Samudra Manthana legend. It tells how the devas, after the curse, begin to lose their immortality. Assisted by their rivals, the
asuras , the devas begin to churn the ocean, releasing, among other extraordinary objects and beings, a pitcher of amrita, held by the deity
Dhanvantari .
[8]
Seeing that beautiful form, they were fascinated and were overwhelmed with the passion of love. Giving up their mutual struggle, they approached and spoke:
“O blessed lady! Take this pitcher of Nectar and distribute it amongst us. We are the sons of Kaśyapa; O lady with beautiful buttocks, make us all drink it (Nectar).”
Requesting her thus, they handed it over to the lady who was reluctant. She spoke, “No faith should be entertained in me, as I am a self-willed (i.e. wanton) woman. You have done an improper act. I shall, however, distribute it as per my will.” Though she told them so, those stupid ones said, “Do as you please”.
Amrit Sanchar, a ceremony which resembles
baptism . This ceremony is observed to initiate the Sikhs into the
Khalsa and requires drinking amrit.
[12] This is created by mixing a number of soluble ingredients, including sugar, and is then rolled with a
khanda with the accompaniment of scriptural recitation of five sacred verses.
Metaphorically, God's name is also referred to as a nectar:
ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸਬਦੁ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਹਰਿ ਬਾਣੀ ॥
Amrit sabad amrit hari bāṇī.
The Shabda is Amrit; the Lord's bani is Amrit.
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਸੇਵਿਐ ਰਿਦੈ ਸਮਾਣੀ ॥
Satiguri sēviai ridai samāṇī.
Serving the True Guru, it permeates the heart.
ਨਾਨਕ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਨਾਮੁ ਸਦਾ ਸੁਖਦਾਤਾ ਪੀ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਸਭ ਭੁਖ ਲਹਿ ਜਾਵਣਿਆ ॥
Nānak amrit nāmu sadā sukhdātā pī amritu sabha bhukh lahi jāvaṇiā.
O Nanak, the Ambrosial Naam is forever the Giver of peace; drinking in this Amrit, all hunger is satisfied.[13]
Buddhism
Buddha is called as "Amata Santam" in Pali Literature.
Theravada Buddhism
According to
In the Amata Sutta, the Buddha advises monks to stay with the four Satipatthana : "Monks, remain with your minds well-established in these four establishings of mindfulness. Don't let the deathless be lost to you."[15]
In the questions for Nagasena , King Milinda asks for evidence that the Buddha once lived, wherein Nagasena describes evidence of the Dhamma in a simile:
"Revered Nagasena, what is the nectar shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?"
"Nectar, sire, has been pointed out by the Blessed One. With this nectar the Blessed One sprinkles the world with the
mindfulness occupied with the body
. And this too, sire, was said by the Blessed One: 'Monks, they partake of nectar (the deathless) who partake of mindfulness that is occupied with the body.' This, sire, is called the Blessed One's nectar shop."
— Miln 335[16]
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism describes Amrita (Chinese : 甘露 ; pinyin : gānlù ) as blessed water, food, or other consumable objects often produced through merits of chanting mantras.
Vajrayana Buddhism
Amrita (Tibetan : བདུད་རྩི་ , Wylie : bdud rtsi , THL : dütsi ) also plays a significant role in Vajrayana Buddhism as a sacramental drink which is consumed at the beginning of all important rituals such as the abhisheka , ganachakra , and homa . In the Tibetan tradition, dütsi is made during drubchens – lengthy ceremonies involving many high lamas . It usually takes the form of small, dark-brown grains that are taken with water, or dissolved in very weak solutions of alcohol and is said to improve physical and spiritual well-being.[17]
The foundational text of traditional Tibetan medicine , the Four Tantras, is also known by the name The Heart of Amrita (Wylie : snying po bsdus pa ).
The Immaculate Crystal Garland (
samudra manthana legend retold in Buddhist terms. In this Vajrayana version, the monster
Rahu steals the amrita and is blasted by
Vajrapani 's thunderbolt. As Rahu has already drunk the amrita he cannot die, but his blood, dripping onto the surface of this earth, causes all kinds of medicinal plants to grow. At the behest of all the Buddhas, Vajrapani reassembles Rahu who eventually becomes a protector of Buddhism according to the
Nyingma school of
Tibetan Buddhism .
Inner Offering (
Tantras of
Chakravarti , and
Tantras of Vajravārāhī , a ceremony needs to be held for melting and blessing the Inner-Offering Nectar. Five Nectar needs to be arranged in four directions: yellow excrement in the east, green bone marrow in the north, white semen in the west and red blood in the south; blue urine is placed in the center. Four Nectar should come from
wise monks and the ova should be collected from the first menstruation of a blessed woman. The Five Meats are arranged similarly, meat of black bull in the southeast, the meat of the blue dog in the southwest, the meat of the white elephant in the northwest, the meat of the green horse in the northeast, and the meat of a red human corpse in the center. After the ceremony, these ingredients will transform into a
one taste (
ekarasa ) elixir, which bestows bliss, vitality, immortality and wisdom. Actual modern practitioner will take a 'synthesized essence' of the Nectar Pill and combined it with black tea or alcohol, but mostly the "Nectar Pill" are derived from plants.
[18]
See also
Look up
amrita in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
References
^ "amrita | Hindu mythology | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Retrieved 2021-11-13 .
^ "Soma: The Nectar of the Gods" . History of Ayurveda . 20 April 2018. Retrieved 2021-11-13 .
^ Pattanaik, Devdutt (February 27, 2016). "Good deva-bad asura divide misleading" . The Times of India . Retrieved 2021-11-13 .
^ "BBC - Religions - Sikhism: Amrit ceremony" . www.bbc.co.uk . Retrieved 2021-11-13 .
Walter W. Skeat
, Etymological English Dictionary
, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 315.
^ Mallory, J. P. (1997). "Sacred drink". In Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture . Taylor & Francis. p. 538. Mallory also connects to this root an Avestan word, and notes that the root is "dialectally restricted to the IE southeast".
^ Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages . Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 66.
^ www.wisdomlib.org (2020-11-14). "Brahma Instructs the Devas to Go to Vishnu [Chapter 43]" . www.wisdomlib.org . Retrieved 2022-08-03 .
^ www.wisdomlib.org (2020-03-05). "Gods Drink the Nectar [Chapter 13]" . www.wisdomlib.org . Retrieved 2022-08-03 .
^ www.wisdomlib.org (2020-03-05). "Gods Drink the Nectar [Chapter 13]" . www.wisdomlib.org . Retrieved 2022-08-03 .
^ "Taking Amrit: Initiation" . pluralism.org . Retrieved 2021-11-13 .
^ Guru Granth Sahib , page 119
^ "All About Change" . www.accesstoinsight.org . Retrieved 2024-04-09 .
^ "Amata Sutta: Deathless" . www.accesstoinsight.org . Retrieved 2024-04-09 .
^ "The Blessed One's City of Dhamma: From the Milindapañha", based on the translation by I.B. Horner. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/horner/bl130.html
^ Dutsi , A Brief Description of the Benefits of the Sacred Ambrosial Medicine, The Unsurpassable, Supreme Samaya Substance that Liberates Through Taste.
, Boston, MA. :Shambhala, 2003.
Sources
Dallapiccola, Anna L. Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend .
External links
Look up
Amrita in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.