The Play of Gods!

The western people have always been fascinated by India and Indian culture. The ancient and medieval Indian culture, stories and narratives have attracted, from various countries, several prominent experts to study Indology and write books. Alan Danielou was one such French scholar. He published, originally in French, “Le Polytheisme Hindou“, in 1960, a treatise on the (so-called) Hindu mythology. He later translated the book in English – “The Myths and Gods of India” describing the Gods of the Sanatan Dharma.

In “While the Gods Play” he has described the facets of Shaiva tradition. He has lived in India for almost 20 years studying music & philosophy.

I read this book primarily because I was extremely fascinated by the first book of the author that I read – “The Myths and Gods of India”.

The book is divided into six parts:

1. The human adventure
2. Shaiva Philosophy – discussing the schools of Indian philosophy – Vaisheshika, Nyaya, Samkhya, Vedanta & Yoga
3. The Mimansa School of Philosophy
4. Social Man
5. The Theory of Cycles – topics such as duration of universe
6. Forestalling the End

The book was originally written in French in 1985 and is translated in English by Deborah Lawlor & Alain Danielou.

Below are some excerpts from the book:

1. The Bhagavad Gita, of which over half the verses are borrowed from Parameshwara Agama & three of which passages are quotations from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, which is itself based on the Agamas. (33)
2. Yoga seeks to analyze the structures of our interior universe, to study and develop powers latent in it, and eventually to go beyond the barriers of senses, the limitation of relative time and space that, [presumably] imprison us. (44)
3. The universe is made up of two fundamental elements – consciousness (Shiva, Rama, Krishna) & energy (Parvati, Sita, Radha), which are complementary and interdependent. Matter is merely organized energy. There is no material element that exists without being inhabited by consciousness and vice-versa. (59)
4. Time is born of consciousness, since measurement only exists through the perception of duration. (59)
5. At the time of death, first sense to disappear is sight, smell, taste followed by touch. Hearing is the last to go. People who are apparently dead can hear. (93) [Hence, it is advisable to have divine talks, Lord’s tales, shlokas etc. when someone is on his/her death-bed.]
6. The Siddhas or persons who know how to develop Siddhis (powers) have been able to “see” the functioning of atoms or view the exterior of galaxies, better than most sophisticated observational equipment allows. (94)

Note the last point. Guruji (Om Swami) has mentioned such a thing that He himself observed for a galaxy/or some other astronomical event, while He was meditating in the Himalayas, that was reported by scientists after some months. I think He has mentioned that in “A Million Thoughts’ – His encyclopedia on meditation. I have forgotten the exact page number even though.

The book is fairly technical and has an academic flavor to it. The book has more than 250 pages, sometimes really technical, so you must remain patient while going through it. The author’s research work is reflected in the contents of the book.