The Story of Rishi Yajnavalkya (I) YAJNAVALKYA was one of the great Brahmins and a supreme master of the Knowledge of Reality during the Upanishadic age. But it was not that he was only a man of Knowledge, deep and serious; he was also a fine humorist. That is, he combined his Knowledge with a keen sense of irony and fun. Here are some stories about him. King Janaka was his contemporary. That would seem to place his story in the Upanishads about the time of the Ramayana although Rama or Sita does not figure anywhere there. King Janaka too was a man of Knowledge, a sage ­king, rajarsi. But he had not taken any disciples. The seekers would come to him

Indra - Virochana and Prajapati (Chhandogya Upanishad) PRAJAPATI, the Lord and Creator, once declared himself thus: "The Self is the sinless, ageless and deathless One; it has no sorrow nor hunger and thirst. The goal of all its desire is the Truth, Truth is the one thing worthy of its resolve. It is this Self that has to be sought after, it alone one should seek to know. And one who seeks after the Self and knows it, gains possession of all the worlds, wins all that is desir­able." The message of the Lord reached both the gods and the demons. They discussed it among themselves. "If the Self is such a thing as can win all the worlds and ev

The Two Chains of the Mother* Excuse me if I sit like this with my feet in the air. That's my way of making myself at home: I feel at home. ... So, you expect me to speak to you something? Well, I have talked a lot in my rather long life, have I not? I have talked a good deal, written much more. All that forms now my Collected Works: eight volumes in English and as many volumes in Bengali. ... All of you are leaving our Centre of Education, a Centre where you have been for so many years. To complete your Course and come out of the Centre, it's all right; but to go where? It seems you have already come to a decision, there are many amongst you who have made

Hymn to All-Gods RIGVEDA Mandala I: Sukta 89 (I) MAY the happy (blissful) Sacrifices come to us from every­where, indomitable, invincible, upsoaring. May the Gods be there for our increase, may they never abandon us, may they protect us day after day. (2) May the perfect, the happy Mind of the Gods who move in the straight path, and their gifts be turned towards us. May we share the friendship of the Gods. May they carry forward our span of life. (3) With the ancient mantra we invoke them all – Bhaga and Mitra and Aditi and the unstumbling Daksha, Aryaman too, and Varuna and the twin Aswins. May Saraswati, Mother of bliss, create happiness for us.

Hymn to Surya GLOWING like the red passion-flower, born of the Supreme Light, lo, the Mighty Splendour! He dispels darkness, he slays all ills, I bow to the creator of the Day. Page- 57

The Story of Jabala-Satyakama (I) I THINK I told you once of the story in the Upanishada bout a seeker of spiritual knowledge who had been given by his teacher as a first assignment the task of looking after his kine. This was meant to serve both as an initiation and a train­ing; it was to be his work and also his test. But the student had had to pass through another, perhaps somewhat minor, ordeal of a preliminary nature. Tagore has a well-known poem based on this episode. I begin my story with that narrative, giving it almost verbatim as it appears in the Upa­nishad (Chhandogya, IV.4). Jabala Satyakama, says the Upanishad, approached his mother, Ja

Hymn to Dawn RIGVEDA Mandala I: Sukta 92 (I) Lo! These Dawns bringing forth knowledge (consciousness): in the eastern hemisphere they spread out light; like assail­ants with sharpened weapons, the gleaming Mothers move forward. (2) Easily they rise up, the glowing rays; they yoke the lumi­nous herds and yoke them perfectly. As of yore the Dawns give forms to the perception, the bright rays merge in. the blazing Sun. (3) As toilers giving the lead, with their illuminations equally yoked, they shine from beyond. They bring all impulsion and all daylight to the sacrificer who is a perfect doer of the work, a perfect donor and a perfect distiller of wi

ON THE VEDA An Introduction to the Vedas (I) WHAT is it that we call Veda? It is already known to us that the Vedas are the perennial fount of Indian culture and education, the foundation of Hinduism and the basis of the Aryan civilisation. He who defies Veda is an atheist, a non-Hindu, an untouchable and a non-Aryan. All the va­rious religious systems and scriptures of the Hindus look upon the Veda as the sole authority. What is inconsistent with the Vedas is false and unacceptable. It is no hyperbole to say that all our scriptures are but elaborate commentaries on the Veda. Even men of revolutionary ideas who want to preach some new doctrines have not the

Hymn to Sindhu (The Mother of Rivers) RIGVEDA Mandala X: Sukta 75 [These Rivers, named after the well-known ancient rivers of the Punjab, are here symbolic of the streamings, the forces of consciousness. They are, as it is said, solar powers, the radiant energies of the Sun – the Supreme Light, their seat and source. They are encompassing and flooding the whole universe including the three domains, the Earth, the Heaven and the mid-region. The foremost among them is the Sindhu; all the others are its branches and tributaries. Indeed, they represent the Supreme Power (Parashakti) and her emanations and manifestations and personalities.] (1) O WATERS, t

Hymn to Earth ATHARVAVEDA Kanda XII: Sukta 1 [This is a selection from the original Hymn which is some­what longer. There is here a double series of numbering of the slokas, put side by side – except those that have the same number in the original as well as the selection; the first one gives the order of the slokas as selected: the other one refers to the number as in the original text.] (I) THE vast Truth, the Mighty Law, the Consecration, the austere Will, the Word, the Sacrifice – these uphold the Earth. She is the guardian of our past and of our future. May she create for us the wide Realm. (2) Man offers no barrier: many are the hills and dales a