Devdutt Pattanaik
To understand Lakshmi, we have to understand where wealth comes from. Wealth in its most primal form comes from under the ground. Lakshmi is therefore called Patala-nivasini, she who resides in the subterranean realm. Patala is also the realm inhabited by the Asuras
Saraswati is all kinds of knowledge and skills. The better knowledge you have, the better skills you have, the more likelihood of you generating wealth.
Isn’t it amazing that the worshippers of Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth, have become so apprehensive of wealth that they would immediately think of a rich man as bad and a poor man as a good guy
In Harappan civilization there is the image of what looks like proto-Shiva, and so, the dancing girl must be proto-Parvati
To deny that yoga has no special relationship with India is like saying America has nothing to do with Native Americans
Maybe the hymns were composed by Indians using local words and foreign words over a long period of time amplifying at a time when horses become widely prevalent, so probably in the late phase of the cities.
Even after hearing the Gita, Arjuna is unable to kill Bhisma, Jayadhrata, and Karna until Krishna intervenes with more wisdom or a strategy.
“If Shiva takes drugs, so must I,” said a student to his teacher. “A good idea,” said the teacher, “but first you must make yourself Shiva, no?”
In creating the elephant-headed Ganesha, Shiva stops being the world-renouncing hermit and transforms into Shankara, the world-affirming householder
We yearn for loyalty and are afraid of the commercial: those who sell their skills and expertise to the highest bidder. We cannot bear the thought of pleasure being a commodity
Matsya Purana and Vishnu-dharmottara Purana lists Ganapati’s shakti in the list of female warrior goddesses. Her name was Vinayaki also known as Ganeshvari
Science as a discourse is only 500 years old and we often confuse science with religion. An interesting dynamics have emerged between rishis, who epitomize faith; and science which epitomize enquiry.
Krishna is a great wrestler. The Bhagavata Purana tells us how Krishna wrestles many demons.
In the Jagannath Puri temple, rasgulla is part of ritual. It is offered by the deity, Jagannath, to his consort, Lakshmi, when he returns home from the chariot festival ride, to appease her for the slight of leaving her behind in the temple
Durga has been a symbol of women’s liberation movement, though Kali is even more preferred as she is visualised as naked and wild, untamed by the male gaze
Many of us lose sight of the modernity embedded in the idea of Krishna, where happiness exists in embracing worldly life, with its myriad sensual and spiritual complexities
In our desire to purify our gods and saints, we refuse to even indulge the possibility that Ram of the Ramayana may have eaten flesh of the deer he hunted in the forest. We are outraged at the suggestion that Buddha’s last meal may have been pork probably served by a “low” caste man.
The idea of consultants being equated with rishis may be to the liking of many people.
Whatever be the facts, we want our past to be glorious. We want our heroes to be perfect.
For eyes that can see, the West is entrapped between Greek mythology and Biblical mythology.
