Hinduism
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Namaste, my brother in Christ, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. Today, we’re discussing the Rigveda’s 27th Sukta, another wisdom teaching for Brahmins — the Teachers of God who can hear the sacred syllable, Om or AUM (rather than a “caste” of human society). Contrary to popular presumption, the 27th Sukta…
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Namaste, my brother in Christ, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. Today, we’re discussing the Rigveda’s 26th Sukta, which is blessedly shorter than the previous two. What’s it about? Miracle-working, more or less. Let’s dig right in with Rv 1.26:1, which reads: Abiding in spiritual perception sends forth the meditative offering clothing…
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Namaste, my brother in Christ, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. This time, we’re studying the 25th Sukta of the Rigveda’s first Mandala, which Google describes as a 21-verse hymn dedicated to Varuna, the guardian of cosmic order (Rta), composed by the sage Śunaḥśepa. Is this an accurate summary? Probably not,…
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Namaste, my brother in Christ, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. Today, we’re moving forward to the Rigveda’s 24th Sukta, which has long been described as a 15-verse hymn asking Varuna for release from bondage. Let’s dive in and see what we find. The first Rik (Rv 1.24:1) reads: The Golden…
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Namaste, my brother in Christ, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. We’re still studying the Rigveda, Hinduism’s oldest and most sacred scriptural text, which has never before (to my knowledge) been accurately translated. I can’t tell you why I was chosen to undertake this incredible assignment, but the Holy Spirit must have…
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Namaste, my brother in Christ, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. Our subject today is the Rigveda’s 22nd Sukta, which, to be frank, proved to be a ball-busting behemoth. Blessedly, I got there in the end, through sheer tenacity. Supposedly a hymn to the Ashvins, the 22nd Sukta is, in truth, an advanced…
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Namaste, my brother in Christ, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. Reaching the Rigveda’s 20th Sukta feels like a milestone, but it’s just a drop in the bucket, considering that the Rigveda’s Samhita contains ten mandalas (allegedly) organized into eighty-five anuvakas (lessons) and 1,028 suktas (hymns), totaling 10,552 mantras. Yikes. So far, no hymns, so only time…
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Namaste, my brother, and welcome (or welcome back) to my latest adhyayana posting. We’ve reached the Rigveda’s 17th Sukta, a supposed hymn invoking Indra (the Red Ray of the Soul’s eternal life) and Varuna (the mind-healing water of oneness). Like the first sixteen Suktas, the 17th is, in fact, a prose wisdom teaching for Brahmins…
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Namaste, my brother. I humbly offer you God’s peace, joy, love, and mercy. We’ve now come to the Rigveda’s 16th Sukta–another alleged hymn to King Indra, which is, in fact, a wisdom teaching describing the relationship between Indra, the Red Ray or Blood of Christ, and Soma, the Great I Am. The scholar-baffling words somapitaye…
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Contrary to what Google reports, the 15th Sukta of the Rigveda’s First Mandala (Rv 1.15) is not “a hymn invoking the Maruts, a group of storm gods worshipped in ancient India, to assist Agni and Indra in blessing the fire-sacrifice ritual-ceremonies called yajnas.” It is, in fact, a great deal more than a simple hymn of…