All language subtitles for The Story of God With Morgan Freeman s03e01 Search for the Devil.eng

FREEMAN: Movie theaters...

I've always loved them.

But I wasn't recognized
as a movie actor until the age of 50.

My breakout role
was as "Fast Black",

the pimp in the movie,
Street Smart.

And I'll never
forget how I won the role.

I had seen a pimp
chastising a woman on the streets of New York

one night, so
at the audition...

I tried to channel the
darkness I saw in him.

As the scene crescendoed,
I leapt across the table and

pretended to hold a
knife to the face of the casting director.

Well, for a split second
I, I know she thought that I embodied evil.

I felt the power too.

Religions around the
globe have given many names to our darker impulses...

Iblis, Ravana, Satan.

I want to know why
people believe in him; what purpose he serves.

Who is the Devil?

I'm going on a quest.

To learn about the
Devil in all his forms.

I'll visit the desert
where it is said Satan tempted Jesus.

YISCA: That is what
it's all about.

Having a constant battle,
with the Devil, like Jesus...

FREEMAN: I'll see how
Buddhist monks purge themselves of evil.

What you're saying is,
"You just have to control yourself."

CHOKYI: The worse
enemies are within yourself.

FREEMAN: I'll
meet a man who fought battles with demons.

MAN: I said, "I cast
you out foul spirit"

and my body went berserk.

FREEMAN: And I'll
see how other traditions celebrate evil's defeat.

SHANKER: On the tenth day,
we congregate as a family

celebrating the God's
victory over, over the demons.

(theme music plays).

FREEMAN: My journey begins
where the Christian story of Satan begins...

In the Judean desert, outside
the ancient city of Jericho.

I've come to a 5th
century monastery that stands as a monument to

an epic spiritual battle.

I'm meeting Yisca Hirani,
an expert in Christian history in the holy land.

Well now.

YISCA: This is the church
of Saint Gerasimos.

FREEMAN: Saint Gerasimos.

YISCA: Yes, and he's
lived here, died here,

and he was a prime
example of a Monk, going to the desert,

fighting the Devil.

FREEMAN: St. Gerasimus
came to this to the harsh desert to prove to God

he was strong
enough to resist the devil's temptations.

Gerasimus was inspired by
a tradition that started centuries before him.

YISCA: This specific desert,

posed the devilish battle
to people before his time.

Before Saint Gerasimos,
it was Moses in the desert,

it was Elijah,
John the Baptist, Jesus.

You can see uh, a depiction
of Jesus being tempted.

As is recorded in three
Gospels, in the New Testament.

FREEMAN: According to
the Bible, Jesus came to the Judean desert to fast

for 40 days and 40 nights.

As his hunger and
exhaustion peaked, the Devil revealed himself.

YISCA: The Devil
says to Jesus,

"You have the ability,
command the stones to become bread".

Now, it's easy for Jesus
to do, but he says,

"No I'm not the creator
only God is the creator."

This has deeper meaning,
than just, eat or don't eat...

He's offered to be like God...

And he says no.

FREEMAN: The monks living
here today put themselves

through the same
temptation Jesus faced.

As their own test of
faith, they venture out to the nearby caves and

fast for five days a week.

Why fasting?

YISCA: Fasting is getting
yourself to a point of crisis.

FREEMAN: Just getting
yourself to a point of crisis?

YISCA: Yes, because
when people are in crisis,

that's when they're
really dangerous.

If, their belly's full,
if they're happy, then they are not dangerous.

FREEMAN: But when
you're weak and hungry.

YISCA: You will do
many bad things.

There is this Monk that
came from far away.

And he writes
a diary, and he writes how difficult it is,

he says,"I'm here
in my little cell,

and when I look through
the window to see if the sun has already passed,

then I know,
that I am in despair,

then I know that
I am not strong,

if I look out the window,
it means that I am weak."

So, he is very,
very openly confesses the

difficulty of being
just with yourself.

So where is the Devil?

Inside you.

FREEMAN: There is such
a thing as 'human'.

It's human to eat,
it's human to drink, it's human to want...

You know what
I'm doing I'm playing Devil's advocate here.

YISCA: Well that is
what it's all about.

Having a constant
battle with the Devil, like Jesus,

but not for 40 days,

for the entire
course of my life.

FREEMAN: Just as Jesus
resisted the temptation to use divine power to

turn rock in to bread,

the monks resist the
temptation to walk away from this lonely desert outpost.

