According to Hinduism...
We can fool gods.
So I read this comic on Hindu mythology about 30 years ago. It had a story in it where this asura (loosely, demon) undertakes nearly a millennium of tapas (penance/prayer) to The Destroyer, Shiva. Shiva, pleased with the asura's devotion, manifests himself to the asura and grants a boon, to be precise a wish (Hindu gods were genie-like).
The asura first asks to be the most powerful being of the three realms (heaven, earth, naga lok). Shiva says that boon is not on the menu. Next, the asura, cunning dude, asks that he be given the power to reduce to ashes anything he touches.
Shiva, rather foolishly, does grant the asura's wish.
What does the asura do next?
He, like a good customer, wants to, well, test his purchase: he runs towards Shiva with outstretched hands. Shiva high tails it outta there.
The story has a happy ending.
The point is though that gods are as gullible as humans.
So I read this comic on Hindu mythology about 30 years ago. It had a story in it where this asura (loosely, demon) undertakes nearly a millennium of tapas (penance/prayer) to The Destroyer, Shiva. Shiva, pleased with the asura's devotion, manifests himself to the asura and grants a boon, to be precise a wish (Hindu gods were genie-like).
The asura first asks to be the most powerful being of the three realms (heaven, earth, naga lok). Shiva says that boon is not on the menu. Next, the asura, cunning dude, asks that he be given the power to reduce to ashes anything he touches.
Shiva, rather foolishly, does grant the asura's wish.
What does the asura do next?
He, like a good customer, wants to, well, test his purchase: he runs towards Shiva with outstretched hands. Shiva high tails it outta there.
The story has a happy ending.
The point is though that gods are as gullible as humans.
Comments (6)
Good OP with a sage ending. I want to add a few words:
Six Schools" or "Six Doctrines" of "orthodox" Indian philosophy are the schools that accept the authority of the Vedas and thus religiously are considered part of Hinduism:
THE "SIX SCHOOLS" OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Accepting the authority of the Vedas, however, does not mean actually using them. Mîmâ?sâ and Vedânta are specifically the schools of interpretation of the Vedas; the other four are based on independent reasoning. "Heterodox" schools, which reject the authority of the Vedas, are found in separate religions, like Buddhism and Jainism, or with the rare, reviled "materialists," whose own texts have all been lost. The treatment follows P.T. Raju's The Philosophical Traditions of India [University of Pittsburgh Press, 1971, p.35].
You're welcome, friend. I wish you can get some time and read more about Hinduism. I also enjoy reading all types of Asian culture/philosophy. It amazes me.
Are there any similar stories in Western religions?
To be honest, I don't know!
King Tantalus? The gods, of course, found out!