Churning Of The Milk Ocean (Samudra Manthan)

Danger! Danger!

It all started in one fine day. Indra, on his elephant, was roaming about the Heaven.
Note: He's not the Indra ruling Heaven currently. This tale is of 6th Manvantara. That's a big story. For now, just know that this Indra isn't the one ruling Heaven currently.

There, he met Durvasa muni. Durvasa muni was a great saint but was also known for his short temper. Most of the times, the wrath emerged out in the form of terrible curses. But, he was in a happy mood at that time. He was pleased on meeting Indra and out of pleasure, he took out the garland resting on his neck, and made the neck of Indra the new resting place of the garland. This garland was from Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Vishnu. Durvasa Muni had gifted this precious garland to the king of Heaven. Indra didn't seem to have the attitude of gratitude. He was materially rich, and had the throne of king of Heaven. Heaven is a beautiful place, until Vrindavan enters the scene. Heaven has beautiful gardens, nymphs and many more. So out of this pride, he placed it on the trunk of his strong elephant.

The elephant, being an animal, didn't know the value of the garland. Out of his "animal-ness", he threw out the garland and stomped it under one of his foot. And the precious garland just broke! It was very rare to obtain it, but Indra had no respect for that!
Seeing this insulting behaviour, Durvasa muni said:

"You are blinded by your opulence so much that you have forgotten the value of the garland brought from Vaikuntha. You have completely forgotten that all this is gift of Lord Vishnu, for without His permission, we can't even take a breath. You are blinded by the false ego and have forgotten your real position. Therefore, I curse you to become poverty-stricken."

In a battle of demons and demigods, the demons released their deadly serpent weapons. Hit by those deadly weapons, many demigods fell dead. Since they were poverty-stricken, demigods were unable to perform rituals.

The demigods perform yajnas and other rituals to get power and opulence. And rituals require money, purity, etc. Until and unless it is chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra, which has no such rule, the other rituals were a headache to do for the ones who didn't have money. In a yajna (pronounced as yagya), Lord Vishnu is invoked. And the devotees offer the offerings into the fire which is lit up. The offerings are known as Ahuti (aa-h-oo-ti). Putting things into the fire is equal to putting things in the mouth of Lord Vishnu. Okay, now let's come back to the story.

Since no rituals were performed, the demigods couldn't get the power. The demons threw the serpent weapons on the helpless ones. This was a big headache for the demigods. Demigods such as Indra and Varuna (god of ocean) were discussing about the matter, but it all was useless. Ultimately, they had to take shelter of the very first being of this universe, Lord Brahma. They, at once, fell down at the feet of Lord Brahma. They explained the issue to Lord Brahma. On seeing the condition of demigods, who were helpless Lord Brahma prayed to Supreme God, Narayana. On one side, the powerful demigods were kept helpless, and on the other hand, the demons, being sinful, were enjoying and flourishing.

Lord Vishnu is the ultimate shelter and Lord Brahma knew this fact very well. Lord Vishnu is the only One who can take us out of all the problems. Knowing the fact, the meditated on Lord Vishnu and prayed for a ray of hope. Lord Brahma was so concerned regarding the issue of demigods because he knew that if demons, who are selfish and only think about how they can enjoy in the world, flourish then the world would become imbalanced. But the demigods, being devotees of Lord Vishnu, always thought about welfare of others as it is natural for a devotee to think about other's welfare.

Lord Brahma spoke the following words:

"All of us, Lord Shiva, I, all demigods, insects, animals, humans, have all originated from the Supreme God, Lord Krishna. Why don't we go to His shelter then? For Him, there is no friend nor enemy, nor He has to do anything with this world, yet, to create, maintain and destroy, He comes to this world again and again. He takes different forms in different incarnations in different modes of material nature (mode of goodness, mode of passion, mode of ignorance) for this purpose."