Saturday, October 27, 2012

Indian Puranas - Then and Now





If you are a foreigner, or a confused desi, you may be wondering about all our mythology or Puranas. You may not know it, but successful Indians believe in Puranas and even employ Chief Belief Officers, who in their spare time come on TV and write articles.

The reason is that Puranas are timeless and they form the core of our spirituality. They will never die.

This is a 3 minute capsule on Puranas then and now.

THEN
An ambitious man, god or demon would perform penance for thousands of years, and get major boons from a helpless God that he would be 'nearly' immortal.
He would then exploit everyone cruelly and be totally powerful for a few thousand years. The people would suffer untold miseries, but would wait for their saviour.
Rishis like Narada, Durvasa and Bhrigu would  go and advise God that something must be done.
God will slowly decide enough is enough, and take a mighty form, fight a fierce battle, and kill the bad guy. All will be well.
Well, almost. The next one is only a few thousand years away, and Puranas repeat themselves.
Indians believe this to be true, because they have seen it. They have at least seen it in Telugu movies lasting 4-5 hours. So there is total equilibrium.

NOW
An ambitious man, Indian, NRI or foreigner will study in IIT, AIIMS, Harvard or Cambridge. He may also become a movie star or sports-star after years of toil. And get major awards,degrees, bank loans or airlines/IPL franchises, and build an empire like no other, and feel that he is 'nearly' immortal.
He would then exploit everyone cruelly and be totally powerful for a few years. The people would suffer untold miseries, but would wait for their saviour.
People like CAG, CVC, Subramaniam Swamy, Medha Patkar, Anna, and Kejriwal, will go and advise the people to file FIR, PIL, RTI petitions that something must be done. After years of noise without action, a reluctant/newly appointed Govt. or Courts will take note, and start a mighty storm of action, fight a fierce public cleansing campaign, and put the bad guy in Tihar. All will be well.
Well, almost. The next one is only a few days/months/years away, and Puranas repeat themselves.
Indians believe this to be true, because they have seen it. They have at least seen it in a million news channels day and night, lasting 24x7 hours. So there is total equilibrium.



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