The Cobra

Yesterday I woke up abruptly from a dream where my last vivid image was of a humungous cobra coiled several times around the ceiling light, a chandelier, above my bed. He literally was looking down at me and smiling ! ! ! I always meditate and attempt to understand or interpret what my dreams mean for me, personally, as I have done for most of my adult life. Swami Vishwananda teaches us about analyzing our dreams in a recent satsang wherein he answered a question about dreams of him (see video below—we posted this here recently as well).

Since Shiva is known for having cobra snakes around his neck and is known for his Shakti dance as Nataraja, one of the facets I accept from this dream is that, in some way, the dream contained Shiva’s auspiciousness! And since Lord Vishnu sleeps on a many-headed Cobra, I somehow felt it was Vishnu, himself, smiling down at me while I slept. I awoke at just the moment of the cobra "smiling" at me so that my conscious mind would remember Vishnu's teaching within the dream (personal to me, the dreamer, as Swami Vishwananda teaches us in the following video).

-Utpalavati

This is interesting information I found during my Internet Research on. . .

THE COBRA:

“It is in India where we . . .meet the significant divine serpent in many aspects. In India the cobra has long been considered sacred, and even those cobras used by 'snake charmers' are not injured in any way, not defanged, and when they are used for while they are safely returned to the wild. The "Naga" which is the divine aspect of the cobra is found in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions. In some passages, King Varuna is regarded as being among the most preeminent of the Nagas, and he is included in the discussion of these mythical divine serpents. [Mahabarata 1.26.1. and 25.4] The 'naga' is a divine serpent who is a son of Kadru, the daughter of Daksha.

“The Naga represents cosmic power; they are a manifestation of the Vedic god Agni, or fire, and as such becomes the 'fierce spirit' who is the guardian. The cobra/naga is a mount of Vishnu and as such represents knowledge, wisdom and eternity. As Vishnu sleeps on the cosmic ocean, he sleeps on the coiled serpent on the primordial waters. Two serpents with downward and upward movement represent the divine sleep and divine awakening. The Naga and Nagni are serpent kings and queens, which are divine in their own right. They are depicted as either fully human, fully snake, humans with cobra heads and hoods, or as humans from the waist upwards and snake below that.

“…the god Vaskul is the naga-god of Mount Kailasha, which is also deemed to be the home of the god Shiva, one-third of the Trinity of Brahma aspects. We have pictorial and statuary representations showing snakes around Shiva's neck. These are naga bushana and they symbolize death, the power of which Shiva is beyond, and which he controls. They also represent that energy coiled at the base of the spine which yoga practitioners say is the base for all self-realization.

One Heartbeat

A leafy green tree blowing in the wind,
A baby tentatively learning to crawl,
A bird singing beautifully in the bush,
A ground squirrel scurrying
Into its home, a hole in the ground,
A peacock spreading its beautiful plumage,
A human being sitting serenely
Meditating at the base of this tree:
All have a common denominator,
A common ground.
What is it?

To this question many might respond: “Life”.
And this is truth.
And there is a greater secret
To numerous people who know
That they know what
Lies within this question.
Man is coming to understand that all these
Have the same heartbeat of the Divine
Giving them Divine Love through
Creating each life blood flowing—flowing—
Lord Vishnu sustaining life forevermore!
And So It Is!
Amen and OM.

--Utpalavati

Mahavatar Babaji Quote of the Day:

To attain the Divine, those of you who stay in the morass of energy known as criticism, mistrust and conceit, pride, in your knowing or what you think you know, must first break free of those energies and be willing to sit in silence. You must opt to still your mind-chatter and your criticism of what ‘others’ have done both to you and people you know or think you know. Only then will you create the possibility of finding the peace that some of those you criticize already have created for themselves. Only then may you find this peace we are speaking about. –Babaji

DREAMS OF SWAMI VISHWANANDA:
Personal to the Dreamer (Time at 3:50)