His body parts transformed into the world’s elements, and the God’s Agni, Vayu, and Indra. Also, the four division of society based upon differences of large amount of money and possessions, rank, or occupation of Hindu society were created from his body; the priests who perform ceremonies in some religions, warriors that fights in battles, general populace, and the servants who did the household. Historically later, the group of three closely related persons of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva gained prominence. Brahma appears in a lotus sprouting from the raised area in the middle of a sleeping Vishnu. Brahma creates the universe, which lasts for one of his days, or 4.32 billion years ago from now.
Like snowflakes, no two creation myths are identical, “The Story of the Creation”, which highlights on the creation of the Akimel O’odham, more commonly known as the Pima, and Megan Wren’s “Mayan Creation Myth” are no exception; however, there are many similarities. The “Mayan Creation Myth” and “The Story of Creation” both follow the basic path that most creation myths do starting with the emptiness in the beginning, a void to be filled by a God-like figure, who would soon create vegetation, animals, and humans who he would then destroy and start anew. With every creation myth, there is a void, or an emptiness before a greater power takes it into his hands to change that, and this is true for both the Mayan, and the Pima creation myth.
Hinduism and Buddhism are both two religions that are similar, yet different in many ways. Known to be one of the oldest religions in the world, Hinduism began in India about 4000 years ago. Hinduism was originally practiced by an ancient population, the Aryans. About 2500 years ago, or 1500 years after the beginning of Hinduism, a prince by the name of Siddhartha Gautama realized that even princes can not escape illness and death after he saw those who suffer from them. It is said that he practiced praying, meditating and fasting until he was given the name Buddha, meaning the Enlightened one because of his understanding of the truths of life.
Myths are known across the globe and within different cultures. The cultures have their own myths on creation, creatures, or the humans on earth. These myths are told to tell how the land and creatures were created. Today two myths from a different culture will be viewed while answering some questions and describing the myths of those cultures. The myths that will be looked at are The Creation of the Titans and the Gods from Greece and Rome and The Aboriginal Creation from Australia.
When looking into these religions I came to see why many are similar. They have the same beliefs; however, they worship and view some aspects in different ways. Hinduism and Buddhism are sometimes mistaken as being the same religion, though they are similar. They both originated in India. Buddhism came to be by breaking off of Hinduism and now has their own beliefs.
The relationship between the Gods and humans was a complicated one. The Gods think because they have the special powers to change the weather, the sea, or the ground they walk on that they can do basically whatever they want. They rape all kinds of men, women, and creatures because they want them. They punish those who offend them, but do not look at the whole story of what happened. Admittedly, they do reward those who are pure of heart, kind to others, and loyal to themselves.
They make many attempts and finally have the “perfect” humans. The gods in these stories have tried and failed to create things and be satisfied with them. From trying over and over again to create perfect humans and destroying each attempt that fails, to making humans and wiping them all out in one attempt. The Gods in the story in The book of Genesis and Popol Vuh are all powerful and shouldn’t be underestimated because there power is great and don’t have remorse for the things they create. In both Genesis and Popol Vuh they have floods that wipe out the human race.
Once built though, the structures that were created in The Epic of Gilgamesh and in the book of Genesis are almost mirror images: one door, many stories, and many individual compartments. As stated previously, some beings were spared, and in both tales, these passengers (of humankind) were mainly family or (of animal-kind) were wildlife comprised of each species. Nearing their redemption, both passengers used birds to test for land that eventually ended in the arks possessing the landing spot of a mountain. Finally, after a peaceful landing, both flood accounts tell the story a character that made a sacrifice and that character receiving some blessing afterwards. Throughout these similarities, though, there are also some differences that make for great
Rhea brought the gods to life and without her or her offspring, there would be no stories to tell. Therefore, Greek and Roman mythology would fail to exist if she’d never given birth to them. Most famously known as the mother of the Olympians, Rhea bore the six main gods to her brother Cronus. These gods include Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Hades, and Poseidon. As she bore each child one by one, Cronus swallowed them.
One similar aspect both scriptures share is the idea that God is the creator of earth and the universe, as clearly stated in Genesis as “God created the Heaven and Earth…” (Genesis 1:1) and in The Bhagavad Gita as “...the whole cosmic order is under me…”(Gita 9.8). Both scriptures contain creation myths which tell a story of how the universe was created. However, the contact between God and human is different among the two. In The Bhagavad Gita God communicates directly with Arjuna in a conversational/friendly manner to get the message across. Whereas, in Genesis God is referred to in third person and his actions, as commands.