This book is one tasty meal. It begins with exploring what
myth is, what purpose it serves and who needs it. According to Western
philosophy, myth is understood to be ‘falsehood’. In Hindu philosophy, it is
not so much a falsehood as one superficial layer that must be peeled back and
transcended to really understand the ‘Truth’ – that is, what we, the worlds,
and all of this dance of time and space stands for.
The blurb succinctly outlines the main message of the Hindu
mythology. Hindus have one God. They also have over three million gods. (By,
the way, note the difference in capitalization.) They have gods and goddesses
with their unique specialization very. They also have various kinds of demons
and ogres. But Hindus have no ‘Devil’. In a nutshell, the equation between the
gods or devas who reside in the heavens and the demons or asuras who reside
below the ground is really a tussle between disciplined, cultured ways of
living or wanton, hedonistic lives in the natural world. The dynamic between gods
and goddesses is also depicted as the tussle between culture and nature. Gods
stand for culture, goddesses stand for nature. Culture is required to establish
a certain predictability in society. Nature is required to sensitize one to the
impermanence of life. Both are necessary. Both are important. Both help. Both
ruin.
As with other books by Pattanaik, this one too dwells on the
differences between Vishnu and Shiva. I think, personality-wise, I lean towards
Shiva, Any entity that has figured out a way to keep society at bay and stay
sequestered gets my vote. However, lately, I have been thinking quite a bit
about Vishnu. This is after a friend’s observation that any avatar of Vishnu,
especially Krishna, has a pretty tough life. To be born in a prison, to have
your brothers killed, to be away from your mother, to have to confront and kill
your uncle, to not be with the woman you truly loved, to give up your home and
return only to see it destroyed – and yet when you see any picture of Krishna,
he always has a smile. What must it take to engage with a world so fully,
knowing that it will take you down and yet…smile/ I had never quite seen
Krishna that way before. It was quite a revelation to see what really draws one
to a deity anyway.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants the
warm comfort of some good storytelling. Also a reminder that maybe Hinduism
with all its gods and goddesses and God is a big group hug. And not this tirade
of being virgin and vegetarian that it’s devolving into.
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