Growth Mindset: The Spellbinding Art of Human Anatomy

The Spellbinding Art of Human Anatomy- Vanessa Ruiz

Story Planning: Vishnu and Lakshmi

Story Planning: Vishnu and Lakshmi

 

Reading Notes: Krishna Epified (Part B)

 I really enjoyed seeing the interplay between Brahma and Krishna. It is very interesting to see such a different perspective on the creator deity and I felt like this story did a good job of explaining why.  From what I have heard so far, the Hindu religion has a very passive view of Brahma, defining him as a creator unworthy of worship since he had forgotten the purpose of his creation. I think that Krishna, as the avatar of Vishnu and the maintainer of the world, represents the purpose of that creation to the people and is therefore worthy of worship.

 

Krishna (Web Source)

 

 

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues (Part A)

I feel like a lot of the stories I have read about have really detailed the endeavors of the male deities, so I felt like this would be a really great way to get a different perspective on the female deities, specifically Lakshmi. The format/layout of this animation was a lot different than I thought it would be, but I think it really helps explain the complexity of the overall story. I also really like the fact that there are three narrators throughout the animation that discuss and sometimes disagree with one another about what actually happened in the story or how one character is actually portrayed, which also adds to the complexity of the story.

 

Rama and Sita (Web Source)

 

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues (Part B)

The beginning of this part started off very grimly, showing the film's author receiving a breakup email from her boyfriend who is in India. Later in the film, she calls him to beg him to take her back and the narrators (who have until this point only commented on the story between Rama and Sita, although at this point it is still a little ambiguous if they are commenting on Nina's situation or Sita's situation) discuss the problems associated with the unconditional love that Sita (and Nina) seem to be displaying. This reminds me of the difference between Sita's unconditional love and Parvati's unconditional love. While Sita is obedient and sadly takes the neglect from Rama, Parvati is angry and demands Shiva to respect her and fix the mistakes that he makes. Parvati and Shiva seem to share a very passionate and mistaken-ridden, yet nonetheless happy and devoted love, while Rama and Sita seem to share a more one-sided love. At the end of the story, Nina is working on this film with her cat and Sita has asked to be swallowed up by Mother Earth's womb in a final act of devotion to Rama, an act that denies Rama to have Sita back. I felt like this ending was very fitting and I really enjoyed this animation.

 

Sita Returns to Mother Earth (Web Source)

 

After watching these videos as well as watching Pattanaik's Seven Secrets of Vishnu, I wanted to write a story about the complex relationship of Vishnu and Lakshmi. It is easy to read some of these stories, especially the story of Rama and Sita, and feel like Rama is entirely to blame for the tragedies that Lakshmi faces. When I watched Pattanaik's videos on Vishnu, it was interesting to hear the difference between Brahma's relationship with Prakriti and Vishnu's relationship with Prakriti. Prakriti is a concept, like Maya, but also seems to correlate with the primary creator, sometimes identified as Parvati or Devi. There is a definite interconnected nature between the Tridevi and the primary creator, with Parvati, Saraswati, and Lakshmi making up the Tridevi. While Prakriti controls Brahma, who is unable to comprehend Prakriti without creating "an objective reality," Vishnu does not need to create any other reality and is therefore able to control Prakriti, who is also identified as being correlated with Lakshmi. 

In one of the videos, Lakshmi is sought after by the asuras and the devas and Vishnu helps the two groups coordinate their efforts to churn Lakshmi out of the ocean. When the two groups successfully free Lakshmi, they wait to see which group she will choose, but to everyone's surprise, she chooses Vishnu, who does not desire her.

I thought this would be a really interesting idea for a story if I wrote from Vishnu's point of view. I would like to write about his thought process as he coordinates the efforts in the above story of rescuing Lakshmi and his reaction as she chooses to follow him rather than either of the two groups that sought Lakshmi in the first place. Specifically, it would be interesting to detail this thought process and his following thoughts as Lakshmi continues to follow him, even after he denies her several times. I want to describe his intentions in this way, potentially shedding a new light on Vishnu as trying to be something he is not and continually failing both himself and Lakshmi by attempting to love the goddess in many of her forms, as Sita and Radha. Although it seems like he truly loves Sita and Radha, I believe he doesn't comprehend love the way that Lakshmi does, and this becomes the continual cause for him failing Lakshmi.

