Lindsey's Epics

In this week's reading, I read through more of Babbitt's Jataka Tales and have taken notes on ones that I think would be options for me to write stories about for my project portfolio. All of the stories in part B show some kind of karmic action, but I wanted to chose my favorites and the ones that would inspire me to write an original story using the plots and/or characters. The Foolhardy Wolf This story shows karmic action in a negative way for the wolf. A wolf who is desperate for life and food finds himself a servant to the lion. The lion instructed the wolf to go each morning to look what food there is for the lion to kill and return. Over many days, the lion has killed animals and given some food to the wolf. The wolf, feeling strong enough, decided he wanted to kill an elephant. The lion accepted his request eventually and let the wolf try and kill. The wolf sprang towards the elephant but missed and feel under the elephant's foot and was killed. This story could ...

In this week's reading, I read through more of Babbitt's Jataka Tales and have taken notes on ones that I think would be options for me to write stories about for my project portfolio. All of the stories in part A show some kind of karmic action, but I wanted to chose my favorites and the ones that would inspire me to write an original story using the plots and/or characters. The Girl Monkey and the String of Pearls In this story, the girl monkey steals the queen's pearls and the chief guard is put to the task of finding out who stole them. He uses a unique way to prove who he thought had stolen them was indeed the girl monkey. He basically caught her in a trap by offering up other string beads for grabs and catching her not wanting them. This story could be a useful as it shows an occurence of karma on the girl monkey and I can work with the plot in a way to change the setting and time frame to college. (Monkey on a tree representing the monkey's looking for the ...

When you're in high school, you think every single thing that happens is important into shaping you. I was no exception. All my life, I was a dancer. I started doing competitive dance was a young age and I thought I had my future figured out. I was either going to be a professional dancer or live out my fantasy of trying out for So You Think You Can Dance. Once I entered high school, dance took over my life. My freshman and sophomore years, I still did competitive dance in addition to joining my high school's dance team. Junior year was different. Once I was an upperclassman, I had the opportunity to become a leader on my team. It was meant for the more advanced girls who not only wanted to showcase their dance skill but also their leadership skills. So junior year tryouts came and went and I was a junior lieutenant. My life was great and I was preparing for senior year tryouts. It was between me and this other girl for the top officer position and the number 1 leader on the te...

Brahma found Krishna sharing food with cowherd friends amusing. Brahma had kidnapped the cows and Krishna's friends. Krishna wanted to teach him a lesson and created the stolen cows and cowherds out of himself and returned to the village. No one knew that they weren't real. Brahma then acknowledged Krishna's divinity. Hastin was a great, violent cow. Balram wanted to kill Hastin, but Krishna told him that was not a good idea. Krishna challenged that he would ride Hastin by the next full moon. All warned Krishna against this but he didn't listen. Every night for a month, Krishna got closer to Hastin. By the next full moon, Krishna achieved riding Hastin and calming him. This is the lesson of kindness that Krishna taught. "The ultimate strength" (STORY) Yashoda refused to let Krishna marry Nadha. Krishna could not marry Nadha as he was the saviour of Dharma. Krishna learned that Yashoda was not his real mother. Kamsa was still aware that Krishna had not be...

The videos done by Epified tell the story of Krishna. It talks about all his enemies, friends, and on lookers of his life. Krishna's story begins after the birth of the Pandava brothers. Kamsa was a cruel ruler. His cousin, Devaki, married Vasudev. Kamsa was told the 8th child born from the couple would be a slayer. To save himself, Kamsa wanted to kill them, but rather placed them into prison. Kamsa decided to kill all their children. He killed 6 of their children. The 7th child was transported to Rohini, Vasudev's first wife. People thought Devaki was suffering a miscarriage. The 8th child was the incarnation of Vishnu. Although Vishnu was a divine being, Kamsa still caught word about the 8th child, the slayer being born. The guards left Vasudev's prison unlocked and he left with his son. The voice that told him to leave the cell told him to go to the Yamuna. He needed to cross the river and a serpent protected them both to cross the raging waters. On the other side o...

