Introduction

Stories teach us about ourselves, others, and life in general. Stories are entertaining; they captivate attention and are easily grasped by ordinary masses. Storytelling is indeed a unique way for young children to develop knowledge, respect, and appreciation for other cultures, as well as a positive attitude toward people of different places, races, and religions. It is also appealing to both young and old people in terms of increasing insight and knowledge about life in all of its aspects and colours.

Storytelling stimulates our emotional faculties. We remember stories that are emotionally charged. Important information is stored in our brain as “emotional data packages” in narrative form. It refers to these data while analysing a new situation, compares them to current occurrences, and provides direction on how to proceed. Essentially, storytelling is about learning to make the best decision possible to overcome challenges and conflicts. Learning a new skill triggers the same reward centres of the brain as drugs and gambling, which explains our attraction for storytelling.

We allow the three biases of our cognition to act in synchrony during the story-telling process. The three biases are as follows: a) the truth bias, b) the novelty bias, and c) the confirmation bias. These help us to understand the world around us through our inner lens seamlessly.

The truth bias of the brain is the one that aids us in hearing and understanding something. The period following this understanding is critical because the brain now performs the cognitive task of determining if the new information should be disbelieved and reprocessed for further inquiry. The novelty bias is very much caught in the domain of storey telling since anything that attracts the attention and is novel and astonishing will automatically tug on the attention and awareness again and again. When it comes to storytelling, the brain’s confirmation bias is critical. When we believe and understand something, our attention narrows because the information begins to correspond with what we already believe, and any contradictory information goes ignored. When it comes to storytelling, there is also a counter-argumentative element that might emerge from contemplative conversations.

Neuroscience says that our brain’s quest to generate meaning and satisfy our need for it is reflected in the creation of stories. It is the principle of cause and effect that seeks and discovers context in order to construct sense, understand the incomprehensible, and explain the unexplainable. Driven by this concept, our brain attempts to make sense of what it encounters and minimise complexity by employing patterns to eliminate inconsistencies.

This is the third in a series of essays we contributed for Pragyata. Our first essay studied Skandamata and Kartikeya’s tale through the prism of Science of Compassion. In the second instalment, we examined Nandi’s tale through the prism of attention science. The next tale we’d like to tell you is about Garuda, the Vahana or vehicle in Hinduism and Buddhism. We hope that as you read these articles, you are also deciphering the confirmation bias of our cognition with deep reflective discussion so we are all back at the expansive awareness of being.

Tale of Garuda 

Two sisters, Kadru and Vinata, were the wives of sage Kashyapa. They both desired children. Kadru desired 1000 sons, whereas Vinata desired two sons who would be more powerful than Kadru’s children. There was an element of envy and a competitive attitude among these spouses.

Kadru rapidly rose to prominence as the mother of a thousand snakes. Vinata, on the other hand, had to endure the wait. She was upset by the fact that her sister Kadru was the mother of a thousand snakes. Vinatha smashed open one of her eggs, and a half-formed child appeared, cursing her for her impatience with a life of slavery until her second son liberates her. Vinata carried the other egg for many years, much to her chagrin. Meanwhile, Vinata was tricked into becoming Kadru’s slave following an argument with her sister Kadru.

Vinata began serving Kadru and her children while patiently awaiting the birth of her second son. Garuda hatched out from the second egg one day. He had a human body but eagle wings, talons, and a beak. Garuda, endowed with superhuman abilities, expanded to enormous proportions in a matter of minutes. Garuda had to serve Kadru and her serpent sons because his mother was a slave. Vinata informed him how she had been cheated when he asked his mother about it. Even though he was enraged, Garuda knew he would have to wait his turn to win their freedom. Garudas’ main attributes include not only fortitude (veeryam), but also the discriminative power (jnana and viveka) to understand the power of intuition. This trait is explored in a Yoga Asana known as Garudasana or Eagle Pose, which aids in increasing concentration while improving leg and foot stability. This pose is excellent in establishing mental harmony by fostering a balance in the neuroendocrinal circuit.

Garuda’s body was as bright as the sun and Agni when he was born. His radiance emanated from the knowledge and power of all Vayus, including Prana, Vyana, Udana, Samana, and Brahmana. It’s fascinating to note that controlling these five Vayus through yoga can lead to Kundalini awakening, which leads to higher levels of consciousness. This can be accomplished through the practise of Kriya Pranayama. Desika celebrates Garuda’s glory in Garuda Panchasat by referring to Garuda’s qualities as infinite.

