religion

  • The Rigveda’s 20th Sukta

    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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  • The Rigveda’s 16th Sukta

    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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  • The Rigveda’s 15th Sukta

    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…

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  • The Rigveda’s 14th Sukta

    The Rigveda’s 14th Sukta

    According to Google (quoting the Wisdom Library) “Rigveda 1.14 is a 12-verse hymn (Sukta) dedicated to Agni (the sacrificial fire) by the seer Medhātithi Kāṇva in the nicṛdgāyatrī meter. It acts as an invitation for Agni to bring various deities—including Indra, Vāyu, Mitra, and the Maruts—to the ritual to partake in the Soma drink, emphasizing Agni’s role as…

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  • The Rigveda’s 13th Sukta

    The Rigveda’s 13th Sukta

    Google tells us the Rigveda’s 13th Sukta “consists of twelve verses in Gayatri meter, focusing on inviting deities to the sacrifice through Agni, often featuring phrases like samiddho adya manuṣvad agnir (1.13.1) and narāśaṃsam iha priyam (1.13.3). The verses are dedicated to various deities associated with the ritual, including Agni, Narāśamśa, and the Barhis (the sacred grass).” If you’ve…

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  • The Rigveda’s 9th Sukta

    The Rigveda’s 9th Sukta

    We’ve now come to the Rig Veda’s Ninth Sukta — and I wish I could say the translation process is getting easier. But that wouldn’t be wholly truthful. What I can say — in complete honesty — is that I’m still learning and expanding my understanding of the labyrinthian morass that is Hindu theology. I’m…

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  • Dharma, Lakshmi & the Circle-Journey

    I don’t yet have all the answers, because I’m still walking and, therefore, still learning how to remember what I’ve forgotten. Had I not ventured into Hinduism and Kundalini Yoga a few years back, I would know even less than I do at present. And now, it would seem, the journey’s taking me to Egypt,…

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  • The Rigveda’s 5th Sukta

    The Rigveda’s 5th Sukta

    At last, we reach the Fifth Sukta of the Rigveda, the most ancient and sacred of the Hindu scriptures. This one also concerns King Indra, but it’s neither a hymn nor a metered poem. Like the first four Riks, the fifth is a spiritual teaching aimed at “Brahmins.” Contrary to popular egoic belief, Brahmin is…

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  • Unmasking the Fourth Cherubim

    I really should get back to the Rigveda — and I will, very soon — but I was too intrigued by yesterday’s discovery of the potential meaning of “Noah” to let it go. Hoping to find our fourth Cherubim, the one with a human head, I checked to see if there was an ancient God…

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  • The Rigveda’s 2nd Sukta

    The Rigveda’s 2nd Sukta

    Now that we’ve established that the divine force the Vedic rishis call “Agni” actually represents the Transformational Fire of God in our heart-of-hearts (the Inner Altar within the Temple of the Holy Spirit), let’s proceed to the Rigveda’s second Sukta. Long presumed to be a “hymn” extolling the virtues of “Vayu,” the alleged “god of…

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