Kumbha, The Cosmic Vessel

We use pots in our daily life for all kinds of purposes without thinking about it. But the humble pot carries deep meaning and symbolism in the doctrine and plays an important role in ritual and tradition. In Sanskrit the ritual pot is known as kumbha or kalasa.

Pots play a role in many different myths. This reflects the different aspects of the pot as a symbol expressing various meanings. Perhaps the most profound myth in which a pot plays a central role is the myth of the Samudra Manthana, the Churning of the Cosmic Ocean. The climax of this myth is the appearance of Lord Dhanvantari, the God from whom Ayurveda, the traditional Vedic science of healing originates. He rises from the Cosmic Ocean holding the pot with Amrita, the Divine Drink of Immortality in his hand. For this it was that the Devas and Asuras churned the Ocean of Milk.

Another important pot from mythology is the Kumbha holding the amrita and the seed of creation. In Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu the entire landscape is sanctified by this myth of the pot carrying the Drink of Immortality and the Seed of Creation through the pralaya, the cosmic flood which ended the previous yuga. Various places and temples in and around Kumbakonam are associated with aspects of this cosmic pot. Finally Lord Shiva Kumbheshvara, the Lord of the Pot, pierced the pot with an arrow and the amrita and the cosmic seed spilled out, regenerating the cosmic cycle of creation. Today the place where the amrita flowed out of the pot is the Mahamagha Tirtha, a large and sacred water reservoir. Once in twelve years the water becomes once again the amrita, the divine nectar, the source of all life, and over a million people will come to bath on the auspicious time.

The astronomical time frames that designate and specify the auspicious time for the ritual bathing are connected to precession. The mythology that is expressed through the sacred landscape of temples, tirthas, vrikshas, mythology and ritual in and around Kumbakonam express precession and its ancient spiritual meaning. The sacred landscape and its mythology reflect the role of astronomy as a key to understanding ancient myth as is described and explained in Hamlet’s Mill.

The essence of the pot is of course that it can contain something. A full and complete pot is called purnakumbha. It represents abundance, completeness, wealth and prosperity. In a way it is a parallel to the horn of plenty of the western tradition. The purnakumbha is prepared according to doctrine with the thread windings, the coconut, the mango leaves and filled with water. It is given as an blessing and honor when rishis, saints, kings or ministers enter a temple. It is a symbolic gesture bestowing grace and abundance through the symbol of completeness, the purnakumbha.

But in the Vedic tradition the kumbha also performs the function of embodying the murti or form of the deity during a yajña, a Vedic fire sacrifice. Realizing the importance and the function of the pot in the doctrine and the ritual shines a lot of light on some of the misunderstanding that surrounds the Vedic doctrine, philosophy and our way of life.

The kumbha is the main vehicle for invocation of divine presence or energy during a Vedic fire ceremony. It is abstract and yet gives form. It is in every respect symbolic and actual at the same time. This is essential for the Vedic doctrine, which reflects advaita, non-dualist principles. The pot is prepared with various substances and features. Appropriate substances that represent the deity to be invoked will be put into it. This can be precious stones, gold or silver. It represents also the five Mahabhuta or Elements. And it is then fully filled with water. Finally it is placed on an altar made of various grains which represent other aspects of the deity or deities involved. And through chanting of mantras and ritual performance the deity is invoked in the kumbha.

The various features of the kumbha reflect the following meanings in a symbolic way:

The pot itself is the Ishva deha, the body of the deity. It can be fashioned from clay, but also from silver, gold or other metal.
The kumbha is decorated with a cloth, this is the vastra, the garment, it represents the skin of the body.
The coconut placed on the mouth of the pot, adorning to top of the pot, represents the head.
The mango leaves placed around the coconut represent the hair.
A kumbha can be covered with red sand, signifying the blood.
Sand can be placed in the pot, signifying the flesh.
The water with which the pot is filled is the fat, marrow and lymph.
The darbha grass placed inside the pot represents the bones.
The threads winded around the pot represent the nadis or veins. They are wind first in one direction, and consecutively in the opposite direction, creating a net-like wire-frame around the pot.
All the precious stones and gold inside is the Shukila Makavan.
The nyasa mantras and the prana-prathishtha confer life.

Under the kumbha the seeds for Ishvara, all the stages of the dhanya, are placed in ritual order to make the pedestal, the altar where the Lord is seated.

This is followed by the performance of the fire sacrifice. The essence or energy of the substances sacrificed into the Agni, the ritual fire, together with the mantras, is transformed into sukshma, subtle, and consequently transferred into the water in the kumbha by way of the ritual and the chanting. And finally this water will be poured on the murti or on the person for whom the ceremony has been performed. This transmits the energy to where it is required. There it will perform its function.

Because of the loss of understanding of the meaning which is embodied in the Vedic and Agamic doctrine so much unnecessary discussions rooted in misunderstanding and lack of knowledge are going on nowadays. And many misconceptions are taught and written down in books, creating even more misunderstanding in their turn. The function of the kumbha shows clearly the Vedic doctrine has always had a concept of embodying the deity. Understanding the role of the kumbha in ritual shines a completely different light on all the questions raised on whether the Vedic civilization worshipped murtis, deities in physical form, or not.

