1. Hindu Gods
This is a copy for OS.

2. Thesis
The Hindu gods serve as examples of the benefits of believing in and worshipping them. Hindus believe that when one devotes their self to Krishna (one of the supreme gods) that person will be freed from the endless cycle of death and rebirth, and ascend to Heaven and be with Krishna (nirvana).

3. What is life’s purpose?
Hindus believe that the point of life is to understand that the reincarnation cycle is the true problem, not things like hunger and cold.
One should strive to end his chances of rebirth so that they can escape the cycle and ascend to nirvana.

4. Life and Death
HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada writes in his article “Reincarnation Explained | Krishna.org” that “death is a permanent problem”, which is an obvious fact.
However, he also states that “the rascals [unbelievers, or the unenlightened ones] do not know it. They are always busy with temporary problems” like cold: “Severe cold, winter, has come, and it will go [...] because of ignorance [we] are taking birth … accepting disease … old age … death” (Prabhupada).
So, death is a problem because it doesn’t just end your life; it instead renews your existence in the earthly realm.

5. The Bhagavad Gita
Since the soul is a continuous entity with no beginning or end, it cannot escape the cycle by its own means, as it is naturally blind to the truth.
“[W]hoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature, of this there is no doubt” (8.5).
“[A]s the sun illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness” (12.34).

6. Shiva
This is a picture of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, in his Nataraja, or “Lord/King of Dance” form. In this picture Shiva dances upon the figure of a dwarf, Apasmara, who represents human ignorance.
Shiva’s four arms all hold objects that refer to the reincarnation cycle.
His back right hand holds the damaru, an hourglass-shaped drum; this symbolizes the beat that is the passage of time
The front right hand is held palm outward with fingers pointing up in the abhaya mudra or “fear-not” gesture, which represents protection
The back left hand holds agni, or fire. It can be either held in a vessel or simply in the palm of the hand, depending on the artist’s interpretation. The fire represents destruction, Shiva’s element.
The front left hand is held across Shiva’s chest in the gajahasta (elephant-trunk) pose, with wrists limp and fingers pointed downward toward the uplifted left foot.
The left foot is held by tradition to mean upliftment and celebration; the right foot, planted on the ground, usually represents embodiment.

7. Shiva (cont.)
Hindu folklore often says that when Shiva dances (called the bhujamgastra, or “trembling of the snake” dance), his hair, which is usually piled up in a knot atop his head, flies out of its bonds and strikes the celestial bodies, which either knocks the bodies off balance or obliterates them entirely.
Together, these objects and gestures paint Shiva as the source of all movement within the cosmos (the circle of flames, prabhamandala) that Shiva dances inside of.
This dance is meant to release humans from illusion; the place where Shiva performs the dance, Chidambaram (what Hindus take to be the center of the universe) refers to reality within the heart.
Basically, the dance represents the process of awakening oneself from delusion and obliviousness, or destroying those mental concepts. This is why Shiva, as the deity symbolizing destruction, dances upon Apasmara, the dwarf who symbolizes ignorance.
The dance is performed so that humans will wake up and look at the big picture, and realize that being endlessly reborn is the true problem, not small worldly problems like cold and food.

8. Escaping the Cycle
“All conditioned souls are under the influence of the external, or material, energy” (Prabhupada).
Krishna, an incarnation of the creation god Vishnu, has come to free humans of the “clutches of the material energy”.
The material energy is what causes us to become blind to the truth, and keeps us stuck in the cycle of reincarnation.
“When we go to the spiritual world, there is no more change of body. Just as Krsna has His sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, an eternal form of bliss and knowledge, so when you go back home, back to Godhead, you will also get a similar body” (Prabhupada)
“If you simply try to understand Krsna, you can go to Him at the time of death [...] liberated from the process of birth and death” (Prabhupada)
Similarly, when people recognize Shiva’s role in destroying the misconstrued acceptance of birth, death, old age and disease, they will become enlightened about their condition and leave the cycle.

9. Multigenre

10. Works Cited
Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta S., HDG A.C. “Reincarnation Explained | Krishna.org.” Krishna.org. Original Hare Krishna Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec
“The Bhagavad Gita with Commentaries of Ramanuja, Madva, Shankara and Others.” Bhagavad.gita.us. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec
Shiva as the Lord of Dance. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles Web. 12 Dec