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Chapter One Text 12
tasya sanjanayan harsam
kuru-vrddhah pitamahah
simha-nadam vinadyoccaih
sankham dadhmau pratapavan
Translation
Then, Bhisma, the great valiant grandsire of the Kuru dynasty,
the grandfather of the fighters, blew his conchshell very
loudly, making a sound like the roar of a lion, giving
Duryodhana joy.
Text 13
tatah sankhas ca bheryas ca
panavanaka-gomukhah
sahasaivabhyahanyanta
sa
sabdas tumulo ‘bhavat
Translation
After that, the conchshells, drums, bugles, trumpets and horns
were all suddenly sounded, and the combined sound was
tumultuous.
Text 14
tatah svetair hayair yukte
Mahati syandane sthitau
Madhavah pandavas caiva
Divyau sankhau pradadhmatuh
Translation
On
the other side, both Lord Krsna and Arjuna, stationed on a great
chariot drawn by white horses, sounded their transcendental
conchshells.
Text 15
pancajanyam hrsikeso
Devadattam dhananjayah
Paundram dadhmau maha-sankham
Bhima-karma vrkodarah
Translation
Lord Krsna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanya; Arjuna blew
his, the Devadatta; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer
of herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell, called Paundra.
Text 16-18
anantavijayam raja
Kunti-putro yudhisthirah
Nakulah sahadevas ca
Sughosa-manipuspakau
Kasyas ca paramesv-asah
Sikhandi ca maha-rathah
Dhrstadyumno viratas ca
Satyakis caparajitah
Drupado draupadeyas ca
Sarvasah prthivi-pate
Saubhadras ca maha-bahuh
Sankhan dadhmuh prthak prthak
Translation
King Yudhisthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conchshell, the
ananta-vijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosa and
Manipuspaka. That great archer the King of Kasi, the great
fighter Sikhandi, Dhrstadyumna, Virata, the unconquerable
Satyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadi, and the others, O King,
such as the mighty-armed son of Subhadra, all blew their
respective conchshells.
Text 19
sa
ghoso dhartarastranam
hrdayani vyadarayat
nabhas ca prthivim caiva
tumulo ‘bhyanunadayan
Translation
The
blowing of these different conchshells became uproarious.
Vibrating both in the sky and on the earth, it shattered the
hearts of the sons of Dhrtarastra.
Lecture of V.O. Ruzov
In
this verse, the conch shell appears (also called Shankha). It is
a symbol of the primary sound "Omkara". In this world there are
many amazing and mysterious things and the conch shell is one of
the first things on the list.
The
conch shell contains the sound of the sea waves, but this is not
the ordinary sound of the sea, it's the sound of the universal
ocean Garbhodaka, which is located in the lower part of the
material world. There are cheap conch shells, which are twisted
to the right, and expensive conch shell, which are twisted to
the left. They are divided into male, female, and genderless
conch shells. The rarest of them is the male conch shell,
because only it can produce the universal harmony sound – 'Om".
The
conch shell is an attribute of the God Vishnu. It symbolizes the
pure sound that brings freedom from all material suffering to
all living things. In India, it is a custom to blow into a conch
shell before starting any service to God in a temple. The priest
blows into the conch shell to purify the atmosphere as far as
the sound of the conch shell is heard. The one who blows into
the conch shell slowly achieves spiritual happiness. Actually,
this word consists of two words: sham – happiness, and kha –
spiritual.
Even in our culture we often wish happiness and joy to each
other. Joy is part of the female energy of the Absolute Truth –
Radharani, and Happiness (Shyam) is the male energy. Together
this sounds like the Vedic mantra «Radhe Shyam». This is the
best of greetings in the whole material world. Actually, conch
shells are found even on the peaks of the highest mountains.
This proves that historical events connected to the complete
flooding of the whole world are not groundless.
That which brings joy
The
conch shell brings happiness and riches to that house, which it
is kept in, because it is the symbol of holy places. Truly, that
house becomes a holy place and the conch shell purifies everyone
that lives in it. However, if a person hopes that it alone will
purify him; it is not likely that the conch shell will help him
a lot. It is like when a person buys soap, laundry detergent, a
broom and a mop, and waits for the day when his house will
become clean and his clothes will be washed by themselves. God
helps the one who helps himself. If we don't do anything, our
life won't change.
Once, a woman saw a dream. In this dream, she was at the store
and in this store, God Himself was the salesperson.
"Lord, is that you?" she exclaimed with delight.
"Yes, it's me," answered God.
"What can I buy in Your store?"
"You can buy anything."
"In
that case, please give me health, happiness, love, success, and
a lot of money."
God
smiled and went to get what was ordered. After a while, he came
back with a small paper box.
"That's it?!" exclaimed the amazed and disappointed woman.
"Yes, that's it," answered God and added, "didn't you know that
my store only sells seeds?"