Some of them paid
the ultimate price.

YISCA: These are the Martyrs.

FREEMAN: Martyrs?

YISCA: Martyrs, because
uh back in the seventh century there was an invasion of

Persians who were coming
with a different religion, a different agenda.

This was an opportunity
for the Monks to show that they're not tempted to

change their religion.

They are not tempted
to uh run away but rather they prefer to be like Jesus,

so they've decided
that death in that case with faith is better than

life with no faith.

In this world they
fought the devil and so in the afterlife they will

get the reward for that.

The desert is a place of
schizophrenic, existence.

It is either
purity or impurity.

It is either, God
divinity or the Devil.

FREEMAN: Most Christians
try their best to steer clear of the devil,

but, for the monks

who endure this remote
desert monastery, he's an opponent they willingly face.

Their only weapon of
defense, their faith.

Some Christians spend
their entire lives locked in battle with the devil.

But for Buddhists, there
exists an alternative...

I'm in Kathmandu in
Nepal to witness an ancient ritual that aims to win the

devil over to our side.

Here at the Ka-Nying
Shedrub Ling Monastery,

I'm meeting
Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche.

A Buddhist Master,

and an old acquaintance
of mine whom I first met at the sacred

Bodhi Tree in India.

CHOKYI: From today
you are my friend.

Hello my friend.

FREEMAN: Rinpoche,
how are you?

CHOKYI: How are you?

FREEMAN: I am, I am very well.

Nice to see you again.

CHOKYI: I miss you.

FREEMAN: You miss me?
I miss you.

You don't look any different.

CHOKYI: No?
FREEMAN: No.

(both laugh).

CHOKYI: You must come. Come.
FREEMAN: Right. CHOKYI: Welcome to Gumba.

FREEMAN: Thank you.

I have arrived in time to
witness the Rinpoche lead a special prayer ceremony...

A "puja", as it's called.

Its purpose?

To cleanse the temple, and
the monks, of evil spirits.

(chanting).

The monks believe
their chanting,

the horns,

the drums,

and the smoke
will purge malevolent forces.

But the monks also make
offerings of tea, and even beer to the evil entities.

Which seems like
it might not purge the monastery of evil,

but instead invite it in!

(chanting)

FREEMAN: In a
monastery in Kathmandu,

my old friend Chokyi Nyima
is leading his monks

in a ceremony to
control evil spirits.

The puja lasts
more than an hour.

It leaves me
with questions about how Buddhists understand and

deal with evil spirits.

So I ask Chokyi Rinpoche to
sit down with me and explain.

His longtime student,
Catherine Dalton, has offered to translate for us.

FREEMAN: The Puja.

What is the purpose of it?

(speaking in native language).

CATHERINE: We humans
have a physical form, but there are also beings

that lack a
physical form.

There are evil spirits
and if we want to pacify those kind of

evil influences and
spirits, the best way to do that is...

We use a meditation
practice in the Puja; we actually invite them,

those kind of spirits,
uh, to come...

FREEMAN: You don't
isolate bad guys.

CHOKYI: No, of course not.

FREEMAN:
You, you say, "Hey, come here."

CHOKYI: Yes, to help. Yes.

FREEMAN: 'Cause I know
in the Christian, uh, belief, it's just like,

"Satan, you get away.

Go get behind me."

CHOKYI: A different,
different belief.

FREEMAN: And you're
saying, "No, no, no, come here. We can talk."

CHOKYI: Yeah.

FREEMAN: The concept of
evil spirits are things you have to battle.

CATHERINE: We can talk
about evil forces or negative beings, but what that means,

actually is just
that anyone who has come under the influence of

ignorance behaves
in negative ways.

We could say that
primarily, they, uh, enemy or negativity is

something that
we find within ourselves.

FREEMAN:
As they are chanting and meditating in the puja,

the monks visualize
inviting the evil spirits into their monastery.

Since these spirits
are negative aspects of their own minds, their job

now is to work to convince
them to become good.

They do this by
making offerings.

I noticed that there
was a young man, who would stand presenting the chalice.

CHOKYI: Yes.

FREEMAN: And he'd
go and throw it out.

It was beer.

And then, comes back,
and he has hot tea.

Can we talk about that?

CHOKYI: Yes, yes, yes.

