Instant Goddesses? ( reply by Nora )

[Guest guest]

Personally i think the emergence of instant goddess is a natural

phenomenon. An evidence of an evolutionary process in our belief

system. This come abt as the result of our need to adjust ourselves to

the changes that is happening around us. As we undergo the

environmental, emotional, psycholigical and physical changes, so does

our spiritual need.

 

The beauty of hinduism is its flexibility to adapt to these changes.

That is why it is able to survive for thousand of years. It has been

suggested by academics that much of western pagan religion : myth and

culture has risen out of hinduism. ( John campbell : Indian Paganism)

Its the ability of the hindus to add and subtract their goddess and

god that makes them unique. ( Refer to David KInsley : Hindu

Goddesses)

 

In popular hindu belief that any person who have done extremely good

deeds to the society, upon their death are elevated to the status of

god and goddess. Evidence as in case of Ghandi and Mother Theresa. And

we must remember that hinduism is just not a religion, its a way of

life. The dharma. So its not a surprise if u see a statue of these

good "soul" being erected in the temple.

 

A classical case is that of Goddess mariamman. Popular amongst the

south indian. Perceived as the goddess of chickenpox, small pox and

other natural disease. How she evolved to be a goddess is still

debatable. But somehow she are being accepted into the strata of the

hindu tradition.

 

The merits of this system of add and minus is to encourage people to

be good and role model to others are as usual being abused by others

for their own gains. Some how actor and actress are being idolised and

worshipped of which to me is rather irrational. But its something to b

expected dosent it. The good and bad comes hand in hand.

 

Ultimately it dosent matter as to who you worship. Be it Santosa Ma,

Sivaji or Shakti, the most important is that this act of worshipping

fulfill the need. The need to feel connected to the devine one that

eventually gives us this sense of wholeness and complete.

 

OM ParaShaktiye Namaha

[Guest guest]

The Hindus believe that GOD is one but SHE manifests in many forms.

This is clearly reflected in Hindu temples. A hindu believe in one GOD

but accepts all GODs even from out side his own. We can see this in

the life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ( 1836 - 1886 ). He was a Kali

Devi worshipper yet he experimented with the methods of Christianity,

Islam, Budhism and Jainism and concluded that all the religious

methods lead to the same. They all teach the same concept and reach

the same GOD, as all the water in the rivers eventually merge in the

ocean. It is that man with his limited mental capacity thinks that

different religions have different GODS.

 

Om ParaShaktiye Namaha

[Guest guest]

My learned friend Baburoy has raised an interesting question : "why is

this happening?"

 

"Personally i think the emergence of instant goddess is a natural

phenomenon" as ive indicated in my earlier post. And with regards to

the movie stars and such, it's a natural outgrow from the modern

revolution: the introduction of Movies, TVs, Radios and who knows what

the computer revolution might bring us. Another form of Instant

Goddess Microsoft version?

 

Why I said is irrational because I look at them in my own perspective.

In order for us to understand this irrational behaviour as we would

like to term them, we need to go down to their level of understanding

and to the basic question of: What do these people see that I don't?

and several other questions like : Why is this movie star so special?

Why not the other movie star who is equally popular?

 

I would love to have a conversation with any one of them, so that they

can give me an inside into their heart and mind. Until then we can

only based our understanding through assumptions or refer to books

which might and might not give us the answers. I used two books as my

point of reference with regards to this discussion : "How to Know GOD:

the soul's journey into the mystery of mysteries" by Deepak Chopra and

"Why People believe in weird things : Pseudoscience, superstitious and

other confusions of our time" by Dr Micheal Shermer.

 

Baburoy remarked further "This is not the religion that we were

taught."

Ah! but as ive already indicated Hinduism is not just a religion. It's

a way of life and some might say they are life itself. So how do we

teach a life that have been alive in the society for thousand of

years? And can we remove this life ?

 

The beauty of Hinduism is it tolerance towards others ( perhaps this

is our weakness?) esp in the issue of Goddess and God. We must

remember that these are simple rural people who do this type of

worship. They might just have basic education or none at all. And

because they dont have any other source of entertainment, these movie

stars fit in fulfilling their need. These films travel to the villages

and they are like a miracle to these simple people, they are like god

and goddess. Men who are unbelieveably handsome, women who are

unimagineably beautiful, doing amazing feats and lush and elegant

settings ... it must seem to them like these are gods and goddesses

frolicking in the heavens. Remember Ramayana and Mahabhrata. These

Hinduism's stories and epics are not matters of study or education,

they are the matrices of existence. Those aren't books to read ...

they're living stories, told around the fire by old men and women of

great respect. These epics are like the bollywood too if u think of

it.

 

Everywhere, in every culture, people idolize actors and actresses and

pop singers ... but they do not confuse them with gods and goddesses.

Erica and Adi_shakti ( I like to thank them for their contributions to

this discussion) have already gave us some good examples and from

personal experience too. There is no difference between the fanaticism

of Elvis and Khusboos , somehow the Indians in India have gone one

step ahead.

 

I would like to go back to my remarks abt this hindu tradition of add

and minus their god and goddess. "In popular hindu belief that any

person who have done extremely good deeds to the society, upon their

death are elevated to the status of god and goddess" And back to the

question of "why this actress, and not that actress?". These movie

star must have special qualities that attracted these simple rural

folk. To them these movie stars have done some good to them. So what

is good to them might not be to us.

 

Movies stars do the service of bringing joy and excitement into quiet,

poor and unexceptional lives. And movies their only window to a larger

world -- a beautiful fantasy they can escape into. What else do these

common folk would ask for. It does make sense dosent it? It fulfill

their need. Remember that is the basic human expectation

 

It goes back to the devotee's perception of the one they idolize and

the truth would lie with the individual devotee ... if a man thinks of

say Madhuri Dixit as a goddess, and worships her as Durga, it is good,

but if he simply pants over her as an unattainable ideal of feminine

beauty, he is on the wrong track. So it comes back to the same answer:

it is in the mind of the devotee. An urban intellectual will look and

say "these stupid people are worshipping movie stars" ... but actually

they are worshipping the higher feelings that these films and actors

and actresses produce in their souls?

Through this their spirituality is a way of transcending mundane life

as well ... but not into fantasy, we assume ... but rather escaping

into a higher reality. These are simple, hard-working, undereducated

people. They are not swamis or intellectuals.

 

So the question is: Is it a spiritual dead end to confuse Bollywood

fantasy with spiritual ecstacy?. How can we say that their

"transcendence" of reality is inferior if the ultimate effect is the

same?

 

This brings us to another question posted by Devi_bhakta "while any

kind of devotion can purify the devotee, and prepare them for higher

worship in future lives, it will not lead them to moksha. Does that

seem like a legitimate interpretation"

 

Om ParaShaktiye Namaha