Metaphors And Images Of Brahmanism And Jainism
Metaphors And Images Of Brahmanism And Jainism
When I was young I was one of those kids who asked “Why?” about three million times a day. I feel bad for my mom now, but when I was younger I just wanted to know it all. I wanted answers for everything and I still do, and I don’t think I am alone. I believe that many other people share that same personality trait with me. My mom tried hard to answer as many as she could and she did this with stories, analogies and metaphors. Many belief systems are set up the same way just like Brahmanism and Jainism. When things are complicated and hard to explain people break them down into smaller concepts. Both religions broke each part of nature or occurrence in a person’s lifetime into a smaller thing. These things were either, in Brahmanism, controlled by a higher being whom they had to please by performing a ritual for or in Jainism, controlled by their own actions and karma they each created.
Metaphors and imagery are the basis for almost every writing presented in Sources of Indian Tradition, vol. 1, revised edition. Using both allows people to understand very complex ideas at a smaller degree. If someone understands a story about a man trying to kill a snake it allows a channel for him or her to understand the struggle between good and evil. Religions are mostly all made up of simple ideas that yet are very complex and hard to believe. It is the way they are presented that can make them easier to understand and believe in.
Creation is still a topic people discuss and cannot come to a conclusion about. The reasons are endless on why there is no answer; some people have beliefs that stem from religion others from science. In Brahmanism there are about 5 creation myths that attempt to answer the question of creation. Each myth has a different approach and base to its story but they all have the same outcome, the world and the creation. The first creation myth that is discussed in Sources of Indian Tradition, vol. 1, rev. ed. involves Varuna “the administrator of the cosmic law” (10). The passage states that he separated the earth and stars from the heavens to create everything. The second creation myth discussed tells a story involving Indra and Vritra. In the Rig Veda 1.32...