Some of them
suffer a lot because they're hungry, thirsty;

we will bless to
the beer and black teas,

and let them enjoy that.

FREEMAN: But, you
don't drink beer?

CHOKYI: No, no.

FREEMAN:
Monks don't drink beer.

CHOKYI: No, we
give it to others.

(laughs).

CATHERINE: Using different
substances, using Mantras.

Doing meditation practice.

When all of
those things come together, it becomes possible to

tame those kind
of otherwise wild and incorrigible spirits

to tame their minds.

FREEMAN:
Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Wait, you're saying
that bad guys became...

CHOKYI: Become,
yes, good, yeah.

FREEMAN: Through meditation,
chanting and offerings,

the monks work to
turn evil spirits good.

The spirits that
come around are known as Dharma Protectors.

And the monks visualize them
driving away any remaining negative influences.

CHOKYI: Buddhists mention
the worst enemies are within yourself, not outside.

FREEMAN: What you're
saying is, you just have to control yourself.

CHOKYI: Yes, yes.

FREEMAN: Get a grip on you,

and you can change these
thoughts and feelings and

temptations personal inside.

Right?

CATHERINE:
Yes, uh, definitely, the Buddha, himself,

even taught that, um,
you are your own enemy, and you're your own protector.

(bells and horns)

(snap)

(chanting)

FREEMAN: Do you
remember the day?

CHOKYI: Yeah, but
still, you're giving?

FREEMAN: Yeah, I'm
giving now to you.

CHOKYI: Oh, so sweet.

FREEMAN: No, it's,
it's, it's, may I?

CHOKYI: So sweet.

Oh, before I give you,
now you give to me.

FREEMAN: I had
no idea that I would have the opportunity...

(kiss).

To be in your presence
again in life.

CHOKYI: I love you.

FREEMAN: So,
thank you, I love you.

Thank you so much.

For Christians, the devil
is an evil spirit that must be expelled from our minds,

you know, "Get thee
behind me, Satan."

But these Buddhist
monks, they accept that we're all susceptible to

evil thoughts and impulses.

So, they don't chase
evil spirits away.

They work to transform
them into protectors.

So, you see
the devil doesn't need to get behind you,

he just needs
to be coaxed into becoming

someone you don't
mind having alongside you.

Novel, isn't it?

For more than two
millennia of Buddhist history,

the battle with
evil has been seen as an internal struggle.

As Christianity grew in
the centuries after Jesus, the Devil solidified as an

external foe...

And took familiar
supernatural form.

How did this
transformation happen?

Andrew McGowan, a
Christian scholar of Anglican Priest,

has come to the
Broumov Monastery in the Czech Republic

to see first-hand
one of the earliest and most famous images of the devil.

He's been
invited by the historian Erika Harlitz-Kern,

who studies how
the devil changed as Christianity developed.

ANDREW: Wow.
Well, this is extraordinary.

ERIKA: This is
the Codex Gigas.

Codex Giga is
Latin for Big Book.

It's 36 inches tall, 20
inches wide, 8.7 inches thick and it weighs 165 pounds.

The Codex Gigas
has a second name,

The Devil's Bible.

Legend has it that, in
the 13th century, a monk named "Herman the Recluse",

was sentenced to death for
breaking his monastic vows.

To avoid this fate, he offered
to glorify the monastery forever by creating a single

book containing all of
mankind's knowledge and write it in one day.

Near midnight, unable
to complete his task, he called on the only person

he thought could help.

The devil.

The devil offered to help
Herman finish the book...

but took his soul in return.

To seal the deal,
Herman included a portrait of his benefactor.

ANDREW: Ah!

This is such an
extraordinary image isn't it?

It's, it's really
quite fearsome or repulsive even I think.

ERIKA: Yes and he's looking
straight at you as if he's,

if he's trying to
jump out of the page.

We have the horns,
we have the talons,

the green face and he has,
what appears to be,

two tongues.

He is meant to be frightening.

What makes this image unique,
is the Devil is wearing a loincloth and the red spots

that we see on it are ermine
tails and ermine tails,

in the Middle Ages,
was a sign of royalty.

Kings wore ermine tails.

So, what this image is
telling us, is that this is the Prince of darkness.

He is the Lord of
the underworld and is of royal lineage and

he has royal power.

ANDREW: What does this
book have to tell us about the,

way in which the Devil
is understood?

ERIKA: During the Middle Ages,

the Catholic church
comes into its own as a political institution.

