Shiva represents the most essential goodness, yet is the destroyer of all. Shiva is male, and yet contains female. He is peaceful, yet with the literal blink of an eye he can destroy the universe. “He is the god of life and death, of destruction and rebirth” (Gokhale 8). How can all that is opposite be embraced within one single being? This is the mystery of Shiva. With his 1008 different names, this represents the mass of his unconceivable mysteries (Gokhale 3). As the god with the greatest following in the Hindu religion, Shiva is known for his divine family, his extraordinary powers, his appearance, and his millions of devotees. He is one of the most well known and most worshipped aspects of Eastern Philosophy, and has left a mark in …show more content…
Kartik, whom was not born directly from Parvati’s womb, fulfilled this prophecy when he was just seven days old by killing Taraka (Gokhale 47). Ganesha, the divine couple’s second son, was genetically engineered while Parvati was bathing, and she instructed Ganesha to be her dwarpal, or gate keeper, in order “to protect Parvati’s modesty while she took her ritual bath” (Gokhale 47). Ganesha, doing what he was assigned to do, angered his father when Shiva tried to get in to his wife while she was bathing (Gokhale 47). As a result of this anger, Shiva cut of Ganesha’s head, but immediately realized his mistake and sent attendants to bring back the head of the first animal they encountered (Gokhale 47). This animal happened to be an elephant, and its head and trunk were placed onto Ganesha’s body immediately (Gokhale 47). Nandi, the last part of Shiva’s family, is the sacred bull who represents power and ignorance and also functions as Shiva’s vehicle (Pandit). The history and family life of Shiva has helped to form the depiction of Shiva that is widely known today. “Shiva is responsible for change both in the form of death and destruction and in the positive sense of destroying the ego, the false identification with the form. The power of destruction associated with Shiva has great purifying power. Destruction opens the path for a new creation of the universe” (Gruenwald). With the opening of Shiva’s third eye, that of fire and
Parvana is a novel written by Deborah Ellis. Parvana and Shauzia are 2 young girls who life in a Taliban ruled country, known as Afghanistan. Both girls are faced with many difficulties throughout the novel. The 2 girls are given the chance to leave the war-torn country and Shauzia immediately takes this chance. By doing so, Shauzia will no longer be living under the Taliban’s rules. Being an 11 year old girl, Shauzia deserves to get an education. Shauzia’s family does not value her in any sort of way and she doesn’t deserve to see such disgusting things everyday.
Ganesha, the Elephant-Headed God, is the most worshipped god in the Hindu religion most commonly practiced in India. He represents Wisdom and the distinction between good and bad and is the leader of ganas, also known as beings.
When I went to Museum of Metropolitan of Art, I saw many interesting works of arts. I was so amazed by all of the art-work. It was a tough decision to choose one work to focus on for my art paper, but there was one sculpture that caught my eye; it was Nataraja of Shiva (11th century) from Ancient Southeastern Art located on the 2nd floor of the museum. The main message of this sculpture is focused on the idea of the boundaries of cosmos and the destruction and rebirth of the world. This paper will employ close visual analysis of this sculpture and describe how the visual elements of the work relate to its main theme. In my opinion, this sculpture is very beautiful and I was so surprised to find it in the museum. As I was growing up in
In India there are six orthodox schools of philosophy which recognize the authority of the Vedas as divine revelation, and they generally function as pairs - Nyaya and Vaishesika, Mimamsa and Vedanta, and Samkhya and Yoga. Those who did not recognize this authority were the Jains, Buddhists, and materialists. Even in India where spiritual ideas dominate the culture there were some who were skeptical of those ideals and held to a materialist view of the world; they were called Carvaka, and their doctrine that this world is all that exists is called Lokayata.
