Hindu cosmology proposes cyclicity. Early animists did observe that everything repeats and hence human life also should repeat. In such repetitive cycles, one does not imagine a beginning since one only observes a particular segment of the play. The next segment in nature is predictable, like day and night. In such a situation, death of a life is the beginning of another life, and the cycle can perpetuate. Philosophically the local events are unimportant, everything is transient. In course of time, evaluation entered the mind and the concept of good and bad developed. Though sorrowful days would pass, why should sorrow appear in the first place? It was analyzed that sorrow is caused through one's own making and cumulatively the "making" was called "karma". Through "karma" one could explain disease, accidents, early deaths and misery. "karma" can have a magnitude and can follow one through several births.
Elaborate speculations came how "karma" may be reduced, or only good can prevail. Much before the ten commandments of the New Testament, Indians invented various rules of conduct, all to avoid possible misery in life. Various formulations of these early speculations have entered world religions in different ways as might work in their respective local settings. In India, these rules are globally called "dharma."
These processes gave rise to an observing God who might decide if we are doing right. God can listen to our prayers and give us grace through "nectar of life". Such nectar can help us overcome our hurdles in life. The "nectar of life" is a physical object that might appear as a remedial herb or as deep ocean water or as a fruit. Its procurement must not be easy and its distribution has to be strictly controlled by God who created it. This concept led to the healing procedures. The humans struggled for longer life in spite of ailments and handicaps.
Astronomical eclipses, sudden turn of events, brute energy and superhuman skills in individuals were conceived to be caused by a group of living beings who are powerful but are destructive. They violate the rules of "karma' but still manage to survive until crushed by more powerful divine forces. Thus a dualistic system developed in Indian metaphysical thinking. Human beings (manava) were made as pawns in the competition between the divine forces (deva) and the destructive forces (danava).
Applying the earlier cyclic theory, the current universe has to end, except it ends in a deluge where everything submerges. Hindus did not think that the universe can self-construct itself like the modern astronomy attempts to do. Such theories fall into a trap since there is no known mechanism to initiate the process and more importantly to initiate life. In the Hindu view, the deluge is the end of a cycle and the "deva" and "danava" would fight it out for the control of the universe in a cycle. More particularly they fight for the control of the "nectar of life." In the current cycle, the "deva"s have won; so we are alive! The sculpture at the airport connotes this battle leading to the victory of a cunning God who dances in joy!
It is an hour's flight to Siem Reap, the town that hosts the great ruins of Cambodia. An old friend of mine from Boston, Dr. Darith Phat, lives in Siem Reap and has arranged for my stay and transport. Darith is a biochemist and was a part of the Ramakrishna order. He and his family are steeped in the Hindu traditions of yoga and the discovery of truth. He is pained with the poverty and lack of health care for his countrymen. He has relocated to help out the local people by developing new methods of agriculture and farming.
Cambodia issues "arrival visa" with an extra fee. I went through the visa process, collected myluggage and went out to meet my appointed driver. Mr Kushal, a young man in his late twenties, greeted me with my name written on a piece of paper. We rode a three wheeler, the popular mode of transport in the town. My reservation, arranged by Darith, was in "The Cool Inn," a residential lodge on the edge of the downtown. We passed through big hotels with palatial names and equally palatial structures, on the approach road called Airport Road. Tourism was big business in town, but I found people to be poor. I thought that the tourist money was not getting into the local people.
As we approached the interiors of the town, I felt more for the survival state of the people. People seemed to be mostly illiterate, as though stuck to life. The town had the look of a semi-urban population center of India with a few large buildings planted in. Tourism has not encroached India in this manner. India should open itself for more tourists but the new money must be spent in improving the standard of living of the local people. If Thailand was experimenting, Cambodia was suffering. The country and the people appeared to have been thoroughly exploited and humiliated by whosoever occupied them. The faces looked blank and tense. These are my artisan brothers who left Kalinga a thousand years ago!
I settled into my lodge. By taking a wash and a cup of coffee, I got ready for my visit to the ruins.
