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Hinduism for Beginners - 1
Hinduism and Video Games
by Namdev Nirakar
"Hinduism is so complex. I do not understand it most of the time", said
Eesha, a young girl to Uncle Ashok. Ashok had come over half an hour ago
and Eesha was so engrossed in her video game then that she mechanically
said "Hi" to Ashok, and continued with her game.
Ashok watched Eesha play Super Mario Brothers (*). He watched her move
Mario to the right, hit and get hidden mushrooms and get bigger, or get
a fire flower or a cape, collect coins, punch his way thru obstacles,
climb ladders and occasionally get chomped by turtles. After the end of
a life Mario would start his next life, from where he left off. Now
that Eesha had finished one level she noticed that uncle Ashok, whom
she met every week when her parents took her to the temple, was still
there.
"Eesha, you are really good at this video game !", said Ashok.
She nodded and added "Yep! and I can even beat my brother at it".
"You know you can learn many ideas of Hinduism from the video games",
said Ashok.
"How ? uncle Ashok", Eesha asked.
Let us say if you got a video game and it gave you only one chance to
beat it, will that be fair ?", Ashok asked.
"No, that is why they give you multiple lives. Actually, with a new game
it is very difficult to advance much further. It takes practice. When
we had just bought this game, I used to 'die' in just ten seconds, every
time", said Eesha.
"Hinduism is similar too. Most people do not lead a perfect life. So
according to Hinduism, you get many chances to improve your self. You
get many lives. This is called reincarnation". He continued," and just
as in a video game, if one life ends, you start over in the next life
where you left off".
"Now what will happen if you do not go towards the right in your video
game ?", asked uncle Ashok.
"You will not move to the next level. You will not make any progress
and time will run out", Eesha said.
"Exactly! if you do not move in the 'right' direction, you will not
make progress. Thus YOU determine the right direction and how far
progress you can make. 'What you do, determines the result' this is
called the law of Karma. Your actions bear fruit accordingly. Now what
happens in a video game if you keep making same mistakes ?", Ashok asked.
"You go back to the start of that level" Eesha replied.
"Law of Karma similarly tells you that if you keep making same mistakes
over and over again, you will move backwards. Now in a video game you
get rewards and receive set backs. In this video game a mushroom will
make you grow bigger or an attack of a turtle will make you smaller, in
real life too you may become rich or poor, but that depends where you
start at and what actions you take. Yet getting big or small in itself
does not mean progress. Does it ?", asked Uncle Ashok.
"You are right, being big or small does not necessarily mean you will
move forward in the game or even to the next level", Eesha replied.
"Now tell me what happens when you go to the next level ?" Ashok asked.
"It gets tougher at the next level" Eesha said.
"Same is true in spiritual practice as per Hinduism", Ashok added.
"Now tell me what happens if you get stuck at a level, what do you do ?
and why ?", he asked.
"I ask my cousin Ojas. He knows what I should do. He knows where to
the keys are hidden, where secret passages are. He has beaten the
game already, Some times he even takes the controller to help me", Eesha
said.
"In Hinduism, similarly a Guru helps you move to next level. A Guru or
a master has already 'beaten the game'. She or He knows where the key
is hidden that will unock the door. She or He knows what where the secret
passages are. She or He can even show you a 'warp' zone, to go to the
next level. But unlike a video game, in real life a Guru cannot play for
you. You have to play it yourself", said Ashok.
"You keep referring to Guru as She or He, why? " Eesha asked.
"Good question! Hinduism considers man and woman as having equal
potential to become a master, a Guru. Just as you are better than your
brother at video games, a woman can reach the highest state also.
In fact there were many women who contributed to the Vedas, the Hindu
holy books. There were many women Hindu saints in the past, and there
are many women saints even now" said uncle Ashok. He continued, " also
there are many ways you can go to next level, so some Guru wll show
a easier way and some a harder way, all depending on your capability.
Buddhists have Buddha as a Guru, Jains have twenty four Tirthankars as
Gurus while Sikhs have ten Gurus whose guidance they follow".
"Now tell me what happens when you beat the last level ? " Ashok asked.
"I have not beaten the game yet, but my cousin Ojas says that you
see fire works, music plays for long time, and then you see the name of
the programmer", Eesha said.
"Interestingly, that is what Hinduism says also, when you go beyond the
last hurdle you hear the music and you see THE PROGRAMMER - that is
God and then you do not need to play the game again, except to help
others" Ashok said.
"Let me ask you one more question. You get so absorbed playing a video
game that you feel that you are being Mario or Luigi on the screen.
But are you really Mario or Luigi ? Who are You ?",He asked
"I am Eesha, of course. But while playing the game I forget that I am
Eesha and am only concerned about Mario or Luigi on the screen", she
replied.
"Exactly, Hinduism believes that we go thru different lives believing
we are the body or the name in that life. But we are not that body nor
its name. We are the Atman or soul which plays as a character of Mario
or Luigi (or whatever). That is something we must never forget. We
are not this body, but we are the Soul, or Atman". Ashok continued,
"Eesha have you noticed, that from video games you just learnt Hindu
concepts of reincarnation, Karma, Guru and Atman." He asked, "Was that
complex ? ".
"Not complex at all!" Eesha smiled, Her face was glowing by the
realization of Hindu concepts, a knowledge she already had in the form
of video games.
_______________________________________________________________________
* Super Mario Brothers is a game from Nintendo Corp. The characters
like Mario, Luigi, Mushroom, Fire flower, cape, turtle are all part
of Super Mario Brothers and are servicemarks of Nintendo Corp. They are
only used as an example in this article. The characters or game name
can be replaced by any other game or the characters therein.
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