As the Story Will Tell Itself: To Become the Mouth Which Holds the Universe

Is Dharma another name for the god Yama? What if this thing with the deer people has the normal deer plead and warn by day, but then by nightfall, Bheema, who had not left or gave up the taste for deer is visited by vengeful anthropomorphic deer. It would end up like something from a horror movie. "...the world is in danger from dancing itself to death." from page 127. That reminds me of the dancing plague of 1518, where people literally were dancing themselves to death for unknown reasons. Mankanaka's blood had become green sap from eating only plants. Shiva's blood is ash. Arjuna is sent to acquire the bow of Gandiva by going to Shiva on Mount Kailash and meditating there without giving in to distractions. He sees bejeweled trees and an old man who offers peace and bliss, but Arjuna ignores these temptations. The old man, actually Indra, offers him a drink, and Arjuna accepts this. What if the drink was actually a potion? What if taking it was actually a bad ...

While it is sad to see the abused state that the snake ended up in, you can't say he did not deserve it. Imagine the grand place the hermits found as something too good to be true. It could all be an illusion or curse. How often does my mind wander to these tragic ideas? These Brahmins hanging around Guha sound like the mean, old, evangelical Christians seemingly everywhere. I though Hinduism was more open-minded about how one could worship the Gods. Even some of the gods themselves do not seem to care about this. I suppose in earlier times, like many things, this was partially used to control people. The image of a world tree where the three Gods make up it and all worlds are interconnected: it is like Yggdrasil. I guess the story of Guha really proves how Hinduism is more open-minded about how one worships, especially in his case to where kicking the statue of Shiva every day was considered worship. I still blame Gautama for his wife, Ahalya, choosing someone else who could...

While the gods were captured and were slaves to Ravana, I do wonder if they are abused or treated well (for slaves) under Ravana. Indra did say they were "seduced" by Ravana. I have this image of Ravana being totally ruthless as he took over Heaven but then being a really cool guy afterwards in Lanka. Maybe he even pays them a living wage. That or I can see another scenario like the United States penitentiary system: full of abuse and exploitation. One could absolutely turn this into a think piece like that. The membranous egg-thing reminds me of that flesh lump that resulted in the Kauravas from the Mahabharata . But unlike them, this egg-thing is not a source of evil. The perfect way to personify and describe the Gods: Brahma is the distracted, hopeless romantic; Wishnu is like the handsome, "popular" Marty Stu; and Shiva is like an edgelord or just some guy who thinks he's better than everyone else. So when Shiva discovers Sati committed suicide because h...

The image of ash-smeared sadhus riding motorcycles is kind of funny to me. I like it. I bet you when Shiva is not meditating or doing rituals these days, he is out riding a motorcycle. I can just imagine a scenario where Narada and Vishnu argue with each other like "I love you more" and "No, I love you more" just back and forth for longer than they should. Would it not be interesting if there was a scenario where Narada had a lot of trouble coming up with a new song for Vishnu? He lost his muse and has a bit of an existential crisis. Later, he may regain it after some exchange with Vishnu. Is the section about Vishnu set in the modern day? Did Radha originally become upset at Krishna after seeing him also dancing with the other gopikas at the same time? It is understandable that she did. With how much Narada claims to love and worship Vishnu, he certainly does not seem to understand Vishnu very well. Like in the case of Narada talking about celibacy, Narada ha...

Coming from Brahma's forehead or third-eye is Saraswati. So trying to hide from his lustful gaze, Saraswati moved to four other sides of Brahma with each head sprouting to look at her, hence why every story in just words about this says he grew four heads to look at her from every direction. These comics do help visualize what is actually happening in these stories I have been reading. Sometimes some details may get glossed over either by me or the source material. I too would be upset if someone stared at me all the time with unblinking eyes. The fifth head sprouted to look above Brahma: an easy target for a chopping. I am concerned about where and how Brahma would sprout his head is Saraswati moved somewhere below him. A war rages between brahmins and kshatriyas that results in an all-consuming fire (vadavagni) that could destroy the world. The Devas ask Shiva and Saraswati for help. Shiva gave the fire to Saraswati, and she then merged with a plaksha (fig) tree from whic...

