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The logic of the mouse and the snake

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu said: O demigods, fulfilling one's
own interests is so important that one may even have to make a truce with one's
enemies. For the sake of one's self-interest, one has to act according to the logic of the
snake and the mouse.”​ - ​Srimad Bhagavatham - Canto 8: Chapter 6: The Demigods and the
Demons declare a truce - Verse 20

What is this “logic of the snake and the mouse” and why is this had to be invoked by the master
of masters of all acharyas, Lord Vishnu to the devas? Sure, this has got to be master of master
of all rajatantras or political brilliance of a high standard to outwit the most strong and formidable
opponent!

This advice was given to the devas in a situation because of ​a curse given by angry sage
Durvasa to the king of heaven Indra ​due to an act of negligence. The strength of the devas
reduced drastically and the demons/asuras taking full advantage of it defeated the devas and
took the control of the entire universe.

The devas approached the supreme father of material universe Lord Brahma who in turn
approached lord Vishnu and offered prayers for assistance. Lord Vishnu mentioned churning
the milk ocean to produce nectar that would make them immortal is the only solution. He asked
them to sign a truce with demons because a massive physical labour is required to undertake
this task. Thus the concept of going on armistice with an ultimate enemy to achieve the ultimate
purpose outwitting and utilise the resources of the enemy to achieve one's own mission is the
logic of the mouse and the snake.

The logic (story) goes like this:

1. Once a snake got into an earthen pot and was casualty relaxing in it.
2. A naughty but very clever mouse running around the pot jumped and fell into the pot
accidentally and in the process closed the lid.
3. Now both the mouse and the snake got caught inside the pot.
4. The mouse got terribly afraid of the snake and pleaded not to eat it., mouse being
natural food for the snake.
5. The mouse said to the snake: “Both of us are now trapped inside this pot and so we both
of us will be captured and killed!”
6. The mouse continued: “If you will not eat me now, i have a plan by which both of us can
overcome this danger and get out of this pot!”
7. The snake thought: “I am anyway going to outwit this mouse and will eat it when i am out
of this pot. So for the time-being, let me agree to the mouse’s proposal and cooperate
with to get out of this imminent danger.”
 8. The snake said to the mouse: “Let it be so!”
9. The mouse said: “Okay. Sit tall and raise your hood so that i can climb and sit on top of
it. And remember this: ​You should not close your eyes and not open it till i say so​,
Otherwise this plan will not work out and we will continue to be trapped inside the pot!”
10. Since the snake also wanted to make a desperate escape, it had no other alternative.
11. The mouse, very happy having convinced the snake about his plan, climbed to the top of
the snake and sat on it, situated itself close to the lid.
12. The mouse said to the snake: “Thank you very much for your cooperation. Just close
your eyes for about 10 seconds and both of us will be done!””
13. The snake said: “Okay, please make it fast. We don’t have much time left!”
14. The mouse with all his strength, jumped high, able to pierce the lid and escaped to the
outside world through that hole and started to run towards its hole as fast as possible.
15. The snake opened his eyes and was happy to notice the hole also escaped from the pot.
16. The snake now thought about catching that prey, watched it running at a distance and
started to chase it.
17. By the time, this realisation came to the snake, the mouse was fast enough to reach its
safe haven!
18. The snake standing outside the rat hole said to the mouse: “Can you please come out
for a minute? I want to thank you very much for what you done to me and i have a gift for
you!”
19. The mouse said: “I very much know your plan. We are natural enemies and i am sure if i
come out now, you will surely eat me because we are in our natural environment now. I
only asked your assistance inside the pot because i was in dual danger that time. One
was yourself and the other the owner of the pot who is sure to kill me when he find me
inside. It’s only out of providence that my plan also provided the escape route for you!
That truce is now over since we both are now back to our natural habitat.”
20. The snake realised this mouse is too smart for him and so decided to let him go to
search for a different prey.

The devas thus executed this plan in the ​Samudra Mandhan​ (Churning of Milk Ocean for
Nectar) described in the 8th Canto to perfection.

Having been asked to accept to whatever be the demands made by the asuras/demons during
the churning process, from starting to accept the tail portion of the snake Vasuki (since tail was
considered inauspicious and head auspicious according to the demons) during churning to
accede to the various outputs during the churning like Vāruṇī, the lotus-eyed goddess who
controls drunkards, a horse named Uccaiḥśravā, which was as white as the moon etc. The
devas clearly realised that it is the final product of churning is what they ultimately want and the
intermediate products are just transformations and hence there is not much value associated
with them.

So they are happy to letting them go, but when the jug of nectar was snatched by the demons
from the hands of Dhavanthari, the expansion of Lord Vishnu as God of Medicine, the devas
became morose. The Supreme Lord Vishnu, to fulfil His promise, appeared as ​Mohini-murti
incarnation​, bewildered the demons by creating a quarrel among them and distributed the entire
nectar to the devas.

This entire episode - the logic of the snake and the mouse or the churning of the milk ocean for
nectar is best summarised by these last two verses of ​Canto 8: Chapter 9 - The Lord Incarnates
as Mohinī-Mūrti​.

“​The place, the time, the cause, the purpose, the activity and the ambition were all the
same for both the demigods and the demons, but the demigods achieved one result and
the demons another. Because the demigods are always under the shelter of the dust of
the Lord’s lotus feet, they could very easily drink the nectar and get its result. The
demons, however, not having sought shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord, were unable to
achieve the result they desired.​” - ​Srimad Bhagavatham 8.9.28

“​In human society there are various activities performed for the protection of one’s
wealth and life by one’s words, one’s mind and one’s actions, but they are all performed
for one’s personal or extended sense gratification with reference to the body. All these
activities are baffled because of being separate from devotional service. But when the
same activities are performed for the satisfaction of the Lord, the beneficial results are
distributed to everyone, just as water poured on the root of a tree is distributed
throughout the entire tree.”​ - ​Srimad Bhagavatham 8.9.29