Avatar 2 : After the bloody battle....

James Cameron is busy working on the second instalment of Avatar and it is learnt from credible sources that the story appears lacklustre. I took it upon my self to restore the sanctity of the franchise and offer this - my 2 cents to it - as the second instalment of the story. I have sent the manuscript to James and he is yet to come back to me. However, nothing that stops me from sharing this with you.

This story begins after the miraculous victory of Na'avi people over the relentless invading Humans. Some repetition is inevitable about the battle before we move ahead for he sake of those unfamiliar with the Avatar folklore. The battle was started primarily because of depleting mineral and fuel resources of a once blue planet -Earth. Humans started to do what they know best - seek, attack and loot. They ended up on Pandora - the home of the Blue Na'avi who lead a fairly blissful, spiritual (and affluent by their standards) life. In order to plunder the Unobtainium-rich moon of planet Polyphemus, they managed to basically do every evil they can think of - uproot the holy sites (remember the gigantic tree?) of the Na'avi, kill hundreds of Na'avi people, ridicule their religious beliefs, make them homeless on their own land to name a few. Basically, humans brush aside the Na'avi at their will.

In comes our hero - the mighty human Jake Sully. He prefers his Na'avi Avatar to being a human (can't blame him. He is limping as a human, running as a Na'avi) and lead the Na'avi to an unprecedented assault on the humans. Humans - facing such backlash for he first time - don't know what to do. They put up a good fight but fall prey to Pandoran animals who pay heed to the call from Mother Eywa and come running to cull as many humans as they can.  Helped by strange birds neurologically linked with Jake and others in the Omaticaya warrior clan, the entire Pandoran neurological eco-system wins the epic battle. After which, the Na'avi force the survivors amongst humans to return to Earth.

This is where we start narrating what happened after James Cameron left us. Na'avi, although fierce warriors and by now repugnant towards humans, were kind hearted. So much so that when a few humans requested asylum on Pandora, they agreed. The reasons for seeking asylum stretched from escaping criminal cases to lead a happy life away from a struggling starving planet. Some stayed on for scientific purposes too.Thus began a period of peaceful coexistence. 

Humans and Na'avi had a lot to learn from each other. The Na'avi did learn while Humans, belligerent as they are, did not. The humans conveniently ignored the Na'avi way of life - the neural network, the connection with nature, the flow of energy and simplicity. Nothing could win over humans. The Na'avi believed in taking just enough from the nature and returning it too. Life was a cycle. Destruction led to creation, creation was followed by preservation and after preservation came destruction again. Humans, having lived and forgotten Earthen philosophies of similar nature, were yawning at the Na'avi approach. Na'avi on the the other hand were in the awe of human technology. The man-made objects better than the creators themselves. Defence, agriculture, society, transportation equipment - capable of creation, destruction and preservation were looked upon by the Na'avi as Divine. A being less than half the size of Na'avi was able to create an insurmountable mountain of power for itself. Na'avi held humans in a high regard. Na'avi also studied human philosophies in an attempt to better their own society.

Years went by and how. The new generation of the Na'avi started severing the neural links with their fellow Pandoran beings. They were drenched in the new-found humanity. Na'avi allowed human Gods to be worshipped besides their own. Mother Eywa was the only term they knew for God. However, to avoid hurting the sentiments of humans, they stopped calling out to her publicly. In stead, they said every God is the same and happily accepted human traditions. Some Na'avi were apprehensive of the shift. But the majority, kind-hearted, started curbing all such thoughts. The masks humans had to wear on Pandora to avoid CO2 intoxication were made available free. 20% of the land Na'avi lived on was separately reserved for humans. The Na'avi language was changed to accommodate human words. A new Common Tongue was created to the fancy of humans. The clans reserved some of their authoritative positions for humans despite the fact that humans lacked the Na'avi martial and strategic skills. Humans, initially grateful to Na'avi, swore it to be homogeneous with the Na'avi cause.

Though now Pandoran, humans did not show any inclination to abide by Na'avi spirituality and way of life. Humans demanded for social laws pertaining to themselves different from the universal laws of Na'avi. Eventually, the humans were given their own social laws and with it the control over them. Humans increased manifolds in population per their natural traits. The land became scarcer. Hence, the humans cut forests and shifted there to find more land. Although away, humans in the new location were not disconnected from their original clan. And needless to say, some humans did stay back in the original location. Na'avi, again, did not complain.

