Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Power: the challenges of the external world
- 1 Consulting the oracle once again
- 2 Oceans of milk and treacle
- 3 Navigating the sea of earthly existence
- 4 Safe havens
- 5 Violence, aggression and heroism
- 6 Manipulating space, time and matter
- 7 Entering forbidden realms
- 8 Unleashing the powers of the self
- Love: the rhythms of the interior world
- Wisdom: commuting within one world
- Notes
- Index
3 - Navigating the sea of earthly existence
from Power: the challenges of the external world
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Power: the challenges of the external world
- 1 Consulting the oracle once again
- 2 Oceans of milk and treacle
- 3 Navigating the sea of earthly existence
- 4 Safe havens
- 5 Violence, aggression and heroism
- 6 Manipulating space, time and matter
- 7 Entering forbidden realms
- 8 Unleashing the powers of the self
- Love: the rhythms of the interior world
- Wisdom: commuting within one world
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The two major symbols used in the construction of our cosmic map–those of the egg and of the person–both suggest some form of growth, organic development, or life. Although literally this is the case in only a few instances of monotheistic belief, we can nevertheless speak of cosmic ‘life’ in two senses of the word. Clearly, the different kinds of beings, the devas, nagās, asuras, animals and humans, are alive. But, in addition, the cosmos itself is perceived by the Indian traditions to be ‘alive’ in the sense of having a history, a growth and a decay. We shall see in due course that cosmic history and the life-story of the individual being are much more closely interwoven than it would appear at first sight. Thus what seem to be two separate topics of discussion in this chapter will reveal themselves as a single, though complex, theme: the pulsation of life to the rhythm of time. Let us begin our exploration by looking at the cosmic scale of this pulse, that is to say, at ‘world history’.
‘Time’ can be broken down into five components: beginning, past, present, future and end. In our view of things, reflections on the beginning and the end are the concern of cosmology and theology; those on the past are the concern of history, archaeology, etc.; those on the present, the concern of journalists, moralists and politicians; and finally those on the future, the concern of astrology and futurology.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Religious Culture of IndiaPower, Love and Wisdom, pp. 45 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994