Growth Mindset - Week 13

I am a person that gets nervous when I do something that I am not familiar with. This is a normal thing that happens to almost anyone. I feel that what defines me isn't whether or not I can remove all fear, but if I let the fear stop me from acting. You just have to take a deep breath and go for it. I believe that it is an extreme hindrance to growth if you cannot overcome fear. Growth comes from stretching, and fear makes you curl up. 

Courage Quote (Image Info)

Week 13 Reading Diary: Mahabharata Film Pt 1

• Is that actually supposed to be Ganesha or a person with a mask on?
• Bhishma sacrificed himself for his father's happiness
• Amba loves Salva and asked Bhishma to let her go to be with Salva. Salva then tells her that he does not want her because "she is Bhishma's"
• Pandu married Kunti and Madri
• Pandu shots a couple while hunting and is cursed to die if he ever lies with one of his wives
• Kunti could invoke any God. She has a son with the God of the sun, but is scared so she sends him (Karna) down the river.
• Pandu had 5 sons all from the gods
• After time Pandu sleeps with Madri and instantly dies
• All 5 of Pandu's sons marry Draupadi
• Pandu is made to seem like he is very unintelligent and unfit to be King simply because he is blind. 
• His 5 sons seems to be a little bit childish at times. They seems to complain quite often in order to get what they want.

5 Sons of Pandu (Image Info)

Title: Mahabharata 1

Author: Peter Brook

Year: 1989

Week 12 Reading Diary: Vishnu's Secret Pt 2 and Brahma's Secret

• Kingship or leadership is the most difficult role in society. He decides who is right and who is wrong, who will live and who will die.
• Only humans are able to fight for a cause that is not theirs if they wish to.
• All humans can discover the divine within them and joy comes when perfect and absolute realization, free of all prejudices, is attained.
• God and man are separate and joy comes when one submits himself to God
• Fish is a metaphor for jungle law, wild sex, restless material reality, non-vegetarian food
• Cow is a metaphor for cultural law, domesticated sex, tamed material reality, vegetarian food
• The purpose of life is the realize the soul. The less a man does this, the more he begins to behave like an animal
• Conflict arises when man acts for power and not for love
• Brahma is not worshiped because he creates and than forgets the reason why he made that creation.
• Brahma created the world to understand who he was. The world is like his daughter.
• Brahma is still seeking the material world so we cannot worship him
• Shiva is everything that Brahma is not. 
• The purpose of life is to realize the ego and overpower it.
• Human life is special because one can self-reflect and uncover self-discovery
• Karma determines everything that happens that is out of our control

Brahma (Image Info)

Week 12 Reading Diary: Devi's Secret and Vishnu's Secret Pt. 1

• Kanyakumari wanted to marry Shiva. He had to make it to Kanyakumari in one day. On Shiva's way, he heard a cock crow, so he assumed that it was day and turned around.
• Desire can satisfy need or greed
• Lakshmi - the embodiment of earth's wealth and bounty
• Desire is important in Hinduism. The world was created because of desire of the creater
• Cows are the most sacred animal in the Hindu religion
• Cows are gentle creatures, but they give milk to mils
• Does the cow produce milk for its calf or for humans
• Each society starts in perfection and then slows changes its moral beliefs and is then resurrected in perfection.
• Vishnu decides hat is beautiful and what is not, what is acceptable and what is not.
• An act of compassion creates society and civilization
• Civilization collapses when there is too much kindness and no one knows when to stop
• If sexual and material desire are not controlled by marriage and property, then they can destroy civilization.

Devi (Image Info)

Week 11 Storytelling: Who Destroyed the World?

As the great Narayan was observing the world beneath him, it began to crumble! Buildings fell, volcanoes erupted, earthquakes swallowed the people whole, and oceans covered up the land. Narayan could do nothing, but watch as the earth turned black. He then stormed off in an angry rage to find Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

NARAYAN: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, I know you are the only ones capable of such a feat, and I will not rest until I find out which one of you destroyed the world without my slumber.

BRAHMA: It wasn't any of us Narayan!

VISHNU: We have been together this whole time.

SHIVA: It's true!

NARAYAN: Then what is it that you were doing?

The three Gods stood there in silence, without a response, as they looked at each other awkwardly waiting for someone to talk.

NARAYAN: I'm sure whatever it was that you were doing, could not have been worse than destroying the world!

BRAHMA: Where's my lawyer!?

