Contexts - The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok - page 461

As the main sources of these life-giving waters, Bali's three great mountains are also wor-
shipped: the highest, and the holiest, of the three is Gunung Agung, site of Bali's most sacred
mother temple, Besakih; Gunung Batur and Gunung Batukaru also hold great spiritual power.
Ever since the Stone Age, the Balinese have regarded their mountains as being the realm of
the deities, the sea as the abode of demons and giants, and the valleys in between as the natur-
al province of the human world. From this concept comes the Balinese sense of direction and
spatial orientation , whereby all things, such as temples, houses and villages, are aligned in
relation to the mountains and the sea: kaja is the direction towards the mountains, upstream,
and is the holiest direction; kelod is the downstream direction, the part that is closest to the
sea and therefore impure.
Karma, reincarnation and enlightenment
Finally, there are the notions of karma, reincarnation and the attaining of enlightenment. The
aim of every Hindu is to attain enlightenment ( moksa ), which unites the individual and the
divine, and brings liberation from the endless cycle of death and rebirth; it is only attainable
by pure souls, and can take hundreds of lifetimes to attain. Hindus believe that everybody is
reincarnated according to their karma , a kind of account book that registers all the good
and bad deeds performed in the past lives of a soul. Karma is closely bound up with caste and
the notion that an individual should accept rather than challenge their destiny.
The gods
All Balinese gods are manifestations of the supreme being, Sanghyang Widi Wasa , a deity
who is often only alluded to in abstract form by an empty throne-shrine, the padmasana ,
that stands in the holiest corner of every temple. Sanghyang Widi Wasa's three main aspects
manifest themselves as the Hindu trinity: Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa.
Brahma and Wisnu
Brahma is the Creator, represented by the colour red and often depicted riding on a bull.
His consort is the goddess of learning, Saraswati , who rides a white goose. As the Preserver,
Wisnu is associated with life-giving waters; he rides the Garuda (half-man, half-bird) and
is honoured by the colour black. Wisnu also has several avatars, including Buddha - a neat
way of incorporating Buddhist elements into the Hindu faith.
Siwa, Durga and Ganesh
Siwa , the Destroyer, or more accurately the Dissolver, is associated with death and rebirth,
with the temples of the dead and with the colour white. He is sometimes represented as a
phallic pillar or lingam, and sometimes in the manifestation of Surya , the sun god. Siwa's
consort is the terrifying goddess Durga , whose Balinese personality is the gruesome widow-
witch Rangda , queen of the demons. The son of Siwa and Durga is the elephant-headed deity
Ganesh , generally worshipped as the remover of obstacles.