The Meaning Vahanas in Puranas

In verses 11 and 12 of Canto 73, it is said that when many rakshasas set out to fight alongside Indrajit, some rode elephants, some rode horses, some rode tigers, some rode scorpions, some rode cats, some rode donkeys, some rode camels, some rode snakes, some rode boars, and some rode other fierce creatures. Some rakshasas rode lions, mountain-sized jackals, crows, swans, peacocks, and other such mounts as they went into battle.

Here, the names of the mounts have been given, but there are no further details. If there had been some elaboration, we could have understood which rakshasa was riding a scorpion, which one was riding a tiger or a jackal, and which one was riding a crow. Had such a description been given, we could have understood each rakshasa and his mount properly. But there is no elaboration here. Only the names of the mounts have been given.

Since these mounts have been named, we need to understand what a mount might signify when descriptions like these appear repeatedly in the Puranas.

They describe a rakshasa sitting on a snake or a jackal and setting out to fight. What does this mount signify? As we have been reading the Yuddha Kanda, descriptions of mounts have appeared repeatedly. When Indrajit or Ravana sets out, he sits in a chariot drawn by donkeys.

The chariot is a symbol of the body. Wherever a rakshasa is seated in a chariot, that chariot represents the body. We have three kinds of bodies. One is our physical or gross body. Another is our subtle body, which we call the mental body or the body of thoughts. The third is our causal body, which we call the body of impressions, or samskaras.

So, when someone sits in a chariot, the straightforward meaning is that he is seated in the chariot of the body. This may be the chariot of the mind, the gross physical body, or the body of impressions. That much is clear.

But when they speak of snakes, scorpions, and other creatures as mounts, what might these signify? We cannot understand this directly, but we can try to understand it in another way.

How? We all know that in the Puranas, gods and goddesses also ride mounts. There are different gods and goddesses, and they are seated on different mounts. Just as the gods and goddesses ride mounts, the rakshasas here are also described as riding mounts. This is what has been indicated in Canto 73.

We all know something about what the mounts of the gods and goddesses signify. We probably also know which god or goddess rides which mount.

For example, what is Ganesha’s mount? A mouse. We all know that he rides a mouse.

Then there is Vishnu. What is Vishnu’s mount? Garuda. In the Puranas, Vishnu is always described as seated upon Garuda.

Goddess Durga’s mount is a lion. Durga is seated upon a lion.

Then there is a deity called Kartikeya. Kartikeya’s mount is a peacock.

There is also Goddess Lakshmi. Her mount is an owl.

So we know the mounts of the gods and goddesses. If we understand these mounts, we will certainly become somewhat better able to understand the many mounts described for the rakshasas.

To understand the rakshasas’ mounts, we first need to look at the mounts of these gods and goddesses. Let us consider them one by one: the mouse, Garuda, the lion, the peacock, and the owl.

These five mounts are described repeatedly in the Puranas. You may already know about them, but I will still explain them briefly.

Why is it necessary for us to understand these mounts?

Because the stories in the Puranas are not historical accounts. They are all symbolic, and the Puranas provide many ways of understanding them.

One such way is through the symbols placed on each warrior’s banner. When we read the Mahabharata, we will come across many such symbols there too. While reading the Ramayana, we have also encountered descriptions of many symbols on the banners.

Understanding what a mount signifies also helps us understand the stories. So let us make a small effort to understand the mounts. Once we understand a few of them, we will begin to get an idea of how we can approach these stories.

The first is Ganesha, whose mount is the mouse. What principle does Ganesha represent?

The principle of discernment.

When we worship Ganesha, he represents discernment, or we may say wisdom. As we worship him, we should establish this understanding in our minds: the one we are worshipping represents wisdom or discernment.

Only when we establish discernment within our minds does success in a task become possible.

If we take the worship itself to be the whole truth, that Ganesha will do nothing for us before we begin a task. It is because Ganesha represents discernment and wisdom that we establish him before beginning any work.

Why do we do this?

Because only when we begin a task with discernment can we succeed in it. If we begin a task without discernment, success is not assured or inevitable. But if we begin a task with discernment, success is certain.

That is why our tradition prescribes the worship of Ganesha before beginning any task. We should worship Ganesha while keeping this reality in mind: he represents discernment.

We tend to forget teachings about knowledge. Knowledge is dry; it lacks flavour. That is why our sages very cleverly established these teachings in the form of worship and rituals.

There are short Panchatantra stories for children. We remember the stories, but we do not remember the knowledge contained behind them.

Similarly, these stories from the Puranas are stories of knowledge. They convey knowledge, but we do not remember the knowledge. We remember the story.

That is why our sages, the authors of the Puranas, very cleverly established these teachings in the form of worship and rituals. This is the first thing we must remember.

There are many meanings contained in Ganesha’s form and appearance. We will not discuss those now, because today our entire focus is on the mount. So we will consider only Ganesha’s mount.

Ganesha’s mount is the mouse. The word mushaka means one who quietly picks something up or slips it away. The word comes from the Sanskrit root mush, which means to take something away quietly or to slip it away.

What does a mouse do?

It quietly picks things up and takes them away. That is one characteristic. Another characteristic of the mouse is that it gnaws. Whatever it finds, whether cloth or paper, it gnaws at it.

The mouse does not gnaw in order to harm someone or cause someone a loss. It wants to create a place to live. So, by gnawing, it removes the obstacles in its path.

The mouse gnaws; in other words, it removes obstacles.

They have connected this characteristic of the mouse with discernment, wisdom, or Ganesha. They have associated the mouse with Ganesha, and Ganesha represents discernment. So they have associated the mouse with discernment.

The mouse has two characteristics: it quietly takes something away, and it gnaws.

