Hindus who worship the god Rama have long debated the cat-or-monkey question. It goes like this: does Rama save a
person with that person’s cooperation, or without it? Some say that the person must cooperate, that he must “hold on” to the god as a baby monkey clings to its mother’s back. Others say that Rama does all the
work of saving, just as a mother cat picks up the kitten by the scruff of the neck, with no effort on the kitten’s part. Many Rama worshippers identify themselves as “cat-hold” or “monkey-hold.”
