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“When the Sudarshana disc enters those provinces, the pregnant wives of the demons all have miscar- riages due to fear of its effulgence.” “The planetary system below Talatala is known as Mahatala. It is the abode of many-hooded snakes, descendants of Kadru, who are always very angry. The great snakes who are prominent are Kuhaka, Taksaka, Kaliya and Susena. The snakes in Mahatala are always disturbed by fear of Garuda, the carrier of Lord Vishnu, but although they are full of anxiety, some of them nevertheless sport with their wives, children, friends and relatives.” “Beneath Mahatala is the planetary system known as Rasatala, which is the abode of the demoniac sons of Diti and Danu. They are called Panis, Nivata-kavacas, Kaleyas and Hiranya-puravasis [those living in Hiranya-pura]. They are all enemies of the demigods, and they reside in holes like snakes. From birth they are extremely powerful and cruel, and although they are proud of their strength, they are always defeated by the Sudarshana chakra of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who rules all the planetary systems. When a female messenger from Indra named Sarama chants a particular curse, the serpentine demons of Mahatala become very afraid of Indra. Beneath Rasatala is another planetary system, known as Patala or Nagaloka, where there are many demoniac serpents, the masters of Nagaloka, such as Shankha, Kulika, Mahashankha, Shveta, Dhananjaya, Dhrtarashtra, Shankhacuda, Kambala, Ashvatara and Devadatta. The chief among them is Vasuki. They are all extremely angry, and they have many, many hoods - some snakes five hoods, some seven, some ten, others a hundred and others a thousand. These hoods are bedecked with valuable gems, and the light emanating from the gems illuminates the entire planetary system of bila-svarga.”” Serpents have their special place in most spiritual traditions (as already shown above) where they sym- bolize either good or evil. In the Vedic tradition they are inherently related to some of its most important personages. Shiva Shiva (“auspicious One”), is one of the members of the trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva). He is in charge of the material mode of ignorance (tamo-guna) bringing destruction of the universe: “Yamaraja said: My dear servants, you have accepted me as the Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are Brahma, Visnu and Siva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose.” (Bhagavata Purana 6.3.12) His position is between the living beings (jiva-tattva) and the Supreme Lord, Vishnu (vishnu-tattva), in the category of his own, shiva-tattva. Shiva is usually depicted in painting and sculpture as white or ash-colored, with a blue neck (from hold- ing in his throat the poison thrown up at the churning of the cosmic ocean, which threatened to destroy humankind), his hair arranged in a coil of matted locks (jatamakuta) and adorned with the crescent moon and the Ganges (he allowed her to trickle through his hair). He has three eyes, the third eye bestowing inward vision but capable of burning destruction when focused outward. He wears a garland of skulls and a serpent around his neck and carries in his two (sometimes four) hands a deerskin, a tri- dent, a small hand drum, or a club with a skull at the end His paraphernalia symbolizes: moon - time measurement in months, three eyes tri-kala-jna (“knower of three phases of time - past, present, and future”), snake around the neck - time measurement in years, necklace of skulls with snakes - changing of ages and begetting and annihilating of mankind. His asso- 313 Appendix E: Dragons and Serpents Divine Connection Atlantis, Alien Visitation, and Genetic Manipulation