Thursday, November 12, 2015

Krishna the Go To God

Krishna the Go To God

 Today we are going to tell you about the God Krishna – shocker. Everybody knows Krishna as the powerful and supreme God. Nothing is impossible for him. This being said, a lot of people like to ask for favors from Krishna or ask him to grant their prayers. This can kind of get a little tedious or even annoying. I mean think about thousands of people bothering you 24/7 about their complaints, sufferings, and wishes. I mean I would get pretty annoyed.

Well, according to a confidential source, who is pretty close to Krishna, there are many stories of Krishna that are not publicly known. This is due to the fact that Krishna does not want anyone to know about all of his success because if they did then they will keep pestering him about their problems. If he seems less powerful or willing to grant people’s wishes, then maybe people will leave him alone. Well, guess what, no one is going to be leaving you alone Krishna because all of your stories have been leaked, – leaked to us. And like no offense but some of the stories are kind of embarrassing. Let’s start with the first story that our confidential source gave us.

The story starts off with introducing a man who used to be Krishna’s teacher. First of all, when did Gods have teachers? I guess, you have to start somewhere. Okay, back to the story. So apparently the teacher lost his son to some ocean monster or something and was begging for Krishna to help him. And Krishna being the powerful and noble God he is agreed to help.

So Krishna went out on his rescue mission and into the ocean asking around for his teacher’s son. First he asked the waves and they referred him to the dragon Shankhasur. Yeah, I know. Who knew waves could talk? But if they did Krishna would be the one talking to them.
(Krishna in the Ocean)

Krishna finally found the dragon Shankhasur and with his sword cut off his head and ripped up his belly. There was no kid in it. He then went to the city of the Angel of Death because I guess since the kid was not in the dragon’s stomach he must be dead so he is in the land of the dead...? There are just some things about Krishna that cannot be explained. There he finally found the kid. Third time's a charm.

He took the child back to the land of the living men, where the teacher reunited with his son. And, you guessed, it they lived happily ever after. Spread this to the masses, Krishna is a genie. He will and is able to grant your wishes. Oh Krishna, you cannot hide stuff like this from everyone. Be proud that people idolize and need you. You are a God that just wants to give people want they want. I guess, you can say we are kind of god-like; we too just want to give people want they want -- gossip and insider knowledge. I am just kidding.

Stay tuned for our next story on Krishna!
 



Author's Note
My story is based on the story of "How Krishna Went Under the Ocean." I kept the main ideas of the story but left some minor details out that did not really significantly affect the story. In the original story, Krishna's brother goes with him to find the teacher's son. I chose to leave Krishna's brother out because I wanted the story to just focus one character, Krishna. My portfolio is mainly about Krishna so I did not want to detract from that. I also kind of left the beginning part of the original story out about Krishna and his brother exploring and learning about stuff. I felt like it was kind of not necessary. I also left out the very end where the people are worshiping and praising Krishna for saving the teacher's son. I did this because I introduced the story as a story about Krishna that is not known to the public. Therefore if I did keep the ending, it would contradict what I said in the very beginning about how it was a story that has been kept secret. I kept my gossip tone throughout my story. That is pretty much all that I changed. I kept my gossip tone throughout the story to maintain the insider and gossip style of my portfolio.



"How Krishna Went Under the Ocean" from Tales of Ancient India: Krishna and the Gods" by Edward Cox (1887). Web Source: Public Domain.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Storytelling for Week 12: Looking for Happily Ever After

Looking for Happily Ever After



Siddhartha was very happy with life. He was next in line to rule his father’s kingdom. He lived in a beautiful palace that had hundreds of servants at his feet ready to do his bidding. He pretty much had everything except someone to share it with. Siddhartha was getting to that point where he wanted a wife. Someone that he can share his riches with. So he informed his parents of this desire to get a wife. 

He went on and told them what his standards were. They were very lengthy. According to Siddhartha, she much be youthful, beautiful but not vain, maternal, an animal-lover, honest, sweet, faithful, meek, and grateful. Siddhartha’s parents suggested hosting a ball and inviting maidens that had the characteristics that he described above. The Siddhartha liked this idea. 

Siddhartha’s parents sent out their servants and had them look all throughout the kingdom for maidens that would be appropriate for Siddhartha. They did not find any women that had all of the characteristics that Siddhartha wanted in a wife. They would only have some of it or maybe half of what Siddhartha wanted. Finally, at the last house in the kingdom they came upon a maiden named Gopa. The servants interviewed and realized that she had all of the aspects that Siddhartha wanted in a wife. She was beautiful but not vain, youthful, maternal, an animal-lover, honest, sweet, faithful, meek, and grateful. Knowing this they invited Gopa to the ball. 

On the night of the ball, the palace was filled with potential maidens for Siddhartha. It was an hour into the night and Siddhartha still did not find anyone remotely anyone he would be interested in until Gopa walked in. She was the most beautiful maiden that Siddhartha had ever seen. He introduced himself to her and asked her to dance with him. While dancing with Gopa, Siddhartha realized that she was everything he had ever wanted. He did not dance with anyone else that night because he had no need to. He had found his wife. 

