Week 12 Storytelling: The Gods of India and the World Today

All the gods of man and beast gathered round the table--no mere fabrication of wood nor stone, but rather a finite surface of the infinite, the limitless boundaries of the three sacred realms distilled upon its surface, radiating outward in perfect detail. The earth, the heavens, and all which lie beyond were etched upon the surface of the table fine enough to see every atom of creation, and all playing out in real time as the mortals toiled below in their oblivious lives.

It was the playground of the gods.

The closest thing I could find

"You all know the reason why I have called you together this day," said Vishnu, seated at one of the three heads of the table. "The world of man is in disarray. It is fragmenting. Men speak of building walls, of separating themselves from their kin. They allot more in the pursuit of warfare than in the pursuit of knowledge. They bicker among themselves over giving shelter to refugees, healing the sick, teaching the young. And yet all the while the select few pile their riches behind closed doors. Plumes of noxious smoke cloud the skies, islands of plastic refuse clog the oceans, and still the mortals turn a blind eye.

"What is to be done about this, brothers and sisters? I am known as Vishnu the Preserver, but even I am flummoxed with these mortals. It seems that in order to preserve their world, we cannot preserve their species."

A chaotic buzz erupted across the universal table as the gods broke into argument among themselves.

"Silence!" Lord Shiva's tone could brook no argument. "I am the Lord of Destruction and Transformation. These humans have long outlived their mandate, if you ask me. They grow and consume as if unaware of their very transience upon this world. I say, they should be punished for their insolence, reminded of their fragility. The earth should be wiped clean of any trace of their blasphemous existence."

That only served to ramp up the heat of argument. Voices flew across the table without regard for who sent them or which poor soul might receive the brazen indignations therein. The festering air of derision was only becalmed by the great trumpeting of an elephant's trunk.

"Brothers," said Ganesha, the source of wisdom, "sisters. Please. Can you not see that by arguing so, we are no better than the mortals? We have not yet heard from Brahma, who created the mortals and their world in the first place. As a parent oversees the growth of their offspring, so too must Brahma weigh in on this issue."

"Wise words, old friend," Brahma said. The Lord of Creation cleared his many throats. "It is true. I have love for these mortals and the world they have made for themselves, as a parent would their children. But I also have sorrow in my heart to see what has become of them, to see how they treat my other creations. I have created such willful beings . . ." Brahma turned inward and spake no more, lost in thought.

"I side with Shiva," said Kali. "Only death can bring everlasting peace."

"Well, I side with the humans," said Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu and Goddess of Prosperity. "They have shown themselves to be nothing if not resourceful. Look at all they have accomplished. Should they be punished for their successes?"

"If their success occurs at the expense of my oceans," said Varuna.

"But they're getting better," said Vayu. "They are beginning to harness my winds for power."

"And my sun," said Surya.

Finally, Indra, the King of the Gods, weighed in. "The yoke of leadership was thrust upon me eons ago. I think I know a thing or two about what it means to lead. The problem is not with the humans themselves, but rather with their leaders. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Believe it or not, it was a human who came up with that one. Brothers and sisters, If you should so deem fit, I could incarnate into their world to lead the mortals down the path of holy righteousness myself.

"No," said Ganesha, ever the voice of wisdom. "That will not change the humans' hearts. The change must come from within themselves."

"He is right," assented Lord Vishnu. "I have heard what you all have to say and have come to believe that the world has no need of gods any longer. They do not need Lord Brahma to create; they have their ingenuity for that. They do not need myself to preserve; they have their own conscience. And they do not need Lord Shiva to affect transformation; they must awaken to it themselves. It is up to the humans to make their world a better place, for themselves and for their fellow creation."

And one by one, the gods left the universal table.

Author's Note:

I see this as the capping stone for a long and enlightening semester of studying the Indian epics. I have learned so much about the gods of ancient India, and I wanted to tell a story that synergizes my learning with real-world relevance.

I tried to give every god their own voice, no matter how nominal their appearance. I tried to use as many of the gods we've learned about as possible, but there are just so many it would be impossible to include them all. I really wanted to describe their appearance too, and I think I could have had a lot of fun with that, but there just wasn't enough room to include much more than dialogue.

Really, this piece is about the message, which I think is pretty self-evident. I wanted to craft a social commentary on such wide-reaching issues as global warming, the Syrian refugee crises, Trump's wall, and even the occupy Wall Street movement. And most importantly I wanted to capture what each god's opinions on the global issues would be. I hope I was successful in that.

The personalities of each god were more or less derived from Sir Edmund Charles Cox's Krishna and Other Gods reading from this week.