The Creator has made the universe to consist of things animate and inanimate, good and evil; a saint like a swan takes the milk of goodness and rejects the worthless water.
*The churning of the ocean is one of the commonplaces of Hindu poetry, and the allusions to it in the Râmâyana are innumerable. With Mount Mandara as a churning-stick, the great serpent Vâsuki as a rope, and Hari himself in tortoise form as the pivot on which to work, the gods and demons combined to churn the milky ocean. Thus were produced from its depth the moon; the sacred cow, Surabhi or Kâma-dhenu; the goddess of wine, Vârunî; the tree of paradise, Pârijâta, or Kalpa-taru; the heavenly nymphs, the Apsarâs; the goddess of beauty, Lakshmî or Srî; and the physician of the gods, Dhanvantari. The cup of nectar which the latter held in his hand was seized and quaffed by the gods; while the poison, which also was produced, was either claimed by the snake gods or swallowed by Siva; whence comes the blackness of his throat, that gives him the name of Nil-kanth.
*The churning of the ocean is one of the commonplaces of Hindu poetry, and the allusions to it in the Râmâyana are innumerable. With Mount Mandara as a churning-stick, the great serpent Vâsuki as a rope, and Hari himself in tortoise form as the pivot on which to work, the gods and demons combined to churn the milky ocean. Thus were produced from its depth the moon; the sacred cow, Surabhi or Kâma-dhenu; the goddess of wine, Vârunî; the tree of paradise, Pârijâta, or Kalpa-taru; the heavenly nymphs, the Apsarâs; the goddess of beauty, Lakshmî or Srî; and the physician of the gods, Dhanvantari. The cup of nectar which the latter held in his hand was seized and quaffed by the gods; while the poison, which also was produced, was either claimed by the snake gods or swallowed by Siva; whence comes the blackness of his throat, that gives him the name of Nil-kanth.