Why Did Anshuman Need Garuda? The Role of the “Higher Thought”

Question

You explained that Anshuman means “a ray of knowledge.” Then why did he still need Garuda?

Answer

Anshuman means a ray of knowledge, not complete knowledge—just a small beginning, a single ray. The story says Anshuman was the son of Asamanjasa, and Asamanjasa represents the state of inner confusion or dilemma, when we can’t decide anything clearly.

When we come out of that confusion, full knowledge doesn’t appear at once. Only a small ray of it enters within us. That’s why the name Anshuman was given—Anshu means “a ray,” and mān is a suffix, like in Shriman (“one endowed with Shri”). So Anshuman means “one endowed with a ray of knowledge.”

When this little ray of knowledge descends into the subconscious, and we start looking within—trying to see what lies there—Anshuman reaches the subconscious mind. But since it’s only a ray, not the whole light, he still lacks complete understanding.

That’s where Garuda comes in. Garuda means a noble, elevated thought. The bird Garuda is a symbol of something that soars very high—much higher than ordinary birds. That’s why Garuda is shown as the vehicle of Vishnu. Vishnu here doesn’t literally sit on a bird; it’s symbolic. Garuda represents the highest, most elevated idea.

So in the story, Garuda appears because, within Anshuman, a great and lofty thought arises—a flash of a higher idea. That inner inspiration says, “Small efforts like simple water offerings won’t work. The deep impressions within you won’t dissolve through minor acts. You must do something greater.”

In the story, Garuda says, “Water oblations won’t help; you must bring Ganga.”
Meaning: it is as if a high, noble thought within us tells us that only deep self-knowledge can free those inner impressions, not surface-level effort.

Such guiding thoughts come to all of us—sometimes through scripture, sometimes through something we read or hear—but they always rise within the mind first. If the thought is wrong, it pulls us downward. If it is noble, it lifts us upward.

Here, Garuda stands for that elevating thought, that higher vision. And what does it say? “To clear the deep-rooted tendencies in your mind, you need something profound—you must awaken in self-knowledge. Recognize your true Self. Nothing can be achieved while you identify only with the body, because the body is limited—it lasts seventy or eighty years and perishes. But the soul never dies. The ‘I’ that is the soul continues, and through many lives, through noble actions, the soul’s journey keeps moving forward.”