the matter of spirit (brahman) and he begins to answer the king's questions. The initiate first learns about the experience he's about to undergo (as in set & setting, preparation being part of the set).
After hearing numerous myths, metaphysical concepts and spiritual instructions, the time is there for him to die. The snakebird arrives, and Pariksit is burnt to ashes.
Maharaja Pariksit is said to have lived at the start of the Kali-yuga, the age of degradation and ignorance. Will the Kali-yuga gradually turn into a better age, the way most cycles have gradual shifts from negative to positive, like planetary or seasonal cycles? No, the Kali-yuga will end suddenly. The Kalki avatar will come at the end of the Kali-yuga, and, riding a white horse, will slay all demons with his sword (very similar to the descriptions of John in the New Testament). That Kalki avatar (having a bluish complexion, like Sukadeva, Krishna and Vishnu), after killing all demons, will usher in the Satya-yuga, the golden age of spiritual understanding and enlightenment (Satya as in Satyam: truth). This is of course another metaphor describing the sudden experience of ego-death and subsequent "rebirth" in a reconfigured psyche.
Here is the passage from the Bhagavata Purana itself, Canto 12, chapter 6, verses 9-15, with some comments of mine in brackets:
"Maharaja Pariksit then sat down on the bank of the Ganges, upon a seat made of darbha grass with the tips of its stalks facing east, and turned himself toward the north. Having attained the perfection of yoga, he experienced full self-realization and was free of material attachment and doubt. The saintly King settled his mind within his spiritual self by pure intelligence and proceeded to meditate upon the Supreme Absolute Truth. His life air ceased to move, and he became as stationary as a tree.
The snake-bird Taksaka, who had been sent by the angry son of a brahmana, was going toward the King to kill him when he saw Kasyapa Muni [an expansion of Siva] on the path.
Taksaka flattered Kasyapa by presenting him with valuable offerings and thereby stopped the sage, who was expert in counteracting poison, from protecting Maharaja Pariksit. Then the snakebird, who could assume any form he wished, disguised himself as a brahmana [initiating priest], approached the King and bit him.
While living beings all over the universe looked on, the body of the great self-realized saint among kings was immediately burned to ashes by the fire of the snake's poison.
There arose a terrible cry of lamentation in all directions on the earth and in the heavens, and all the demigods, demons, human beings and other creatures were astonished. [Initiation into the psychedelic experience tends to be fearful and disorienting at first.]
Kettledrums sounded in the regions of the demigods, and the celestial Gandharvas and Apsaras sang [auditory hallucinations]. The demigods showered flowers [visual hallucinations] and spoke words of praise."
So, try this: whenever you read a myth and there is a sudden catastrophy, like a snakebite, an abduction, a betrayal and crucification, the end of the world or an Age, or the overwhelming appearance of an angel or other mythic being, see if it could refer to predestined death of the ego in the form of a psychedelic initiation, and the consequent rebirth of the initiate. You will find that the myths suddenly make perfect sense.
Many great scholars have commented on the Bhagavad Purana (also known as the Srimad-Bhagavatam, one of the most influential scriptures of ancient and modern India), like Madhva, Sankara, Sridhar, Visnuswami, Nimbarka and many modern Indologists and leaders of religious sects. None of them have understood the true meaning of this scripture. None have discussed the main myth of this book in terms of psychedelic initiation.
Caduceus Mercurius (feeling grateful to Michael Hoffman, for pointing out the significance of snakebites in myth, see http://www.egodeath.com)
Feeling offended by that brahmana's neglect, he picks up a dead snake with a stick and, criticizing the brahmana for faking trance to avoid offering hospitality to a king, puts the snake on the brahmana's shoulder and departs. The king has some ego issues.
When the son of the brahmana finds out, he curses Pariksit, saying a snake will bite the king in 7 days, burning him to ashes.
The brahmana himself doesn't feel offended and reprimands his son, but the curse cannot be reversed.
And so Pariksit (whose name means 'examiner') settles to his fate, renounces his kingdom and enters the forest of Naimisaranya to consult the sages living there as to how to prepare himself for his inevitable death.
The young Sukadeva Goswami (who has a bluish complexion), is selected as the highest authority on the matter of spirit (brahman) and he begins to answer the king's questions. The initiate first learns about the experience he's about to undergo (as in set & setting, preparation being part of the set).
After hearing numerous myths, metaphysical concepts and spiritual instructions, the time is there for him to die. The snakebird arrives, and Pariksit is burnt to ashes.
Maharaja Pariksit is said to have lived at the start of the Kali-yuga, the age of degradation and ignorance. Will the Kali-yuga gradually turn into a better age, the way most cycles have gradual shifts from negative to positive, like planetary or seasonal cycles? No, the Kali-yuga will end suddenly. The Kalki avatar will come at the end of the Kali-yuga, and, riding a white horse, will slay all demons with his sword (very similar to the descriptions of John in the New Testament). That Kalki avatar (having a bluish complexion, like Sukadeva, Krishna and Vishnu), after killing all demons, will usher in the Satya-yuga, the golden age of spiritual understanding and enlightenment (Satya as in Satyam: truth). This is of course another metaphor describing the sudden experience of ego-death and subsequent "rebirth" in a reconfigured psyche.
Here is the passage from the Bhagavata Purana itself, Canto 12, chapter 6, verses 9-15, with some comments of mine in brackets:
"Maharaja Pariksit then sat down on the bank of the Ganges, upon a seat made of darbha grass with the tips of its stalks facing east, and turned himself toward the north. Having attained the perfection of yoga, he experienced full self-realization and was free of material attachment and doubt. The saintly King settled his mind within his spiritual self by pure intelligence and proceeded to meditate upon the Supreme Absolute Truth. His life air ceased to move, and he became as stationary as a tree.
The snake-bird Taksaka, who had been sent by the angry son of a brahmana, was going toward the King to kill him when he saw Kasyapa Muni [an expansion of Siva] on the path.
Taksaka flattered Kasyapa by presenting him with valuable offerings and thereby stopped the sage, who was expert in counteracting poison, from protecting Maharaja Pariksit. Then the snakebird, who could assume any form he wished, disguised himself as a brahmana [initiating priest], approached the King and bit him.
While living beings all over the universe looked on, the body of the great self-realized saint among kings was immediately burned to ashes by the fire of the snake's poison.
There arose a terrible cry of lamentation in all directions on the earth and in the heavens, and all the demigods, demons, human beings and other creatures were astonished. [Initiation into the psychedelic experience tends to be fearful and disorienting at first.]
Kettledrums sounded in the regions of the demigods, and the celestial Gandharvas and Apsaras sang [auditory hallucinations]. The demigods showered flowers [visual hallucinations] and spoke words of praise."
So, try this: whenever you read a myth and there is a sudden catastrophy, like a snakebite, an abduction, a betrayal and crucification, the end of the world or an Age, or the overwhelming appearance of an angel or other mythic being, see if it could refer to predestined death of the ego in the form of a psychedelic initiation, and the consequent rebirth of the initiate. You will find that the myths suddenly make perfect sense.
Many great scholars have commented on the Bhagavad Purana (also known as the Srimad-Bhagavatam, one of the most influential scriptures of ancient and modern India), like Madhva, Sankara, Sridhar, Visnuswami, Nimbarka and many modern Indologists and leaders of religious sects. None of them have understood the true meaning of this scripture. None have discussed the main myth of this book in terms of psychedelic initiation.
Caduceus Mercurius (feeling grateful to Michael Hoffman, for pointing out the significance of snakebites in myth, see http://www.egodeath.com)
