Week 10 Reading Diary D: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art Continued

(An image of Brahma with his four heads.)

I am a bit sad that I am almost finished with the Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art.

The first video this week featured the Ramayana. It was pretty cool to see how things that we have read in class appear throughout other works. I know this happens all the time, but I was impressed with how quickly you notice things like this in this class.It's a bit weird because the narrator refers to Rama as Ram.

This video explains the cultural and societal differences when Vishnu appears in different forms. It directly compares Rama/Ram and Krishna. I liked that the videos do this contrast of forms or characters.

Brahma's secret is human life is an opportunity. Brahma isn't talked about much. He has no festivals, no rituals or prayers for Brahma. He is the creator and he forgets the reason of creation therefore he is not "worthy." Drastically different from Christian ideas.

Brahma created the world to understand who he was. The world was his daughter and he fell in love with her. I found this a bit weird. It's a pretty universal theme that a father should not fall in love with their daughter and this story upholds that theme. He seems a bit crazy and I can see why people tend to shy away from him.

Brahma creates everything, Shiva destroys everything and Vishnu is detached from everything. Brahma is unworthy of worship because he wont understand anything. This is why the human lives is cyclical and keeps repeating. To stop the cycle a soul needs to reach the level of Shiva or Vishnu and needs to accept things around him. Life needs to be about the spiritual well-being rather than the material well-being.

I am pretty sad that these videos are over. I loved them. I think I am going to write this weeks story about Brahma. His story is pretty sad.