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He is the destroyer of a demon by name Madhu. Sūdana means destruction.

Madhu also refers to charming and delightful things. Charming and delight are the experiences associated with sensory organs. Sensory organs cause impressions in the mind, which in turn prevents the mind in becoming pure. If an aspirant surrenders to Viṣṇu, He ensures that such impressions are destroyed in the aspirant’s mind, paving way for his liberation.

He is the destroyer of the Asura Madhu, hence called Madhusoodanah. Madhu also means ‘Honey’ which means our Karma-Phala Dhata or giver of fruits of action. By meditating on the Lord we can get rid of the Vaasanas and hence the Lord is known as Madhusoodanah – “The Destroyer of Vaasanaas”.

The slayer of the demon Madhu

He is called Madhusoodanah because He killed a demon called Madhu. ‘Madhu naamaanam asuram sooditavaan iti Madhusoodanah’.

In the MahaBharata we have the following –

‘Vishnu karnodbhavam chaapi madhu naama mahaasuram |

tasya taavadvadhaadeva deva daanava maanavaah madhusoodana ityaahur-rshayashcha janaardanam ||’ (Mahabharata 2.63.13)

Meaning: “Because Sri MahaVishnu destroyed the MahaAsura by the name ‘Madhu’, He is called Madhusoodana by the Sages, Devas, Asuras and Men”.

Madhu also means Karma-phala or fruits of action (Madhu = Honey). Actions leave impressions and these Vaasanaas (Desires or habits) are destroyed by meditating on the Lord and so the Lord is known as Madhusoodhanah – “The Destroyer of Vaasanas”

According to Devi Bhagavata Purana, Madhu and Kaitabha originated from Lord Vishnu’s earwax and performed a long period of tapas devoted to goddess Mahadevi. The goddess granted them the boons of invincibility and voluntary death. The proud-filled demons then started attacking Brahma. Brahma sought Vishnu’s help but was unable to awaken Vishnu who was still in deep meditative sleep. Brahma then prayed to Mahadevi and she helped awaken Vishnu. The two demons then fought against Vishnu and defeated him. Upon advice from Mahadevi, Vishnu employs a trick to destroy the two demons. Vishnu praises the battle powers of the two demons and says that he is pleased to grant them boons. The boastful demons, proud of their victories against Vishnu, say that they are willing to grant him boons instead. Vishnu cleverly asks Madhu and Kaitabha for their lives and they are forced to kill each other.

७३. ॐ मधुसूदनाय नमः |

73. OM Madhusūdanāya Namaḥ

 Madhusoodanah  -One who destroyed the great demon Madhu. The story of Vishnu destroying these two demons, Madhu and Kaitabha, is a story of secret suggestions in Mahabharata. Madhu also means in Veda (Madhu=honey) as the fruits of actions (Karma-phala). Actions leave impressions and these sensuous Vaasanaas are destroyed by meditations on the Reality and so the Supreme gathers to Itself the name Madhusoodanah: “the Destroyer of Vaasanaas.”

Madhu (nāmāna masuraṃ) sūditavān / मधु (नामान मसुरं) सूदितवान् The destroyer of the demon Madhu.

Mahābhārata – Bhīṣma parva 67.14 

Karṇamiśrodbhavaṃ cāpi madhunāma mahā’suraṃ, Brahmaṇo’pacitiṃ kurvan jaghāna puruṣottama tasya tāta, Vadhā deva devadānavamānavāḥ, Madhusūdana ityāhu rr̥ṣayaśca janārdhanam. (16)

:: महाभारत – भीष्म पर्व 67.14 ::

कर्णमिश्रोद्भवं चापि मधुनाम महाऽसुरं । ब्रह्मणोऽपचितिं कुर्वन् जघान पुरुषोत्तम तस्य तात । वधा देव देवदानवमानवाः । मधुसूदन इत्याहु रृषयश्च जनार्धनम् ॥ १६ ॥

At the request of Brahmā, Puruṣottama (Lord Viṣṇu) slew the great demon named Madhu who was born out of his ear wax. Thus having slain the demon, Lord Janārdhana was called ‘Madhusūdana’ by the Gods, asuras, men and the sages.

INTERPRETATION GUIDED BY SANT VANI (WORDS OF SAINTS)

Madhusūdanaḥ

The destroyer of Madhu.

The destroyer of the demon Madhu. He who turns the sense organs of those devoted to him towards “himself” He is THE “SENSE ORGAN” beyond all ‘Sense Organs‘ (Parāsara Battar). The slayer of the demon Madhu. He who slew that great demon at the request of Brahmā (Śaṅkara).

