Stories - The glue that holds societies - 6

That brings me to a very significant incident. In 2007 I along with the group had gone to visit a place called Kuruvanthpura. This is a place in northern Karnataka about 40-50 km from Raichur. This place is actually an island in the Krishna River and the west bank of the river is in Karnataka and the east bank of the river is in Andhra Pradesh. We drove from Raichur up to the river bank in a mini bus. At the river we got into many coracles which accommodate about five persons each. On crossing the river to the island, one is to walk for about a kilometer to reach the temple. The temple is supposed to be a very ancient one and one of the incarnations of Dattatreya - Sripada Srivallabha, was supposed to have sanctified this place in the eleventh or the twelfth century. We stayed there in the island for three days observing various spiritual practices. It was here that a curious incident took place.

As a small digression for those unfamiliar with Hindu mythology, I have to mention that Hindu mythology recognises the existence of 330 million gods, but the entire creation, sustenance and the final destruction of the Cosmos is credited to the Trinity that comprise of  Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Destroyer). In the beginning there was only Avyactha, or 'The inexpressible' . In this emptiness, Lord Vishnu (The Preserver) appeared in the form of a child, lying on the leaf of a banyan tree. As soon as he appeared in this form, his mind was filled with doubts about his identity. His questions were then answered by an unmanned voice- the voice of the supreme soul (Brahma), which is his true form. It asked him to meditate upon his soul, which he did, and a thousand petaled lotus emerged from his navel, in which, Brahma appeared. And it was Brahma who created the entire universe and all that is in it. It is to be noted that the three, considered as the Supreme Trinity in Hinduism, are not three separate gods, but three manifestations of the same Supreme soul, The Brahman.

Lord Vishnu is said to recline and sleep while floating on the cosmic waters of consciousness on the huge serpent called Sesha. In the Hindu texts called Puranas, Sesha holds all the planets of the universe on his hoods and constantly sings the glories of Vishnu from all his mouths.

This much of Indian Mythology had to be related by me to continue upon the incident.

While we were at Kuruvanthpura, we used to bathe in the mornings, in the Krishna River that flowed beside the temple. One day as the group was bathing, Shanthamma started hollering that a big hooded snake was coming at her. None of us could see a thing, but the huge serpent is supposed to have pushed her from behind, even as a few women who were around her held her as she fell. In a panic she flayed her arms wildly and clutched at the air, and as the women around held her, they noticed that she was clasping a silvery idol of Vishnu lying on the serpent Sesha.

This is what strikes me as curious. If it were pure hallucination, how do you explain the physical and very much material presence of the silvery idol? Where did it spring up from?  If the materially real idol came into her wildly flaying and clasping hands, could she have really seen a large serpent? If she could see it why not us? Further the story of Vishnu and Sesha is essentially an Indian myth. Why do these Indian religious motifs happen only in India? Why aren't they universal? Or are they? Why do the motifs of the mythologies vary from country to country and civilisation to civilisation? If these still happen in the 21st Century when the world is a global village, is there any significance that myths peculiar to a region are affirmed even by occult events?