Recall that Sati killed herself during a sacrifice that Shiva was not invited to, and she was reborn as Parvati. So Narada does go everywhere chanting "Narayan!" Narada tells Himavat, her father, she is destined to marry Shiva. Himavat then takes her to wait upon Shiva. Parvati seemed to tirelessly work to h1lep Shiva with his rituals, attended to him in every manner, and she began to fall in love with him. Taraka is an asura who takes over heaven. Brahma granted him a boon that made him super powerful. Brahma, why do you keep creating problems? Oh... He says the son of Parvati and Shiva will defeat Taraka. Kama has a flowery bow with flowery arrows that manage to cast Shiva under the spell of love for a moment. What if Kama and Rati gather together a team of a few other love gods from other pantheons to actually help succeed in making Shiva fall in love with Parvati? There is strength in numbers. Rati is the goddess of lust, right? I am sure I do not understand ...

Oh, the story of Mahisha that I know all too well by now. But I did not know he commanded that the worship of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva be stopped. I thought no one worshiped Brahma, especially since he causes so much trouble with all of his gosh dingin' boons. I also noticed that there was no mention of these asuras actually coming after any followers of Brahma like they did for the followers of Vishnu and Shiva. Is it just me, or do a lot of these characters seem whitewashed? Maybe it is just something to help differentiate asuras from devas and comic book style coloration. Hell hath no wrath like Durga. Mahisha also turned into a lion, an elephant, and a bull besides his familiar buffalo form. And in that form, partially the head and torso becoming humanoid again, he was killed by Durga. Perfect, a story and information about Shumbha, Chanda, and Munda that I need fairly soon. Uttering "hum" will result in the one it is aimed at to turn into smoldering ash. Did ...

Brahma creates the universe for a reason but forgets it? A God becoming enchanted by his own daughter sounds like something you could expect from Greek mythology. Ew... Was the goddess who kept changing her form to escape from Brahma Saraswati? I think I remember something across and reading that story somewhere. And the Goddess being upset brought Shiva's wrath upon Brahma, which resulted in one of his heads (the fifth one) being chopped off, which represented the ego. What is a lakh womb? "By controlling the world, he believe he will validate his existence." That makes me think of all those politicians, business people, and religious figures. They all push for control over the world and others for their own selfish desires (though these people may not truly believe or understand that said desires are selfish and even harmful). These things are temporary and unfulfilling. These acts and goals are not worthy of praise or worship. So I guess if a God is like this, neit...

The explanation of why the cow is revered so much by the Hindus makes sense. Cows provide milk which provides sustenance, but one may easily forget the usefulness of their hides and bones. I think Vishnu's promise that humans will stop over-exploiting the earth-cow was broken. Humans seem to be exploiting and destroying the earth at an alarming rate more so now than ever. So Lakshmi does have a sister, Alakshmi. I encountered her not too long ago in this week's reading ( Krishna Krishna ) but under the name of Moodevi. Remember that she is misfortune. I may have never connected that the continuous growth of Matsya and the eventual destruction of the world be the result of too much kindness and no boundaries. Is Vaman the incarnation of Vishnu that is thought to be Buddha? The picture looks like Buddha to me, but it may not be. Okay, but the killing of someone for being attracted to somebody else is terrible. Even if a God did this act, it does not make it right. I would s...

Krishna finds his double, Paundraka. Paundraka says Krishna is his reflection, and Krishna respond it would be funny to fight his own reflection. What one of them did? Like one is in a fun house or something. You can kind of look at the debate and “battle” between Paundraka and Krishna as a debate of religion and logic. Paundraka also seems like a schizophrenic is he believes that he is an incarnation of Vishnu. But as was said, the people around him did encourage him to believe this for one reason or another.  The exchange of youth for old age sounds like vampirism. But I have already used vampirism in a story. I guess this could be twist for Yayati could be like he has to feed on others as a vampire that rapidly ages physically because he was not faithful to his wife, and the only way to undo this curse would be to feed on one of his sons (i. e. an exchange of old age for youth). The sons could either just refuse or even kill him. There are five circumstances under...