Bibliography:

Krishna Epified (Web Source)

Seven Secrets of Vishnu by Devdutt Pattanaik (Web Source)

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley (Web Source)

Wikipedia Trails: From Krishna to Kalpa

Krishna
I wanted to read more about Krishna after watching Krishna Epified this week. I specifically wanted to read more about Radha, the woman he wishes to marry in the epified videos.

Radha
Radha is associated with the original goddess, also known as Shakti. She is considered to be more important than Krishna by some of the followers Vaishnavism. She represents the incarnation of love for Vishnu, and together with Krishna, they represent absolute truth.

Radha by Raja Ravi Varma (Web Source)

Rasa lila
After reading the article about Radha, I read the article about Rasa lila, also known as Rasa dance or the "Dance of Divine Love." Radha is said to be the most important gopika in Rasa lila, as the goddess who dances with Krishna.

Kalpa
After reading about Rasa lila, I read about Kalpa, also known as one "Night of Brahma," which is how long Krishna stretches the Rasa lila and is about 4.32 billion years.

Wikipedia Trails: From Mohini to Narasimha

Mohini
I wanted to learn more about Mohini after my reading this week. So, I found Mohini's wikipedia article and read more about Vishnu's only female avatar. Her description was much different on wikipedia than the videos I watched by Pattanaik and most notably described Mohini's other form, Mahalasa.

Mohini on a swing by Raja Ravi Varma (Web Source)

Mahalasa
Mohini's article led me to an article on Mahalasa, the consort of Shiva's avatar, Khandoba. Mahalasa is very interesting and is explained as partially Mohini (and therefore Vishnu) and partially Parvati (as the consort of Shiva). Mahalasa seems to reinforce the interconnected nature of Hinduism, as many other deities seem to also do.

Kuladevata
After reading Mahalasa's article, I read Kuladevata's article. Kuladevata is known as the family goddess, or a specific goddess that a family or clan worships. Different families or clans from different regions have different Kuladevatas, often based on the beliefs or traditions of that region.

Narasimha
After I read about Kuladevatas, I read about Narasimha, the Kuludevata of a group of the Konkani people. Narasimha is an avatar of Vishnu.

Reading Notes: Seven Secrets of Vishnu (Part A)

Reading Notes: Seven Secrets of Vishnu (Mohini)

I thought this reading was really interesting. It discussed the idea of having two realities: a tangible or material reality, represented with the female form, and an intangible or spiritual reality, represented with the male form. Mohini is the female form of Vishnu, but unlike any of the female deities, Mohini represents spiritual reality. This reading does a really good job of reinforcing the idea of balance.

I appreciated that the narrator in the first video tried to reconcile some of the irritation associated with the separation of the two realities into genders, however I am not sure that I understand the reasoning enough to agree with the narrator. I recognize this is more than likely a cultural difference that is making it more difficult for me to really understand this kind of reasoning.

Mohini on a swing by Raja Ravi Varma (Web Source)

Bibliography:

Seven Secrets of Vishnu by Devdutt Pattanaik (Web Source)

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues (Part B)

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues (Part B)

The beginning of this part started off very grimly, showing the film's author receiving a breakup email from her boyfriend who is in India. Later in the film, she calls him to beg him to take her back and the narrators (who have until this point only commented on the story between Rama and Sita, although at this point it is still a little ambiguous if they are commenting on Nina's situation or Sita's situation) discuss the problems associated with the unconditional love that Sita (and Nina) seem to be displaying. This reminds me of the difference between Sita's unconditional love and Parvati's unconditional love. While Sita is obedient and sadly takes the neglect from Rama, Parvati is angry and demands Shiva to respect her and fix the mistakes that he makes. Parvati and Shiva seem to share a very passionate and mistaken-ridden, yet nonetheless happy and devoted love, while Rama and Sita seem to share a more one-sided love. At the end of the story, Nina is working on this film with her cat and Sita has asked to be swallowed up by Mother Earth's womb in a final act of devotion to Rama, an act that denies Rama to have Sita back. I felt like this ending was very fitting and I really enjoyed this animation. 

Sita Returns to Mother Earth (Web Source)

Bibliography:

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley (Web Source)

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