Reading Notes: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art Part C

(Goddess Kali)

Ardhanari's Secret

"God is stillness within. Goddess is movement around." God cannot be limited to one form because any representation of God will be inherently flawed because it must by nature of being a physical form, exclude some other material forms.

Three human couples are the main forms of God in Hinduism:

1. Brahma and Sarasvati
2. Vishnu and Lakshmi
3. Shiva and Shakti

Male Trinity (verbs)

1. Brahma the creator
2. Vishnu the sustainer
3. Shiva the destroyer

Female Trinity (nouns)

1. Sarasvati - goddess of knowledge
2. Lakshmi - goddess of wealth
3. Shakti - goddess of power

The video suggests that the image of gender was simply an act of dividing ideas rather than a suggestion of what the form might entail. The male form was used as a vessel to represent the spirit within each person. The female their physical, mortal aspects.

The experience of material reality is confined within space and time. This video rationalizes the use of the gendered forms in this visualization of God by elaborating on the way that life is created using the two genders.

Therefore the Goddess is the great one who can be measured and evaluated while the God can measure and evaluate. She is ever changing as we attempt to measure and define and control her existence because she is all things of the material world.

There is a difference between the changing truth and the permanent truths. The difference between these concepts is often illustrated through a number of symbols.

I enjoyed the story of the ascetic who wished to pass between Shiva and Parvati in order to honor Shiva but not his consort. He ends up being cursed to lose all parts of his body given to him by his mother and is only allowed to stand when Shiva grants him a third leg as a sign of pity on the man. He is punished for disrespecting the Goddess.

Shiva's Secret

Withdrawal leads to destruction

Shiva is the destroyer of desire, death, and the three worlds. What the three worlds are vary from person to person, but the explanation for his titles is clear. He destroys desire and the god of death, thereby halting the karmic cycle and destroying the three worlds. Shiva destroys by making all things one.

Kali is the polar opposite to Shiva who must persuade him to open his eyes and be aware of the world around him. Tripurasundari is the form of Kali that forces Shiva to create life and forces the cycle of rebirth and death to continue. The Shakta sect may be matriarchal based on the importance of women in their lore.

STOP

Bibliography: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art

Reading Notes: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art Part B

(Statue of Lakshmi and Vishnu)

Narayan's Secret

What dies is always reborn. I knew about the Hindu concept of reincarnation, but I had never considered extending it to include the world as a whole cyclically developing and being destroyed throughout time. There's something very beautiful in that.

It makes sense that having many worlds and lives removes some of the sense of urgency of living. Sesha is the remainder, the serpent bed for Narayan when he sleeps. So the world exists while Narayan is asleep, but no one can conceive of it or be aware of its presence ergo it may as well not exist. Essentially this is examining the semantic difference between a person's world and the whole world, between existence and experience.

Lakshmi is Narayan's consort. Narayan is called Vishnu when he's awake. I find it very interesting that Narayan becoming Vishnu is associated with Shiva becoming Shankara. I find it very interesting that these stories make the distinction between loving someone and desiring them for a spouse.

Narad is the source of so many problems because he has grown listless with his cursed existence. This harks back to the question of whether or not one would actually want to live forever. Narad must continue to exist even once he has grown bored with the world. His character is a very direct representation of the fact that men are neither truly good nor truly evil in general in Hindu mythology. In fact, there are several examples in which rakshasas can be good or devas can be punished for evil behavior.

Garuda is the hawk Vishnu rides to set the world right. I like the idea of Garud provoking the evil parts of the world to move by the very nature of his existence as a hawk. Rama is an avatar of Vishnu. I like that in Hinduism gods take a very direct interest in the workings and balance of the human world. "[Creation] is a subjective realization."

Water is the symbol of formlessness, entropy, and disillusion. When a sage visualized the end of the world, his vision of destruction and the world being submerged in water was punctuated by his finding a newborn baby. "The end is actually just a phase."

"Death is a comma - there is no full-stop." The Banyan tree represents things that cannot be destroyed. Essentially, the baby is representative of the immortal soul. I love how even something as simple as the different sides of the body are representative of more intricate ideas. The right side is the considered representative of the soul and spirit while the left side represents the physical aspects of existence. Even a simple image of a human person can be considered representative of the commune of the physical and spiritual world.

Imperfect forms to communicate a perfect truth. It is intent and behavior that create demons, not birth. Bhagavad Gita means the song of god. Vishnu takes the form of Krishna, Arjuna's charioteer. Matter exists to draw our attention to the soul.

There is no definitive good and evil when all things are based on context and perspective.

Bibliography: 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art Part B