Story: The Bumbling God Part 2

The Bumbling God Part 2

The baby Krishna came to grow up in a village not to far from the palace in which he was born. Kamsa had given up hope of finding the child with his own men but he was still anxious for and worried for the prophecy could still come to end his life and thus he had sent demons to find the boy and kill him. As Krishna grew up he became known as something of a trickster among the villagers. This was not entirely his fault though as he often accidentally inconvenienced others. 

Krishna was considered a massive troublemaker but few knew that it was not his intention to ever inconvenience others. It was his curse. Because one of his legs was longer than the other, he had an odd gait that led him to often walk in odd patterns instead of in a straight line. When his mind would drift while he walked, he would often bump into women who were carrying jars filled with milk or butter and thus Krishna was known as the one who spills milk and butter among the people of the village even though he had never tried to spill their milk or butter. The women whose milk had been spilled would go to Krishna’s mother and explain what the boy had done but his mother would always defend him.

“It is not his fault,” she would say. “The boy’s mind simply wanders and he doesn’t see you sometimes.” The other women would begrudgingly accept this and go on their way. Now the young Krishna was still being hunted but he did not know what to fear. The boy was still young and very naïve and while he was walking through the village one day, a woman bumped into him and she spilled the milk she was carrying all over the ground. Krishna apologized and offered to make reparations but the woman said she was fine. She simply asked for Krishna to help her carry the pieces of her jar home so it could be mended with clay. The boy helped her back to her home but once she was there, she thanked him for the help and offered him a cup of water. Krishna did not want to be rude and so he stepped towards the woman to take the cup, but he tripped over his foot and caused the woman to spill the water on herself. She screamed in agony and writhed on the floor as the water burned her flesh. Krishna did not know what was happening and so he fled from the house back to his home. He didn’t know that the woman was a demon who had been planning on poisoning the young Krishna, but when the poison was spilled on her instead, it had poisoned her and ended her life.

Kamsa learned quickly from other demons that the first assassin he had sent had failed to kill the boy and thus he was determined to send others to make sure the job was finished this next time.

Bibliography: Epified Krishna, link

(Krishna's great escape, wikimedia commons)

Reading Notes Week 10: Pattanaik's Secret Secrets of Vishnu: Part B (Matsya)

So I've continued to watch this series on the seven secrets of Vishnu and I have to say it's been pretty enjoyable so far. It's well done, has good production value for what it is, and is extremely informational. I have to echo again just how nice it is to actually get the little details of the history pieces after watching the short Epifed pieces I watched in the past. This is really a breath of fresh air because it actually gives you everything you could ever want to know and more. I love it. I've always been really into history and wanting to know more about something when I heard something. Wikipedia has always been a great resource for that kind of background information but often I find myself digging deeper and deeper into wikipedia and I end up with the philosophy problem - you know the idea that if you spend enough time clicking random links in wikipedia, you'll end up on the page for philosophy. But back to the main material. This day's material covered the secret: "Only humans can empathize and exploit". The material feels very religious in nature - it's that kind of "man is superior to all other beings" kind of thing but is interesting how it is manifested in these pieces for today. The basic idea is that humans are the most superior creature because they have a larger brain and it's postulated that this is modeled in Hinduism with a mark of vishnu on the forehead. The idea is that it's to show that the human brain is something unique in nature. Overall, it was a very enjoyable watch and I think I learned quite a bit from it.

Bibliography: Pattanaik's Secret Secrets of Vishnu: Part B (Matsya) link

(Matsya image, wikimedia commons)

Reading Notes: Pattanaik's Secret Secrets of Vishnu: Part A Week 10

So I decided to with another video option because I find them very easy to gain information from with tight time constraints and also because they've generally been a very fun and exciting way to learn the new material. I actually expected this one to be a lot like the epified Mahabharata or the epified Krishna, but I was pleasantly surprised when it was something much deeper in information. It wasn’t just surface information like the epified videos generally were. This video series really digs into the meet of the topic and discusses why each little detail is important. I like how the difference between material reality and spiritual reality is made explicitly clear and the creators go very in depth in explaining the common tropes and metaphors used to represent each. It’s nice to get some background information with the material for once. It’s kind of like the public domain versions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. If you remember, those had tons of links that took you to Wikipedia pages that explained all sorts of things that a casual western reader may not understand whether it be a cultural thing or a specific deity or character that is known in Indian mythology but not in western myths. It was a very fun watch and I actually learned quite a bit from these two videos. I’m excited to watch the next ones.

Bibliography: Pattanaik's Secret Secrets of Vishnu, link

(Mohini Statue, wikimedia commons)