An interesting contraption: A bow sitting on a pedestal a fish-like contraption on the ceiling that always rotated and created an image of a fish in a pond below What kept it rotating? Was it wind, the motion of the earth, or even electricity? I like the image of Arjuna during the swayamvara: a "handsome beard", and "hair flowing down his shoulders". That is my kind of man. Have I tried applying my computer knowledge to my storytelling? How would I even do that in a subject like this? Did I choose the wrong reading if I really wanted to do that? Who are Jatilaa and Prachetasa? I admire them for having multiple husbands. What if Draupadi and the Pandavas were gender-bent? Note that Krishna repeats that Draupadi is born of fire, a righteous one. There are occasionally examples of diction that relate to this. Going back to the loss of the gambling game, what if Krishna had given Draupadi the power to unleash the strength of the fire from which she was bor...

Shiva After not seeing this series in a week, Shiva looks like a tragic character, though I know he is not meant to be one. Nonetheless, this story about how his first wife, Sati, was killed at a sacrifice he was not invited to is beyond depressing. I think it is understandable that he would choose to avoid letting his heart be torn apart like that again. Rejection is painful on its own, but utter loss is world-shattering. As out there as Shiva is, there are some endearing parts of his character and stories. Sati being reborn as Parvati and seeking him out as her husband again is a sweet story, even if Shiva only accepted out of grace. It is an example of where love transcends lifetimes kind of. Shiva's lack of knowledge of and possible refusal to conform to groom standards is a bit humorous. I heard a version of Shiva drinking the poison to where doing so was actually killing him. To save him, Parvati squeezed his neck to keep it from doing any more harm. But why did he drink...

Here there is a story of a fruit that a king got from a sage, which would make his queen pregnant when she ate it. He split it between his two wives, and they each gave birth to half a lifeless child. One could change the fruit, the setting, what happened to the child, and so on of this seemingly common fruit-pregnancy scenario. Jarasandha starving his defeated enemies and eating feasts before them gives me a similar image of Dracula. In Dracula's case, however, he ate while watching people slowly die after being impaled on pikes. Both are sadists. Write Jarasandha similar to Dracula and Krishna similar to Van Helsing and gang who defeat him Buddha, according to one tradition, was an incarnation of Vishnu. That is interesting. Ooh, how interesting that Krishna taught some women how to use his altered version of the boomerang. That is quite progressive for the time. "Nothing is impossible if you are ready to accept the challenge." So even the author, narrator (...

The darkness, emptiness, and unable-to-observe imagery reminds me of the Hindu Calendar Art videos in the extra readings. By this, I mean the lack of the ability to observe and lack of life does correlate to the end of the universe, that is Vishnu closing his eyes. And in a senses, Vishnu's eyes were closed in his incarnation as Krishna right before his death. I still do not understand why piercing Krishna's soles would result in his death. Explore the curse given to the Yadava clan by the insulted sages. Explore how the clan's wealth and power destroyed them. Narada as one who relays news sounds like Mercury. Narada can cause quarrels among gods and goddesses, spreads gossip and rumors, and spins tales... Is he a good choice to use in a story one writes as the one who starts a quarrel, directly or indirectly? Krishna is a more rebellious and well-rounded incarnation of Vishnu. Perhaps one can look at his rebellious nature in a story: Krishna the bad boy; Krishn...

Where I was about to note a comment, the video beat me to it. They ways in which the world and ideas are represented, like in a balance of male and female, are interesting ways of viewing them. However, culture takes this and corrupts it. Sexist values and power-hungry politics choose to take some of these things literally to justify the oppression, persecution, and abuse of certain groups of people in society. Being all too aware of this practice, that makes it hard to objectively look at and think about these concepts without reminders of said corruption from society. If he banyan tree provides shade, then we both have a lot in common. Ha! It is interesting to think of a snake, especially a cobra, something so venomous, as a symbol of fertility, something to create rather than destroy life. Red as potential energy; green as realized energy: that sounds like a stop light. Now white meaning stillness and black meaning movement seems opposite to what I would have expected. White wou...

