Who Is Kadru and What Do the Nāgas Symbolize?

Question

In this part, sister, there’s mention of Kadru, who gave birth to the Nāgas — the serpents. The text says that the Nāgas were born from Kadru and that they bear the weight of the Earth. What is the deeper meaning of this? Why was this story of Kadru included?

Answer

Yes — Kadru and Vinatā are mentioned many times in the Purāṇas, and their stories are entirely symbolic.
Kadru represents our negative nature, our tāmasic tendency, the dark and inert aspect of our being.
Vinatā, on the other hand, stands for our pure and sāttvic nature.

The story says that Nāgas were born from Kadru. These “Nāgas” don’t mean literal snakes that crawl out from under a cupboard or slither through the forest. Here, Nāga represents our negative impulses — the lower tendencies that arise when our nature becomes dark or tamasic.

When our nature turns tamasic, what gets born within us? Only negativity. That is why it’s said “Nāgas were born from Kadru.” These Nāgas are said to live beneath the earth, supporting it. Spiritually, that means our negative impressions (vṛttis) lie deep in our subconscious — hidden in the depths of the body and mind.

Our body itself is symbolically called the Earth (Pṛithvī). Within this Earth-body exists the conscious mind, subconscious mind, senses, and the field of thought (chitta). The subconscious mind is what the scriptures call Pātāla or Rasātala. So when the Purāṇas say that Nāgas live under the Earth, it means that these negative tendencies reside deep in the subconscious layer of our being.

Of course, positive tendencies are also present there. Both kinds of impressions — good and bad — are stored in that inner depth. As we continue through the Rāmāyaṇa, we’ll encounter symbols like Surasā emerging from the ocean. Kadru, the tamasic nature, gives rise to the Nāgas — our negative forces — which dwell in the inner, unseen layers of consciousness.

In different scriptures, this is explained in slightly different ways so that we can understand it completely.

Now, in our tradition, Nāgas are also regarded as divine beings, so here we must be careful not to confuse meanings. In this particular chapter, Nāga doesn’t refer to real snakes, the ones we see crawling on the ground. Our culture teaches us not to kill any living being. Every creature has its rightful place in existence. That’s why Indian culture is said to be great — because it teaches the protection of all life.

So, even when actual snakes come out of the ground or enter our homes, the teaching is not to harm them. They will naturally return to their own place. To protect this value of nonviolence, the Purāṇas called them “devas” — sacred beings — implying that we must safeguard all forms of life.

Our entire spiritual tradition is interwoven with layers of meaning — one truth hidden within another. But since our attention is still outward, we find it difficult to connect the outer and inner meanings. When the word Nāga appears, our mind instantly imagines a real serpent, because we don’t yet know the inner meaning of the word. That’s why questions like this arise.

If you read the first chapter of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, it says that in Pātāla live demons called Pāṇis. There, pāṇi symbolizes our negative functions, not actual beings. And it also says that the Nāgas live in Pātāla-loka.
Spiritually, Pātāla is not a physical place under the ground, just as heaven and hell are not physical realms in the sky. These are all states of consciousness. The “seven lower worlds” mentioned below the Earth—Pātāla, Rasātala, Talātala, Sutala, and so on—are all inner psychological layers, not geological ones.

As we keep reading, these deeper meanings will become clearer.