He, like his mother Vinata, became a servant to Kadru and her 1000 naga sons. Vinata once had to carry Kadru on her shoulders and swim across the waters to visit an island with her sons, while Garuda had to carry the snakes. He flew near to the sun intentionally, and the snakes were burnt by the heat. Kadru pleaded to Indra, who provided cooling rainfall to save the snakes after hearing their screams.

Garuda then decided to make a pact with the snakes. “Set my mother and me free, and I will give you whatever you want,” he pleaded. The snakes were aware of Garuda’s power and decided to ask for what they thought was unattainable. “We will let you both free if you can bring us the nectar of immortality or amrit.” Garuda is recognised for his keen vision, and by applying the Garuda Mudra in vinyasa practice, you can circulate wind energy, which will cleanse and balance your system.

Garuda was aware that this was a risky proposal, yet he consented. He told Vinata, who gave him a blessing and let him go on his way. Garuda first soared to the Himalayas to meet his father, Sage Kashyapa. He told his father about his mother’s enslavement and the serpents’ ransom for freedom. Sage Kashyapa advised Garuda to capture a massive elephant and a huge tortoise that had been battling for years. “Eat them both, they’ll give you the strength you need,” the sage advised as he blessed him.

Garuda flew off in the stated direction. The two gigantic creatures were so preoccupied with fighting that they didn’t see when Garuda lifted them both up, one in each claw, and perched on a tree to eat. However, the branch collapsed under his weight. As it dropped like a stone, a terrified Garuda observed some rishis hanging from it. He flew underneath quickly and grabbed it with his beak. Advised by them, he placed the branch on a mountain. When the rishis left after blessing him, he devoured the elephant and tortoise.

Now he had to get to the nectar.

Garuda arrived at the place where Amrit was. It was surrounded by massive flames that reached all the way to the sky. Garuda opened his mouth wide and flew into the ocean. He consumed the waters of many rivers and used them to extinguish the fires that were defending Amrit. He then transformed into a tiny animal and approached the vessel carrying the nectar. He noticed a wheel with razor-sharp blades whirling at breakneck speed, ready to annihilate anyone who came too close. Garuda flew through the spokes of that wheel at lightning speed. He spotted two big snakes guarding the vessel beyond. He created an enormous dust cloud that blinded them. He then mangled them to death. He shattered the mechanism that was defending the nectar and flew into the sky, clutching the vessel in his claws.

When Indra realized that Amrit was being stolen, he unleashed his potent weapon Vajra on Garuda. In reaction to Indra’s thunderbolt, Garuda shed just one feather. He was otherwise unhurt and continued on his journey. Despite having access to the holy nectar which would have made him immortal, he chose not to drink it in order to keep his vow to his brothers.

On the way, he encountered Lord Vishnu. In recognition of his selflessness, Vishnu bestowed a boon upon him. Garuda took the boon that he would always fly higher than Vishnu, the protector, and that he would be immortal even without Amrit’s help.

Vishnu conferred this boon on him and placed him on his flagstaff, granting him a prestigious position. He then told the bird, “You should be aware that your half brothers are evil. If they drink Amrit and become immortal, the world will suffer greatly. You’ve merely agreed to carry the nectar to them. Use some deception to keep them from drinking it.”

As a result, when Garuda arrived at the island where the snakes were, he placed the pot of Amrit in front of them. He then told them, “Amrit has been delivered to you by me. You must liberate me and my mother from bondage according to our agreement.” The snakes exclaimed, “So be it!” and began to move towards the vessel carrying the nectar. Garuda said, “It has been said that, before beginning a great task, one should purify yourself. All of you are unclean, finish your ablutions before you partake of this nectar.”

The snakes followed this advice and proceeded to the river to purify themselves. Indra, who had been waiting for a moment like this, took the vessel and returned it to its rightful home among the Devas. As a result, the evil snakes’ quest for immortality was thwarted.

Garuda is the embodiment of the Vedas — VedatmaVihageshwaro. Parasara Bhattar sings to the speed with which Garuda flies to rescue elephant Gajendra. Nammazhwar paid his tribute to Garuda’s speed by referring to him as ‘vegaparavai”.

Scintillating symbolism: Emptiness & State of Flow

Garuda’s getting ready to fly stance, with his folded legs and massive wingspan, is a significant part of Garuda mythology. It’s possible that this is a representation of the concepts of flow and emptiness.

When Garuda soars across the sky, he embodies what it means to be in the flow. He exemplifies the act of becoming so engrossed in a task that you begin to perform effortlessly and with a heightened level of awareness. This is explained by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Optimal Experience.

Garuda’s flight represents the creation of continuous flow, in which Garuda can develop skills that allow him to transform potential threats into joyful tasks, thereby maintaining inner peace. When we are in a state of flow, time stops and we are completely absorbed in the task at hand; our focus is single-pointed and time and place do not matter.

