Question: Why is Ananta Sesa “a many hooded serpent?” Serpents are from the lower planetary system, and are synonymous with “evil”. What explanation can be given for this?
Answer by Romapada Swami: The form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (as well as His plenary expansions, or Vishnu expansions) is all-transcendental and fully pure. It is not to be considered as a mundane form. For example, Lord Krishna and Lord Rama appeared among the human beings as one of them, but does that mean that they were contaminated with the frailties of a mundane human being? The answer is no. Likewise, The Supreme Lord appeared in the form of a hog or wild boar in His Varaha incarnation. The hog is considered to be a very abominable species of life by material calculation, but when the Lord appeared as the transcendental Varaha, His beauty was unexcelled and all the demigods and Vedas offered prayers to Him as the purifier of the three worlds! In the same way, we can understand the form of Ananta sesa as a “serpent”. It is not a mundane form, like any other serpent but is all transcendental.
