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This was one of the best articles/stories I've ever
read. My sincere thanks to the person who wrote this
message. 

Regards,
Vijay.
--- vmadha@xxxx wrote:
> Hinduism and Video Games (found in a web site- sent
> by a friend of mine)
> 
> "Hinduism is so complex. I do not understand it most
> of the time", said
> Eesha, a young girl to Uncle Ashok. Ashok had come
> over half an hour ago
> and Eesha was so engrossed in her video game then
> that she mechanically
> said "Hi" to Ashok, and continued with her game.
> 
> Ashok watched Eesha play Super Mario Brothers (*).
> He watched her move
> Mario to the right, hit and get hidden mushrooms and
> get bigger, or get
> a fire flower or a cape, collect coins, punch his
> way thru obstacles,
> climb ladders and occasionally get chomped by
> turtles. After the end of
> a life Mario would start his next life, from where
> he left off. Now that
> Eesha had finished one level she noticed that uncle
> Ashok, whom she met
> every week when her parents took her to the temple,
> was still there.
> 
> "Eesha, you are really good at this video game!",
> said Ashok. She nodded
> and added "Yep! and I can even beat my brother at
> it".
> 
> "You know you can learn many ideas of Hinduism from
> the video games",
> said Ashok.
> 
> "How ? uncle Ashok", Eesha asked.
> 
> Let us say if you got a video game and it gave you
> only one chance to
> beat it, will that be fair ?", Ashok asked.
> 
> "No, that is why they give you multiple lives.
> Actually, with a new game
> it is very difficult to advance much further. It
> takes practice. When we
> had just bought this game, I used to 'die' in just
> ten seconds, every
> time", said Eesha.
> 
> "Hinduism is similar too. Most people do not lead a
> perfect life. So
> according to Hinduism, you get many chances to
> improve your self. You
> get many lives. This is called reincarnation". He
> continued," and just
> as in a video game, if one life ends, you start over
> in the next life
> where you left off".
> 
> "Now what will happen if you do not go towards the
> right in your video
> game ?", asked uncle Ashok.
> 
> "You will not move to the next level. You will not
> make any progress and
> time will run out", Eesha said
> 
> "Exactly! if you do not move in the 'right'
> direction, you will not make
> progress. Thus YOU determine the right direction and
> how far progress
> you can make. 'What you do, determines the result'
> this is called the
> law of Karma. Your actions bear fruit accordingly.
> Now what happens in a
> video game if you keep making same mistakes ?",
> Ashok asked.
> 
> "You go back to the start of that level" Eesha
> replied.
> 
> "Law of Karma similarly tells you that if you keep
> making same mistakes
> over and over again, you will move backwards. Now in
> a video game you
> get rewards and receive set backs. In this video
> game a mushroom will
> make you grow bigger or an attack of a turtle will
> make you smaller, in
> real life too you may become rich or poor, but that
> depends where you
> start at and what actions you take. Yet getting big
> or small in itself
> does not mean progress. Does it ?", asked Uncle
> Ashok.
> 
> "You are right, being big or small does not
> necessarily mean you will
> move forward in the game or even to the next level",
> Eesha replied.
> 
> "Now tell me what happens when you go to the next
> level ?" Ashok asked.
> 
> "It gets tougher at the next level" Eesha said.
> 
> "Same is true in spiritual practice as per
> Hinduism", Ashok added. "Now
> tell me what happens if you get stuck at a level,
> what do you do ? and
> why ?", he asked.
> 
> "I ask my cousin Ojas. He knows what I should do. He
> knows where to the
> keys are hidden, where secret passages are. He has
> beaten the game
> already, Some times he even takes the controller to
> help me", Eesha
> said.
> 
> "In Hinduism, similarly a Guru helps you move to
> next level. A Guru or a
> master has already 'beaten the game'. She or He
> knows where the key is
> hidden that will unlock the door. She or He knows
> what where the secret
> passages are. She or He can even show you a 'warp'
> zone, to go to the
> next level. But unlike a video game, in real life a
> Guru cannot play for
> you. You have to play it yourself", said Ashok.
> 
> "Now tell me what happens when you beat the last
> level ? " Ashok asked.
> 
> "I have not beaten the game yet, but my cousin Ojas
> says that you see
> fire works, music plays for long time, and then you
> see the name of the
> programmer", Eesha said.
> 
> "Interestingly, that is what Hinduism says also,
> when you go beyond the
> last hurdle you hear the music and you see THE
> PROGRAMMER - that is God
> and then you do not need to play the game again,
> except to help others"
> Ashok said.
> 
> "Let me ask you one more question. You get so
> absorbed playing a video
> game that you feel that you are being Mario or Luigi
> on the screen. But
> are you really Mario or Luigi ? Who are You?", He
> asked
> 
> "I am Eesha, of course. But while playing the game I
> forget that I am
> Eesha and am only concerned about Mario or Luigi on
> the screen", she
> replied.
> 
> "Exactly, Hinduism believes that we go thru
> different lives believing we
> are the body or the name in that life. But we are
> not that body nor its
> name. We are the Atman or soul which plays as a
> character of Mario or
> Luigi (or whatever). That is something we must never
> forget. We are not
> this body, but we are the Soul, or Atman". Ashok
> continued.
> 
> "Eesha have you noticed, that from video games you
> just learnt Hindu
> concepts of reincarnation, Karma, Guru and Atman."
> He asked, "Was that
> complex ? ".
> 
> "Not complex at all!" Eesha smiled, Her face was
> glowing by the
> realization of Hindu concepts, a knowledge she
> already had in the form
> of video games.
> ================
> Regards
> Namo Narayana
> aDiyEn
> 
> 
> 
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=== message truncated ===


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