Lord Viṣhṇu killed the asura, the demon, called Madhu and so He is called Madhūsudanah. This asura is supposed to be born from the ear wax of Lord Viṣhṇu along with another asura called Kaiṭabha. Both of them stole the Vedas and caused a lot of problems and were finally killed by the Lord.

The ahankaāra is given the name madhu because it is madhuvat iṣṭa, very much liked like honey by an ignorant person whose ego – the sense of “I” is boosted by hearing sweet words from others, showing off in desire and expectations of praise and recognition from others with a highly elevated sense of doership. Here, we have to understand clearly that ahankāra in Sanskrit refers to the I – sense. It is not pride as is often referred to in Indian regional languages. Perhaps there it may mean so, not in Sanskrit. This I-sense is understood differently by people depending on what they identify the I with.

Anything is loved by a person only because it is pleasing to oneself, is a true and bold statement by the Upanisad. That is why the ahakāra, I , that is, oneself is the most loved common trait in the world. Even people who are involved in seva and various kinds of volunteerism work, do it because it matters to their happiness that there is less injustice in the world and the suffering of others is alleviated because of them. This bhaav of doership resulting in craving for recognition and praise is the demon Madhu. Their I sense has not expanded to only include I, me, myself but also their community, neighbourhood, country as the case may be. Instead they do what they do with the sense of gaining good karma, punya for themselves and humongous amount of ego boost by the praise and recognition the sewa or any good work may bring. It is not done with nishkaam bhaav without any doership or karta bhaav. This constant desire to want to hear sweet words from others is Madhu who takes birth from the Viṣhṇu’s ear wax while he was in yognidra means that ego which rises in us when our vivek and buddhi is sleeping and we derive pleasure in what we hear as sweet words (Madhu) and bitter words (Kaitabha) from others.

Tam ahankāram sūdayati – He destroys the ahankāra by revealing Himself or paves the way for the destruction of ahankāra by providing the grace and hence is known as Madhusūdana. The moment people hear the word destruction, they think that spirituality is annihilation and nobody wants that. After spending his first time ever in a tent in a national reserve park in Africa, Michael Crichton, the author of Jurassic park, and many other successful books, writes in one of his books, “I realised that I had defined myself too narrowly.” This is true not only of him but also of all of us.

The destruction of the ahankāra that is spoken of, is destruction of notions and wrong conclusions of what the I is. Since the I was variously taken to be one ‘s body, mind, car, property or even one’s petty possession like an umbrella, the truth is revealed by Madhusūdana. The true self is nothing but Parameśvara and with His grace, the ahankāra, the ego bubble (of what I have taken myself to be) bursts and one gets enlightened.

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Mahamaya originated when Lord Vishnu, engaged in his “Cosmic sleep” or “Yog Nidra” was invoked by Lord Brahma because the demons of Madhu and Kaitabh had engulfed

the universe and could be mitigated only if Vishnu were to come back from His “sleep”.

Madhu and Kaitabh originated from Lord Vishnu’s ears when He was in His slumbering

wakefulness. Mahamaya became the factor, originated by the prayers of Lord Brahma to awaken Vishnu from His state.

Mahamaya, who had fixated Madhu and Kaitabh too, led the two demons to ask Vishnu for any wish He desired.

The Lord desired that the two demons be slayed at His hands. But the condition from the demons was that they be killed at a place on Earth where there is no water. Thus, Lord Vishnu slayed them on His lap.

Relevance to a Yogi

Madhu and Kaitabh are not devils outside but the bad qualities and vices within us. They both originated from the ear of Lord Vishnu. The underlying meaning is that the genesis and origin of these two bad qualities is when the sense of hearing is polluted and along with it intention.

Madhu is false praise. One loves to inflate one’s ego by hearing all good. This inflated ego is self destructive.

Kaitabh is uttering negative words. Talking ill of others, indulging in gossip, is a natural pass time of many people. On an individual level, hearing even constructive criticism sounds cacophonic since the ego believes the individual to be supreme and perfect.

Madhu (Meetha bhashan or Mridu vachan) implies sweet talk meant to deceive and with an ulterior motive. Flattery, buttering, sycophancy are all “Asuras” which can be bracketed under the “Madhu”. Such glib talking is a vice which grows insidiously and secretly one day consumes the individual indulging in it.

Kaitabh (Karwa bol) refers to talking impolitely as if spewing venom. Criticizing, abusing, analyzing, passing judgements or any talk which does not have unconditional love in it on is an overarching devil too. This will over power the individual quicker than Madhu and is sure to lead one to hell and constant cycle of suffering and pain.

