Religious Readings: Readings in Selected Religious Scriptures
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Religious Readings: Readings in Selected Religious Scriptures (From sources in public domain) Readings in Hinduism Rig-Veda 10.90 Rig Veda, tr. by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1896], at sacred- texts.com 1. A thousand heads hath Puruṣa, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide. 2. This Puruṣa is all that yet hath been and all that is to be; The Lord of Immortality which waxes greater still by food. 3. So mighty is his greatness; yea, greater than this is Puruṣa. All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths eternal life in heaven. 4. With three-fourths Puruṣa went up: one-fourth of him again was here. Thence he strode out to every side over what cats not and what cats. 5. From him Virāj was born; again Puruṣa from Virāj was born. As soon as he was born he spread eastward and westward o’er the earth. 6. When Gods prepared the sacrifice with Puruṣa as their offering, Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood. 7. They balmed as victim on the grass Puruṣa born in earliest time. With him the Deities and all Sādhyas and Ṛṣis sacrificed. 8. From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered up. He formed the creatures of-the air, and animals both wild and tame. 9. From that great general sacrifice Ṛcas and Sāma-hymns were born: Therefrom were spells and charms produced; the Yajus had its birth from it. 10. From it were horses born, from it all cattle with two rows of teeth: From it were generated kine, from it the goats and sheep were born. 11. When they divided Puruṣa how many portions did they make? What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet? 12. The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rājanya made. His thighs became the Vaiśya, from his feet the Śūdra was produced. 13. The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the Sun had birth; Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vāyu from his breath. 14. Forth from his navel came mid-air the sky was fashioned from his head. Earth from his 1 feet, and from his car the regions. Thus they formed the worlds. 15. Seven fencing-sticks had he, thrice seven layers of fuel were prepared, When the Gods, offering sacrifice, bound, as their victim, Puruṣa. 16. Gods, sacrificing, sacrificed the victim these were the earliest holy ordinances. The Mighty Ones attained the height of heaven, there where the Sādhyas, Gods of old, are dwelling. Rig-Veda 10.129 Rig Veda, tr. by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1896], at sacred- texts.com 1. THEN was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it. What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water? 2. Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day’s and night’s divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever. 3. Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit. 4. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart’s thought discovered the existent’s kinship in the non-existent. 5. Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder 6. Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world’s production. Who knows then whence it first came into being? 7. He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not. Brihad-Aranyaka-Upanishad 1.4.1-7 The Upanishads by Max Müller [1879] 1. In the beginning this was Self alone, in the shape of a person (purusha). He looking round saw nothing but his Self. He first said, ‘This is I;’ therefore he became I by name. Therefore even now, if a man is asked, he first says, ‘This is I,’ and then pronounces the other name which he may have. And because before (pûrva) all this, he (the Self) burnt down (ush) all evils, therefore he was a person (pur- usha). Verily he who knows this, burns down every one who tries to be before him. 2 2. He feared, and therefore any one who is lonely fears. He thought, ‘As there is nothing but myself, why should I fear?’ Thence his fear passed away. For what should he have feared? Verily fear arises from a second only. 3. But he felt no delight. Therefore a man who is lonely feels no delight. He wished for a second. He was so large as man and wife together. He then made this his Self to fall in two (pat), and thence arose husband (pati) and wife (patnî). Therefore Yâgñavalkya said: ‘We two are thus (each of us) like half a shell.’ Therefore the void which was [p. 86] there, is filled by the wife. He embraced her, and men were born. 4. She thought, ‘How can he embrace me, after having produced me from himself? I shall hide myself.’ She then became a cow, the other became a bull and embraced her, and hence cows were born. The one became a mare, the other a stallion; the one a male ass, the other a female ass. He embraced her, and hence one-hoofed animals were born. The one became a she-goat, the other a he-goat; the one became a ewe, the other a ram. He embraced her, and hence goats and sheep were born. And thus he created everything that exists in pairs, down to the ants. 5. He knew, ‘I indeed am this creation, for I created all this.’ Hence he became the creation, and he who knows this lives in this his creation. 6. Next he thus produced fire by rubbing. From the mouth, as from the fire-hole, and from the hands he created fire. Therefore both the mouth and the hands are inside without hair, for the fire-hole is inside without hair. And when they say, ‘Sacrifice to this or sacrifice to that god,’ each god is but his manifestation, for he is all gods. Now, whatever there is moist, that he created from seed; this is Soma. So far verily is this universe either food or eater. Soma indeed is food, Agni eater. This is the highest creation of Brahman, [p. 87] when he created the gods from his better part, and when he, who was (then) mortal, created the immortals. Therefore it was the highest creation. And he who knows this, lives in this his highest creation. 7. Now all this was then undeveloped. It became developed by form and name, so that one could say, ‘He, called so and so, is such a one.’ Therefore at present also all this is developed by name and form, so that one can say, ‘He, called so and so, is such a one.’ He (Brahman or the Self) entered thither, to the very tips of the finger-nails, as a razor might be fitted in a razor-case, or as fire in a fire-place. He cannot be seen, for, in part only, when breathing, he is breath by name; when speaking, speech by name; when seeing, eye by name; when hearing, ear by name; when thinking, mind by name. All these are but the names of his acts. And he who worships (regards) him as the one or the other, does not know him, for he is apart from this (when qualified) by the one or the other (predicate). Let men worship him as Self, for in the Self all these are one. This Self is the footstep of everything, for through it one knows everything. And as one can find again by footsteps what was lost, thus he who knows this finds glory and praise. 3 Chandogya Upanishad 6.1-2,9-11 The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01) by Max Müller [1879] 6.1 1. Harih, Om. There lived once Svetaketu Âruneya (the grandson of Aruna). To him his father (Uddâlaka, the son of Aruna) said: ‘Svetaketu, go to school; for there is none belonging to our race, darling, who, not having studied (the Veda), is, as it were, a Brâhmana by birth only.’ 2. Having begun his apprenticeship (with a teacher) when he was twelve years of age1, Svetaketu returned to his father, when he was twenty-four, having then studied all the Vedas,--conceited, considering himself well-read, and stern. 3. His father said to him: ‘Svetaketu, as you are so conceited, considering yourself so well-read, and so stern, my dear, have you ever asked for that instruction by which we hear what cannot be heard, by which we perceive what cannot be perceived, by which we know what cannot be known?’ 4. ‘What is that instruction, Sir?’ he asked. The father replied: ‘My dear, as by one clod of clay all that is made of clay is known, the difference2 being only a name, arising from speech, but the truth being that all is clay; 5.