Story of Dhruva

I grew up listening mythology and the stories. That time I interpreted them in a way that made sense to me at that age. However, when I read them again and think about its symbolic meaning, my interpretation dramatically changes. And I am sure, the more I ruminate, the more meanings would emerge. After sharing my interpretations about Ramayana and Lord Ganapati’s birth story, I would like to share the story of Dhruva Tara, the pole star.

First, the terminology:

Brahma: Divine Mind

Manu: It is a creative aspect of Divine Mind. That’s why he is the son of Brahma.

Uttanpada: Son of Manu. The thing that arises in Mind. A manifestation in the world of forms, body. Uttan means supine, stretched. Pada means legs. That creative aspect of Brahma manifests in the form of body which is indolent in nature. Also, uttanpada means lying face upward. This position symbolizes an ignorant person. An exactly opposite position is prostrate, sashtanga salutation, which means lying face downward. This position symbolizes surrender which is the most essential quality of the truly realized person.

Indeed, when a baby is born, doesn’t her position reflect that of Uttanpada? There’s a special Asana called Uttanpadasana. 🙂

Suruchi: A personified desire. A person is inclined to do whatever suits his desires and likes (ruchi). Always favors his wants over his needs. Following his passion.

Suniti: A personified moral. A person, almost always, is also guided by morals (niti). His actions are generally perfect in that case.

Dhruva: A permanent state of dispassion, poise, equanimity, peacefulness, tranquility, contentment. An independent state which stays with a person forever.

Uttam: It is an excellence. However, it is a superlative. It connotes a gradation, hierarchy, a material world, in short. When you follow your passion, you get excellence in it. If cricket is my passion, I play more cricket and am likely to be a great player. Anything hierarchical is temporal too! Great players remain great only till their body and mind support them, or another player takes their place, or they get retired.

Now coming to a story.

Suruchi is Uttanpada’s favorite queen. I do what I like. Uttanpada is accompanied by Suniti too, at all the time. I also am guided by my morals, and I know that I am doing a wrong thing when I drink too much or smoke too much or do binge eating. Who lets me know what is right and wrong? Suniti. My sense of righteousness. But despite this, I continue my habits of excessive smoking, drinking and binge eating. Uttanpada is doing same like me.

Uttanpada is sitting with Dhruva and Uttam both on his lap. As far as possible, as long as my desires are met, I try to be moral too! Generally, I am good natured, and well behaved. So, both the sons are with Uttanpada.

Suruchi snatches and throws Dhruva out of the palace. As soon as there is a clash between what my likes dictate me to do and what my morals guide me to do, obviously, I choose Suruchi. My strong desires unsettle my mind by snatching tranquility and contentedness from it. Then my mind becomes restless.

Suniti urges Dhruva to surrender to Lord Vishnu. I start surrendering to Lord after getting repeated blows of restlessness, fleetingness.

Dhruva is guided by Narada. This requires His grace. Now, like Manu, Narada is also a son of Brahma, the Divine Mind. Narada is devotion aspect of that Mind. Then I start realizing ephemerality of this material world, a world of desires. I then continue to think only of Him and no one else. I become His true devotee and love Him and See only Him in everything I do.

Lord Vishnu confers Dhruva the position of a pole star.

Then my mind becomes tranquil, stable. Peace comes to me naturally. Forget about my wants, I don’t even need to do anything now. I accept whatever comes my way. I remain unmoved because of the movement of thoughts and by the passage of time. I become Dhruva. Ever joyous.