In Clooneys Hindu Wisdom, the Hindu Creation Myth from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishads is translated as The Great Forest Teaching. It indicates features of Indian thinking about beginnings, creation, and creativity that are basic and influential even today (Clooney 1). It tells us that self is the source of everything (Clooney 4). Without knowing yourself first, you cannot know anything else. You must look inward, not to a supreme being, in order to find the true meaning of life (Clooney 4).
When studying other religions, no matter how different they are from your own, you must figure out who you are from the beginning in order to take anything away from any other religion. By knowing about other religious traditions, you can know yourself more deeply and in a new and different way (Clooney 4). The Hindu Creation Story is different from most other religions creation story because creation of the universe was from self instead of a supreme being. For example, in Christianity, God created us from nothing in six days, where as in the Hindu myth, man created the universe. By learning about other religions in a spiritual way, we enter into a living connection with that other tradition. What is uncomfortable or bizarre to us in the beginning eventually becomes part of the greater self that we are only beginning to understand. We are nurtured by that wisdom and it becomes a part of us (Clooney 5).
From the beginning, the world was self in the form of a human being, who occupied the world alone (Clooney 2). Because man was alone, he was afraid, which made him desire a second person. Consequently, he created woman. Man unified with woman and as a result, the human race was born. Woman felt almost incestuous, being made from man, so she concealed herself in disgrace (Clooney 2). In humiliation, she changed form into a cow. Man became a bull and unified with her, thus creating cattle. She then changed form again into a mare and man transformed into a bull, resulting in the same unification and progeny. This continued to happen as she changed from animal to animal thus creating all pairs of animals (Clooney 2). Man then created fire from his hands and mouth. All of this was the surpassing creation of Brahma, for he created the gods who then were above him. Though mortal, he created the immortals, and therefore this is a surpassing creation (Clooney 2).
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In the creation myth, the need to create comes from within oneself; this need is as strong as the need of male for female, female for male the original pure solitude turns out to be only the briefest opening moment in a drama of self-discovery (Clooney 5). Male is also very dependent on female, despite the fact that she is shameful of their unification, because he needs her not only for reproduction, but to fill the void in himself that is causing him loneliness. By continually changing her form and by him persistently pursing her, the self keeps becoming one again, and each time comes apart once more, which therefore, creates our world of diversity (Clooney 8).
By learning from the Hindu tradition, we are lead beyond the limitations of our own religious tradition. We gain more from this wisdom than we give in the search; we become more than we could have been before… and eventually we find ourselves thinking and imagining God in terms we had not known previously we have consumed both the old and the new, and they have become a part of us (Clooney 15). We must have open minds when we study and explore Hindu wisdom because our world arises from within us, and is older than we are and it will outlast us (Clooney 16). The central theme of the Hindu Creation Story is that there is only one true self and as we learn from Hindu wisdom, we shall re-create our religious selves in the process. By learning from this religious tradition, we can thus better ourselves and our understanding of other cultures to become better, well- rounded individuals.