Meditation is very difficult to describe and can only truly be explained once experienced. It is the practice of mental concentration leading ultimately through a sequence of stages to the final goal of spiritual freedom, nirvana. The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to free ourselves from the delusion and thereby put an end to both ignorance and craving. The Buddhists describe the culminating trance-like state as transient; final Nirvana requires the insight of wisdom. The exercises that are meant to develop wisdom involve meditation on the true nature of reality or the conditioned and unconditioned elements that make up all phenomena. The goal of meditation is to develop a concept in the mind.
Hinduism is known as the world's oldest religion. According to ISKCON Educational Services (2004), it is hard to construct a timeline because Hinduism has no identifiable human founder or specific origin in history. It is so old that its past goes into pre-history. It is extremely diverse with the Hindu people being more interested in the meaning of events than in providing first hand records. There is also no clear-cut divide between history and myth.
Hinduism - stands for the faith and the way of life most of the people who live
What elements of earlier belief systems do you see integrated into Hinduism? What were the external conditions (environmental/societal/political/economic etc.) which gave rise to the origination of Hinduism? What was it about this time period? Location? Population?
destroyer of all as well, just as drugs can destroy all. This is a very hidden,
10. What did Gandhi mean that he was not talking about “passive” revolt? Note these events: “In the end, the British will walk out”; 100,000 Englishmen cannot control 350 million Indians if they refuse to cooperate … Note the terms used: The difference between passive aggression (very popular in many personality studies today) and passive non-cooperation--The gamble of inconsistency is most damaging to which?
Brahma is the god of creation. In today’s world, he is the least worshipped god in India. There are only two temples in all of India dedicated to him (Brahma). Brahma has a unique look, with four heads and four arms. The second god, Vishnu, is the god of preservation. Thus far in creation, he has been said to be incarnated nine times. Worshippers believe that he will incarnate one last time near the end of the world. Similarly, to what Paul thought of Jesus, “Like any major god, Vishnu is involved in a number of colorful stories which illustrate his virtues as the protector of cosmic order” (Vishnu). Vishnu is uniquely depicted by having blue skin, and four arms. In his four hands, he holds objects representing what he is dependable for. Shiva, the last god, is the god of destruction. In Hinduism, destruction is considered necessary for new life forms to appear. Shiva is portrayed by his blue face and white body, three eyes, and four arms.
The god Vishnu is the creator, and Shiva is the destroyer. One is not looked upon as better than the other. This shows the ultimate realism that the Hindu culture possesses. These are not the only gods in Hindu culture. There are many others and all have special skills and talents. The gods themselves also give birth to the idea of avatars, or the form of god when he or she comes to earth.
In contrast to majority of devout religions, Hinduism participates in the worship of many gods – thus making it a polytheistic religion consisting of a Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Brahma is the The Creator, and a member of the Hindu Trinity. Brahma intimately creates everything in the universe. In addition, Vishnu maintains the balance and harmony of the universe. Last but not least, Shiva perpetually destroys the universe: “it’s the necessary step to make renewal possible” (Hindu Gods and
The Hindu religion and culture is a very complex subject. The Hindu religion combines rich ethnical and standard beliefs. We will take a closer look and try to understand the Hindu religion and culture. The Hindu religion is the oldest religion of the five major religions, which are Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism (Major World Religions, 2006). The Hindu religion began to develop about 4.000 years ago in India, but it there was no single founder or system of belief (Major World Religions, 2006). There are many diverse and various Gods in the Hindu religion. One of the most important beliefs is the theory of karma, which holds that all beings, human or animal have karma which determines which soul is for which body and
Buddhism For over 2000 years Buddhism has existed as an organized religion. By religion we mean that it has a concept of the profane, the sacred, and approaches to the sacred. It has been established in India, China, Japan and other eastern cultures for almost 2000 years and has gained a strong foothold in North America and Europe in the past few centuries. However, one might ask; what fate would Buddhism face had Siddartha Guatama been born in modern times; or more specifically in modern day North America? Would his new found enlightenment be accepted now as it was thousands of years ago?