There are over 4,000 religions in the world today. How can there possibly be that many different versions of creation? Because of the possibility of parallel myths. The ability of writing allowed people to note exactly how the stories were told, but, before that, there was no standard way to convey every word precisely and accurately. This essay will look to The Thoughts of Brahma, Brahma is Lonely, The King, the Hawk, and the Pigeon, as well as Gautama and the Elephant. Analysis of these short stories and comparison to basic Christian and non-theistic views will show the similarities of the passages and how close to the truth these selections could possibly be. The Thoughts of Brahma appear to be very similar to the Christian Genesis
…show more content…
I do not know a religious text that tells a story like this, but I wish that I did. In the story, the sage Gautama finds a baby elephant and must raise it. In return, he and the elephant become the closest of friends. Indra, leader of devas, contests their relationship and comes to Earth in the representation of a king. Indra commands Gautama to give the elephant to him, but Gautama refuses and clarifies that he does not own the elephant, but is merely the best friend of the creature. Indra tries to push further, offering Gautama any earthly desire possible. Gautama again refuses and says he knows that the king is actually Indra testing him. Indra was honored to meet the man and realized that Gautama already had all the riches and wisdom that life could offer. This story again shows a more powerful being testing a human to see if they are worthy of entrance to the heavens. Testing of humans by gods, devas, angels, and all other forms of deities to gain entrance to heaven is a common theme across every religion throughout history. These tests are great for a plethora of reasons, but their biggest advantage is that they give society a “reason” to act morally right and civil. Stories like these and the passage of the Ten Commandments are the reason that civilized countries have reasonable laws at
I do not know a religious text that tells a story like this, but I wish that I did. In the story, the sage Gautama finds a baby elephant and must raise it. In return, he and the elephant become the closest of friends. Indra, leader of devas, contests their relationship and comes to Earth in the representation of a king. Indra commands Gautama to give the elephant to him, but Gautama refuses and clarifies that he does not own the elephant, but is merely the best friend of the creature. Indra tries to push further, offering Gautama any earthly desire possible. Gautama again refuses and says he knows that the king is actually Indra testing him. Indra was honored to meet the man and realized that Gautama already had all the riches and wisdom that life could offer. This story again shows a more powerful being testing a human to see if they are worthy of entrance to the heavens. Testing of humans by gods, devas, angels, and all other forms of deities to gain entrance to heaven is a common theme across every religion throughout history. These tests are great for a plethora of reasons, but their biggest advantage is that they give society a “reason” to act morally right and civil. Stories like these and the passage of the Ten Commandments are the reason that civilized countries have reasonable laws at