Week 13 Reading: 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art, Part B

Image result for narayan
Image on Wikimedia
This is a continuation of my Epified “7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art” YouTube video notes. Secret 2, Part B is on the god Narayan, and his secret is “What dies is always reborn.” Whereas I had known a little bit about the god Ganesha before taking my Part A notes, I did not know anything about Narayan before watching this video. The video is almost half an hour long and worth watching.
The very beginning was fascinating to me and made me interested to know more about Narayan. There is an image in the video of Narayan waking up from a sleep, and this is when the universe begins. However, assuming that Narayan wakes and sleeps in a cycle just like everyone else, it must be that the universe has existed before and is now beginning again now that the god is awake once more. So, the universe either or exists or does not exist whether or not Narayan is awake, and each time he wakes is a new beginning.
Something else interesting is that Narayan takes on different names for the different roles that he plays. When the world represented by Lakshmi in her cow form is in trouble, he rushes to aid her and is called the “cowherd.” When he is in his awakened form, he is not called Narayan anymore, but the all-powerful Vishnu.
Furthermore, I liked the aspect of creation in this video, as it is discussed in a subjective way rather than an objective one. For the listener to understand, the narrator gives the analogy of a person sleeping. When we are asleep, “our world” ceases to exist, as we cannot interact with “the world” around us. He states that “Creation is not an objective construction - it is a subjective realisation.” If there is no observer, there can be no observations made.

If you would like to watch this series, click here: link.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introductory Post

Image
Personal image, Carlie and me Personal image, Yat Fan and me        Hello! My name is Bridget Clayton and I am a French major and Music minor at the University of Oklahoma. I am currently taking my last semester completely online, as I have already finished my French courses and gone through Capstone. I’m just finishing up some upper-division credits.        I was originally a Music major because I love playing clarinet. Throughout high school, clarinet was the most important part of my life. However, I went through a lot of personal and familial issues during my first two years at OU, and I was struggling in some key music courses, like music theory. French had been my minor, but I realized that I was doing exceptionally well in my language classes, and as I did not want to teach music, I switched my major and minor. My last semester was a big success. I was taking four French courses, including Capstone, and was in one of the bands at OU, and I got my first 4.0. I also won
Read more

Week 9 Storytelling: The Strength of a Woman

Image
Image on  Flickr Inez and her husband Victor did not make much money, but they were a happily married couple. The couple had two adopted children from Victor’s deceased sister who they loved as their own. They did not spend money on things that they knew they couldn’t afford, but they always had enough and lived a much more fruitful life than most people. The one thing that they thought would really make a difference to their happiness was their want for a biological child. After trying to conceive for five years, they were finally blessed with the news that Inez was pregnant. Not only that, but she was carrying triplets, two girls and one boy. The prospect of three children altogether was nice , but five was more of a financial burden than the couple expected. Still, Inez and Victor were looking forward to the additions to their family. Victor took up extra hours at work, and the couple prepared everything they needed for the delivery of the three infants.
Read more