So what if our gods aren’t perfect | Musings

"From what I understand, Shiva is an addict who stays high and has a lot of sex," a friend of mine who had been reading on Hinduism told me. She's British and a Catholic. For her, God symbolises perfection and righteousness and so the idea that a god's image could be flawed like that was quite intriguing. That conversation with her had me thinking.

In the modern world, our Hindu gods would not stand a chance if judged by their lifestyles. Shiva is always high on weed, Krishna is a notorious playboy and swarga would, put bluntly, resemble a modern-day dance bar with Indra lustfully watching the apsaras dance with a glass of alcohol in his hand. The gods had ego clashes and waged epic wars over women. They weren't untouched by the dark emotions of hatred, jealousy or anger. Hinduism has 330 million gods and if we follow their stories we'll find conspirers, gamblers, seductresses and characters not quite fitting for the holy.

They don't exactly make the best role models but I kind of like that our gods aren't as flawless as they ought to be. It's fascinating that they somehow reflect the extremes of goods as well as the faults of us mortals, and goes to show that we don't necessarily have to always be 'right'. Sure our gods did the regular fighting evil and keeping the balance of the world drills but knowing that it wasn't a black and white world for them either, tells us that our imperfections are what make us complete.