Gnat entered a huge empty parking lot which stood in front of all the Babel's religious structures. They were certainly complex, but it wasn't hard to discribe them . There were quite a few but the first three religions all had towers made of stone.....so pretty much they were all the same. except for the fact that each stone of each tower had some unique writing on it .. situated on top each tower were the tube people again, tubes made of flexible fabric..these soft cylinders were inflated by the air blowing thru them and they thrashed around.....The cylinders and the amount of thrashing varied quite a bit ....he examined the first one up close.
it was marked "J" for Judaism.. and it consisted of a single tower section with at least 4 different flexible tubes up on top..the air was passing thru the tubes in a gentle manner so it was quiet.and serene.
wandering farther along he came upon a tower marked "C" for Christianity"..It had 2 tower sections ..it had the same first section as the Jewish tower but had added on top of it another section .. there were numerous flexi tubes on top with one being bigger than the rest. The air going thru the tubes was a bit more energetic...but they weren't hitting each other..the Christian tower was the same height as the Jewish tower..
right next to the Judaism tower was the tower marked " I " for Islam. .it had the same height as the first two. This tower had three sections , consisting of the two sections just discussed plus the top tower section which was labeled " I " ..... on top there were only 2 flexi tubes, one a little larger than the other and the air running thru them was great and it was loud and the tubes were thrashing around violently. the tube people on the top of the Islamic tower were so violent that they were bending over and striking the Judaism tower.as well as each other... most unpleasant..
there were three of the grey money tubes going into the three towers, but none coming out..
he walked a little further and came across a Buddhist monk sitting on the ground in meditation with his eyes closed and humming the syllable "OM". He wore a saffron robe and his head was shaved... gnat waited awhile and finally tapped the him on his shoulder.. the monk opened his eyes and with a big grin started talking real fast . . .gnat couldn't understand a single word. except for the phrase "Eigth Fold Path." When the monk realized that gnat wasn't understanding him, he just said "I Ching" over and over, with a smile.. They bowed to each other . . .that was one happy dude............................................................
.He moved on. The next buildings were within a wall and a gate marked Hinduism... .there were many entrances and towers .. on top it had three main tubes and they were short and quiet.. Just outside the tower there were 2 Hindu men stitting down and looking about..they wore only shorts and their hair was in a massive bundle. their bodies were dusted in white and their foreheads were yellow with a vertical red stripe. When they saw him they began chanting and bowing. "who are you" gnat said in amazement .. all they said was "Moksha moksha, namaste"....gnat replied "Namaste."
one of them got up and took gnat inside.. it was very dark. They were surrounded by stone columns. There was a glow up ahead so they went in that direction. Soon the dark was dispelled by the many candles burning at an altar....the light flickered hypnotically and the incense was heavenly..looking up, the columns dimly outlined reached for the heights dissappearing above. behind the candles was a golden statue of an elephant who had 4 arms and a big glowing ring floating over his raised index finger.. also they could here the syllable OM in the background.
Moksha>>:: this is god ganesha "Hinduism is the oldest religion at least 6000 years.And its two bibles the RigVeda which is the oldest book ever written in 1500 BC and the Upanishads ....they were both written in Sanskrit....
there are many other gods.so its not monotheistic......the main god is Lord Brahma who created the universe. He is the universal soul and is the energy in the universe and that a part of Brahma lives in every being in the universe and he can take the forms on Earth ...like an avatar,,,,the other main gods are
Lord Vishnu
Lord Shiva
Krishna
Ganesha
Shakti
Yamuna
Hanuman
Ayyapan
Kartikeya
there is no founding father to Hinduism......
alot of Hindis are vegetgarian....
they believe in reincarnation and Karma
the goal in life is to become one with Brahma and escape reincarntation
Yoga is used as a spiritual practice..
you dont have to be Hindi to be achieve enlightenment
something was moving.. a slithering shape that he quickly realized was a snake...he felt the fear and adrenalin hit him. so he hightailed it out of there.. Back at the entrance, two hindu men stopped him and said "you must follow your heart gnat.. and be free " then they dabbed a bit of red paint on his forhead and put a leather amulet around his neck. gnat said thankyou, and.. namaste
Gnat asked about the amulet, but all they said was it was all good... then they gave him a necklace with a little charm which featured three loops coming from a small green jade ball at the center. It was quite beautiful.
Gnat thanked them profusely and said that he had no gift to give in return..They said only to keep them in his prayers as they would do for him.....
taking his leave, he came upon the Taoist TAO yin yang symbol laying on the ground. Those familiar black and white tears. Not having a tower made of stone meant no fixed rules or ceremony..no dogma...everyone can enter..there are no preconditions..even if you didn't believe in Tao Tao, you still belonged.. . .He loved Tao Tao,. because of it being so loving..so forgiving..so inclusive . .so he sang a song
The song was a celebration. How nice to find this simple place in the midst of all this confusion.
he wandered a little further and came to a wooden fence. He went thru the door onto a platform. before him was a Zen Rock Garden. a level square of white stones that was raked in straight rows to look like ocean waves. There were a few larger darker rocks embedded in it to look like islands. The stones were raked in a circle around the stone islands. He sat down and half closed his eyes and meditated for awhile..watching his breath for a little while...counting 10 exhales. . he thought about tao zen bhuddism , then he didn't think of anything....just focusing on the breath..the in and the out..he started counting the exhales until he reached 10 and then count 10 exhales again....he thought about the world and felt a part of everything...a oneness ..
feeling refreshed , he went back to the highway
the next exit was CULTURE