Indian Epics Blog

 Storybook Theme: The main focus of my storybook is to apply Advatia Vedanta ontology in explaining Maya's role in various Indian stories. This storybook should re-tell the stories in a way that explains the diverse ideas around Maya. Rather than restricting the concept to 1 or 2 ideas, such as Maya being an illusion or magical powers, I want to show the various interpretations of Maya and how it connects back with the philosophical approach to reality. Storytelling Styles: I want to retain the original narrative style of these stories, but I want to take the creative liberty to allow for more insight and explanation of Maya. Rather than leaving it up to the reader, I want the characters within the story to employ Advatia Vedanta philosophical ideals to explain the narrative role of Maya and its broader philosophical implications. This would mean keeping the original characters and environment, but I would add more dialogue between the characters in order to explain the ideas of Ma...

After brainstorming potential topic choices last week, I feel like I'd be most interested in making my project about Maya. There are plenty of stories and examples of Maya throughout the Indian epics, but I'm also interested in analyzing the meaning of Maya through these narratives as well as comparing the ideas to contemporary philosophy. The first story that I found relevant to Maya was with Narada and Vishnu. Narada directly experienced maya as he realized his experiences were an illusion. When re-telling this story, I'd be interested in adding more details to highlight how powerful the illusion can be, and I'd want to include a section that analyzes the story's connection to specific philosophical ideals. The narrative can show how illusion grips us into a false world, which parallels the reader's experience with reality itself. The second story that I would use described Shiva's perspective of Ravana's birth and death. While the experience was sim...

My first idea for a project would be to analyze each of the symbols in Hinduism and describe its deeper meaning. I was inspired by the video Symbols of Divinity as it briefly described some motifs in Hinduism, and I'll be sure to incorporate its information when researching for specific symbols. For my project, I'd be interested in taking a broader approach by analyzing the religious symbols associated with specific deities; I would want to connect these symbols to a story of the deity and highlight the meaning of each symbol as well as its potential applications and life-lessons. One symbol I would primarily analyze would be Om (or Aum) and the meaning behind each part of the religious icon. I'd also want to connect this symbol to the meditative practices of Hinduism as well as its role in prayers and religious ceremonies. I never realized how significant each aspect of the Om symbol is until I learned about the various meanings, and I'd love to learn more about the v...