Peter's India Blog

Among the several stories in the third part of Mahabharata reading, I found the stories of Pandavas and Draupadi and Arjuna most fascinating. When Yudhishthira lamented about his unfortunate fate, it also made me somehow depressed: "Our kingdom is lost to us," he said, "and our fortune; everything is lost; we depart in sorrow, and must live on fruits and roots and the produce of the chase. In the woods are many perils — many reptiles and hungry wild animals seeking their prey." It's such a pessimistic outlook on life in that I thought it would only discourage his brahmins. Although the Pandavas suffered greatly from living in poor conditions of the forest, I thought they also had some good things too: "They wandered in sunshine and in shade; they dwelt in pleasant places, amidst abundant fruits and surrounded by flowers." Arjuna was a great archer: "Stringing his bow, he shot an arrow and hit the boar." Although he was threatened by t...

Once upon a time, two men named Mr. Wong and Mr. Taylor lived. Mr. Taylor lived in the United States and was a very wealthy man. In fact, Mr. Taylor was a successful entrepreneur and the richest man in the world, and he was benevolent and interested in helping other people who were in need. Mr. Wong, on the other hand, was a poor farmer in rural China and desperately needed help because his crops weren't yielding much due to lack of quality seeds and fertilizers. Mr. Wong's government couldn't help him much either because it was very poor just like Mr. Wong.  One day, a staff in Mr. Taylor's philanthropic foundation told Mr. Taylor about Mr. Wong's poor situation and his government's inability to help him to be lifted out of abject poverty.  When Mr. Taylor, a very benevolent and philanthropic man, heard about Mr. Wong's situation, he decided to help Mr. Wong with all he had. Mr. Taylor was a sincere and humanistic man who was truly intereste...

I like the several stories in the Jakata tales, but the story of golden goose was the most interesting story among them because it raised a sudden philosophical thinking inside my head. I particularly like the very beginning of the story with the goose telling himself to help the poor woman: "If I give them one after another of my golden feathers, the mother can sell them, and with the money they bring she and her daughters can then live in comfort." I thought this goose was a generous and benevolent animal since he wanted to help the poor people in need. When I read this somewhat ungrateful line of dialogue between the poor mother and two daughters, I honestly thought they didn't deserve the goose's 'philanthropy' and perhaps they deserved to be poor: "Let us not trust this Goose. Some day he may fly away and never come back. Then we should be poor again. Let us get all of his feathers the very next time he comes." I thought this kind of mentalit...

There are several stories in the Jataka tales, but not all of them particularly caught my attention. One that really did was this fascinating story of monkey and crocodile. I even like the very beginning of this story: Mother Crocodile wanted to eat the heart of a monkey and asked her little son crocodile to catch a monkey. Yet the son crocodile didn't think it's possible since monkeys live on land and didn't come into water. Nevertheless the little son crocodile came up with a witty plan: "I know what I'll do. I'll get that Monkey that lives in a big tree on the river bank. He wishes to go across the river to the island where the fruit is so ripe." I thought it was a clever plan. I also like how the author blatantly labeled her son crocodile character as stupid : "But he was a stupid Crocodile." Trying to kill the monkey by drowning him seemed pretty clever. Obviously, the monkey suffered greatly from going underwater: "When the...