During the churning of the oceans, the first product that emerged - namely the hot and deadly poison named Halahala, which immediately began to torment the worlds. The frightened Devas wondered where to seek solace from this plight. They came to the realisation that Lord Shiva, with all those poisonous serpents entwined playfully about his body was the only one who could perhaps resolve their distress. Seeing their distress Lord Shiva was overwhelmed with compassion. Shiva then took the poison in his palm and held it in his throat. The same deadly venom that was threatening to end the worlds now became a beautiful ornament of Shiva, turning his throat a light blue, a monument to his supremely compassionate and sacrificing nature. "Compassionate ones generally undertake a lot of trouble to relieve others of their suffering. However, this is no pain at all, because relieving others of their suffering is the highest worship of god" Shrimad Bhagvatam. The emergence of poison as the first product of the churning indicates that obstacles inevitably come up whenever any good work is undertaken, whether they be in form of suffering or physical impediments blocking the goal. The bigger the job you set out to do, the stronger is the poison that will turn up. Those on the path of God do know that once they have set out on their way, the negative tendencies kama (lust), krodha (anger) lobha (greed) etc. start tormenting one with surprisingly strong vigour. Only the one, who like Lord Shiva, bearer of the Ganga of knowledge on his head can survive, they even come out stronger after encountering them. Therefore, whenever any bitter poison, be it in the form of suffering or a negative tendency, surfaces in our lives, it is to Lord Shiva we should look up to. "That which begins like poison, ends up like nectar (amrita); and that which at first seems like nectar ends up as poison" Bhagwat Geeta.
Hari Om Tat Sat Namah Shivaya ~ Jai Neelkanth Mahadev!!
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