The
elevating of Kundalini
On
the physiological level, the sound of the conch shell raises the
energy of Kundalini in the spine. This means that a person is
freed from harmful thoughts and desires. In his consciousness,
purifying processes begin and he becomes capable of thinking of
elevated truths. He loses all desire to think and do harmful and
dirty things. In our time, this is the one practical way of
elevating kundalini without any by-effects. This is a three step
process, that's why the conch shell is traditionally blown three
times. At first, the person gets rid of sexual desires, then he
loses hunger and thirst, and the third step is when he gets rid
of sleep and illusion. With each step, kundalini is raised two
chakras higher. If only people would not want to go back to
their past life, hearing the conch shell blown three times would
have been enough for them to become great wise men, at the
least. However, harmful thoughts and desires pull them down
again and cause them to return to their past state of ignorance.
The root of this problem is jealousy. This is what causes all
other types of ignorance.
Story
In
one country there lived a great king. He was strong and pious,
but once his citizens become worried and started protesting
against something. The king was very wise, so he told his
ministers to not punish everyone at once, but to find the
person, who is behind these protests, because everything happens
for a reason.
The
ministers searched for the cause of these worries for a long
time and after some time, they found out that all troubles come
from a tavern, which is near the palace. Every evening some
simple working men gathered there and talked about different
things. One person who came there was the one responsible for
the protests. He caused many other people to think the same way
he did.
It
turned out that from this person’s windows the king's balcony
was seen. Every morning when this person woke up, he looked out
the window and saw the king, who went out on the balcony. The
king stretched and his wife put a grape into his mouth. After
seeing this, he became very angry at the king. He told everyone
that it was unfair that simple people have to work hard for
their food, but the king eats grapes and leads a life of luxury
and doesn't have to work for it. Others listened to him and
thought about making some intrigue.
After understanding what has happened, the ministers made up a
secret plan. One morning, ministers came to the house of this
simple man and told him that astrologers said it was his turn to
be king. First, he was surprised, but then he became glad and
decided that life is actually very fair. He agreed to become
king.
He
asked: "Will I also eat grapes in the morning?"
"Yes, of course," answered the ministers.
The
next morning, the ministers woke him up at 2.30 in the morning
and said that, because he was king, he had to go to the temple
and attend the service to God there. This service took four
hours. After that, he was taken to military practice, where he
had to fight the best warriors in the country. After that, he
was taken to his office, where he had to sign a huge number of
documents, where he had to decide which criminals to hang and
which to pardon and release.
Finally, he was told that he had two minutes to rest before his
afternoon duties. He walked out to the balcony, stretched and
the king's wife put one grape into his mouth. Thank God, he
thought, and asked when he was supposed to have breakfast.
"This is breakfast," answered the king's wife. "You are the king
and you have to set an example of ascetics. At that moment, when
he was standing on the balcony, he suddenly remembered how he
looked out his window and what he thought of when he saw the
king eating a grape…
Suddenly, astrologers came to him and said that everything
changed and told him that he can go home, and the previous king
will again accomplish his duties.
That very evening that person came into his tavern and heard all
his friends talk about the king eating grapes until he drops.
The man yelled "Don't ever talk about the king and his grapes in
front of me again!"
Having found the cause of all problems, the king and his
ministers were able to stop distemper in the country...
Keeping water fresh
Water kept in conchshells doesn't lose its freshness with time,
that's why in the eastern tradition the conchshell is one of the
attributes needed to serve God in a temple. This is one of the
best ways to preserve and purify water. It is a natural filter,
it affects the actual structure of water. If it weren't for
conchshells, the water on this planet probably couldn't be drunk
at all...
We
constantly look for ways to make this world more effective,
however nature has already given us everything, all that's left
is to use this knowledge rightly. Car factories have spent
millions on trying to invent new drawings for wheel protectors,
however the most effective drawings turned out to be the ones
that imitated the paws of animals and insects. The conch shell
has not yet taken its rightful place in the modern view of water
structure. There are more than 60 variants of water structure.
By
the way, in hatha yoga there is a widely-known system of
cleansing the organism called "Shankha-Prakshalana" which means
"purifying yourself with a conchshell". This ancient technique
of cleaning the digestive tract, from the mouth to the anus.
However, it can be done only under the supervision of a good
specialist because this cleaning can be too strong...
The
Mudra "Shell"
The
mudra "Shell" - "Shankha" is used with all illnesses of the
throat and with voice problems. When we apply this mudra, the
voice achieves power, therefore it is especially recommended for
singers, artists, teachers, and orators. It is done very simply:
during meditation two joined hands imitate a shell. Four fingers
of the right hand hug the thumb of the left hand. The thumb of
the right hand touches the tip of the middle finger of the left
hand.
Philosophical Meaning
However, the true meaning of the shell is that it symbolizes the
soul, which separated from God. The sound that is heard from
inside the shell when we put it to our ear, is actually a
pitiful cry. In this way, the shell misses the ocean, which it
was born in. Just like the soul misses the spiritual world, from
which it came to the material world. Until the soul of a person
is separated from the godly Super-soul, every day it has to bare
the suffering of separation from God. The loud sound of the
shell is the cry of separation directed toward God.
Wise men say that when the shell was in the sea next to the
shores of Lanka a long time ago, it heard Sita's cry for her
husband Rama. From that time on it started making the same
sound, trying to help Sita call her savior to come and rescue
her. Similarly, it is time for us to call to God for help,
having realized our poor condition in this unstable and
dangerous world. The way to do this is through meditation on the
sound of the shell... |
