In Hindu mythology what is snake symbolic of?

Answer 1

To know the answer to this question we must know the seven basic forces we have and the gods associated with them.

The seven basic forces and gods:

1. Dreaming force - Indra

2. Illusory force - Shakti

3. Voluntary force - Brahma

4. Semi voluntary force - Vishnu

5. Involuntary force - Shiva

6. Status altering force - Shani

7. Compulsive force - Yama.

Hindu gods with snakes:

It is obvious that of the seven basic gods only Vishnu and Shiva are associated with snakes. Vishnu has five or seven headed Shesha. Shiva has a single headed cobra around his neck or upper arms.

Thus, the snakes have something to do with the Semi voluntary and Involuntary forces. It must be mentioned here that the Involuntary force is just the negative half of the Semi voluntary force.

The Semi voluntary force:

In this, there is a layer of Voluntary force trapped between two layers of Involuntary force. Beyond the two layers of Involuntary force are the positive and negative attitudes, which act as walls of this force.

The central layer of Voluntary force is what we call 'I'. It is the reference state for our thoughts and movements and emotions are produced in reference to it.

The Semi voluntary force and the serpent:

Whenever there are changes in our comfort we raise or lower our reference state to avoid production of emotions. Since this movement is limited by our positive and negative attitudes the graph of movement of the reference state looks like the movement of a serpent. Thus, Vishnu is prominently associated with the serpent Shesha.

The Semi voluntary force is the default force and the other forces are just modifications of this force. Thus, Vishnu enables us to select any of the remaining six gods. Because Vishnu gives us seven options the serpent has seven heads indicating the seven options that we have. Since Indra and Yama are supposed to play a role after our death only, our options may be just five and thus Shesha may have just five heads.

The Involuntary force:

The Involuntary force is just the negative half of the Semi voluntary force. The movement of the reference state here is minimal and the option is just one. Thus, Shiva has a single headed small cobra around his neck or upper arms.

Thus, in Hindu mythology snake is symbolic of our reference state 'I'.