Churn it to Turn it.

We all know that failure is the first step towards success. We also know for a fact that without failure we would never feel the exhilaration of success. But have you ever thought why? Why is failure so important? and why whenever we start something new most of the time the first thing, we experience is rejection, disappointment, and failure?

There's a beautiful and significant mythological story which tries to explain this. I know people think mythological stories are myth and are just made up stories by our ancestors but aren't stories supposed to give morals and teach us the way of living our life. So, it doesn't matter whether it’s a story from Disney or by our ancestors if it serves its purpose it's important. And personally, I'm a true believer in mythological stories regardless of its source.

Once upon a time one of the greatest sages in Indian mythology, the Great sage Durvasa Muni, cursed Indra (king of gods) that he and the other gods would lose all their powers. Due to which, Indra and the other gods began losing all battles against the demons, and the demons took control of the universe.

Seeing no other means, the helpless Gods rushed to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu advised gods that to get back their powers they would have to churn the oceans and bring out the magical nectar "Amrita". Only after consuming it could they regain their powers. This great churning is known as "Samudra Manthan". But as the gods were powerless now, they sought the help of the demons to accomplish this huge task. The gods and demons got together for the "Samudra Manthan".

As the churning began and the massive waves whirled, and the very first thing to come out of the ocean was an extremely dangerous poison called "Halahal". Everyone was scared as "Halahal" could destroy creation. They all got together and prayed to the powerful Lord Shiva to help them. Lord Shiva appeared and drank the entire poison. But he did not swallow it. He kept the poison in his throat. Since then, Shiva's throat became blue, and he became known as "Neelkantha".  

Once the "Halahal" was taken care of by Lord Shiva as the churning continued several gifts and treasures came out of the ocean. They included "Kamdhenu"- the wish-fulfilling cow; "Laxmi"- the goddess of wealth; "Kalpavriksha"- the wish-fulfilling tree; and finally, came the nectar "Amrita".

So, I know there are many questions rising in your mind- what does this story tell us? What did the curse signify? Why was it important for gods and demons both to work together for nectar? What did the poison and the nectar signify?

This incident of Samudra Manthan signifies our life problems and how to deal with them. We all want success in our life, our definition of success may differ but in the end all we want is the nectar called happiness, peace, fulfilment. But this is only possible when we are cursed with failure, problems, difficulties, complications. We should realise every goal is achieved only when we churn life. And this churning isn't possible if we are ignorant to our negative traits. Remember to get the "Amrita" gods and demons had to work together, without the help of each other no one could have churned the ocean alone. Thus, whatever the goal is we won’t achieve it until we give our 100% in the process which includes acknowledging our positives and accepting our negatives.

Accepting our own self and giving 100% doesn't guarantee success. We should keep this in mind that when the ocean was churned the very first thing to come out was poison. In the same way whenever we churn our life to achieve something the first thing we get is failure, rejection, disappointment, breakdown and at that time is the real test of our dedication for the nectar. As Lord Shiva had to drink "Halahal " just so the gods can get the nectar, we cannot wait for someone else to do that for us it is we ourselves who will have to step up and drink the poison of rejection, failure and disappointment in order to enjoy the nectar of success in the future. The time when you are at rock bottom it may seem easy to give up but that is the time to have faith in lord and start the churning again and remember once the poison is drunk after that only the most prestigious things come out of the ocean. Thus, once you accept your failure and still work hard the only thing coming ahead for you is good times.

Once things start falling in place and the good times begin that doesn’t mean we should stop working hard. As the gods weren’t distracted with all the prestigious things coming out of the ocean and didn’t stop churning till they got "Amrita" the same way if one who gets distracted with early success and gives up working for the ultimate goal will never know how it feels to be at the end of the line. Early success is temporary pleasure which is momentary but one who keeps himself together even in good times and works hard for his goal is the one who gets success which is permanent.

Think about the very time when you wanted something for a long time and had to work hard or you failed a lot before achieving that thing. While you do it also think about the times when you failed. It seemed so unachievable, so tough, you felt like giving up but you continued and failed yet again still didn't give up and there came a day when you finally achieved it, a thing which seemed impossible in the past is now not impossible anymore. Visualize that moment and relive that time again feel that excitement, exhilaration of achieving. It's like you drank a poison of failure before getting the nectar of success, isn't it?

So, all in all, isn’t Life a process of constant Churning…. 

-Krutik Shah