Finding Religions—Plenty of Them—in Kuala Lumpur

The next day I went to the Batu Caves just outside the city. These serve as a Hindu shrine. There are over 230 steps to climb there under the hot Malaysian sun. At the top there were a few vendors. I think I found the world's most brilliant businessman there. Just as I got to the top, panting in the humidity, he held a bottle of cold water in front of me, the plastic covered with frost. The guy must make a fortune doing that! In the huge cave I ran across a Tamil (south Indian) man showing his non-Hindu friends around. I asked him some questions about the many shrines inside the cave. He explained that it was dedicated to Lord Maruga, the son of Shiva. When he was born (from flaming arrows that burst forth from Shiva's head,) there were six of him. His mother found all six floating on a river on lotus blossoms. She hugged all six babies and they became one. (That's one way to save on diapers.) Once a year a festival is held at the caves (which, by the way, is banned in India) in which many of the Hindus pierce their skin with fish hooks tied to weights either to show devotion or to ask for forgiveness for a sin committed during the past year. They march from the main Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur to the cave where they say a prayer asking for forgiveness or expressing devotion. Then they throw off the hooks and weights, symbolic of losing the heavy weight of their sins.

The birth of Lord Maruga in the Batu Caves.

The Tamil named Mohan explained that Hindus believe that people pass through many life times before making themselves worthy of salvation. Salvation in Hinduism (called Moksha) is an escape from the cycle of birth and rebirth and a state of eternal oneness with god. He explained that Hindus believe in three paths to salvation. Devotion is one, good deeds is another, and meditation is the third. A person should combine these three elements to achieve salvation. He also explained that Hindus believe in one single, all powerful god. The many "gods" in Hinduism are really different perceptions of one god. He said that the Hindus have no name for the one god because they believe that one god is too powerful and too complex for humans to conceive of. Thus the one god has no name (nor gender.) Because humans are unable to conceive of this god until they achieve salvation, they perceive many gods. After we parted company, I went to an adjoining cave that is also a Hindu art gallery.

There are statues of Hindu gods and epics that go along with the murals on the cave walls. This, combined with the echo of footsteps and water dripping from the stalagmites, made it one eerie place. Well, just as I was about to leave, along came Mohan and his friends. I asked him about the stories behind some of the art. On one cave wall were 10 statues of Vishnu in his 10 incarnations, the 10th one coming in the future. The Hindus believe that the world is created and recreated over in cycles, each lasting millions of years. Each cycle is divided into four eras. In the first, most people are good and evil people are few. In the second, there are more evil people but good people still outnumber bad. In the third, evil people and good people are about equal in number. In the fourth, bad people will outnumber good people. Hindus believe that we are just moving into the fourth era and Vishnu will return in his 10th incarnation to lead people away from evil.

Another statue showed a man cutting his leg with a knife. Mohan explained that there was once a man who was tested by the gods to see if he was ready for kingship, which he was due to have in the next life. One day a beautiful dove flew into the room he was in and told him that he was being chased by a hawk. The dove asked for his help. The prince told the dove that he had nothing to fear, he would protect him. But the hawk protested, saying that he was famished and would die of starvation if he did not eat the dove. The hawk asked if his life was worth less just because he was not as beautiful as the dove. The prince sympathized with the hawk and he put the dove of the scale, offering an equal amount of his own flesh for the hawk. So he cut part of the skin from his leg and put it on the scale. As he did, the dove became heavier. So he cut off more, but the dove still became heavier. The more of his flesh he cut, the heavier the dove became. So finally when he had no more flesh left he threw himself of the scale. As he did the heavens opened up and sang his praises, showering him with lotus blossoms and the food of the gods that healed him (must be pretty good medicine.) The dove, it turned out, was Vishnu. In his next life he became a great king, although some versions say he became the Buddha.

He went on to explain that there is a trinity in Hinduism of Bhrama, Vishnu, and Shiva. Bhrama is the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer and re-creator. Thus Shiva's role is both in destruction as well as, so to speak, "rising from the ashes." To Hindus, the three gods are all part of the one god, just as in Christianity, only Hindus take the concept one step further with their other gods.

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