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| pic courtesy google images |
Matrix movie makes an extensive use of Hindu themes and principles. The most obvious and fundamental Hindu theme can be found in the basic principle that, in the world of the Matrix films, what most people think of as "reality" is actually a computer-generated simulation. This appears to align closely with the Hindu doctrine that the world as we know is maya [sanskrit terms ma (not) ya (that) mean= that which is not], illusion, which we must break out of in order to achieve enlightenment. Indeed, according to Hindu philosophy, the biggest problem that humans face is our inability to see through this illusion.
Another common theme that appears in the Matrix films is that of mirrors and reflections. If you watch closely, you will see reflections constantly - often in the sunglasses that the heroes wear. Mirrors are also an important metaphor in Hindu teachings, illustrating the idea that the unreal and temporary world we see around us is actually a reflection of the real and eternal world (....the tree of this material world is only a reflection of the real tree of the spiritual world. Bhagvad Gita 15.1 purport) Thus, in order to understand that the reality we perceive is but an illusion, it is necessary for us to empty our minds first.
Such observations make the movie, The Matrix, a film which borrows Hindu philosophy.
A Big Dream
As widely accepted the hollywood movie Matrix has elements of Hindu philosophy (that explains the recitation of chants of Bhagvadgita in the end of the movie in Matrix Reloaded). Like this world is considered to be a dream dreamt by Lord Vishnu. This whole world is just an illusion. When one comes to know about its true form and connects with the source(Lord Vishnu), he is liberated from the boundaries of this physical world. He can do things like Neo does. The attachments to mortal things (in the movie Neo has towards the chief female character, Trinity) are the problems, once a person understands the truth he gets liberated (like Neo in the end).
Joseph Campbell (in this book, The Mythic Image) mentions Sleeping Vishnu creating the world with each opening of His eye. Here's a quote from one of Campbell's articles:
“Vishnu is pictured as the divine dreamer of the world dream. Vishnu sleeps on a great serpent, whose name is Ananta, which means "Endless." The serpent floats on the universal ocean, called the Milky Ocean.........Vishnu, the God, sleeps, and the activity of his mind create dreams, and we are all his dream: the world is Vishnu's dream. And just as, in your dreams, all the images that you behold and all the people who appear are really manifestations of your own dreaming power, so are we all manifestations of Vishnu's dreaming power. We are no more independent entities than the dream figures in our own dreams.”
According to Vedic/Hindu philosophy "This material creation is the spirit soul's dream. Actually all existence in the material world is a dream of Mahā-Viṣṇu, as the Brahma-saḿhitā describes:
yaḥ kāraṇārṇava-jalebhajatismayoga-
nidrāmananta-jagad-aṇḍa-saroma-kūpaḥ [Brahma Samhita 5.47]
This material world is created by the dreaming of Mahā-Viṣṇu. The real, factual platform is the spiritual world, but when the spirit soul wants to imitate the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is put into this dreamland of material creation.
After being in contact with the material modes of nature, the living entity develops the subtle and gross bodies. When the living entity is fortunate enough to associate with Lord or his servants, he is liberated from this dreamland of material creation and the bodily conception of life". (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.29.83)
......There are plenty of rabbinical and mythological references to God who dreams, thinks, or speaks, and the things come to be.....Clearly, our perception and interpretation is nothing more than cerebral projections from the stimulation of our senses. But this idea doesn't diminish their worth!
Here, this is important to understand. This bonafide concept should never be related to mundane Movies like the Matrix, its not like that, the material world is very real, but decays, fades, withers away. The reality of Krishna’s eternal Kingdom is perpetual, imperishable everlasting.
1. Vaikuntha and Goloka is reality that is imperishable
2. The mahat-tattva is reality that is perishable
Avatar
While talking of Hollywood movies with elements of Hindu philosophy, names of films like Avatar also come in mind.
Critics saw an "undeniably" Hindu connection between the film's story and the Vedic teaching of reverence for the whole universe, as well as the yogic practice of inhabiting a distant body by one’s consciousness. Another linked the Na'vi earth goddess Eywa to the concept of Brahman as the ground of being described in Vedanta and Upanishads and likened the Na'vi ability to connect to Eywa with the realization ofAtman. One commentator noted the parallel between the Na'vi greeting "I see you" and the ancient Hindu greeting "Namaste", which signifies perceiving and adoring the divinity within others. Others commented on Avatar's adaptation of the Hindu teaching of reincarnation,—a concept, which another author felt was more accurately applicable to ordinary human beings that are "a step or two away from exotic animals" than to deities.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_in_Avatar#Parallels_with_Hinduism)
Critics saw an "undeniably" Hindu connection between the film's story and the Vedic teaching of reverence for the whole universe, as well as the yogic practice of inhabiting a distant body by one’s consciousness. Another linked the Na'vi earth goddess Eywa to the concept of Brahman as the ground of being described in Vedanta and Upanishads and likened the Na'vi ability to connect to Eywa with the realization ofAtman. One commentator noted the parallel between the Na'vi greeting "I see you" and the ancient Hindu greeting "Namaste", which signifies perceiving and adoring the divinity within others. Others commented on Avatar's adaptation of the Hindu teaching of reincarnation,—a concept, which another author felt was more accurately applicable to ordinary human beings that are "a step or two away from exotic animals" than to deities.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_in_Avatar#Parallels_with_Hinduism)
According to one school of Vedic philosophy, all living entities have descended from spiritual realm ... they are put into this dreamland of material creation when they want to imitate the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Why has the soul come to the world of exploitation and not the world of dedication? That should be attributed to his innate nature, which is endowed with free will. It is a free choice. This is substantiated in the Bhagavad-gita (5. 14):
na kartrtvam na karmani
lokasya srjati prabhuh
na karma-phala-samyogam
svabhavas tu pravartate
"The soul is responsible for his entrance into the land of exploitation."(http://gosai.com/writings/origin-of-the-jiva-soul)
..Considering this all of us have a spiritual body (nitya deh) residing in spiritual world....the purpose of human birth is to attain that spiritual body....In the movie called Avatar, Jake dying here and getting up as Na'vi in another planet, Pandora is similar to living entity getting rid of temporary body and attaining nitya deh in spiritual realm....movie also shows the beauty of the other world, Pandora (Vedic literature is abundant with the matchless beauty of the spiritual world)
And most importantly the movies like Avatar, Matrix, Inception and Source Code have some element or the other which indicate to parallel/alternate universes concept or parallel planes of existence theory be it in the dream (in case of Inception)
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| pics courtesy google images |
...and they have some parallel or the other to Vedic philosophy (though badly distorted owing to the lack of proper understanding or for the sake of creative freedom).......That's all for now....will be back soon with a different topic!
