The Rik from Rig Veda 10.136.7, is as follows:
वायुरस्मा उपामन्थत्पिनष्टि स्मा कुनन्नमा । केशी विषस्य पात्रेण यद्रुद्रेणापिबत्सह ॥
Vāyu churned it for him; inflexible kept crushing it, when the long-haired
one drank of the poison (विष)
with his cup, together with Rudra.
—
If one goes with the outer meaning of the Rik in question, then the answer
to the above question would be - NO, as there is no link between
the Puranic story of Shiva drinking poison, thereby becoming known as
nIlakantha (blue-necked) and the Rig Veda 10.136.7, which narrates Keśin drank
viṣa (विष) along with
Rudra.
As Rig Veda can be understood only if we go by the esoteric meaning of the
words used therein, let us consider the esoteric meaning of the above Rik.
—-
1) Yāska, the composer of Nirukata - निरुक्त (nearly
3,000 years ago), says in 12.25 of Nirukta that keśī means
having long hair — by hair, rays are meant, ie., endowed with
rays.
In Rig Veda 10.136.1, keśīn was stated to be an all pervading
BRAHMAN or ALMIGHTY.
केश्यग्निं केशी विषं केशी
बिभर्ति रोदसी ।
केशी विश्वं स्वर्दृशे केशीदं ज्योतिरुच्यते ॥
The keśīn bears fire, keśīn poison, keśīn the
two world-halves. keśīn (bears) the sun for all to see. keśīn
is called this light here
Hence, keśīn indicates AGNI or BRAHMAN or all pervading
ENERGY, from which rays are being emitted.
2) Yāska also stated in 12.26 of Nirukta that the word viṣam
is synonym of water.
Water indicates jnAna or BLISS, in Rig Veda.
Deeds of the gods and the seers releasing the Waters that were latent,
“imprisoned” within the Earth are a theme running throughout the entire Veda.
Rig Veda 5.29.2
अनु यदीं मरुतो मन्दसानमार्चन्निन्द्रं पपिवांसं सुतस्य । आदत्त वज्रमभि यदहिं हन्नपो यह्वीरसृजत्सर्तवा उ ॥
When the Maruts chanted to him after he became exhilarated, to Indra who had
drunk of the pressed soma, he took up the mace. When he (had) smashed the
serpent, he released the exuberant waters to flow.
This release of water, hitherto confined in a cave, can be understood
in esoteric sense, as SELF-REALISATION or dawning of Jnana, in vedantic
language.
Thus, keśīn drinking of of the poison (विष) alongwith Rudra,
an epithet of the BRAHMAN, in the above Rik, indicates the enjoying
the unending BLISS, in spiritual sense.
—-
If we transform this enjoying of the BLISS in the language of Yoga, it will
be as follows:
The continuous thought process of understanding the purpose of
life (churning of ocean) is going on in everyone's body. When the ENERGY
(kundalini) from Muladhara travels and finally reaches the
destination - Sahasrara, or crown chakra, which is located at the
top of the head, resulting in BLISS or MOKSHA.
The body is the ocean and at its abyss, the triangle in the perineal or
sacral plexus is the base of Mt. Mandara. The churning rod is the spinal cord
in the rod like backbone and the churning strings are the ida, pingala namely,
the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The churners are the air elements
of vital forces on either side. This total system is held upright by Vishnu .
When kundalini power is incited the first results are always
negative like, haalaa hala, 'the lethal poison...' and all
all-ruinous ills befall on us. If this negativity is surrendered to someone,
who can handle it effortlessly, like Shiva, then the positivity results like
Amrita/Ambrosia.
—
This perception of Yoga was converted into a story form, which first
appeared in Ramayana.
—-
The story of Samudramanthan or churning of milk ocean by Devas and Danavas,
as narrated in Valmiki
Ramayana, is as follows:
Diti, the elder one, and Aditi are the daughters of Daksha Prajaapati. Diti
is the first wife of Sage Kashyapa and her sons, originally called asura-s,
whereas Aditi, the second wife of that sage gave birth to the progeny of sura-s
gods.
Once in Krita era, the sons of Lady Diti were extremely energetic ones in
their brawniness, whereas the sons of her younger sister Lady Aditi were
venerable, vigorous and highly righteous ones.
There was a thinking to those great-souls then, as to 'how they shall be
deathless, ageless and wasteless. For them, who were thinking thus on that
subject, a thought occurred - 'on churning the Milky Ocean, therein we get its
elixir, indeed.
"Then on deciding to churn the Milky Ocean, they made Vasuki, the
mighty King of Snakes, with thousand heads, as the churning rope and Mt.
Mandara as stirrer and those who have unlimited energy started churning the
Milky Ocean...
"Then, after a thousand years from the heads of the serpent that is
used as churning rope, namely the Thousand-headed serpent Vasuki, and when its
fangs of Vasuki fanged the cliffs of Mt. Mandara, disgorged is a poisonous
venom, which on melting the rocks of Mt. Mandara became the lethal and flaming haalahala...
"Up-heaved is that fire-similar lethal poison haalahala,, and by
it the whole universe is burnt down, together with gods, non-gods, and
humans... Then the gods seeking shelter approached Rudra, the Cardinal God,
Endower of Solace, and who husbands all the created animals, [inclusive of
human-animals,] and they prayed 'save, save us...' This way when prayed by
gods, the God of Gods and the Lord, Shiva appeared there immediately, and in
the meanwhile, handling the disc and conch Vishnu also appeared there alone...
"And spoke smilingly to Rudra, the Wielder of Trident, 'while gods
churning the Milk Ocean, that which has emerged firstly... oh, Best God among
gods, that is yours, for the reason of your being the Foremost God among gods
and oh, Lord, staying here remotely, you are capable to oblige this
poison, Haalahala, as a prime oblation...
"Saying so Vishnu, the best one among gods disappeared there only...
and Shiva on observing the scare of gods and also on listening the words of the
Wielder of shaaranga bow, namely Vishnu, gulped that haalahala,
the lethal poison, as if it is ambrosia and that God of Gods leaving those
gods, left for His Abode, that God Hara, namely Shiva...
—-
If we observe keenly, we can find that in Ramayana drinking of haalahala,
the lethal poison by Shiva was mentioned, but Shiva’s throat becoming
BLUE was not mentioned.
It was in Bhagavata
Purana the episode of Shiva’s throat becoming BLUE was mentioned.
—
In a mantra of the Vājasaneyisaṃhitā, Rudra is invoked in the form of Āditya
or Sūrya. Here, in this mantra, the rising and setting sun is identified with
Rudra. In the Śatarudriya
section, Rudra is called Nīlagrīva. Uvaṭa
illustrates this term as the sun when it is rising and setting, at that time it
appears blue-necked.
But Mahīdhara explains this word differently—
nīlagrīvaḥ viṣadhāraṇena nīlā grīvā kaṇṭho yasya...[3]
That means Nīlagrīva is depicted as one whose neck is blue in colour for
holding poison in his neck.