According to Csikszentmihalyi, “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… the best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” The human mind, according to Csikszentmihalyi, can process up to 120 bits of information every second. When we challenge ourselves with a task, our minds attain their maximum potential. If the activity at hand is something we enjoy and are good at, we enter a flow state, which can leave us feeling joyful, motivated, and fulfilled. You can’t make flow happen, but you can urge it to happen more often, especially in areas of life where it seems implausible. This is the ability to find joy in mundane daily routines.

Garuda’s pre-flight stance also illustrates nothingness. Nothingness is not the same as emptiness. Emptiness is a way of perceiving the world. Garuda have the ability to grasp a single event as if it were an empty vessel. When we practise emptiness, we add nothing to and take nothing away from the experience that occurs. When we look at the legends of Garuda’s birth and the acts he performed for his mother Vinata, we can see that he was acting without any presuppositions. In order to make meaning of our experiences, we usually add presuppositions to them.

Garuda’s flight stance just before flying is also an example of the flight into a mode called emptiness. Emptiness is different from nothingness. Emptiness is a mode of perception. Garuda had the ability to look at a single experience with an empty vessel mindset. When practising emptiness, we are adding nothing to, and taking nothing away from, the event that takes place. In the case of Garuda as we look at the stories of his birth and the acts, he performed for his mother Vinata, he was acting without any presuppositions. We normally add presuppositions to our experience in order to make sense of it. Our conditioned mind and preconceived ideas and belief system cloud our clarity of thought.

Garudas’ legend shows him as always being in the present moment when taking any action, implying that he comes from a state of emptiness, i.e. empty of the conditioned mind and preconceived thoughts. So, when we look at Garuda’s tale, we can see that his ability to rise and fly into emptiness has allowed him to see his true identity, and as a result, he has not allowed his perceptions to be distracted from the actual experience and is able to understand and solve the problems of suffering that his mother Vinata perceived.

These two aspects of Garuda’s symbolism may be the key reasons why he is chosen as a dharma-protector among Astasena or the Eight Legions in Buddhism.

So, based on the two poses of Garuda that we generally observe, we may deduce that in order to perform any creative activity, we must first have an empty mind which is a prerequisite for being in a state of flow. The other attitude of Garuda flying at tremendous speed represents that when we emerge from emptiness, our activity and action are fully conscious of the present moment and we are in a state of flow. We can gain the qualities and strength of Garuda when we are in a condition of flow arising from emptiness. Furthermore, Garuda is the medium, the vehicle that we require to contact Vishnu.

Conclusion

Garuda is Vishnu’s vahana, or carrier. So, according to the legends, if we exercise the characteristic of Garuda, we can manifest Vishnu or cosmic consciousness in ourselves. Garuda denotes strength, attention, and the capacity to see clearly, and is sometimes depicted with a snake in his jaws, symbolising eating or killing evil in the world. Garuda represents knowledge, power, bravery, loyalty, and discipline.

Garuda is an excellent example of a medium for attaining higher consciousness. In Buddhism, Garuda represents the Bodhisattva. Bodhi refers to being awake, and sattva refers to a living being, hence bodhisattva refers to an awakened being. We are all bodhisattvas at times and not at others. We, like Garuda, can choose to remain in the present moment and be absorbed in action, at the moment where time ends and we become one with the creative source, and thus we the wave become water. Again, the wave is a carrier of water, just as Garuda is a vahana or carrier of Vishnu.

References

Gilbert, D. T. (1991). How mental systems believe. American Psychologist, 46(2), 107–119.
Jha, A.P., Zanesco, A.P., Denkova E., Rooks, J., Morrison, A.B., Stanley, E. (2020). Comparing Mindfulness and Positivity Trainings in High Demand Cohorts. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 44, 311-326,

Vosoughi S, Roy D, Aral S. The spread of true and false news online. Science. 2018 Mar 9;359(6380):1146-1151.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Garuda”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Dec. 2018,

Harle, J.C. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, Second Edition. Yale University Press, 1994.

American Museum of Natural History. Press Release. “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns, & Mermaids On View at the American Museum of Natural History May 26, 2007—January 6, 2008.” May 2007. Departmental Records, DR 101. American Museum of Natural History Library.

Levitin, D. J. (2014). The organized mind: Thinking straight in the age of information overload. Plume/Penguin Books.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

Art of Living, Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now by Book by Thich Nhat Hanh

THE LOTUS SUTRA(Taishō Volume 9, Number 262)Translated from the Chinese of KumārajivabyTsugunari KuboandAkira Yuyama by Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research 2007