As Christianity spreads,
the church is changing the interpretation of the Devil,

to teach its flock about
sin and they're playing on the fear of the afterlife,

of what can happen
to you if you do not live a virtuous life.

ANDREW: It's almost as
if it's like an advertising billboard, a warning sign.

This is where you could
end up if your behavior, or your lack of faith puts you in

the wrong place.

ERIKA: This is like church
propaganda in the Middle Ages.

FREEMAN: The horns,
the talons...

taking physical form makes
the devil more tenacious.

A creature lurking in the
shadows, capable of grabbing us, and refusing to let go.

And for some tortured souls,

there's only one way to
expel the devil: exorcism!

*

FREEMAN: We've all seen
someone behaving oddly on the street, right?

Yelling, screaming what
seems like nonsense.

Most of us never think of
demonic possession: We imagine it's a mental health issue.

But the Vatican has a
team of sanctioned disciples who see demons at work in

every part of society.

They are exorcists and
every day they go into combat against the Devil.

Father Don Aldo Buonaiuto
is one the Vatican's leading exorcists.

I know all about exorcism.

I mean, I saw the movie.

So, I know that, uh, if the
Devil resides in the person, the room that that person is

in turns cold and
that person can turn his head around 360 degrees.

How close am I?

(speaking in Italian).

INTERPRETER: Some people
think of exorcism as something superstitious.

But exorcism is most
of all a prayer.

It's a prayer towards the soul
of the person that is asking for help when its possessed.

FREEMAN: How does one
proceed with an exorcism?

INTERPRETER: There is a doctor
and a psychiatrist and him...

(speaking in Italian).

For the Catholic Church,
only the priest that has had a special direction from the

Bishop can do exorcism.

Nobody else can.

FREEMAN: Is it
necessary for a priest, who is chosen by the Bishop,

to evince a certain talent?

INTERPRETER: They
need to be particularly trustworthy priests,

that have an
intense spiritual life.

FREEMAN: You have
to have courage. Coraggio.

FATHER ALDO: Si.

FREEMAN: You've done
exorcisms yourself.

How many?

(speaking in Italian).

INTERPRETER: So, he gets
lots and lots of requests.

But the real right hardcore
ones, about ten per week.

FREEMAN: When someone
comes to you, what tells you that it's a possession rather

than a mental problem?

INTERPRETER: The first
thing that an exorcist does is to see if there

are visible signs.

If the person has an
aversion for the sacred...

Or the knowledge of languages.

He's been following a 15
year old who speaks about ten different arcane languages.

FATHER ALDO: He speaks in
Coptic, in Sanskrit, in...

FREEMAN: Coptic?

INTERPRETER: Yes.
Sanskrit. Coptic.

And he got a specialist,
a monk whose been studying...

And the monk could
not believe...

FATHER ALDO: He's terrified.

INTERPRETER: This...

FREEMAN: Have you
had repeat, go back to the same person over and over?

(speaking in Italian).

INTERPRETER: The
same person goes to see the same exorcist for

more than two or
three years sometimes.

(speaking in Italian).

It's like a cure.

Like, you cure the body.

You cure the soul.

FREEMAN: Is it possible
to witness one?

(speaking in Italian).

INTERPRETER: According to the
church the prayer of exorcism cannot be shown to the public.

FREEMAN: I can't see a
priest perform an exorcism.

But I can speak to a person
who's been on the receiving end of many exorcisms.

Thank you very much
for talking to me.

Really appreciate it.

MAN: You're welcome.

FREEMAN: I wanna point
out that, uh, you want to remain anonymous.

Why?

MAN: I'm a physicist.

I do a lot of consulting work
for high technology companies and it might be the kind of

thing that makes them
hesitate before deciding, that I'm the guy they

wanna do business with.

FREEMAN: How did you,
a physicist, a scientist,

a man of science, get
into the idea of exorcism?

MAN: It wasn't a
straightforward experience.

I was completely
different inside."

I no longer had any ability
to feel any kind of happiness,

any kind of pleasure,

any kind of love or
affection for humans.

I felt like I was
a dead man walking.

I saw a variety of doctors,

endocrinologists,
variety of psychiatrists,

variety of psychologists.

You know, they had
no effects at all.

FREEMAN: Brain scans found no
tumors or other abnormalities.

No medications helped him.

So he turned, in despair, to
less conventional remedies.

