A Vedic Conception of the Poet 'Kavi' is an invariable epithet of the gods. The Vedas mean by this attribute to bring out a most fundamental character, an inalienable dharma of the heavenly host. All the gods are poets; and a human being can become a poet only in so far as he attains to the nature and status of a god. Who is then a kavi? The Poet is he who by his poetic power raises forms of beauty in heaven – kavih kavitvÄ� divi rÅ«pam Ä�sajat.¹ Thus the essence of poetic power is to fashion divine Beauty, to reveal heavenly forms. What is this Heaven whose forms the Poet discovers and embodies? Heaven – Dyaus – has a very definite connotation in the Veda. It

Buddhism and Hinduism I BUDDHISM, or for that matter, Christianity or Mohammadenism or any credal and personal religion, is easy to understand. For they are each of them a single and simple entity, whereas Hinduism is a multiple and complex organism. The difference is that between a tree, a huge mighty tree, may be, and a vast and tangled forest. Buddhism, for example, "may be likened to the great Bo tree under which, one may say, it was born; but Hinduism is a veritable Dandakaranya. For Hinduism means all things to all men, while a personal religion is meant truly for a certain type of persons. Hinduism recognises differences and distinction even while admitting the fu

Of Beauty and Ananda TRUTH is Beauty's substance-it is Beauty self-governed. Beauty is Delight perfectly articulate. Love is Beauty enjoying itself. Knowledge is the light that Beauty emanates. Power is the fascination that Beauty exerts. *** All Art is the re-creation of Truth in Beauty. Rhythm is the gait of Truth dynamic with Delight. The Truth of a thing is its native substance, the being in its absolute self-law. Satyam is that which is of Sat. *** Beauty is delight organised. Poetry is the soul's delight seeking perfect expression in speech. Speech is self-expression. It is the organ of self-consciousness. The natur

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) "THE zeal for the Lord hath eaten me up." Such has indeed been the case with Pascal, almost literally. The fire that burned in him was too ardent and vehement for the vehicle, the material instrument, which was very soon used up and reduced to ashes. At twenty-four he was already a broken man, being struck with paralysis and neurasthenia; he died at the comparatively early age of 39, emulating, as it were, the life career of his Lord the Christ who died at 33. The Fire martyrised the body, but kindled and brought forth experiences and realisations that save and truths that abide. It was the Divine Fire whose vision and experience he had on the f

Nicholas Roerich Ex oriente lux. Out of the East the Light, and that light is of the nature and substance of beauty, of creative and dynamic beauty in the life the spirit. This, I suppose, is Roerich's message in a nutshell. The Light of the East is always the light of the “ample consciousness� that dwells on the heights of our being in God. The call that stirred a Western soul, made him a wanderer over the world in quest of the Holy Grail and finally lodged him in the Home of the Snows is symbolic of a more than individual destiny. It is representative of the secret history of a whole culture and civilisation that have been ruling humanity for some centuries, its inner want

SEER POETS A Vedic Story (RIGVEDA – X. 51.) THE gods are in a great fix. Where is Agni? How is it that the comrade has disappeared all on a sudden? The Sacrifice – the great work has to be undertaken. And he is to be the leader, for he alone can take up the burden. There is no time to be lost, everything is ready for the ceremony to start and just at the moment the one needed most is nowhere. So the gods organise a search party to find out the whereabouts of the runaway god. The search party consists of Varuna, Mitra and Yama. We shall presently understand the sense of the selection. They look about here and there – in ten directions, it is mentioned –

Mystic Symbolism THE Mystics all over the world and in all ages have clothed their sayings in proverbs and parables, in figures and symbols. To speak in symbols seems to be in their very nature; it is their characteristic manner, their inevitable style. Let us see what is the reason behind it. But first who are the Mystics? They are those who are in touch with supra-sensual things, whose experiences are of a world different from the common physical world, the world of the mind and the senses. These other worlds are constituted in other ways than ours. Their contents are different and the laws that obtain there are also different. It would be a gross blunder to attempt a chart

Of the Divine and its Help IT is the Divine alone that is capable of immediate and absolute surrender. But is there not in the human that which is divine? * * * Discover the centre of your being and hold fast to it; only from there can you describe the perfect circle of life rounded into its absolute fullness. * * * Do not strive and struggle to do. Only be conscious of what is being done for you. * * * There is a Power that is not grim and violent, but smiling and translucent and yet irresistible. It does not give out heat and soot but radiates a soothing and persuasive clarity. It is not the Fire of our earth that

TO THE HEIGHTS To the Heights I UNWELCOME guests are prowling round about. At times they even knock at the door and try to peep through the windows. I have all the doors and windows bolted and barred. And I shall not open them, neither out of kindness nor curiosity. Let them howl in the chill night outside and go their way or perish. I await my own Guest who shall reveal himself from within; for him I keep the hearth clean and warm. I tend the fire patiently and assiduously. The flames brighten and mount upward -each a voice that calls and prays for the coming of the Beloved. O Soul! Listen to his sweet footfall. Lend not your ear to other voices. Gather together i

The Beautiful in the Upanishads WHEN the Rigveda says idam śrestham Jyotis�m Jyotih �g�t citrah praketo ajanita vibhv� Lo! the supreme Light of lights is come, a varied awakening is born, wide manifest ruśadvast� ruśatī śwety�g�t �raigu krisn� sadan�nyasy�h The white Mother comes reddening with the ruddy child; the dark Mother opens wide her chambers, the feeling and the expression of the beautiful raise no questioning; they are authentic as well as evident. All will recognise at once t at we have here beautiful things said in a beautiful way. No less authentic however is the sense of the beautiful that underlies t