Week 14 Reading Diary: The Orient Pearls

For the final week of reading diaries, I chose to read The Orient Pearls by Shovona Devi. I really enjoyed these Indian folk-lore tales.

I began my reading with "A Feast of Fists," which is about karma. On the second page of this story, Shovona Devi writes, "Suffering is the badge of mankind. Indeed, these mortals bring down suffering upon their own hears by sheer demerit, and suffer they must, do all you can, until they have passed through the usual cycles of birth, death, and rebirth, again and again, working out demerit by merit in the process, and thus paving the way for final absorption into the Deity, the source of their being. So why trouble about these wretches?"My favorite part about this passage is the question that is asked: "Why trouble about these wretches?" If eventually everyone gets what they deserve for the actions that they have done on this earth then this is so true, why worry about others' bad deeds? It is not our problem. The only thing that we should worry about it paving our own way for, as Devi puts it, "final absorption into the Deity, the source of their being." I especially love this because it includes almost everyone - not just those of a certain faith.

In "A Feast of Fists," a starving brahmin begs the gods for mercy on him and his starving wife. The gods respond by providing the man with a gold mug that can replenish any food to which one's heart desires. The brahmin is so joyful and shares his blessing with hungry children who end up replacing the holy gift with an identical but mundane gold mug. The brahmin returns to the gods to ask why the mug no longer provides food and they discover that the mug has been switched. They give the brahmin another mug that, instead of yielding food, yields punches. The family who stole the mug tried to get food out of the new mug but ultimately receives a few black eyes and returns the original mug.

Next, a king takes the mug away from the brahmin to serve all of his guests. The king becomes very greedy and pompous having this mug in his possession. The brahmin arrives at the king's castle with the "mug of fists" and the king greedily takes it as well. To his surprise, he isn't given any food by this mug but a face full of punches and a lot of embarrassment from all of his onlooking guests.

Gold mug. Source: Pinterest. 

Week 13 Review

I thought this very a good way to look at stress. With five finals coming up and countless other work I have to do, there is going to be stress no matter what. So rather than get bogged down by stress these next few weeks, let's harness it as motivation.

Let the stress energize you. Source: Cheezburger. 

Week 13 Reading Diary: Devi's Secret

In 7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art by Devdutt Pattanaik, the main idea of Chapter 5: Devi’s Secret is that desire and destiny create life.

As this semester wraps up, I wanted to use my Reading Diary posts to continue learning about Hindu gods with my favorite method: The 7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art video series. I have come to love this educational tool because, at least to me, Devdutt Pattanaik does an incredible job of making what could be a very boring topic very interesting!

There is actually a very sad story associated with the goddess Kanyakumari. As it goes, she was supposed to marry Shiva. On his way to the wedding, he came across a giant rooster, which he took as a sign that the wedding had been canceled. Yet, Kanyakumari waited and waited in her wedding attire for Shiva’s arrival, which never came. The most interesting part of the story to me was that Kanyakumari held incredible feminine power (what is known as raw energy) that would have been diluted upon marriage and maternity so that she may provide for her family. But in the case of an unmarried goddess, this energy is used for protection and in Kanyakumari’s case, the ability to destroy demons. 

Because goddesses represent the material world, it is only fitting that feminine power not only are able to nourish the household but also to protect the household – as that is equally vital. For this reason, goddesses have the power to channel their energy into either of these roles. I just love all that Devi represents - she is the ultimate goddess! All of the images of her really portray her incredible femininity:

Devi. Source: Dolls of India.

Growth Mindset Challenge

Almost weekly for this entire semester, I have dedicated time to a post about Growth Mindset. This is an opportunity that I have thoroughly enjoyed, especially as a strong advocate that we can change ourselves by changing our mind. Everything that I have read tells of just how incredibly malleable the human brain is. We have infinite potential to become whatever we want to become through our mind. Whatever you believe in or whatever method you use I believe can affect you in real ways whether it be through the music you listen to or through meditation. Even the Bible says through God and prayer, you can regenerate and renew your mind. This is similar to the practice of manifestation, which says that through repetition and concentration on a mantra or goal, you will eventually reach that goal or at least have a much better chance of reaching that goal. Anyway, I have been writing about Growth Mindset and although I have learned a ton, I never really understood what it was all about, so in one of my final Growth Mindset posts I thought it would be beneficial for both my readers and myself to include this very helpful diagram:

Growth Mindset. Source: GrowthMindsetMemes.blogspot.com.

Learning by H.E.A.R.T.

For this week's Learning by H.E.A.R.T. Challenge, I chose to watch John Spencer's video, We Need a Bigger Definition of Creativity. He is so right that we have a very narrow-minded definition of creativity where we see only those who are painters or writers as "creative." He says that in actuality, creativity can mean mashing up ideas into innovative ways, thinking differently about data, finding unique solutions to practical problems, tweaking things in unusual ways, or even hacking systems. It can mean exploring ideas, navigating information, and designing systems. Especially as an accounting major, this video gave me lots of hope to lead a creative life. Watch it here:

Tech Tip Cheezburger

For this week's Tech Tip, I chose to use Cheezburger to create a meme. Of course, I decided to make the caption something about the end of the semester being right around the corner, so I wrote "Only two more weeks..." on my image. Although I didn't use a cat like the Tech Tip suggested, I used a super cute pup. This was a fun Tech Tip! Here it is:

Source: Cheezburger.

Week 13 Reading: Shri Krishna of Dwarka Part B

For this week’s reading diary, I chose to read Part B of Shri Krishna of Dwarka re-told by C. A. Kincaid. In Chapter 8: The Syamantaka Jewel, I thought that it was interesting that Krishna didn’t think Satrajit, a “mere noble,” was worthy of the Syamantaka necklace. It was quite sudden that just as soon as the evil Prasena put on the jewel he was killed and then the same thing happened to the evil lion. These stories are always so entertaining. For one, the nursery rhyme was so cute:
"Baby Bear! Baby Bear! The jewel is yours to keep and wear. For he who would take the lovely thing must first fight Daddy, the great Bear King!"

Next, it was quite humorous to me that the Bear King Jambavat and Krisha struggled against one another for 22 days. After all of the business about Krishna’s importance in Part A of Shri Krishna of Dwarka, I can’t believe that people actually thought his end had came from his want for a necklace but then I remembered that he was not fighting for the necklace but for his own clean reputation, which is why he returned that necklace he fought so hard for to Satrajit.

It is so strange to me that all of the characters’ first reaction is usually to kill. Satrajit merely gave his daughter’s hand in marriage to Krishna as a thank you gift (this was normal at this time) and all of the sudden everyone wanted to kill him because they also wanted his daughter… and they did kill him. 

Here is a comic cover that shows Krishna fighting for the Syamantaka necklace. 

Source: ExoticIndiaArt.com.