Chapter 90: What's the purpose?

Xin didn't stop at that and told her about the Indian version of Mythology. According to which In Hinduism the universe is millions of years old. In line with the Hindu belief in reincarnation, the universe we live in is not the first or indeed the last universe.

Indian religion and mythology are closely interwoven and cannot really be separated. Moreover, both are so vast and confused that any generalization is likely to oversimplify. The earliest Indian texts are the Vedas, a series of sacred hymns in honor of the Aryan gods, who personified natural forces such as the sun, storm, fire, soma, and the like. The Vedic religion was materialistic, devoted to obtaining power, prosperity, health, and other blessings by means of ritual and sacrifice.

By the time of Buddha around 500 B.C., the old Vedic religion had been transformed by Brahmin priests into a fantastical hodgepodge, with the priests claiming godlike powers for themselves. Buddha addressed himself to the problem of human suffering and discovered a way to eliminate it through disciplined living and giving up one's desires. He gained so many followers that the Brahmins were forced to incorporate his ideas into their teachings. The result was Hinduism, a modified polytheism with three major gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.

For Hindus the universe was created by Brahma, the creator who made the universe out of himself.

After Brahma created the world, it is the power of Vishnu which preserves the world and human beings.

As part of the cycle of birth, life and death it is Shiva who will ultimately destroy the universe. This is not necessarily as bad as it might sound because it allows Brahma to start the process of creation all over again.

Examples of how the origins of the universe are explained in Hinduism include:

A lotus flower grew from Lord Vishnu's navel with Brahma sitting on it. Brahma separated the flower into three parts - the heavens, the Earth and the sky.

Out of loneliness, Brahma split himself into two to create a male and a female. From this male and female all beings were created.

Another story makes reference to life coming from the cracking of an enormous egg, which is the life from which the universe is born.

The Hymn of Creation from the Rig Veda concludes that nobody knows how the universe came into being and even questions whether Brahman knows.

Some Hindu texts offer a more scientific explanation based on the evolution of primary elements from a single source.

These accounts, and others, were written many centuries ago in or around what we now know as India. They were not necessarily intended to be taken as literal scientific truth, but are indicators of the complexity and infinite nature of the universe.

Many Hindus understand religious teachings about the universe.

After hearing all these Jia was getting excited to know more about it. Never in her life had she felt such irresistible urge to know about a topic as she was getting now. 

Xin observed the expression of her face and dived deeper into his analogy. 

From the Vedic 'splitting of the golden egg' to create heaven and earth to Arunachal Pradesh's Donyi-Polo (Sun-Moon) and Sedi, which talks about how the world was made, such 'creation myths' are universal and diverse across states, countries, indigenous communities, and even religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

In the Rig Veda, there is a passage, 'If in the beginning there was neither Being nor Non-Being, neither air nor sky, what was there? Who or what oversaw it?

What was it when there was no darkness, light, life or death? We can only say that there was the One, that which breathed of itself deep in the void, that which was heat and became desire and the germ of spirit.' Such speculative reflections on the beginning of the universe, life, and consciousness are essences the creation myths around the world are made up of. Creation myths are as universal as our need to know where we came from, how things originated and they cater to our need to locate ourselves in cultural identity and significance. The historian of religion Mircea Eliade calls creation myth, 'the narration of sacred history', the storytelling process by which chaos becomes cosmos.

The Hiranyagarbha (literal translation, 'golden egg') Sukta of the Rig Veda declares that Brahman, the Soul of the Universe, manifested as a golden egg encompassing everything and floating around in emptiness and darkness before splitting into two halves, Svarga (paradise) and Prithvi (earth). The exciting aspect of the Hiranyagarbha Sukta and the Upanishad is that the creation myth is carried on to other mythologies such as Bhagavata Purana and the Ithihasas (epics) such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. Hiranyagarbha is also a sacrificial ritual (yagna) in Vedic religion. We see continuities of the creation myth of Hiranyagarbha in the conceptions of Brahman, developed by Vedanta, and Samkhya—two important schools of Indian philosophy.

An imaginary presented in the 'creation myth'-impelling religious rituals and theological thinking is not unique to Hinduism. The notion that creation myths have an overarching effect on many strands of thought is common to Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 

Likewise, creation myths are also central to the histories of indigenous communities around the world. Understood as the symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world in a particular tradition or a community, creation myths are of great significance for the orientation of humans in the universe and the basic patterns of life and culture.

Fascinated by the seminal importance that creation myths play in the religious life of communities, historians of religion and anthropologists have identified several common motifs that structure the narratives of the myths. 

Claude Levi-Strauss famously wrote, 'I, therefore, claim to show not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact.' Like language and music, myth is a form of human reason that has an internal cultural logic. Deciphering that logic, Mircea Eliade observed that by knowing the myth one knows the origin of things and, hence, can control and manipulate them at will; this is not an external or abstract knowledge but an experiential knowledge acquired by ceremonially recounting the myth.

As per Xin's understanding creation myths can help revive traditions and identities, and one of the great examples of such revival is the Donyi-Poloism of Arunachal Pradesh. The name 'Donyi-Polo' means 'Sun-Moon', a name chosen by the people in the 1970s when its restoration started.

Practiced prominently among Tani, Adi, Karbi, and Galo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Donyi-Poloism is categorised as an animistic and shamanistic religion. In one of the versions of the Donyi-Polo creation myth, all things and beings are parts of the body of Sedi—the hair of Sedi becomes the plants of the earth, his tears become rain and water, his bones become rocks, and his eyes become Donyi (Mother Sun) and Polo (Father Moon). After physical manifestation, Sedi continues to watch and guard over the universe, revealing and hiding himself to the truth seekers.

Donyi and Polo are the female and male divine principles and energies providing harmony, shifts of light and darkness, the unity of sky and earth, and multiplicity of stars. In the religious contexts, the Donyi-Polo is referred to as the truth with capital T. The practitioners believe that the Donyi-Poloism is an embodiment of truthfulness, selflessness, and wisdom.

As a highly evolved ethical system, the Donyi-Poloism values purity, beauty, simplicity and honesty.

One more thing that Xin added was about the lost fame of Brahma. 

"By the middle of the 1st millennium CE, an attempt to synthesize the diverging sectarian traditions is evident in the doctrine of the Trimurti, which considers Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma as three forms of the supreme unmanifested deity. By the 7th century, Brahma had largely lost his claim to being a supreme deity, although the Trimurti continued to figure importantly in both text and sculpture. Today there is no sect that exclusively worships Brahma, and few temples are dedicated to him. Nevertheless, most temples dedicated to Shiva or Vishnu contain an image of Brahma."

After listening to all these mythologies one question rose in Jia's mind.

'Why the hell am I listening to all these mythologies? I mean yes, they are interesting but what's the purpose of telling me all these?'

Xin was able to read through her mind and replied "I know what you are thinking but before that do you know about the Great Flood?"

"Yes, I know." Jia replied. 

And before Xin could take the chance to tell more about it, she started posing her knowledge about it.

The biblical account of the Deluge (Genesis 6:11–9:19) features Noah as the hero of the Flood story. In his account, Noah is represented as the patriarch who, because of his blameless piety, was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. 

A righteous man, Noah "found favour in the eyes of the Lord"