MAN: I didn't rule out things
because they sounded crazy because I'd already gone

through all the things
that sounded sane.

But one of the things
I encountered along the way was the concept of exorcism.

I was raised Catholic.

I thought, you know,
I can say the prayers.

So, one evening as I
was out jogging...

I went through the various
prayers and statements...

I got to the point
where I said, I cast you out foul spirit.

It was like slamming
into a brick wall.

I stopped abruptly,

I bent over, I had violent
dry heaves, convulsions.

That was very graphic evidence
that something was real.

FREEMAN: What was your
immediate reaction?

MAN: I need to find
somebody who actually does exorcism for real and

see if he can help me.

And I was fortunate
to live not that far from a pretty well-known exorcist.

FREEMAN: What does
exorcism feel like?

MAN: Imagine you're
sitting there...

An exorcist, he's
going through the standard prayers, standard statements.

He gets to the point of
speaking to the demon.

And he says, "I
demand your name."

My body started to react;

twitch, jerk,
make strange and very nasty faces, convulsions,

thrashing and screaming.

It was very violent.

*

(screaming)

I remember I, I needed
band-aids afterwards for scratches.

FREEMAN: How do you
know when the exorcism's been successful?

Because it stops reacting to
the prayers and statements.

But of course, there were
many so the cycle starts up again with the next demon.

You went through
this, how long?

MAN: About five
years, I think.

FREEMAN: How do you feel now?

MAN: I feel human again.

The problem I had was an
incredible lack of emotion.

I couldn't feel love.

I couldn't feel any kind
of positive feeling.

Thankfully, exorcism was
effective in, in restoring that aspect to my life.

I was very grateful.

FREEMAN: Being
scientific minded,

how do you square that,

how do you square the fact
that this does exist for you?

MAN: You know, the
definition of science to me is you research,

you theorize, you test.

I didn't know if demons
were real or not, now I do.

I have experienced up
close and personally, in ways that are unmistakable,

the reality of evil
spirits and the reality of good through the Lord, God.

FREEMAN: For this tortured
man, the devil's demons weren't metaphors for

emotional imbalance
or mental distress.

He experienced them as
real, tangible foes that he struggled for years to expel.

Giving the devil solid
form doesn't necessarily make him more powerful.

It can make him easier
to fight, and defeat.

But the faithful
don't always win.

And the gods of their
demons can multiply, born in the gods of another faith.

*

FREEMAN: I have
always loved Rome.

The street life, the
food, the people.

What's most fascinating
about a city this ancient is the layers of history.

How one culture takes
over what has gone before and uses it for its own purposes.

This wall, was built to
protect the Romans in the 4th Century BC, now it holds up

this apartment building.

Re-purposing happens in
religion sometimes too.

Sometimes one faith's god,
can become another's devil.

Journalist Nelufar Hedayat
has come to the ruins of the ancient Roman city of

Pergamum, in
modern-day Turkey.

She's here to meet biblical
archeologist Sarah Yeomans.

And to find out
why the Book of Revelation

said this was where
Satan had his throne.

NELUFAR: This is,
even in its ruinous state,

it looks
absolutely spectacular.

It's beautiful.

SARAH: It is isn't it.
It's really a unique site.

It was a major city in the
Greek world in the second and first centuries BC, and then

it became a very important
city in the Roman world once they took control of this area.

FREEMAN: The Romans built
a forum, an amphitheater, and several massive temples.

SARAH: So, what we are
looking at are the remains of the Temple of Trajan,

this would have
been built in the second century,

to honor the Emperor Trajan
and this is representative of this tradition

of worshiping, uh,
deceased emperors and

their families and by doing so,

it's a way of honoring the
living emperor and honoring the existing government.

NELUFAR: So the Romans
honored their...

their emperors, their
politicians, by turning them into deities.

SARAH: Yes, having an
imperial cult and requiring worship of the imperial cult

was a way of
promoting nationalism,

was a way of promoting
what it meant to be Roman.

FREEMAN: This sprawling
city and political epicenter may have been a

symbol of pride for Romans.

But the picture painted
in the early second century

by the Book of Revelation
implies that Christians

living here had a
very different experience.

SARAH: The Romans had
no problem with Christians worshiping their God, if you

think about you know a
society that has so many gods,

there's always
room for one more what brought the Christians

into conflict with the Roman
authorities was the fact that

they refused to participate
in Imperial Cult worship.

