Tortoise as a Symbol 59immense ocean of solar globes in various stages of
formation right from the stage of light being churned out
of the back-ground of darkness by a whirl-pool of force.
This light is distributed into a starry matter which forms
the astral body of the cosmic egg. In the next stage it is
star dust and in a later stage, the wave of solar systems in
formation. The story of the ‘churning of oceans’ has in it
many phenomena concealed. The allegory, that the great
Lord of the absolute in His phase of pervasion into
Omnipresence (Vishn.u) assumes the shape of a tortoise
and thus aids in the churning of the oceans by the De-va-s
and Da-nava-s on either side of the great serpent Va-suki, is
suggestive of the details of the origin and formation of
the solar systems in this cosmic globe.
All the stories of various serpents in the Ve-da-s and
the Maha-bha-ratha describe, in a mystic language, the
various stages in the formation of the different clusters of
solar systems. Bhrugu is one of the seven colours of the
cosmic light emanating from the darkness beyond the
levels of the physical existence. The relationship between
the descendants of Bhrugu and the family of serpents and
finally, the story of Sarpa Ya-ga form a master key to
cosmological wisdom. The story of the dog in the Vedas
and at the beginning and ending of Maha-bha-ratha reveals
the secrets of the great Sun whom we call the Dog Star.
The tale of Ra-ma, a descendant of the Bhrugu-s who
annihilated the kings with his weapon, Paras’u, gives a
clue that “7 x 3 = 21” is the formula which contains the
principles and periodicities of the cosmic intelligences
manifesting as solar systems.
Here we have to correlate some concepts about the
planetary principles with the differences between the
orthodox and the spiritual schools of astrological thought.