Na'avi had very strict laws against crime. That was one of the reasons for the peace and stability. But when it came to punish humans, some of them alleged Na'avi of partiality against humans in cases of crime. Thus began the tiny waves of anti-Na'avi protests. The 'human' identity was exploited fruitfully. The protests reached the human colony. There was widespread show of discontent. It turned into violence over the next few days. The clans were ready to apologize. But the protests did not die down. One fine day, the human colony demanded for outright independence from the Na'avi. There was to be a fully human ruled colony of humans on the same very planet away from the 'clutches' of Na'avi rule. Some Na'avi clans were against the separation citing that the planet was theirs first and humans had promised to abide by the rule of the land. Humans didn't budge and there it was. They declared independence which was eventually agreed upon by Na'avi.

Na'avi were requested for patronage again, from the humans who were unhappy over the separation. They wanted to live with the clans and die by them. Na'avi agreed to them as well. Thus creating 2 societies on the same land - one of the humans and the other belonging to Na'avi and humans together. The new nation for humans was named 'Second Earth (SE).'

Na'avi way of life suffered a thousand deaths. Their peaceful abode was converted in to a battle ground again and by humans again. By the very species Na'avi gave shelter to. As they cursed their past, there was still hope of reconciliation. There was still hope that humans find some humanity after all. 

Of Saligia And Shadripu. How East And West See The Sins Of Mankind And Why Does It Affect Us?

Religions intrigue me. I believe that Religions were started to systematize the society. The fundamental religious beliefs moulded the way the rules were set. Hence, a comparative study between different philosophies might just explain the way certain societies behave. This is an attempt to look at one particular point of convergence between 2 philosophies. Due to paucity of time and space, some relevant details might have been missed or not treated with apt detail. I invite you to this short contemplation while I apologize for slips if any. 

The base thought of religion in general can simply be put as follows :

"Guiding mankind to decide what's good and what's not; what a man should or should not do."

How mankind's vices are described in disparate schools of theologies is a good way to determine the degree of authority religious texts enjoy - thus making us ponder what sect is apparently orthodox and which one is lenient. A quick glance at the '7 Seven Deadly Sins' as explained in Catholicism and 'Shadripu' as enlisted in Hindu texts reveals much about the philosophies that underpin the distinct ways of life; separates, so to speak, the very foundation of the Eastern and Western religions.

Having said that, let's be clear that both ways of life are equally pertinent and have stood test of times for centuries now. Thus, proving one better than the other is neither called for nor intended here. Comparison however is done to make ends meet at the end.

Let's examine the Christian (Catholic to be precise) Deadly Sins first. There are 7 of them together abbreviated to SALIGIA. The Latin name is followed by the English one:

1. Superbia - Pride (Ego)

2. Avaritia - Greed

3. Luxuria - Lust (Lechery)

4. Invidia - Envy

5. Gula - Gtuttony (Eating more than required)

6. Ira - Anger (Wrath)

7. Acedia - Sloth (Discouragement towards work)

Committing these sins damns one to what is called a 'Purgatory' in hell. Purgatory is nothing but a brief (how brief depends on the scale of the sin) period of torment and suffering in Hell. Also depends on the scale of the sin, whether the soul reaches Heaven at all. Some sins are unpardonable and damns one to Hell forever. Thus rife is the belief of some people in what are called 'Mortal Sins' - from where there is no return. 

These 7 deadly sins have inspired in a queer way a lot of fine literature in western countries. One that comes out at the top of the head is 'The Divine Comedy' by an Italian Poet Dante Alighiery  - the theme of the latest book from Dan Brown - Inferno. This piece of grisly art from Dante describes in detail the plight of sinful souls through Hell. Some interesting afterthoughts about Saligia; while 'Alcohol' is not permitted by Catholicism, it is not separately mentioned as a sin. Also, the word Luxuria from Latin lends itself to the word 'Luxury' in English. (It was used originally to mean 'more than what one needs.' In modern terms, it is the most sought after pleasures.) What this evokes is that Lust does not only stand for 'craving for carnal pleasures' but also for 'avarice for all other Earthly pleasures.' - Chocolates included? Maybe.

