Thanks Katrine for your very insightful post! 
I have ben reminding myself of this a lot lately! To me the self discovery is fun too! 
I think this is an interesting thread. I found something in a book that I think is relevant to this but it’s kinda long, I’m going to use whole paragraphs from the chapterr so I don’t mess with what the author intended to convey. It’s from the book Symbolism in Hinduism complied by Swami Nityanand, the chapter about Subramanya-Karthikeya by A. Parthasarathy.
“Shanmukha is represented in the human form with six faces (‘shat’ means ‘six’ and mukham means ‘face’). He is blue in color. He holds a trident, a sort of spear or javelin (shakti)in his hand. His vehicle is the peacock. The peacock grips a snake with its claws.”
“Blue colour is generally attributed to infinity. All infinite expanses in nature appear blue in colour to the human perception; for example, the sky and the ocean. The Blue colour of Subramaniam, therefore, indicates the Infinite Reality which exists as the Spiritual Essences in all human beings. In a human being, this Supreme Reality expreses itself through the media of the five sense organs and the mind-intellect equipment. This idea is represented by the lord having six faces. The Infinite Reality by itself has no expression; however, when it functions through the six equipments there is a manifestation of life, such manifestation being like a multi-faceted jewel reflecting light from its different facets.”
“Again, the peacock-vehicle of Shanmukha is also blue in colour. Another characteristic of a peacock, which is significant here, is its vanity. The peacock is acaliamed to be the vainest living creature. How evident this is during the peacock’s lengthy dancing with its colorful feathers propped up in a delightful form!”
The suggestion here is the Seeker of Truth must also develop extreme vanity of his Supreme Self, i.e. the seeker must vainfully feel that he is essentially the Pure Self and not the limited perceiver-feeler-thinker (PFT). This idea is figuratively represented by Kartikeya using the peacock as His vehicle. The vehicle on which man moves about at present is his egocentric mind which conceives only the limited individual. Man’s attention is constantly focussed upon his body mind and intellect. Identifying with them, he believes himself to be a ‘perceiver’ at the physical level, a ‘feeler’ at the mental level and a thinker at the intellectual level. Thus, limiting his personality, he develops the vanity of the ‘perceiver-feeler-thinker’. By doing so, man becomes unaware of his infinite potentiality. The Deity of Kartikeya is meant to invoke in man the vanity of his supreme self and thereby he will conceive his infinite stature. The one who practices this art of withdrawing his mind from its preoccupations with the material equipments of the mind, body, intellect and succeeds in maintaining the concept of the Infinite Self, that one becomes the blue-coloured Kartikeya - a God-man on Earth."
The Deity also gives the seeker a practical suggestion as to how he can discard the material layers of his personality and reach the abode of the Supreme Reality. This suggestion lies in the Peacock clutching the serpent with its claws. The peacock is the greatest enemy of the serpent. It can destroy the serpent if it wishes to, but the serpent if held here in captivity without being destroyed. The serpent represents the ego, the fleshy, carnal personality of man which tempts him to use his material equipments for seeking the fleeting pleasures of the pluralistic world. Like the serpent, the ego crawls in the darkness created by man’s ignorance of the supreme light. The serpent carries poison in its fangs but it is interesting to observe that the poison is for its own protection. Similarly, the ego carries with it the poisonous mind, which, when focussed on one’s material vestures, assumes the vanity of ‘I-ness’ and ‘mine-ness’. The same mind can be intelligently used for evolving oneself by changing the focus of concentration from body-mind-intellect to the Supreme Self. By this process one unfolds and recognizes one’s own Real Nature. It is important to note, therefore, that the ego is not destroyed. The same ego which lures man to the enchantments of the pluralistic world can be channeled to discover the Supreme Self. This idea is symbolized by the serpent being held firmly by the peacock."
Ugh, so long. Still though, maybe this is a useful perspective on Divine Pride that can be helpful.
Thanks for resurrecting this old thread TVD, it’s nice to look back and see how perspectives can change over time, it certainly erases any doubt that daily practices are working.
I completely forgot about this experience but it matches an observation that comes to mind lately. I see a giant balance scale, awareness, light, illumination on one side, thoughts, ego, darkness, confusion on the other. Every day we can choose where we will add energy and tip the scales in one direction or the other. If we feel anger or annoyed by a loved one or someone at work and we choose to act on it, we then tip the scale in a direction that in the long run most of us don’t want to go. The same situation occurs and instead we recognize the thought causing the anger/ annoyance, let it go and respond with love and understanding, we are then adding a little more energy in the direction we’d like to go.
Every day, in every moment we choose our actions, how do you want to choose? I know for myself, nothing is worth holding onto that takes me away from feeling good on the inside even if it seems so at first. Love makes me feel better than being right or angry etc. which separates. I choose to unify with others rather than divide, one leads to expansion the other contraction. I know how I want to choose, how we choose brings life to what we choose.
TVD
Very good article! Thanks a lot.
Just one question, Why the serpent carries the poison for its own protection? and Why the peacock doesn’t destroy the serpent ?
We think, and do many things with the serpent, its a tool to live in this world, I don’t think we could live in this world without the serpent (ego). We can purify the serpent, lead it to the self, but we cannot ignore it or destroy it. When the ego is enlightened with the self, it carries wings, like the QUETZALCOATL God, the feathered serpent. So we are like serpents waiting to be feathered. So the serpent is divine in nature, our work is to feather the serpent with the consciousness of the self (peacock or eagle)
Neli