Whenever the God in us is in a state of temporary sleep, devils are born. And when is God asleep ? Its when we do not engage in sadhna. The role of Brahma is played by the sadhak who prays to the Guru and Bhagwan to awaken the two within himself.

As the Param tatwa and Guru tatwa get activated, the pain and suffering inflicted by ignorance of negativity will be terminated.

Every individual is gripped by Maya which makes the individual believe that this world is all what is worth thinking of. The Maya does not let attachment wither away.

Every second, we are worried about what happened in our past, our family’s past, and our friends’ past. Every second we regret our actions, mourning all the sorrow that has come in our lives. Maya is the illusion that the true identity is this physical body and all one needs to do during one’s lifetime is work on this body, the relations of this body, accumulate wealth for this body etc.

The one who prays to Shakti and Bhagwan performing Sadhna, gets blessed and extricated from this bondage of Maya of ego and dualities.

The one person who is repeatedly referred to as Madhusūdana is Kṛṣṇa in the Mahabharata. Vaiśampāyana calls him that. So also does Draupadi and even Śiśupāla for that matter – and all of this happens before the Bhagavad-gītā,

And then in the Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna calls Kṛṣṇa as Madhusūdana no less than five times – It is interesting to note that nowhere is there a mention of Kṛṣṇa having killed a demon named Madhu so why would Arjuna call him as “the slayer of the demon Madhu” when Kṛṣṇa clearly did not kill any demon by that name? One could argue that it is a reference to Viṣṇu but it could also be argued that till the time of the Viśvarūpā-Darśana, Arjuna doesn’t really grasp who his friend actually is. Almost all translations of the Bhagavad-gītā translate this name as “the slayer of the demon Madhu” but I think there is another more subtle reason Kṛṣṇa is called Madhusūdana and the answer lies in the interpretation by Parāsara Battar of this name as that being who turns the Sense Organs of his devotees towards himself:

Consider the instances in the the Bhagavad-gītā where the name Madhusūdana occur:

Chapter-1; verses 34-35: Arjuna is in a state of utter confusion and his senses are completely blinded and he tells Kṛṣṇa that there is no way he is going to kill all his relatives, Gurus, fathers, brothers, kith and kin…

Chapter-2; verses-1-2: Sanjaya who clearly knows who Kṛṣṇa really is says: “then that Madhusūdana looked at Arjuna with pity and compassion mixed with anger and asks him “What explains this disgraceful, delusional and ‘un-Ārya” like behavior” – look at the contempt with which Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna who is again blinded by his senses.

Chapter-2; verse-4: Again, Arjuna weeps and calls Kṛṣṇa Madhusūdana and asks him “How can I kill the noble Bishma or Drona? Again it is Kṛṣṇa who tells Arjuna that his mind is confused and senses blinded by false compassion and a misguided interpretation of what is Dharma and Adharma.

Chapter-6; verse-33: The chapter deals with Dhyana Yoga and again Arjuna asks Kṛṣṇa how he (Arjuna) whose mind is so restless can succeed in this path (Dhyana Yoga) which requires an absolute steady mind (which Arjuna does not now possess)

Chapter-8; verses-1-2: Here Arjuna asks Kṛṣṇa to teach him the way to realize the Supreme Brahman – And Brahman can be realized only by transcending the senses and what does Arjuna call Kṛṣṇa – Madhusūdana!

Therefore in the context of this present string of verses, Madhusūdana is he who helps his devotees conquer the tendency of the sense organs to forever be outward facing and being attracted to all things that appear sweet (Madhu) but not really helpful in attaining the supreme goal of life – realizing the Kṛṣṇa within. Therefore he is the sūdana (slayer) of that Madhu and hence Madhusūdana.

Just as Madhusūdana was able to remove the Viṣāda (विषाद) of Arjuna, he can remove ours too if we turn to him and seek him as that indwelling supreme being.

There is also the story of Radha and Krishna that is relevant to this name. One evening as Radha was with Krishna like a bee partaking of the sweet nectar from a flower another bee came buzzing around the lotus face of Sri Radha Rani. Kṛṣṇa worried that the bee would disturb Radha asks his friend to chase it away and the friend does that and comes back to report that the bee has been chased away. The friend calls the bee “Madhu” and on hearing this Radha starts crying thinking that “Her Madhu (Kṛṣṇa) had been chased away. On seeing her tears, Kṛṣṇa too starts crying and their tears mingled together to form the Prema Sarovar – such is the compassion of that Madhusūdana towards those who make him their sole refuge…