Epics of India

Hindu Deities Here is the link for the video I watch on Ganesha's secret for extra reading this week. The first story that this video goes over is a race between Ganesha and Kartikeya. Ganesha wins the race by using a different view of the world. He says that his world is his parents, so by going around them, he beat Kartikeya, as his world matters more to him. The next part of the video talks about how gods do not have forms, but people need some notion of the divine, so we give form to them in manifestations. It also explains why Brahma has 4 heads (4 goals of life), and what his hymns represented. It also talks about men and women coexisting. Next we get into local manifestations of god, which are when the divine come to earth. These manifestations are extensions of the divine concepts. This includes a great many gods throughout the land that represent the same divine being so that each community in the land can have their own local needs, but also connects them to t...

We've read about Lanka quite a bit recently, so I decided to look a little bit more into Sri Lanka , which is supposedly one and the same as appears in the Ramayana, and the bridge of islands fits the tales. It turns out, that Sri Lanka has had many names in its history. This led me to find that the first is the name of the first kingdom to exist in Sri lanka: Tambapanni , which means "copper-red earth." It was apparently once inhabited entirely by she demons called Yakkhinis. And I found that  Prince Vijaya made Tambapanni his kingdom after landing on the beaches on the day of Buddha's death. Vijaya tied threds around the wrists of his followers for protection, which eventually led Kuveni , one of the she-demons, to become his consort, since she could not kill his men. That seems a little odd to me, but whatever. She had been the queen of the Yakkhas. He eventually makes her leave the island, after using her to kill all her sisters. Vijaya sounds like he was a c...

The video I ended up watching was the one about Dr. Who being a religion. This is actually a pretty interesting idea, and the guy puts forth some pretty convincing arguments. I believe a religion is built in the people who practice it, and the video points out multiple times how the fan-base goes about its business. I'm not entirely sold that it is a bonefied religion, but it ranks about the same to me as Pastafarianism. Here's the video so you can watch it and decide for yourself: Also, I found this really neat image/quote about books, which happen to be pretty great things to have in your life. ( link )

This week has been pretty crazy for me. I ended up doing a lot of machining for my capstone class and subsequently getting a tetanus shot after standing up into a piece of metal. Yay rusty steel. Luckily, there wasn't really a serious injury, just another scar to brag about my clumsiness. On the bright side, I managed to get our test stand completely welded and we machined a mount for rocket nozzles to attach to, just in time for a progress update. But overall, it has been the most productive week of my semester so far. I've gotten so many things done it is almost ridiculous. I was able to manage my time a little better this week than last, and it really payed off. I even wrote my best story so far. I mean, I liked it enough to put it into my portfolio project, even if the ending kind of tapered off a bit. Hopefully next week I might be able to go back and see if I can change it a little bit. I took the story of Hanuman burning Lanka to the ground after being captured, an...

So I tried the pomodoro technique while doing my last couple of posts for this class, and I'm pretty sure I'll keep using this technique. It really helped me to keep focused as I was reading and writing my blog posts. When I got through 4 rounds, I was still feeling motivation to keep going, so after my long break, I was able to just jump right back in and keep at it. I may go for a shorter long break next time to get things done faster. I even looked into physical timers so I don't have to use my phone, and I found some really neat ones. Timer

( Link ) I already knew that we can learn a lot from new and challenging experiences, but I guess I hadn't thought much about how much we can learn by having an open and creative conversation with someone else. Thinking about it now, I have worked out so many problems in my life just by talking with someone else about it, that it almost seems silly to not count those kinds of conversations as learning opportunities. I will probably end up looking more into creative conversations here on the internet and how to make them more numerous in my day to day life.

So far, I have been able to do every assignment for this class on time. I can attribute that to the to do lists I keep on my phone. But that doesn't mean I just skipped over the canvas calendar. I used it to populate my to do list for the semester where I could. The problem, is that not all instructors fully understand Canvas, so it can't be as effective as I would like. Instead, I started with the Canvas calendar, and populated my lists from there, and then I have gone to each course and found assignment dates for the semester that are currently visible and added them as well. As new assignments come up, I have a clear view of when everything is due, and can adjust accordingly, well ahead of time.

NOTICE: This story has been updated in my portfolio, and can be found here . Three days. He had been captive for three days now. Three days alone in the dark, with the cold damp of the stones behind his back and his eyes fixed in the direction of the cell door. No one had come to question him. No food had been brought. No sound had been heard outside his cell for the entirety of his captivity. Truth be told, Hanuman was starting to feel forgotten. He had come to Lanka looking for the wife of his lord, who had been abducted by the king of demons, Ravana. He found her under a tree, guarded by Ravana's underlings. Under the cover of darkness, Hanuman had slipped between the guards and made his way to the tree. He told Sita she had not been forgotten by his lord, and that he was coming. That's the point where things got a little more difficult. Sita was shocked by a talking monkey and blew his cover. Honestly, she couldn't have been a little more considerate, given...

In the final reading of the Ramayana, the monkey Hanuman let's himself be captured by Indrajit, who brings him to Ravana. Ravana questions him and learns of Rama. Hanuman offers Ravana a chance to surrender, which is quickly shot down. Then Ravana wants to dispose of Hanuman, but is warned off of killing a messenger. Instead of being killed, Hanuman's tail is set on fire. He breaks free and uses his own burning tail to light the entire city on fire and burn it to the ground. Ravana is furious, and has an architect of the gods rebuild it. Lanka Burning Title : The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Author : Kamban / R. K. Narayan Year : 1972

The first reading this week pulled me much deeper into the Ramayana, and I particularly enjoyed the story of Sampathi. As the great army searching for Sita came to an ocean after their one moth deadline had passed, they felt defeated. Hearing the people mention his brother, Jatayu, Sampathi appears to the men. They have come to the place where he fell after being burned by the sun god. Upon hearing Rama's name, the great bird is restored to his former glory and tells the men that he saw Ravana carry Sita to Lanka, across the sea before them. Sampathi Title : The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Author : Kamban / R. K. Narayan Year : 1972