Slithering cold hearted snakes?

Ular (Snake, Malay; 2013)
Director: Jason Chong

This is a knock-off of the many Hollywood and Bollywood horror flicks. Even the film poster bears an almost near-replica resemblance to Hollywood's blockbuster 'Anaconda (2008)'. Besides that, it is a worthy effort, nevertheless. The CGI effect looks believable. It creates uneasiness; not laughs. The storyline seems credible enough. How different can a disaster movie be? As per usual, it starts with a potpourri of characters landing at a resort island, gleaming from ear to ear, hoping to have a whale of a weekend. Whale, they did not have, but snakes aplenty. The owners of the resort took great pains to keep the news of killer snakes away for the public. To ensure the safety of the guests, the owner did install an electric fence to keep the snakes at bay. As to how Murphy's laws dictate, anything and everything may go wrong when it is destined to go wrong. Thanks to a few mischievous frolicking holiday-makers, the fences fell into disrepair. So, the snakes, who were the pioneer occupants of the island, go on a frenzy to reclaim their island. 

Caduceus and Serpeants on
rod of Aslepius.

The people who rose to the occasion to try to save the day are a disgraced journalist (Lisa Surihani) and her photojournalist colleague ex-boyfriend (Yusri of KRU).

Man's fascination with snakes transcends all borders. Every civilisation, from the Sumerians to the Greeks, have had their brush with our reptilian friend. From the Caduceus to imply successful commerce and skilful negotiation to the twirling serpent on the rod of Asclepius to denote healing and medicine, we have seen Ouroboros which signify rejuvenation, cyclical nature of life and immortality.

Ouroborous

We have towns named after serpents (Nagapattinam), and we have people with snakes-honouring names (Nagaratnam, Nagma). They are amongst the many who have been worshipping snakes for aeons. From North America all the way to the Champas in Vietnam, they have built a symbiotic relationship with the ophidians in sharing the planet.

They are others who vilify our reptilian friends. Snakes, often associated with evil and negativity are often blamed for Man's misery on Earth. After all, it was the evil serpent's enticement that lured Adam and Eve to savour the fruit of knowledge and subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Snake Plissken
Escape from New York (1981)

If you are one of those who take David Icke's conspiracy theories as gospel truths, then you would realise that many world leaders and entrepreneurs who live amongst us are reptilians in human's clothing!

And to top it all, I recently heard on a Youtube presentation by Praveen Mohan, the explorer of ancient Hindu temple about the rock cutting technology and the ancient alien visitation by a race referred to by the locals in Hire Benakal in Karnataka as Moryars. The Moryars are said to be small built highly intelligent serpent-like creatures who imparted their architectural skills to humanity. Humans, awed by their wisdom, started showing their reverence by placing them on a pedestal to honour them.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. 

Just passing through...

Death: An Inside Story (2020)

Sadhguru

Death gives us purpose in life. With the fear of mortality, Man probably would not be doing most of the things that we see around us. He knows that his life on Earth is finite. Hence, he needs to work hard as he wants to experience all the pleasures found here before his light burns out. Knowing that he has an expiry date, there is a need to produce progeny and care for his offspring, hoping that he will be cared for in old age.

Because of the fear of death and ignorance of what lays before and after this life as we know it, Man has created stories. These stories give purpose to his Existence here. The anxiety of what may in store after our sojourn on Earth, if it actually just a lifetime makes us believe many theories of life and death. If time is a continuum with no ends, Man has to spend a mighty long time after this life. On the other hand, if time is cyclical, Man will be returning. The next time around, things made not be good. So he better behave, here and now.

One of the ways to smack Man off his high horse and jolt him to the realisation of his vulnerability is for him to spend a day in a cemetery or crematorium. A corpse all dressed to the nines to his last journey never return but instead goes back to Mother Nature as food to other creatures or back as ash to bound to Earth again. It would be a humbling experience, understanding the fragility of life. The burning question would be, "when would the bus come for me?"

But then, he would also ponder into the age-old unanswered query - where were we before, what is our purpose, and where do we from here? From the Greeks who told rebirth and 'whitewashing' the mind before birth to unknown ethereal space for us to answer and pay for our actions during our sojourn on Earth, Man has tried to find the secret of our Existence. Unfortunately, no one has gone to the other side to return to tell of their experience on the other side. Nevertheless, people still talk about their past lives and even near-death experiences. Modern science has yet to prove the acceptability of these facts conclusively.

Herein lies the conundrum. To delve into something of which modern science, it is a matter of belief. Many of the things discussed by mystics cannot be accepted by modernity, but holy men insist that their findings are based on ancient and occult science that has been forgotten in our history.

When does life start and when does it end? Does it begin at implantation on Day 14 of ovulation, at the completion of implantation or at the point when primitive streak starts (formation of the trilaminar layers, hence individuation)? That is where medical sciences put a limit to embryo research. Indeed the gametes are not inanimate products.

Does life as we know it end when we lose consciousness, when our heart stops or when our brain stem reflexes stop responding? There is a dire need to determine an early diagnosis of brain death as modern ventilation keeps people alive, and retrieval for transplantation may be necessary.

We perceive our life as collections of knowledge and experiences. These are stored in our 'cloud' of consciousness. If all these can be downloaded in an alternative storage space or platform, we technically can achieve immortality. Death is just a minor hiccup as to how the mortal body catches a flu bug and recovers.

In the meantime, we have to contend with explanations given by spiritual men who have apparently discovered things beyond the realm of our understanding. Life works at different energy (Prana and Upa-aprana) levels. Death signifies five pranas' departure (Samana Vayu, Prana Vayu, Udana Vayu, Apana Vayu and Vyana Vayu) from the body. They exit at different times, ranging from twenty minutes all through to eighteen hours. Vyana Vayu is said to be the preservative of prana, and it may take up to fourteen days to leave, hence, the need for rituals for smooth passage of this energy to another realm.

We are also made memories of Nature's elements, our present, past lives, and many more. Reading through the book, one can understand the rationale of all the rituals in life and death that Indians have been performing. There is a hidden meaning behind all of it. Over the years, its significance has been lost, and it just appears like an unnecessary waste of time. The final destination for all souls is Moksa, nirvana or maha samadhi (ultimate equanimity state of intellect).

His final message is to embrace life and explore our full potentials. Death is not a tragedy, living without experiencing life is.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.