Calling All Modern Avatars: How Corruption Awakens the Chosen One(s)
Restoring Balance Across Three Worlds + A Minecraft Movie
You’re invited to attend a free mastermind hour. Read to the end to learn all about it.
When corruption takes center stage in any storyline written or lived, the need of the time calls forth a balancing agent in the form of a hero or Avatar. The Chosen One(s) will recall their true nature and utilize their talents and resources to deliver truth, equity, and harmony across the three worlds.
A Minecraft Movie Sheds Light
The ancient Vedic texts speak of three worlds—Bhumi (Earth), Swarga (Heaven), and Patala (the Underworld). This cosmic structure appears across cultures, civilizations, and time—Heaven, Earth, and Hell; Mount Olympus, Earth, and Hades; Subconscious, Conscious, and Unconscious realms. It’s a pattern we see again and again in the stories we tell both fiction and non-fiction.
It was pure delight to see this structure show up in A Minecraft Movie. How ridiculously fun to see a feature film based on a video game embody these ancient cosmic principles. The story invites us to witness the journey of unlikely heroes pulled through a portal into a world of infinite creativity, where they must confront the darkness that seeks to consume it.
The Three-World System
In Vedic literature, the cosmos is divided into three main realms:
Bhumi (Earth) is our physical realm of action and evolution—where we take form, make choices, and experience the consequences of our karma.
Swarga (Heaven) is the realm of light, abundance, and divine creative potential—where imagination flourishes and possibilities are endless.
Patala (Underworld) represents the shadow realms—places of darkness but also hidden treasure, where resources are extracted, and uncontrolled desires can lead to destruction.
Here’s how A Minecraft Movie reflects this cosmic structure:
The Real World corresponds to Bhumi—where humans live ordinary lives, take action, and experience both struggle and growth.
The Overworld mirrors Swarga—a place of infinite creativity, resources that renew themselves, and the ability to build anything imaginable.
The Nether embodies Patala—a realm of darkness where the villain Malgosha, consumed by greed, seeks to invade and deplete the resources of the Overworld.
I… Am Steve
In the film, Steve (hilariously portrayed by Jack Black) represents the ultimate avatar—both from a gaming perspective and from a Vedic perspective; he’s able to bridge all the worlds. With his blocky wolf companion, Dennis (his vahana or divine vehicle in Vedic terms), he embodies the power to transform creative potential into physical reality.
The word "avatar" comes from Sanskrit, meaning "one who descends"—a divine being who takes form in the world to restore dharma (cosmic order) when it falls out of balance. Lord Vishnu's avatars appear throughout the Vedic texts, incarnating when needed to counter the forces of corruption and destruction.
Like Vishnu's avatars, the heroes in the Minecraft story are called to restore balance when Malgosha's greed threatens to consume the infinite creative potential of the Overworld. Each character represents an essential aspect of consciousness needed for this restoration:
The child (Henry) embodies pure creative potential and imagination
Henry’s sister (Natalie) expresses organizing power and protection
Dawn offers friendship and sacrifice
The misguided but ultimately redeemed Gar Gar demonstrates the transformation of arrogance and desperation into service
The Sandbox of Consciousness
In gaming terminology, Minecraft is known as a "sandbox" game—one with no real objectives, where players are free to create anything they can imagine within the game's physics.
Add a little evolution in there, and this concept brilliantly parallels what our world becomes when we integrate all three realms of our consciousness.
Corruption Aims to Conquer While Balance Seeks to Master
Malgosha, the conquering Piglin Queen of the Nether wants to dominate and pillage Overworld. The Avatar, whether it’s Steve or any of his companions, wishes to have mastery over the three worlds.
Malgosha greedily wants to mine, mine, mine (treasures and precious resources).
The agents of balance wish to mine+craft+share.
In other words:
They dig deep for meaning in the Nether world, to understand what holds them back; what beliefs and behaviors need to go in order for them to experience success.
They use their infinite potential and creativity in Overworld, overcoming the greedy intentions of the piglins. They use their individual talents and also cooperative combined talents to defeat the corrupt Queen.
Steve and the other Chosen Ones forge friendships and community based on what they’re able to learn about themselves and each other in Overworld. They bring that potential to the real world, and yes, all of them evolve.
And there we have it. Balance which came from the mastery of integration of all three worlds.
The Chosen Ones
In Chapter 4 verse 7-8 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna declares:
"Whenever dharma is in decay and adharma flourishes, then I create Myself. To protect the righteous and destroy the wicked, to establish Dharma firmly, I take birth age after age."
One way of looking at it is that not only does the Avatara take birth age after age, but also in person after person: those who are awake to the need of the time.
We are all manifestations of this divine principle—modern avatars with the capacity to restore balance to any world that has become dominated by corruption, consumption, and greed.
Like Steve and his companions, we must recognize our power to create and transform, to bring the infinite possibilities of consciousness into manifestation, and to protect the worlds we inhabit from the forces that would deplete them.
Calling All Modern Avatars
I invite you to join me for a new offering! I’ve promised those in my book club, VVBC, that I would hold a special Zoom discussion to explore the Vedic 3-World system and its relevance to our journey as modern avatars. We'll use stories across all cultures (including pop culture), as well as Vedic literature (my particular area of expertise), and finally our own personal stories to mine+craft+share the gems of meaning.
If you’ve ever done a Veda Vyasa Book Club course with me, join us! If you’ve always been curious about book club but, frankly, ya don’t want to read, then definitely join us. This is a conversation. It’s an exchange of ideas and life experiences in aid of Self-discovery facilitated by me, your enthusiastic host.
Introducing: Modern Avatars Mastermind
A one-hour discussion about the 3-World system across cultures, what it means, and what the heck it has to do with us and our personal role in the evolution of things.
It’s a Mastermind about Self-discovery. With friends. And it’s fun.
Date: Saturday, May 31st
Time: 12:00 PM Pacific (1 hour)
RSVP: Respond to this letter with a big ol’ “Count me in” and I’ll send you the Zoom link and other pertinent info. If you’re into it but have a conflict, email me anyway and I’ll make the recording available to you for a limited time.
Answering a Call To Action
Whether you choose to join the Modern Avatar Mastermind or not, may you find yourself to be one of the Chosen Ones called to action; first by recognizing your own unique talents and then using them to restore balance and bring harmony and equity wherever you go.
All my love,
Jamey
VVBC: Registration is open for our pilgrimage through The Mahabharata
Don’t let any “I can’t” statements stop you from signing up for this tremendous opportunity!
I can’t afford it. Nope! Payment plans are available.
I can’t because I’m a slow reader. Nope! I offer my own version of “Cliff’s Notes” let’s call them “Jamey Notes” so you can keep up with the discussion but still read at your own pace.
I can’t because I’m not smart enough. Nope! It’s not about smarts. It’s about life experience. This is no academic exercise. This is an opportunity to see yourself on the pages and to better understand your personal role in the evolution of things.
Thanks for reading! I'm a Vedic meditation teacher and founder of VVBC, a book club devoted to developing consciousness through exploring the great Indian epics. I’m also really into popular culture and love to draw the parallels between the most current and the most ancient with a spirit of fun and play. If you like my vibe and want to hear from me once a week, subscribe below.
I’d like to attend the zoom discussion. :)