After dancing with her for a while, Siddhartha proposed to Gopa. Gopa was hesitated at first because of her inferior social status. She felt like she was not good enough to be Siddhartha’s wife. Siddhartha reassured Gopa that she is equal to him because of her humble, beauty, and honest characteristic. It is her characteristic that defines her not her social status. Realizing this Gopa accepted his proposal. 
(Siddhartha)

Author's Note
My story is based on the The Marriage of Siddhartha from the "Buddhist Legends." I kept the main ideas, such as Siddhartha's criteria for a wife, Siddhartha and Gopa falling in love, and Gopa coming from a lower social status. I wrote my story in the style of a fairy tale. I was inspired by the Cinderella story. 

"The Marriage of Siddhartha" from The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922). Web Source: Public Domain

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Reading Diary B: Buddhist Legends

I did not enjoy the second half of The Life of Buddha as much as I enjoyed the first half. I felt like the first half was more interesting or entertaining. Despite it did enjoy some of the stories for instance, I enjoyed the story Siddhartha Leads a Life of Please. In this chapter, it talks about Siddhartha's extravagant and happy life. He is happily married to Gopa. He lives in a beautiful palace. He is ruler of one of the most powerful kingdoms. What more could you ask for? Another chapter that I enjoyed was Gopa's Dream. In this chapter Gopa's has a dream. It is more like a nightmare. She has a nightmare that the trees uprooted and shattered, the moon and stars fell out of the sky, she stripped naked, her crown was gone, and there were meteors shooting across the sky. Gopa woke up from this dream and confided to the prince. The prince conformted her by telling her that her dream was not a nightmare but a prophecy that her future looks good.
(Siddhartha)

Monday, November 9, 2015

Reading Diary A: Buddhist Legends

I really enjoyed reading Buddhist Legends. I have not really ever read any buddhist stories so it was interesting reading it this week. This first portion of the story was about the King Suddhodana and Queen Maya and their child Siddhartha. One story that stood out to me was the Marriage of Siddhartha. This chapter is about Siddhartha finding a suitable wife. Siddhartha does not just any pretty faced maiden but rather a woman of virtue. He sent out a priest to find a maiden for him that met his criteria but his standards were so high it was difficult for the priest to find  anyone good enough. Eventually he found Gopa. She was everything Siddhartha asked. There was one problem though. Her father was unwilling to give her up for marriage until Siddhartha proved to him that he was not some spoiled lazy man. To sum things up Siddhartha proved her father that he was indeed good enough to be Gopa 's husband.
(Siddhartha

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Review for Week 11

My favorite item form the announcements was this image below of http://ouclassannouncements.blogspot.com/search/label/current. I love cats and this pictures just made me laugh. I love cat memes.

Famous Last Words for Week 11

My readings this week went well except for the fact that I got during the week and could not finish it. Because of this I only did the half-reading option. Despite it, I still found a couple of stories that I really liked. One of them was “The Gifts of the Sun.” This story was about a husband and wife that receives a gift from the sun. One day while the husband was shooting arrows and his wife was helping retrieve them the sun was really shining on them. It was so hot the wife complained that she could no longer get the arrows for her husband. This encouraged the husband to pray to the sun. In response the sun gave the wife and husband a pair of slippers and parasol. The parasol gave the wife shade and the slippers helped her feet stay cool from the hot ground. And this is the story of the origin of the parasol and shoes. I just really liked this story because of how simple it was. It was just a cute story about how the parasol and slippers came to be. 

I have read many creative storybook and portfolios. I am really impressed at the investment some of my classmates put into their storybook and portfolios. They went above and beyond of what was asked of them. Some of my favorite storybooks or portfolios were Rama and Sita: Not So Happily Ever After, CSI: Indian Epics, and Epic Women Tell All. I like how they intertwined modern themes into their storybook and portfolios.
(Feeling under the weather)

My other classes are going well except that I am a little behind. I got sick earlier this week. I had to miss a couple of days of school. So I am spending this weekend on catching up on stuff.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Reading Diary A: Public Domain Indian Fables and Folklore

I really enjoyed reading the first portion of the Indian Fables and Folklore. My favorite story was the The Gifts of the Sun. In this story, there is a husband and a wife. The husband is shooting arrows at a tree on a sunny day with his wife by his side. Every time he shot his arrow at the tree, his wife would go and fetch the arrow for him out of love. As the day progressed it got hotter because of the sun. It got so hot the wife could not get the arrow for her husband any longer. The husband was upset by this and therefore complained to the sun. In response the sun gave the wife a pair of slippers and a parasol. The slippers helped her feet to not get hot from the hot sand. The parasol offered her shade. The purpose of this story was to explain the origin of the parasol and shoes. 

Another story that I enjoyed was the The Hungry Elephant. I really liked this story mainly because I like elephants but I mean the story was good as well. The story starts off by introducing a hungry elephant. The elephant goes up to a shop owner and ask for rice. The owner replies that there is none. The elephant then as for flour and then butter and for molasses. The owner replies that there are none of those. The elephant does not believe him. He bumps the shop, causing it to crash. In amidst the crash, the elephants finds plenty of food.
(Hungry Elephant)