For more details, here's the Wikipedia page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins

Now let's turn to the Hindu texts. The Sins so to speak in Hinduism are not sins per se. They are explained as Enemies. Shadripu literally translates to 'Six Enemies.' It is also noteworthy that Ancient Hindu religion (called the Vedic Dharma) did not have a concept of heaven or hell at all. Hence the way Hinduism explicates the consequences is different.These enemies are enlisted below:

1. Mada - Pride (Ego)

2. Lobha - Greed

3. Kaama - Lust (Lechery)

4. Matsara - Envy

5. Krodha - Anger (Wrath)

6. Moha - Attachment

If one believes ancient Vedic culture, The 6 enemies are not deadly if committed and do not summon one to hell. (Well concept of Heaven or Hell didn't exist.) Instead, they make living miserable, obviously while one is alive. A remarkable fact here is that Shadripu lack Gluttony (Overeating) as a sin. This could be because the Shadripu were conceptualized to set minds wandering astray from socially amiable paths onto a pious way by offering a benchmark of behavioural traits. Bodily attributes like eating was not assumed important a virtue to be imparted in the social set up where food was abundant.

It is observed that the concept of heaven and hell developed much later in Vedic culture through a natural attempt to counter the arguments from proponents of Western religion. However, the concept of rebirth was not altered in Vedic culture. Instead, an alternate purgatory in the form of low-pedestal lifeform was introduced. A sinful soul from one life would face torment in hell briefly before being dispatched to Earth again to live as a subaltern insect or rodent. Human life life, of course, was reserved for most pious souls with the final aim to achieve salvation once one dies as a human.

The Wikipedia page is a stub, nonetheless, describes bare essentials of Shadripu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadripu.

Differences in these expositions of sins, though not stark, provide an interesting cogitation. It is observed that 5 of the sins are common to both philosophies viz., Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy and Anger.

Moha (Attachment) has no directly co-related word in Catholic philosophy and not detailed in its texts. As a result, it does not make it to the 7 sins in Catholic literature. On the other hand, Gluttony and Sloth lack apt words in Hindu Literature. As mentioned above, Hindu sins focus more on bringing about mental balance and do not deal with physical attributes of behaviour. The theories of sins per se in both ways of life stem from the fundamental standpoints of resp. religions.

The differences in the sins and their consequences can be a result of one belief central to resp. philosophies. Western thought believes that Humans have a single life; whereas, the Eastern Vedic thought believes that Man has many lives. How this fundamental fact affects the aforementioned would conclude our discourse.

Since Catholics believe there is no rebirth, the duration of striving for salvation or atonement is limited to One Lifetime. This explains the stricter approach it has towards specifying the consequences. 'Mortal Sins' make sure that there is no way to return to the path to piousness. Life is seen as the period of action - good deeds. One's achievements in a lifetime is the sum-total of all subjects. The report card once printed is irrevocable. Thus is seen the urge of people to prove their achievements. Thus a thought is given to each and every action. Thus the sharpening of the axe is prolonged, to not fail when it matters. One might wonder whether this is the cause for taking proverbs like "First Time Right", "First Impression is the Last Impression", "You live only once, Make it count" are stood by. Hence the focus on results, achievements. Linear rules define the course with no room for 'adjustments.' This philosophy also to a large extent explains the western concepts ranging from adhering to traffic lights to business strategies. Western culture's tagline may very well be - 'Life comes once. Make sure you do all good things right here right now.'

Vedic philosophy on the other hand believes in multiple lives till a soul attains salvation. Thus, there is a never ending space for corrections. A bad guy in this life can turn out to be a good insect in next life, hence returning as a good natured horse in consequent life finally achieving humanity in life after that.Life's own torments rather than hell are detrimental to evils. And nothing is a mortal sin here. Thus a life in itself is not an achievement. It is seen just as a step to the next level. The sum-total of achievements in one life only guarantee promotion to next level and need not affect the journey in entirety. One life's sins can be atoned in the next life, or simpler, in this life itself. One bad deed can be balanced by a good one. Daan Dharma, Pooja, Yatra are instant atonements. A monologue with God "Adjust karo. Kal Prashad chadhaunga" it seems is sufficient to clean your slate. Thus are people okay with bending the rules, petty larcenies, disdain towards laws - cos in the end, everything can be rectified. Vedic culture's tagline may be the starkly opposite - 'Life is eternal. Just keep happily doing good things.' 

Pondering over the 2 philosophies, I could not help but reach the aforementioned possible results of the underlying philosophies. These might be correct or way off the target. But what remains the fact is that the 2 religious thoughts under discussion have affected our lives to a large extent. How else do you explain no Indian voyage to foreign lands ever? While countless westerners have touched Indian shores? That is because of the westerns' resolve to make their single life count. 

As I said before, both have stood for centuries and cannot be adjudged correct or false. What can be safely said however is that both have made sure mankind does not derail from the righteous path ever. One confirms it in ONE lifetime, the other for all of them.