Rude Awakenings - Forest Sangha Publications

^0 C Y C L E S 06thosebirthsanddeathsconstituteadayinBrahma’slife;360of thosedaysmake up a year; after one hundred of those years and a vast carnival ofworld systems, of heroes and wars and glory and decay, the world-playis over. World-creating Brahma, and the lotus, are drawn back into thebody of Vishnu, until the next dream sends forth a new lotus. MeanwhileVishnu manifests in the world, in mortal male forms—such as Krishnaand Rama—whose purpose is to defend, or reestablish, true dharma.Some of Shiva’s roles display the same female knowledge, and hisconsorts are powerful and greatly revered. Shiva is the turner of thecycle of creation and destruction, of fertility and death. Shiva is Nataraja,the supreme dancer, whose dancing brings the created world to itsend. In another turn he is trampled under the feet of his ferocious consortKali, who represents time, death, and destruction. Shiva’s forms aremaya, illusion; Shiva’s energy, his shakti, is the weaver and destroyer ofthe play, and it is female.After a night in the utter, windowless dark, morning came, and withit this flowerlike world and the new celebration. The temple priest,freshly bathed, in spotless white dhoti and groomed hair, lovinglyattended Shiva’s image like a bride, bathing it with pure water and deckingit with blossoms as he rang the god’s bells and sang a lilting hymn. Iknelt nearby, watching. Could it be that to celebrate the play of theworld is the way to transcend it?N I C KOur daily alms rounds were a very good learning experience for me. Dayafter day, I’d fail. I would try to walk into the village, five steps or sobehind Ajahn Sucitto, slowly and calmly keeping my eyes on theground. I would try, but in no time I would be looking over his shouldertrying to spot the best possible place to stop. I had quickly learned thatwe got better food from the big brick houses in the middle of the villageswith the T.V. aerials on their roofs than from the mud huts on the1 3 5