Harry and Hari..

Harry Potter (the series, not the dude) has always struck a chord with me for various reasons.. JKR has certainly taken a lot of help from the LOTR, no doubt, but she has also woven certain concepts that bear an uncanny resemblance to a vedic school of thought.

For starters, the repeated reference to the fact that staying within the confines of the Hogwarts campus will serve as a protection is akin to our “follow your dharma, and the dharma will protect you” theory, which I believe is the essence of our culture (whether we are practicing it, is beyond the scope of this blog)

The famous lightning scar that supposedly protects HP is so similar to a lucky charm/kaapu that wards off evil and acts as a shield.

Another of my favorites is Dumbledore’s constant harping on the fact that Harry’s strength is his ability to love (don’t want to sound like a textbook by adding that Voldemort’s weakness is his inability to do so..oops! I did that didnt I?) Anger/vengeance, is recognized and criticized as a weakness in all our mythologies (hmm let’s see, off the top of my mind – the Mahabharatha) and the protagonist has always been portrayed as the noble one with a lot of self control and humility (Ramayana of course). It is “viveka” that wins in the battle and JKR more or less deals with the same idea here. Purity (innocence in case of Harry) in mind, thought and action helps overcome obstacles is what Dumbledore was trying to convey maybe?

The Gita talks about detached attachment while performing one’s duties – by being (an interested) “observer”. For some reason, my mind is drawn to the former when I read about the “pensieve” in the headmaster’s room. (For all those non-HP fans – the pensieve is a store-house of Dumbledore’s memories, kept aside for future references and can be “accessed” at any point of time). When one enters down the memory lane, he exists at the current time point and also as the one from the past – a theme that has been well-exploited by writers over the years.

I did think of a lot more….but realized that am supposed to be researching on something else here…alvida !