Understanding Sanatan Dharma’s Amrita
You’re mad that Diet Coke is going out of stock, but do you know about Hinduism’s favourite beverage drink Amruta - everything you’ve been told about it is a lie & here’s the amrit.
Point 1 - we all recognise it as the nectar that the Gods have to achieve immortality. This is from the famous Puranic tale of Samudra Manthan, the tug of war between the Devas & Asuras, from which Dhanvantari emerges with the kalasha of amruta, and Vishnu taking Mohini’s form to trick the Asuras into letting the Gods have it first.
But point 2 - in the Vedas, Amrit, literally meaning a-mrta, not dead, is actually the ritual state of being that you achieve through sacrifice or tapasya, subject to you maintaining that ritual, so not permanent or guaranteed immortality.
So even in the Manthan episode, the Gods don’t lose their immortality due to Durvasa’s curse to Indra, they lose their Shri or prosperity & power, embodied by the Divine Feminine.
The special self-purifying drink that enables it is Soma, which later became merged with Chandra moon deity, who is assigned the role of storing & releasing it to the Gods, hence the waxing & waning.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says “Mrtyor ma amrtam gamaya” - lead me to the deathless state, not give me the drink.
Along with the Katha, ft. Nachiketa’s dialogue with Yamaraja, the Upanishads explain that the way to achieve Amritatva is by letting go of all the pleasures & all the desires in your heart. So basically stop being greedy & stop wanting more things, start being satisfied & content.
Most interestingly, though, point 3 - the Natha Siddhas of the Yogic branch of our Dharma, fused this concept into our bodily anatomy, identifying the Chandra-Mandala, or the moon inside your skull, behind the soft palate you have in your upper mouth, the kha or hollow, which drips amrit, drop by drop, like a sandglass.
But your naval’s fire, jatharagni, which keeps you alive, also burns off that amrit, which is why we age & die.
Hence, we have specific mudras or postures, like the khechari Mudra, in which yogis turn their tongue inward, pushing it up into the palate, to access this nectar & drink it, conquering death in 15 days.
Basically, many of the Yoga poses you do, from sarvangasana to shirsana is to reverse the flow & slow down ageing.
Taken all together, the amruta you thought is some physical secret drink that can grant you life … but its actually already present in us & the game is about discovering & unlocking that state of Sat-Chit-Ananda - pure eternal bliss & consciousness.