We read that in their bid to recover the Amirtham or divine nectar, the Asuras cooperated with the Devas, and took Mount Mandara, a spur of Mount Meru, as a churning stick and the snake known as Vasuki as the churning rope, churned the cosmic ocean. While the "stick" was steadied at the bottom of the ocean by Vishnu in his avatar or incarnation as the tortoise Kurma, Lord Shiva then consumed the poison which otherwise would have contaminated the Amirtham that lay in the depths of the cosmic ocean. In the Vishnu Purana, it is said that,
In the churning of the ocean many wonderful treasures that became the prototypes for their earthly and heavenly counterparts were brought up from the depths:
(1) Chandra, the moon,
(2) parijata, a beautiful and fragrant tree now planted in Indra’s heaven,
(3) the four-tusked elephant Airavata, Indra’s mount,
(4) Kamadhenu, the cow of plenty,
(5) Madira, the goddess of wine, who became Varuni, the wife of Varuna,
(6) Kalpavriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree,
(7) the apsaras (celestial dancers),
(8) the celestial horse Uccaihshravas,
(9) the goddess Lakshmi, who became Vishnu’s wife,
(10) Panchajanya, Vishnu’s conch,
(11) Vishnu’s mace and magic bow,
(12) various gems, and
(13–14) Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, rose up out of the waters carrying in his hands the supreme treasure, the amrita.
(Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/churning-of-the-ocean-of-milk)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_Manthana we learn further that,
According to the quality of the treasures produced, they were claimed by Shiva, Vishnu, Maharishis, the devas, and the asuras. There were three categories of goddesses who emerged from the ocean; most lists include:
Lakshmi: the goddess of prosperity and wealth, who chose Vishnu as her eternal consort.
Apsaras: divine damsels like Rambha, Menaka, Punjisthala, and others, who chose the Gandharvas as their companions.
Varuni: the goddess of wine (sura) and the virgin daughter of Varuna, accepted by the devas. (Some interpretations believe her acceptance to be the etymology of devas being termed as suras and the daityas as asuras.)
Likewise, three types of supernatural animals appeared:
Kamadhenu or Surabhi: the wish-granting cow, taken by Brahma and given to the sages so that the ghee from her milk could be used for yajnas and similar rituals.
Airavata and several other elephants were taken by Indra.
Uchhaishravas: the divine seven-headed horse, given to Bali.
Three valuables were also produced:
Kaustubha: the most valuable Ratnam (divine jewel) in the universe, claimed by Vishnu.
Kalpavriksha: a divine wish-fulfilling and flowering tree with blossoms that never fade or wilt, taken to Indraloka by the devas.
Sharanga: a powerful bow, given to Vishnu.
Additionally produced were;
Chandra: a crescent, claimed by Shiva.
Dhanvantari: the "vaidya of the devas" with amrita, the nectar of immortality. (Sometimes considered as two separate Ratnas)
Halahala: the poison swallowed by Shiva.
This list varies from Purana to Purana and is also slightly different in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Lists are completed by adding the following ratnas:
Panchajanya: Vishnu's conch
Jyestha (Alakshmi): the goddess of misfortune
The umbrella taken by Varuna
The earrings given to Aditi by her son Indra
Nidradevi, goddess of sleep
Here is an interesting perspective of the peacock that Lord Murugan rides.
The peacock is the mortal enemy of snakes, killing cobras with their talons. The main quality of the peacock is the transmutation of poison into amrita or nectar. This is tied to Lord Shiva getting a blue throat from taking the poison produced by the churning of the ocean; thus the transmutation of poison or venom by the peacock is said to produce the electric blue of its throat plumage and the wisdom eyes of its tail feathers. (http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Peacock)
When my daughter was concerned that during the times her children stayed over at their paternal grandmother's home, they could be fed non-vegetarian food, Agathiyar consoled and assured her that he would transform such food. Sri Raghavendra too is said to have transformed the meat offered to him by the ruling Nawab of the land where the saint placed his holy feet, into flower petals.
Octavio Salvado describes it too at https://www.thepracticebali.com/2016/08/16/ride-peacock-octavio-salvado/
In the Yogic tradition, the Peacock symbolizes our own capacity to inwardly alchemize poison into nourishment, like the peacock does with the venom of the Cobra. In this way, the combination of Murugan and his prissy, yet very powerful bird presents us with a choice. No, it’s not the choice of fight or don’t fight. As the Bhagavad Gita assures us, life is a battlefield, hiding and shrinking away from living a life of meaning is not an option. Backing out of the confrontation is not the choice. We can’t control life. Believe me, I’ve tried. She’s relentless! And she knows that it’s her duty to prod us, lovingly (sometimes) and gifts us the opportunity to sharpen our tools. No, the choice is about how we manage ourselves in moments of confrontation and more interestingly, in times of outward defeat. Can we alchemize the situation so that it becomes nourishment? Do we lay down and die. Or do we transmute adversity into excellence, wisdom, humility, growth, and compassion? The struggle ‘is’ the nourishment, it’s built in. Every obstacle presents the opportunity to refine our authenticity, to deepen our Yoga, and become more of who we truly are.
Agathiyar has told me to stomach both the bodily pains and the troubles that come our way that is beyond our own doing. It is nourishment for the soul says Ramalinga Adigal too. The back pain went away unnoticed several days back just as it had come on. But my stomach keeps churning. I guess like in the Puranas maybe, just maybe, it is a similar scenario in real life too.
Swami Muktananda in his "Kundalini - The Secret of Life", a Siddha Yoga Publication, published by the SYDA foundation, 1994, writes,
"She (kundalini) penetrates all 720 million nadis consumes all the old decaying fluids, then releases vital energy into them all. The nadis become filled with prana. It is only after the body has been purified that the shakti can work with full force. The basis of all disease and pain is the impurities that block the flow of prana in the nadis."
Likewise, could I safely deduce then that the chakras once activated and the Kundalini in arising consumes the toxin accumulated within the body for the last 63 years, clearing the path as it went to enable the river to flow unobstructed into the cosmic ocean where the lost Amirtham is recovered for good?