This was
considered treasonous.

NELUFAR: Intolerable.

SARAH: Intolerable for
the Roman authorities.

The author of
the Book of Revelation emphasizes in his writings,

that there existed
a great tension between

the Christians and
the Roman authorities.

NELUFAR: Right.

SARAH: So it was a city where
we really see the conflict between Roman authorities and

the early Christians.

NELUFAR: How did that
play out in the city?

SARAH: The tensions here
became so hostile that one of the members of the Christian

community was martyred,
was executed...

NELUFAR: Who was he and
why was he martyred?

SARAH: His name was Antipas
and he was executed we believe for not being willing to

participate in the worship
of the Imperial Cult.

FREEMAN: The location of
Antipas's death is not known for certain, but some theories

place it at Pergamum's
temple of Zeus.

A place that early Christians
came to call Satan's Throne.

SARAH: What we're seeing
now is essentially what's left of the foundation.

The altar itself
would have been on top of what we're seeing.

Everything would have
been faced with white marble.

The altar, we believe,
was dedicated to Zeus, and Zeus, in Christian minds,

was really in
direct opposition.

In direct conflict
to their own god.

And if you read the
Book of Revelation,

you have a very
similar type of epic contest

taking place between
good and evil.

FREEMAN: Christian
tradition says that Antipas was burned to death inside a

hollow bull made of brass.

As the flames heated
the metallic beast, Antipas cried out.

His death screams
escaped from the bull's open snout, transformed,

cruelly, into snorts.

If they watched
Antipas die in the shadow of the altar of Zeus,

these early Christians
could be forgiven for seeing this place

as the Devil's throne.

SARAH: The author of
Book of Revelation is,

very intentionally,
setting up the

Roman authorities as
equivalent to Satan,

and setting up this
place in particular

as the seat of Satan,
very cleverly creating this opposition,

this sort of them
versus us scenario.

NELUFAR: Ah, so this actually
about, about getting the Christians motivated,

he's speaking specifically
about Christian brothers and sisters

suffering at the hands of the
Imperial powers, the Romans.

SARAH: Precisely.

It's a way to unify the
Christian community, and have them see the Roman authorities

and Imperial Government
as the evil one.

As something to be
resisted at all costs.

FREEMAN: Associating
the Romans and their gods with the devil may have

helped unify early Christians.

But it's
a dangerous tactic.

Driving a wedge between
people of different faiths

may just be what
the devil wants.

But there is one place where
a celebration of the Devil brings people together.

I've come back to Kathmandu,
in Nepal where a party atmosphere fills the streets.

It's called Dashain.

It's the biggest Hindu
festival of the year.

I've been invited to join a
typical family celebration.

Bearing traditional
gifts of fruits and sweets, I've come to the home of

Shankar Raj Pandey.

SHANKER: Namaste.
FREEMAN: Namaste.

SHANKER: Welcome Morgan.
FREEMAN: Thank you so much.

SHANKER: Nice to
have you here.

FREEMAN: It is my
pleasure to be here and this...

SHANKER: Well thank you so
much, thank you so much.

FREEMAN: For you.
SHANKER: Come on in. Please.

So this is my family here.

FAMILY: Oh!

FREEMAN: Namaste, namaste.
FAMILY: Namaste, namaste.

FREEMAN: Good looking
bunch of people.

FREEMAN: Namaste, namaste.
Namaste, namaste. Namaste, namaste.

So, Dashain, it's
a family affair.

SHANKER: Yes, very much so.

Dashain has ten main days and
on the 10th day we congregate as a family celebrating uh,

the Gods' victory over,
over the demons.

FREEMAN: According to Hindu
mythology, there was a king named Mahishasura who pleaded

to Brahma, the god
of creation, to grant him immortality.

Brahma granted his wish,
but later came to regret it...

SHANKER: So the story
goes that Mahishasura become a demon.

FREEMAN: So he
turned to a bad guy.

SHANKER: That's right.
He turned into a real bad guy.

FREEMAN: Mahishasura
raised a demon army and began attacking the gods.

Like Lucifer,
Christianity's fallen angel,

he became an
embodiment of evil.

FREEMAN: For two weeks each
fall, Hindu families in Nepal come together in celebration.

Here at Shankar Pandey's house,

they are happily feasting and
performing rituals.