Updated version of the story located at  College and Karma . Ever since Ezekiel was a young boy, he dreamed of going into the field of physics. He wanted to know everything about the interaction between matter and energy. His want to become a physicist started when his mom made him take an archery class. The energy and force that the bow had before and after the arrow was shot out had interested him. Going into college, his major was physics and he knew as soon as he was skilled enough in the subject, he wanted to be an undergrad research assistant to the physics professor he had looked up to all his high school and collegiate years. That professor was Dr. Davis. Dr. Davis was a highly respected professor and one of the top physicists in the country. Students would come from far and near to learn and research under him and Ezekiel was no different. Except Ezekiel was rejected from the program when the time came to apply. To say he was devastated was an understatement. But not d...

Kunti is a great example of Karmic revolution. Kunti was the only one who really accepted the Sage, which he in turn rewarded her by giving her a way to summon any god she wanted. She tested it by summoning the Sun god. She was taken into his arms and in return was given a child. Except she was unmarried and she felt unworthy, so she put the son in a basket and put him into the river to float away. Pandu took his wives into the forest for some quiet time. They were treated like gods by the forest people. Pandu was hunting one day, and carelessly, shot a hermit couple. Before he died, Pandu was cursed. The moment Pandu became intimate with a woman, he would die. He grew sad, and his wives were sorrowful. Kunti tells Pandu about her gift and he happily asks her to give Hastinapur and give them kings. Yama, the god of truth and death, was the first god who gave Kunti the first son, Yudhishthir. The wind god have the strong son named Bhima. The King of the devas gave the great warrior so...

In this version of the epic, they focus on Karmic Revolution. I chose to "read" this version of the Mahabharata because I am focusing on Karma. (Mahabharata in sanskrit; Source:  Wikimedia ) The epic starts with Shantanu and Ganga's meeting. She made him promise to never question her. As they began to have children, one by one Ganga drowned each in the river. On the eighth child, Shantanu had had enough. Ganga told him about the 8 Vasus who were cursed and how Ganga agreed to give birth to 8 celestial spirits in order to free the Vasus from mortality. Ganga then left Shantanu, taking his last son. Karma is quite prevalent as Ganga would have good Karma done onto her as she was sacrificing her sons to free the Vasus. Shantanu also had consequences for breaking his wife's promise which led to her leaving and taking his son. Devavrat is introduced, as Shantanu and Ganga's son. Devavrat and Shantanu reunited and returned to the kingdom where the people welcome...

Looking back through all my work, I am overall pleased with my progress so far. At the beginning of this class, I struggled a little with the more creative side, especially in the story writing. I feel like I have grown as a writer just in the first 8 weeks. I am happy with how my portfolio is turning out and even the progress I make week by week. When I first brainstormed the portfolio, I was content with the theme being Karma, but I did not have a more specific theme surrounding it. As I read other people's comments on what they liked about my stories and just looked at the types of stories I write, I noticed I usually write about college aged kids and the setting is normally in a college-like atmosphere. Upon this realization, I specified my portfolio to focus on karma in college and for college students. With this specification, I am very happy with my portfolio now. As for looking forward to the rest of the semester, I want to continue to write stories that college students ca...

Looking through comments left for me along with the comments I left for other peers, I am pleased with both. I enjoy being able to read through other people's work and give feedback as it helps me realize what things I could be working on. I find it very helpful to suggest things they can add or ways to enhance their work. By doing this, it makes me think about my own work and think about ways I can enhance my own work. As for the comments left on my work, I really like having the opportunity to improve. So far I feel like all the comments left have been very positive and helped me grow as a creative writer. My favorite things to post on are the Intros because I feel like I am learning a lot my peers. I like to read all the comments left on the post and that helps me learn about all my peers even when I am just reading a certain person's intro. Looking forward, I want to make sure I thoroughly read through comments left on my intro and even reply to what I feel is necessary. I ...

As I look back onto my previous work in this class so far, I am pleased with the way my writing and creativity has progressed. I think my writing skills have progressed in the way that I am able to come up with plots and storylines better and more easier. I also have found that I have incorporated the use of more descriptive words and dialogue which is something I look for when I read other works. I am very happy with the way my blog has turned out. I have made some cosmetic changes to the layout, but overall, I am happy with content. For my website, I am thrilled with how my idea of karma has gotten more focused and specific to karma in college settings. I think my biggest accomplishment so far in class is my growth in my writing. I am able to be more creative and clearer with what I want to say. The Ramayana has been my favorite reading so far in the class, especially the novel version, because I enjoyed the storyline and all the underlying meanings that are obvious but also the unde...