A discerning or wise person, when trying to understand a difficult subject or explain it to someone else, has to take the help of this gnawing—that is, reasoning.

What is being indicated through these two characteristics?

They indicate that if a wise person wants to explain or understand a difficult subject, he must take some help from reasoning. Here, reasoning is represented by gnawing.

But his reasoning is not like that of people who argue for argument’s sake. A wise person does not use reasoning in the same way that such people do.

Those who argue use reasoning to nourish their ego. A wise person does not use reasoning to nourish his ego. He quietly takes it up.

If he has to explain something, what does he do?

He takes the help of reasoning. He takes it up quietly. He does not take it up to nourish his ego. He quietly uses it to explain a point or establish an understanding.

Let us put this more simply. A discerning, wise person wants to explain something difficult. To explain that difficult point, it becomes necessary to use reasoning in one form or another.

He does not use reasoning to nourish his ego. He uses it only to explain the point, and he takes it up quietly.

He does not use reasoning to show off. He simply takes it up quietly to explain the difficult matter.

To convey this, they made the mouse the mount of Ganesha in the image they created.

By making the mouse his mount, they indicated that if you are discerning and wise, and you are explaining something difficult, take up reasoning. It is necessary to do so.

But do not take up reasoning to nourish your ego. Take it up quietly and explain the difficult point to the person sitting before you.

So Ganesha’s mouse mount represents explaining any difficult matter with the help of reasoning.

The mouse gnaws, and gnawing means taking up reasoning—using reasoning.

Through these two characteristics, gnawing and quietly taking something up, they are saying just this: a wise, discerning person can explain even the most difficult matter to us simply.

How? By quietly taking the help of reasoning.

Quietly means gently. He uses it to explain the point, rather than to nourish his ego.

So that explains why Ganesha has been seated upon a mouse and why the mouse has been made his mount.

Now let us try to understand through another example.

Vishnu’s mount is Garuda. In the stories we have been reading, Vishnu repeatedly appears seated upon Garuda.

Like Ganesha, the deity called Vishnu is not a physical entity. We all know who Vishnu is.

The Supreme Being, whose nature is existence, consciousness, and bliss, has three powers: the power of creation, the power of nurturing, and the power of dissolution.

Of these three powers, our sages have represented the nurturing power as the deity Vishnu.

So wherever the word Vishnu appears, immediately understand who Vishnu is. Vishnu is the name given to the Supreme Being’s nurturing power.

In other words, the power of the Supreme Being that nurtures this vast world and this immense universe is Vishnu.

To put this simply, Vishnu is the power of nurturing—the power that nurtures everyone.

This nurturing power sustains the smallest living being as well as the largest. It is not that Vishnu, the nurturing power of the Supreme Being, sustains only some particular VIP. It nurtures the smallest creature as well as the largest.

There is a short story in the Puranas that helps us understand this. I may have told it once before, but it is a short story, so let us repeat it here to understand the point.

It is said that once Parvati doubted Shiva’s statement that the Supreme Being nurtures all living beings.

Parvati wanted to put him to the test. She thought, “I will shut an insect inside a little box and then see how his Supreme Being nurtures it. Once I have shut it inside the box, how will it be sustained?”

Parvati wanted to test this. So she placed an insect inside a little box and closed it.

After a few days, when she opened the box, the insect was alive.

How was it alive?

The insect was eating a grain of rice.

How had that grain of rice entered the box?

The story says that when Parvati closed the box, a grain of rice attached to the tilak on her forehead had fallen into it. Parvati had not noticed this at the time.

She closed the box, but she did not see that the grain of rice from her own forehead had fallen inside.

When she saw that the insect was still alive, her pride disappeared.

Shiva told her that the Supreme Being’s nurturing power sustains this universe in many different ways. That is why no one can fully understand this nurturing power.

We cannot see how the Supreme Being sustains us all. The ways in which everyone is nurtured are different.

This is the story told in the Puranas on this subject.

So a person should never become proud and think, “I am the one sustaining this or that living being.”

We carry so much pride, don’t we? “I am sustaining this family. I am sustaining society. I am sustaining this country.”

This is our pride.

It is the deity called Vishnu who nurtures everyone. Therefore, we should not hold on to the pride that we alone are sustaining someone.

In reality, the Supreme Being dwelling within us is the one who sustains everyone.

Now they have made Garuda the mount of this deity, Vishnu.

Garuda is a bird. Why did they choose Garuda as his mount?

Garuda is a bird that flies at the greatest height in the sky. Today, this bird has disappeared, but it must have existed in earlier times, when the authors composed the Puranas.

By making Garuda Vishnu’s mount, the authors of the Puranas, our sages, conveyed a particular meaning.

Because of its ability to fly at a great height, the bird called Garuda has been taken in the Puranas as a symbol of knowledge.

Vishnu is seated upon Garuda. In other words, Vishnu is seated upon knowledge.

By seating Vishnu, the nurturing power of the Supreme Being, upon Garuda, they have indicated that only a person established in the heights of knowledge can properly understand this nurturing power, hold it within, and bring it into his behaviour.

A person living in ignorance will continue to hold on to the pride that he himself is sustaining particular people.

Only a person established in higher knowledge can understand this truth: “I am not the one sustaining anyone. The divine power dwelling within me has a nurturing power, which is called Vishnu. It is that power which nurtures everyone.”

By seating Lord Vishnu upon Garuda, they are indicating to us that we should not become filled with pride about sustaining someone.

The nurturing power of the Supreme Being sustains everyone, whether it is a member of our family or someone in society.

A person living in ignorance cannot understand this. Only a person established in knowledge can understand it.

To convey this, they made Garuda Vishnu’s mount.