Questioner: I want to know what is the significance of the form of Mahishasur
at the feet of Linga Bhairavi? And the bull form…
Sadhguru: That means the… a man was killed by a woman (Laughter).
Mahishasura is a tch, a man first (Laughter).
We really don’t know much about him but traditionally he got terribly bad press (Laughter/Applause).
So, he was supposed to be bad. And Devi killed him. And his vehicle…
Poor guy, maybe he couldn’t afford a horse, so he used a buffalo
and not only he was slaughtered, even his buffalo.
Buffaloes can fight, so in the past, certain people rode buffaloes because in a fight,
a buffalo is much better than a horse.
Tch, horse is taller, that’s the only advantage, that if you are a good fighter.
But buffalo, if you train them well and if you keep them well-nourished, they can rampage through crowds.
So, buffalo was a good one.
And of course, in India, people used elephants to fight. He used a buffalo.
This imagery has continued just to indicate that the bestiality in a man, the beastly nature,
the animal nature in a man… because you didn’t drop from heaven, as some people believe – you evolved.
The qualities of an amoeba, an earthworm, a grasshopper, a buffalo, every kind of beast
that evolution went through, elements of those qualities are still with you.
Yes Sir, you know (Few laugh). They are still with you.
So, these are all compulsive tendencies.
Even modern neurology recognizes that one part of your brain is that of a reptile.
There’s a reptilian brain, which is approximately the size of your fist. So, the evolutionary process,
the modern neurology recognizes that there is a part of your brain, which is reptilian.
That means it's at that stage of development, which is instinctive and does things in a certain way.
But over that, a flower of cerebral cortex evolved.
If you function out of this, which is a happening, which happened after human spine became erect…
After the human spine became erect, the outer flower developed, which is what makes you a human,
which is what gives you thoughts about universality of the existence, which is what gives you an idea
that everything is one, which is what allows you to be a scientist.
This is what allows you to be a spiritual seeker.
But if you go back to this, all you have is instincts of survival.
So the entire process, the human effort through education, through spiritual process,
through meditation, everything, is to move away from this and function from the outer dimension,
which is a more recent happening, but this gives you a sense of seamless way of approaching life.
If you go to the reptilian brain of who you are, fixing boundaries is all that you know.
So whenever you are having problems with people around you, always wanting to fix your boundaries,
“This is mine, this is yours, my space, your space, my air, your air” (Few laugh),
when it comes, you must know you’ve gotten here (Laughter).
Now, the spiritual process, the yogic dimension is looking at how to make this (Referring to oneself)
because if you function only from one aspect of your brain,
it’ll work but not enough, you’re not using all of it.
There is evidence to show that the reptilian brain can become more transparent
and starts communicating with the outside part of the brain.
There are experiments, there are studies, which show that with certain practices of meditativeness,
reptilian brain, which is always about fixing boundaries,
will begin to communicate with the outer part of the cerebral cortex and it function as one brain.
So I don’t know if you (Few laugh)… You should – the flower should open up.
And that is why in the yogic... You will see all the imagery in the yogic culture
flower, flower, small flower, small flower, small flower, big flower (Laughter). It opened up.
If it opens up, now human intelligence is functioning in a very unifying way, not in a divisive way,
not in a way that you will become exclusive – you will become inclusive.
Inclusiveness is not a philosophy. Inclusiveness is the nature of the existence.
No other creature is able to realize this. They are all busy fixing boundaries.
The dog is peeing all over the place, not because of urinary problems (Laughter),
but he is establishing a kingdom – pee kingdom, of course (Laughter).
Human beings are not any different. They’re doing the same things in a different way.
“This is mine, that is mine, that is mine, that is mine” – fixing a kingdom. When it's possible, push it a little bit.
When it's possible, push it a little bit. Not possible, put the wall; happening all the time.
So, the imagery or the symbolism is that beast has been killed and put down.
That is the symbolism of Mahishasura and his buffalo – dead and down.
This means you are (Laughs) big flower.
The symbolism is also this, that when masculine exists by its own nature, it naturally lives instinctively.
That means this (Gestures). Only when feminine enters, it can become little open.
So when it opened, the masculine or the beastly nature fell at her feet because she rose out of that.
So the symbolism in the Devi temple is just that -
because she rose in full power, this bestiality is down there.