VISHNU: We don't have any lawyers.. We're Gods.

NARAYAN: If one of you doesn't start talking in the next thirty seconds. I will drown you in my sea of milk.

SHIVA: Please no! I'll talk, but you have to promise me that you will not tell Rama.

NARAYAN: What does this have to do with Rama? Don't you dare try to blame it on him.

SHIVA: Well...uhh...umm...

NARAYAN: SPIT IT OUT!!

SHIVA: Brahma, Vishnu, and I can't take our eyes off of Sita! We know that she and Rama still secretly love each other after what happened, but we can't help it! She's just so pretty.

NARAYAN: Is that seriously all you three nitwits were doing? The what the heck happened to the world? I know that I haven't slept for thousands of years, but I wasn't the least bit tired when the world started to crumble.

BRAHMA: Well, did you notice anything unusual right before all of the destruction started happening?

NARAYAN: Now that you mention it, I did notice that something was a little off. I did notice that no one has been born in the last 30 days.

BRAHMA: Thirty days! That's impossible because I...wait...Shiva, how long how we been staring at Sita?

SHIVA: I don't know, maybe for the past month or so. Why?

BRAHMA: So Narayan, did you happen to notice any deaths?

NARAYAN: Now that you mention it, I haven't seen anyone die either!

SHIVA: Uh oh...

VISHNU: You idiots! Legend has it that if the earth is not balanced between life and death then it cannot sustain itself. It must renew and refresh the life that is on the earth in order to continue functioning properly. And since Brahma and Shiva, the Creator and the Destroyer, have done nothing, but stare at Sita, the world became unbalanced!

NARAYAN: But Vishnu, you are supposed to be the Sustainer! Who could you let this happen!

VISHNU: I guess I should take part of the blame too...

SHIVA: Vacation time!

NARAYAN: WHAT DO YOU MEAN "VACATION TIME"?! YOU HAVE TO FIX THIS!

SHIVA: Correction, Brahma has to fix this. He's the Creator. You won't need my services for a very long time.

And Shiva lived happily ever after.

Author's Note: This story is based on the ideas that when Narayan sleeps, the world is destroyed. It also uses the three Gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, as the creator, sustainer, and destroyer.

Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (Image Info)

Week 11 Reading Diary: Ardhanari and Shiva's Secrets

• God can be visualized with and without form
• Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the sustainer, Shiva is the destroyer
• Male trinity is associated with verbs. Female trinity is associated with nouns
• Males make action and women are acted upon, according to Hinduism
• Men represent spiritual reality
• Women represent material reality
• There are 2 truths. Changing and unchanging. 
• Triangles are used to show stability and movement. Upside down is stability. Right side up is movement
• There are opposites to everything. That was said in many different ways
• Everything has a material and a spiritual half
• Ash is the symbol of destruction and permanence. It is the leftovers of destruction, but cannot be destroyed
• Shiva destroys by shutting his eyes. He is not an observer, so it doesn't exist
• Why is Shiva worshiped but not Brahma?
• Kali dances on Shiva as his opposite
• In society, there is good and bad, right and wrong. This means that society has judgement

Title: Ardhanari's Secret and Shiva's Secret 

Author: Epified

Year 2015

Shiva (image info)

Week 11 Reading Diary: Narayan's Secret

• The ocean of milk represents possibility
• When Narayan wakes, everything comes out of the milk, so when Narayan sleeps the world is still
• When Narayan sleeps, it is the end of the world because he is over the world
• Does the observer create the observation or does the observation create the observer?
• Narad provokes people and tries to create conflict and insecurity
• Death is considered a comma, not a period
• The soul is permanent and ever-present, but is without form
• A perfect truth is conveyed through imperfect forms
• Hiranakashipu is arrogant for thinking that he is a God for being immortal and was put in his place when he was killed by Narcima
• Intent and behavior can make anyone a demon
• Arjuna is expected to kill and start a war but refuses. Krishna speaks to Arjuna and explains the order of the world. Things die only to be born again.
• What is the purpose of life? Matter exists to draw attention to the soul. This means that we must live in society and do our part. We are part of society and there is no escape, unless one disciplines the mind and has no selfish desires
• God is all things, in all things, outside all things. Everything is God
• We are God, but just have not discovered it ourselves. We can once we strip ourselves of selfish behavior and thought

Title: Narayan's Secret

Author: Epified

Year: 2015

Narayan (Image Info)