Varuna Mythology Explained Through Consciousness Healing and the Power of Truth
Varuṇa as Consciousness, Not Just Water
Nadamayi and I begin this episode by exploring Varuna as the god of water, and also the all‑pervasive intelligence, field of awareness that holds everything without grasping. Water becomes the perfect metaphor for:
consciousness that surrounds
love that permeates
power that works indirectly, like currents rather than force
We also contrasted love and desire. Desire contracts. Love expands. Desire grasps. Love holds.
Desire, Consequence, and the Drying of Varuṇa
One of the stories we unpacked was Varuṇa stealing Bhadra, the daughter of Soma - a moment where even a cosmic being is overtaken by desire. The sage Utathya “dries him up,” and I love this image because it’s so psychologically true:
When desire replaces clarity, even the ocean can evaporate.
Nadamayi shared Gandhi’s insight about greed being a form of suffering — a shrinking of the inner ocean.
The Noose, the Makara, and the Nervous System
Varuṇa’s noose is one of my favourite symbols. It’s not used in violent way. Instead, it’s diagnostic. It tightens around untruth — the way your chest tightens when you lie to yourself.
His mount, the Makara (crocodile), is the survival brain, the lizard brain or the reptilian brain. Nadamayi explains it can also be known as the limbic system and that it has an instinctive power that can hijack perception. But when you ride it with clarity, it becomes a source of rapid transformation.
We also wove in some modern metaphors such as …
Wonder Woman’s lasso as a truth‑activator
Inner‑ear bones as the mechanics of balance and orientation
Memory reconsolidation as the contemporary version of Varuṇa’s purification rituals
The Swan and the Escape Into Clarity
We also explored the moment when Varuṇa escapes as a swan during Rāvaṇa’s assault on King Marutta’s sacrifice. The swan (haṃsa) is the archetype of discrimination — the bird that separates milk from water.
For me, this story is about clarity withdrawing from chaos, waiting for the field to settle before returning.
Vasiṣṭha, Rebirth, and Nandini, the Wish-Fulfilling Cow
From Varuṇa we moved into the mythology of Rishi Vasiṣṭha, whose life is a tapestry of births, dissolutions, and re‑emergences. Nadamayi and I explored:
his multiple births
his conflict with King Nimi
his rebirth through Mitra‑Varuṇa
and his wish‑fulfilling cow, which we reframed as a metaphor for the nervous system’s capacity to nourish when it feels safe
When the inner field is calm, the “wish-fulfilling cow” appears which is the body’s natural abundance.
Arundhatī, Sandhyā, and the Gift of Innocence
Arundhatī Deva is Vasiṣṭha’s wife and the faint star beside him in the Big Dipper (Mizar and Alcor). She became a doorway into conversations about shame, chastity, and the longing for purity. Her earlier form, Sandhyā, carries the ache of wanting to return to innocence.
For me, her story is about the healing power of childhood states offering and empowered path for all who have found themselves victims of unwanted attention (and more).
Mantra, Clear Sound, and Healing
We closed the episode by grounding all this mythology in practice …
Mantra as clear sound (citra‑svana)
Meditation to settle the ripples of the mind and provide a channel for consciousness
Memory reconsolidation as an empowering process to free the self from trauma patterns
Why Varuṇa Matters Now
For me, Varuṇa is not a distant deity. He’s a map of the inner world — a way to understand:
emotional overwhelm
trauma
desire and addiction
nervous‑system dysregulation
the longing for purity and truth
In a world full of noise, Varuṇa teaches us how to hear again.
