The Myth about Mythology

Mythology (noun): A philosophy which so-called religious fanatics base as an excuse to cause destruction of human faith.

You would see the omnipotence of mythology pervading through today's society. And it is often, mistakenly, linked to religion. By religion I would mean old texts, beliefs, dogmas, dastoors, indoctrination. It is used to terrorize, partition, kill, ravage and rape the human essence - human spirit.

But look at the word closely. Mythology comes from the Latin Mythos, the same word that gives rise to the term 'mithya' in Hindi. Mithya would mean that which is false. Or 'myth', which means, "a widely held but false belief or idea". Of course, what is 'false' has a different theory altogether. The concept of the absolute truth is perhaps in fact, a 'myth', and thus the argument becomes circular.

But suffice it to say that Mythology stems from myth? If that be so, why not view mythology as yet another compendium of stories. Most of them are interesting to hear. Fables, like Amar Chitra Katha, or Aesop's. And some early religious texts that are not exactly stories but considered Mythology are interesting to read. If for nothing else, then the beauty of understanding a language. I wish at times that I knew Sanskrit. Like I wish I knew Latin. Like we know, ingrained in them are the foundations of present-day languages like English, Spanish or Hindi. Wouldn't it be great to know the origin of a river that has flown for centuries past? The source of a river is the purest part of it. It is not convoluted by clogging hair, washing power Nirma, sacred threads, or heaps of mud that are the result of immersion of Hindu gods.

Coming back to the richness of language and meaning of primal languages, consider for example, the Gayatri Mantra. Google its meaning, and its translation, and read up a little more on its significance. Maybe you will realize the 'Bhur Bhuva Swahah' gives rise to the powerful expression which could mean a conjunction of the earth and ether, it could mean the essence of life - being creation, preservation and destruction, it could mean 'existence, consciousness and bliss', which is, 'sat-chit-anand' ("Satchidanand"), and it could mean an all-encompassing term - God. 

I am not for once saying that reciting this for a hundred and eight times near a river makes you attain salvation. That theory has also been propounded. And therein lies my first problem with the inherent problematic nature of Mythology. 

My second problem lies with its usage to state the 'truth',  when the epistemological and lingual origins lie in a word denoting falsehood. And as I said, who knows what is THE truth? Is there one?

And then you derive notions from Mythology to talk about nonsensical terms like culture. You ban homosexuality on the pretext that it is 'unknown' to 'our' 'culture'. We shall note how problematic these terms are.

1. 'Our' - What do you mean by 'our'? Are you a Hindu? A Muslim? A Zoroastrian? If you say your 'culture' is irrespective of Hindu or Zoroastrian, then you are a liar. A Hindu God (Indra) is the Zoroastrian Devil. Both Hindus and Zoroastrians are part of India. If you say Zoroastrians are not, I insist you try tracing the "Berry Pulao" anywhere else apart from Britannia on Dadabhai Naoroji Street in Bombay. Next. Considering you are a Hindu. A majority. Are you an Aryan? Are you a Vedic Aryan? Do you trace your roots back to the Indus Valley Civilization? If it's the third, then are your gods Shiva and Shakti? If it's the second, then are your Gods Surya, Vayu and Agni as well? If you are not sure, then you yourself are a hybrid of previous races. Then why the fuss about 'our'? What is yours, by your account? The Rgveda had 33 gods. By the later vedas, there were apparently 33 Crore. Was there an equal population explosion in heaven then? OK, so you do not have an answer to 'our'. So then why do you say the Muslim is a foreigner? Is not the Aryan from Iran? Have you been to the British Museum to verify? And what is so Indian in 'our'? What was India before the 19th century? Is there even a resemblance of the present geographical map anywhere before the 19th century?
2. 'Culture' - What is culture? If you are not sure about identity, if you have an existential crisis, then how do you determine culture? Do classical ragas invented by later musicians, meaning musicians of this century not form part of our culture? 
3. 'Unknown' - Ayyappan (he is also one of 'your' Gods), was born of Vishnu and Shiva. I am sure you are googling him now. Anyway, so, was that not homosexuality? What did you think it was? Lawn tennis?

Well, so this was so much about mythology. Yet, you claim your culture, your religion, your God, your law on the basis of your culture, on the basis of mythology.