In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev shares beautiful insights on the symbols that represent divine energy in Hinduism
In response to questions from someone who asked about the symbolic meaning of snakes in Hinduism, Gurudev shared the following:
Snakes symbolize relaxed alertness
When someone is closing their eyes, you may think they’re sleeping. When they’re sleeping, there’s no alertness or wakefulness.
But when you’re meditating, what’s happening? When you look at someone meditating, they look sleepy, but inside, the mind is awake.
So to show that, Shiva sits in meditation and around his neck there’s a snake, symbolizing that inside, his mind is alert. It’s not that Shiva was putting snakes around his neck like a tie. He doesn’t have any clothes or shirts, so where would he put the tie? No shirt and no tie!
So it’s not like the snake is a necklace. It’s a symbol of alertness.
The same is true when you see Vishnu on a bed of snakes. That’s yoga nidra. When you’re lying down, taking your attention to all the parts of the body, you’re in a different state of consciousness. In that state, what’s happening? All of the senses are very sharp, alert, and awake.
The snake represents alertness because when there’s a little sound, a snake immediately responds. So for all of the divinities, if you find a snake behind, near, or around them, that means they’re alert and awake.
Consciousness is wakeful. Even kundalini is said to have the serpent power. When it’s said that kundalini, or the life force energy, is like a snake, that’s a symbol. There’s no snake going upwards inside your spine. In yoga, you’ll find kundalini power awakened. Rising energy and awake alertness are always symbolized by the snake.
Flowers and rocks
Flowers symbolize gentleness, softness, opening, and blossoming. Openness is shown by flowers.
Solidity and stability are represented by rocks. Flowers are unstable. It’s so interesting that Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, sits on a flower on water. A flower in the water moves. On top of that is the goddess of wealth, so wealth has to move.
But the goddess of learning, they put her on a big rock. Sarasvati sits on a rock because knowledge is stable. Once you gain knowledge, it never goes away, but stays with you. That’s why Sarasvati sits on a rock.
What are the aspects of the goddess of learning? They put three there. One is music. Another is the book in her hand. The third is a japa mala, which means meditation. Music, logic, and meditation, all three have to be part of knowledge.
Meditation is a spiritual experience, and then there’s music, and the book.
The lion
The mother, or goddess, Durga, sits on a lion, and he doesn’t do anything. In everybody, there’s a sleeping, resting power. But the power shouldn’t be too active or it’s dangerous for everybody.
Lions become very active in the forest, and that creates danger for all the other species. The lion is the laziest animal. The lioness hunts and brings food, while the lion eats and sleeps. He’s the king of the forest. He doesn’t do much.
Every country should have powerful defenses, but they should be inactive, for safety. If the defenses of every country became active, the world would be gone. There are so many missiles, but they should be inactive, like a lion.
So they put the goddess Durga, or the mother of defense, on a lion. Let our defenses be lazy.
It’s so intelligent to think that defense shouldn’t be active! Otherwise people will always think that defenses should be active and dynamic. No! They shouldn’t be dynamic; they should sleep. That’s peace.
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