Shiva Class 6 Handout 1 Shankara: the Ideal Family
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The Fire That Does Not Burn: Writing with Shiva Class 6 Handout 1 Shankara: The Ideal Family Prior Readings Assigned • Menon pp 223-232; Pattanaik pp 165-177, pp 185-191 (Kartikeya) • Vanamalli pp 115-123; Chitgopenkar pp 169-178; Pattanaik pp 137-145 (Ganesha) Notes on Karttikeya • Born from Shiva—son of purusha, hyper-masculine, immune to the illusions and fears of prakriti • Symbol of martial power and authority • Shiva’s seed is thought to be powerful due to his ascetic nature—used to create an invincible war-god wielding the Vel, or divine spear • Multiple mothers and fathers—each representing particular aspects • Six heads—five senses plus discernment • Represents the objective world (as opposed to Ganesha, who represents my subjective world) • Child-nature: purity of intent, but this can also represent innate human violence • Peacock—symbol of vanity • Sometimes depicted as celibate—shunned by women because war and death and violence follow him around • Leaves Kailash to go to the South, where he is most worshipped in India • But in other instances married to Valli (a tribal woman) and Devasena (daughter of Indra) o Possible depiction of unity of indigenous and Vedic peoples o Also contrasts a love-marriage (Valli) with a marriage of political power-brokering (Devasena) Notes on Ganesha • Born from Shakti—but with an elephant head given by Shiva—Ganesha represents both material and spiritual aspirations • Yet another beheading by Shiva (after Brahma and Daksha)—but in this instance, the problem is one Shiva has unknowingly created • Created from the sweat and cells of the Goddess’s skin; represents the evolution of consciousness from matter • This primal transition is why Ganesha is always worshipped before any other god • Ganesha enters the world entirely naïve, but earns worldliness after his revival • Snake and rat are both associated with Ganesha, as are both Lakshmi (wealth goddess) and Saraswati (knowledge goddess)—thus Ganesha brings opposites together • Sometimes depicted as celibate, but more often as married to Riddhi and Siddhi (or Shubh and Labh)—goddesses of various kinds of prosperity and success o But these material aspirations come with an asterisk—the possibility of overly distracting an individual from their spiritual quest • Ganesha brings both aspects together in harmony, representing a balanced life • His elephant head represents reason, long memory, and subjective experience • Also known for writing down the Mahabharata as dictated by the sage Vyasa, using a broken piece of his tusk • Holds an axe and a noose—the former representing the ability to analyze, discern, and separate objective from subjective, animal from human, etc; and the latter representing the ability to bridge these divides and, as with Shiva’s noose, freedom from the illusion of the material world Exercise: Brains Vs Brawn The two principal sons of Shiva and Parvati, Karttikeya (also known as Skanda, Murugan, Kumara, or Subramanya) and Ganesha (also known a Ganapati or Vinayak) couldn’t be more different. Karttikeya, born only of Shiva and not of Parvati, is the hyper-masculine god of war, wielding his spear (the Vel) to lead the army of the gods and destroy evil. Ganesha is the remover of obstacles and brings prosperity and success, using his mind rather than his muscle. Write a piece that plays with the tension between these vastly different life philosophies. For example, a character could face a choice between solving a problem using brute force or mental finesse (as Karttikeya and Ganesha both did in their round-the-world race). Consider the future ramifications of each approach for the character’s social and moral positioning. Exercise: Vehicles The vehicles of the gods and goddesses can be interpreted to represent their conquered lower natures. Storl writes that “Ganesha’s mouse … is … the nervous, covetous intellect; the lion or tiger of the goddess is wanton cruelty; and Skanda’s peacock is the vanity of the victorious warrior.” Nandi, Shiva’s bull mount, may represent aggressive male sexuality. Consider in this context what animal a character might choose for a mount, and how it reflects a lower nature that character struggles with. Write a piece involving that premise, literally or metaphorically. The piece might be pure fantasy, or grounded in a real-life situation. How might the character’s and the animal’s actions and thoughts mirror or diverge from one another? Exercise: Seeing and Unseeing What does it mean to truly see something or someone? And conversely, what follows when one fails to see the truth of what one is confronted with? The Hindu concept of darshan encapsulates the idea of true seeing—for example, entering a temple to make visual contact with a linga or idol is thought to transfer divine energy to the seer. Karttikeya rides around the world on his peacock to win his race against Ganesha, while the latter simply circles Shiva and Parvati in devoted Darshan, leading to his triumph—he sees the entire universe encapsulated in them. Write a piece in which the act of seeing or failing to see plays a significant role. What downstream implications might a single failure to make appropriate darshan have in that character’s life? .