Cobra

We prefer to run away and avoid snakes of all kinds but especially the cobra. Yet, the Hindu mythology of the cobra describes how this creature is our divine friend and one to help us work through fear of change and death into the new life.

This sculpture display is a depiction of the cobra being pulled by angels and demons as the ocean of milk is churned. It is a sculpture that can be found at an airport in Bankok.

The cobra is the tool here wrapped around a mountain. The pulling back and forth between good and evil, between death and immortality is the action. The result is that amrit, or the immortal nectar is squeezed out but also a deadly poison that would kill the whole earth. This is the ever present reality of yin/yang, light/dark, inhale/exhale, releasing the old/birthing the new, that is always present in our lives.

Our good friend Shiva who wears cobras around his neck takes the deadly poison in his mouth and holds it there in suspension neither absorbing or releasing. This is one of the myths about how Shiva’s neck turns blue. Shiva demonstrates his working with the fear of death and destruction by holding the poison suspension.

The cobra around Shiva’s neck symbolizes becoming friends with these human fears of death and change and allowing them very close rather than running away. The snake regularly sheds its skin as it grows. This is a message for us to regularly evaluate our possessions, beliefs, friends, customs, attitudes and release those that no longer serve us.

Pictures from here.