When I hear a mention about the Inca culture, it often comes in the context of being old and obsolete, and even though our society is much advanced in a lot of areas compared to the Inca people hundreds of years ago, we are still learning about some things that the Incas preserved until this very day.
The Inca trilogy, for example, is a fascinating view of the world, where the puma, the condor, and the snake comprise the three major realms of the middle, above, and below. Perhaps it may seem irrelevant or event childish at first, but on a deeper examination, this trilogy contains very important concepts, and helps to visualize them in a way that can be easily transposed onto almost any situation, including our current way of life.
The Puma
The puma or the jaguar is a very powerful hunter, which represents the middle world. It is the world where things happen right now, the spirit of a warrior hunting for its prey, silently stalking its victim from the shadows, patiently choosing the right moment to strike. For me, this image brings about wakefulness and awareness of the present moment, respect for the hunter and the hunted, understanding that death is a part of life. This world of three dimensional awareness is where things happen, the stage where actors play their roles. There is no higher vision in this realm, no wisdom, just a very powerful awareness of the present moment, which is what this realm is about.
The Condor
The condor is the biggest bird of the Andean mountains, and it flies the highest. It represents the world above, where the spirit is closest to the sun. It has the best view of all animals, representing the visionary with the highest vantage point. It feeds on the carcasses left by the dead animals or hunters of the middle realm, thus depending on them for food. Condor’s viewpoint is unbeatable, thus being iconized as having the highest vision. By itself, such vision only has limited use, but when combined with other powerful qualities, such as that of a puma, a new picture starts to emerge. A being that can see like the condor and hunt like the puma has superior advantage over either of those animals by themselves.
The Snake
The snake is a magnificent slithering animal, abiding in the world of bellow, or the underworld. It sees things from the lowest vantage point, from the moist and dark underbelly of the earth. It hears everything, as it lives deep inside the earth, in caves and bodies of water that amplify sound. It has a long lifespan, accumulating all that it sees and hears into a lifelong memory of experience, thus making a snake very wise, like an old and wise grandmother. In fact, those who have tried the ancient medicine of ayahuasca can ascertain that the spirit of the snake is present within this magical brew. The snake is an accumulator of knowledge, like a librarian that keeps records of everything that’s happened since time began. It is an old and very wise consciousness, which by itself, has limited use, but in combination with the puma and the condor, it becomes a very wise advisor to an already powerful ally.
The Trilogy
If we look at these three animals and what they represent as a single consciousness, it is not difficult to see how powerful their union becomes. The puma, a strong and powerful warrior, has the eyes of the condor to see far and beyond, and the wisdom of the snake to make prudent decisions, is quickly becoming a super entity with powers superseding those of any single animal.
To put it into a spiritual perspective, someone who regularly meditates develops a higher awareness or the ultimate view of how things are, which could be compared to the awareness of the condor. This spiritual person would also need to be aware of the relative world, which could be quite different from the ultimate transcendental understanding, thus relating to the view of the puma. In addition, only with the connection to the planet and compassion for all beings living on it, can this spiritual person truly attain any lasting and profound spiritual understanding, thus gaining the realization of the snake. Combining these three separate but complementary practices together, one can attain a complete picture of the higher spiritual awareness, thus graduating to the next level of existence.
I humbly urge you to respect and take close to heart the old stories told by our ancestors, as they were simply different versions of ourselves, locked into a different time, but nevertheless possessing and sharing much wisdom that survived up until this very day. May these stories live long and be shared with our children.
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