But the divine story behind
Dashain; of a powerful demon attacking the Hindu gods...

Doesn't sound to me like
a cause for celebration.

Okay, now we're in
this big battle.

SHANKER: Nine days of
battle, of fierce battle.

FREEMAN: The bad guy,
however, is winning?

SHANKER: Well he started
troubling the Gods.

FREEMAN: Mahishasura had
been made invincible.

But the creator God Brahma
had made one caveat: a woman could kill him.

So the gods combined
all their divine energies to summon a fierce,

10-armed virgin
goddess named Durga.

Durga battled the demon
Mahishasura for nine days.

Finally, on the 10th
day she defeated him.

But the Dashain festival
is about more than simply remembering this victory of

good over evil.

It's a battle Shanker and
many Nepalese Hindus imagine

is taking place
inside themselves.

SHANKER: When you take
the whole epic and, and put it on to our self...

When we feel all powerful
then there is a tendency of the demon, within us,

to take precedence over
our goodness...

It's good over evil
but in essence we are fighting with ourselves.

FREEMAN: Most homes receive
a visit from a priest for blessings with holy water.

It's a reminder that there
is at least a kernel of evil inside everyone and that it

needs to be controlled.

SHANKER: After the sprinkling
of the holy waters.

Now the second part
of the function starts, which the priest will put the

tika onto my mom.

(praying in Nepalese).

FREEMAN: Receiving the
tika bestows good fortune, health, long life.

And it evokes supreme
power within you.

SHANKER: My mom was
first because she's the eldest right, so we receive...

FREEMAN: You think so?

SHANKER: I think so.

FREEMAN: How old is your mom?
SHANKER: 86. FREEMAN: Yep, she is.

SHANKER: Because I,
because I read about you.

FREEMAN: Ah!

(praying in Nepalese).

SHANKER: So this is
tikka, vermilion powder, rice, grains, and yogurt and

this is the jamara.

So you just to do this put
it like this, yeah okay.

(praying in Nepalese).

And there is a belief
that during the (inaudible) that you need to lift your feet

off the ground.

FREEMAN: Elevating your spirit
above your baser tendencies is both metaphorical and

literal for the Nepalese
during the Dashain.

SHANKER: There is
another aspect which I think you should see.

There is this concept of uh,
a swing; it's a bamboo swing that people erect in different

parts of the city and uh
villages and there is a belief that you need to lift your

feet off the ground.

FREEMAN: To be airborne.

SHANKER: Airborne.

Exactly, so that frees your
spirit and brings in all the good stuff to our soul.

FREEMAN: So do you believe
that there is pure evil?

SHANKER: Pure evil?

You know, that's 100%
evil is not possible.

I don't think so.

Some person is very good
and someone is very bad.

FREEMAN: Right.

SHANKER: But then every bad
person also has goodness.

FREEMAN: Somewhere.

SHANKER: Somewhere
and if we can, if you can extrapolate that,

and, and take it out
and, and let him, I mean let the light come out

so that the darkness
goes away...

Even if it is .001%
there is light and that,

that is enough light to work
towards eliminating darkness.

FREEMAN: Interesting.

You don't believe
that there is pure evil, that the devil stands alone.

SHANKER: No, if you believe
that God is omnipotent...

That it is all his creation
so good and evil are just a way of teaching us.

Okay, Morgan, you wanna try?

FREEMAN: Okay what?
SHANKER: Be on the swing?

On the swing.

Lift yourself up,
lift your spirit.

FREEMAN: Me?

SHANKER: Yeah, it's safe,
don't worry, it's safe.

FREEMAN: Okay. Alright. Okay.
I'm not really afraid.

Okay, airborne,
how high can I go?

SHANKER: Enjoying it?

FREEMAN: Yes.

SHANKER: Yeah,
now lift up your spirit again.

It should do that

FREEMAN: I'm doing.
Is that spirit lift?

(laughs).

Watch the dismount now,
watch the dismount.

You know,
seeing people's faces

as they soar towards
the heavens

and celebrate the
good inside them,

makes one think of
evil in a different way.

The Devil allows us
to test our willpower.

He is the embodiment
of what we must defeat, both out in the world and

within our hearts.

Striving to beat the Devil
has the power to uplift us, and bring us together.

The Nepalese believe
that there is evil even in the most saintly person and

good in the most devilish.

We should all make the
choice to rise up and slay the demons inside us.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0