I have seen reference to the Ocean of Milk many times. Why milk? Is it in reference to the Milky Way? Or is it something to do with cattle in that because the cow is sacred and valuable, so too is the milk in every aspect? There is something terrifying about the thought of a god closing his eyes and going to sleep, which then results in the end of the universe. But I guess, like said in the videos, it is only terrifying because the I culture I grew up in has always taught this sense of limited time and finality. The uncertainty of what happens while Narayan is asleep, the requirement of an observer to allow something to be observed and, therefore, exist: that sounds a lot like Schrodinger's cat. Did the ancient Hindus have uncertainty principles figured out before the West? But this makes me wonder if there is any significance to what Narayan dreams of when he sleeps. Or does he just reside in a dreamless state of sleep? Do the other Gods and Goddesses experience the lack of ...

Bearing the children of the gods is instant? There is no need to worry about the nine months of discomfort and possible death from childbirth? Plus you end up with amazing children? That sounds like a sweet deal if you want children. I thought the sage did tell Kunthi that the mantra would summon a god of her choice for pleasure. Did she not use it because she was not sure if it would work? If the people of the forest thought Pandu and his wives were deities, those three could easily have taken advantage of these people. This could have resulted in a different curse cast upon Pandu but still lead to similar results. Okay, but partially jokingly, someone could, and probably has, write some crazy smut about Kunthi and the gods. The twins did not train with Kunthi's sons. I swear, the twins always seem to get the short end of the stick throughout the epic. Narayan's version of the epic did not mention how Gandhari had one hundred sons, and I can see why. To give birth to a p...

The animation of the videos really helps in visualizing the story. The drawing style is cute, too. This brings a thought to try to write and draw a story in the form of a comic. Unfortunately, this may take too much time to do. It still may be fun and worth a shot. I had completely forgotten about Bhishma was given a gift to choose his time of death. That would have the ending part where he lay on a bed of arrows until the end of the war make more sense. You could write about Devavrat (Bhishma) making his vow of celibacy to bring the fisherman's daughter to his father. You could use imagery of the world shaking, sky darkening, lightening striking, thunder sounding, and so on to all the more highlight the doom that would come. The three Amb- sisters were stolen away? Was that part of a war that was waged to get them or something else? Write a more in-depth story as to what happened when Amba went to go see her love, King Shalva, and he rejecting her. Even better, explore Amba...

The story of the mango and the race between Ganesha and Kartrikeya: I am surprised at what Ganesha did and said. It was more endearing and wholesome than I expected, especially after reading more cruel things in other stories. It is interesting that he comments on the subject of mythology, this case Hindu, as being beyond rationality and something to approach with an open mind. I know that even in the early days before being in this class, I always thought it was strange the way the Hindu deities were depicted, but the polytheism and interconnection of  everything was fascinating. Now in this class, I look at all of these things like "wow!" I like the idea of multiple incomplete beings encompassing different aspects of life and the universe. Sometimes I look at monotheistic religions and think it is unreasonable to stow so many qualities, virtuous or not, into one being. If you have a being that is so vast, a typical mortal will easily lose sight of this being. Where al...

Dhritarashtra is a weak leader. If everyone has been saying since the beginning to get rid of Duryodhana, then he should have. This whole war could have been avoided if he had just done so. Consider a story taking place in the past when Duryodhana was born. Take a route where he is left to die of exposure and either leave it at that or have him survive and cause this was out of revenge for leaving him. Is it really fear from which the Pandavas are speaking? U think it is more of a decent thing to try to avoid this war. Where the conflict really is between the Pandavas and Kauravas, there is no need to drag millions of others to their deaths. What if one of the pleas for peace works? What if the war was only fought five versus one hundred one? "Many of you will die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make." -Lord Farquad Why is Krishna aware of his divinity whereas Rama was not? Is this a difference in circumstance? Duryodhana is described as a snake with ey...