One of these summons is Shiva, the blue-skinned ice queen who appears scantily clad in tights, boots, and a bra. You see, in the Play Station game Final Fantasy VII (Square, 1997), you collect various “summons” throughout the game to fight alongside you against monsters, soldiers, and other enemies. I leaned forward because, as one of the students who erroneously thought Shiva was a she, I had a theory, but I wanted to hear what the others said first and someone, one of the male students, confessed, “ Final Fantasy VII!” So I was correct. Out of curiosity, why did you guys think Shiva was a she?” He is the Destroyer of evil, the Lord of Dance, the tiger-minded yogi who resides in Mount Kailash. Shiva is the god of destruction - male, one of his symbols is a linga, or phallus. There is Vishnu, the maintainer of the universe, who has a thousand names and whose avatars periodically descend to Earth to restore order in the dharma.Īfter a brief unsure silence a student answered, “She is the goddess of destruction.” Murmurs and nods of agreement followed. He is putatively cursed and noticeably neglected, considering his placement among the Trimurti (trio of superior gods). There is Brahma, the four-headed god of wisdom, and the creator aspect of the godhead Brahman. A few of his former students called back in unison, “Three-hundred-thirty-three-million!” They were correct - our professor went on to discuss the metaphorical nature of that answer (it really just means innumerable), and talked about a few of the most widely worshipped gods in the pantheon: “How many gods are in the pantheon?” he asked us. In the past year I attended an Indian religions class where our professor lectured about some of the various gods in the Hindu pantheon.
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