In the heavens, the gods were alarmed at this fiery power rushing towards them. They intuited that he was after the Amrita. They placed the Nectar in the middle of a huge revolving steel wheel, the edges sharpened and envenomed. Two snakes guarded the Wheel, and a circle of fire surrounded it. If this sounds like a video game, that can't be helped. Hindus loved such stories and they endure because they satisfy some deep need in human nature to be challenged. Garuda tried to blind the gods with a dust storm, but they dissipated that. He tried as long as was feasible not to hurt them but after a while he lost his temper and scattered them with his wings. Assuming a form that had ninety times ninety mouths, he filled them with the waters of the heavenly rivers and doused the flames of the ring of fire. Reducing his size, he slipped unnoticed to the centre of the wheel where his flapping wings threw up another cloud that blinded the snakes. He then abruptly enlarged himself, which smashed the wheel and killed the serpents, and the pot containing Amrita was his.

The episode can be seen as an allegorical interpretation of the dangers inherent in seeking the knowledge that confers immortality, i.e. Liberation from rebirth through Enlightenment. First come the forces of status quo, ranged against you with a variety of weapons and reason why it is not for you. Trying to ignore them will not work, you have to combat them and drive them away. Then comes the process of extinguishing the fires of desire; they may need ninety times ninety dousing! The wheel is the wheel of fate, all actions taken in opposition to it slice you up. It is only by stepping aside from the eternal cycle of actions and consequence that one can transcend the Wheel. Even then are left the serpents of the unconscious, the dark side that can only be defeated by extinguishing the sense of ego-ic self, i.e. by practicing humility, which is what being small is all about. But when one has grasped the truth, achieved the liberating experience, then one's stature automatically grows, shattering the last vestiges of the Wheel of limiting karma.

Vishnu saw the entire dramatic episode and he was deeply impressed by the fact that Garuda did not take a drop of Amrita for himself. Such self-control and sacrifice was beyond even the capacity of the gods and he granted immortality and perpetual freedom from disease to Garuda. The great eagle wanted "a stature that was above Vishnu" and the sense of humor of the Great Trickster flared up and he told Garuda to perch on his Flagstaff. Garuda was also pleased at this subtle and elegant reminder as to who was after all the God of gods and he agreed to become the vehicle of Vishnu, Vishnu who pervades the Universe, Vishnu the soul of the world. Only Garuda could lift that immensity of power, so far from being a servile position it was a proclamation of unchallenged superiority. Indra still had some doubts so he threw his supreme weapon, the Vajra or thunderbolt, at Garuda. It bounced off his feathers like a droplet of rain. Garuda, who did not want to fight anybody, offered friendship to the humbled Indra and then revealed the extent of his strength. On just one of his feathers he could bear the entire earth and all its beings. If need be he could bear, without fatigue, the entire universe!

An aghast Indra was only to happy to have made such a powerful friend, but he was worried about the Amrita being provided to the serpents who were mostly vicious by nature. Garuda was bound by his word to take the nectar to them, but if Indra chose to steal it back when the snakes had gone to purify themselves before drinking of immortality, well, that was no concern of Garuda, who was, along with his mother, free! Association with Vishnu had obviously given Garuda a puckish sense of humor and an enchanted Indra blessed the still seething Garuda that snakes would always be his natural food and he would always have power over them. This boon would come in handy when Vishnu was incarnated as Rama and wounded by magical snake arrows. Only Garuda could break the spell and even today, repeating the name of Garuda thrice before sleep is regarded as potent protection against snakes in the night.

This feud between Garuda and the snakes could also represent the long struggle between the followers of the Yaksha deities and the old Naga snake gods in India. The Nagas were assimilated into the new faiths as royal umbrellas for the gods and saints of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. They survive only in Kerela state as independent gods, and there is even today in the state a snake temple in Mannarshala, with a high priestess instead of priest, a magnificent and peculiar relic of the classical age. At a personal level I think that Garuda is how Indian culture has interpreted the great spiritual power known to the West as the Archangel of Presence, Michael. The similarities are pretty astonishing. The colors of Michael too are red, white and gold. His very name means, 'He who is as God', again a level of power that matches Garuda. Both of them are winged powers who serve the supreme god and nourish an inveterate enmity to serpents. Both of them are invoked in healing and for protection against evil energies. It is just a thought, I do not urge it.

Garuda was married to Unnati, which means 'the spirit of progress'. They had two sons - Sampati and Jatayu, both of whom play important roles in the Ramayana. He has many names as is suitable for a god who can assume all forms. He is Rakta-paksha, 'Blood [red] winged', Gaganeshwara, 'Lord of the sky', Suvarna kaya, 'Golden bodied', Sweta-Rohita, 'The White and Red', Khageshwara, ' King of the birds', Taraswin, 'The Swift', Rasayana, 'Who moves like Quicksilver' and Vajrajit, 'Conqueror of the Thunderbolt'. He is also known as "the senior servant of Hari [Vishnu]", Hanuman being the junior servant. Garuda keeps appearing in stories about Vishnu but his stature arises from the fact that he renounced and restrained his colossal powers to serve the universe.