Sphinxes, Yalis and other composite beings in Vedic doctrine

To understand the existence of various divine and semi-divine forms that include parts of animals or full animals, it is very important to always keep in mind the consciousness of the ancient Rishis, who ‘saw’ the myths was very different from our own today. Our experience of ‘reality’ is very different from thousands of years ago, as can be seen in mythology and doctrine. Today we are all more or less influenced and indoctrinated by the western Greek-Christian worldview that lays at the basis of today’s technological and materialistic civilization. This is a huge subject in itself. I have written about this in some detail in my book ‘A Stream of Thoughts’ which I have made available through http://www.lulu.com/rajadeekshithar

Once we try to transport ourselves into the minds and consciousness of the pre-industrialized civilizations we first of all have to learn to take consciousness and mind more serious. In the Vedic traditions of Darshana, philosophy, Spirit comes before anything else. The undifferentiated Absolute Spirit, Purusha or Brahman, is the source of everything. I personally believe the primordial ‘energy’ of the Big Bang is the equivalent of Brahman, as I have explained in ‘A Stream of Thoughts’.

Once we look at the cosmos as consisting primarily of Spirit, consciousness, we immediately see a very different world then what we ‘see’ when we look at reality through the eyes of Western materialistic science. From Primordial Spirit various divine ‘energies’ devolve, as described in the mythology, Rig Veda and the Puranas. I myself think of these as ‘fields of force’ but with consciousness. When we, as human beings, through the vision of the Rishi, give form to these divine energy fields, bringing them into a physical existence for our own benefit, we embody them as Yantra or as Murti.

The cosmos is a kind of hierarchy of being, (in Medieval European culture and among the Neo-Platonists this was called the ‘Divine Chain of Being’) from the highest spirit, to the ‘lowest’ material particle. And from the doctrine we know there exist all kinds of spiritual beings with all kinds of powers and influences which we cannot see with our ‘modern’ materialistic eyes. Some of these beings have a definite spiritual form. Others we give form ourselves, influenced by how we see and experience their powers.

When the Rishis described the forms of divinities as they saw them with their vision, they had to describe their vision in terms that could be understood by humanity. That is why there is so much symbolism in mythology. The animal form can have two functions. It can express a higher form of being and it can express a lower energy vibration. According to doctrine, human existence is placed in the center between higher and lower forms of consciousness. Our existence is a kind of cross roads where consciousness can either move higher or sink lower. We have freedom of choice in this. That is what is called Karma.

When we ‘see’ a divine energy with a part animal form, this expresses an aspect of the divinity’s power. The animal form represents an aspect of the divine energy which vibrates similar as the energy of the animal. The vahana also expresses an aspect of that power, as do the attributes.




The many mythological beings that are not deities but combine various animal and human forms, such as Kimnaras, Makaras, Yalis etc. reflect semi-divine beings which I am sure have a reality of their own. But not a material/physical reality. They reflect vibrations of consciousness that reflect their attributes on a spiritual level. The doctrine has names and classifications for them. And they serve various spiritual functions, such as Shiva’s Bhuta Ganas. The Indian sphinx is classified as a Pramotha Gana of Lord Shiva. Its function is protection and purification. The sphinxes of Western antiquity had the same function. This is an indication of the spiritual reality of these beings on a non-physical plane.



The Divine Chain of Being is in constant evolution. Lower forms evolve into higher forms, higher forms devolve into lower forms. Evolution and Devolution. It is therefore very important to realize the difference between a being with an animal body and a human head, like the sphinx, or a human body with an animal head, such as Lord Narasimha. Both express very different concepts and vibrations of divine energy. Lord Vishnu devolved into Lord Narasimha to raise the negative energy of the cosmos to a higher level of vibration. The sphinx reflects the concept of evolution. The energy of the lion, in combination with the energy and consciousness of the human being, generates a form higher then the sum of the two.




I would like to give the following illustration through explaing something about Lord Mahaganapati and the tiny shrew or mushika who is His vahana. This apparent opposition expresses the essence that the huge gigantic form and energy of Mahaganapati also expresses in the tiny shrew. The shrew looks tiny to our eyes, but has gigantic power. The same energy in Him is also present in the shrew. So the lowest soul can also with the right path achieve the highest divine realization, realized consciousness. So many myths and Divine forms teach the same in different ways.

Purnakumbha

BRAHMAN

A mahout was riding on the back of his elephant when it suddenly became mad and started running down the street. He shouted and shouted to warn people to go out of the way. One man would not move away, however the mahout shouted. He was pushed aside by the elephant and was wounded. Eventually the mahout managed to calm down the elephant and tied him down in its place. He went back to see the man the elephant had thrown to the side of the road. To the mahout’s relief the man was only slightly wounded. He asked the man why he hadn’t moved away in spite of all his shouting. The man answered the mahout, “The elephant is the Brahman.” Then the mahout asked him, “If you see the Brahman in the elephant, why don’t you see the Brahman in me, who is shouting to rescue you.”

Half knowledge is always dangerous.

Raja's Vision