Hindu deities

"You grieve for those who should not be grieved for; yet you speak wise words. Neither for the dead nor those not dead do the wise grieve. Never was there a time when I did not exist nor you nor these lords of men. Neither will there be a time when we shall not exist; we all exist from now on. As the soul experiences in this body childhood, youth, and old age, so also it acquires another body; the sage in this is not deluded."

"The senses, moving toward their appropriate objects, are producers of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, which come and go and are brief and changeable; these do thou endure, O son of Bharata!"

"As you put on fresh new clothes and take off those you've worn, You'll replace your body with a fresh one, newly born."

"Swords cut him not, nor may fire burn him, O son of Bharata, waters wet him not, nor dry winds parch. He may not be cut nor burned nor wet nor withered; he is eternal, all-present, firm, unshaken, everlasting. He is called unmanifest, unimaginable, unchanging; therefore, knowing him thus, deign not to grieve!"

"One sees This as a wonder; another speaks of This as a wonder; another hears of This as a wonder; yet, having heard none understands This at all!"

"Either slain thou shalt go to heaven; or victorious thou shalt enjoy the earth. Therefore arise, O Son of Kuntī (Arjuna), resolved on battle."

"You are only entitled to the action, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruits of action be your motive, but do not attach yourself to nonaction."

"When your intellect transcends the mire of delusion, then you will attain to disgust of what has been heard and what is yet to be heard. When, perplexed by what you have heard, you stand immovable in samadhi, with steady intellect, then you will attain yoga."

"When one's mind dwells on the objects of Senses, fondness for them grows on him, from fondness comes desire, from desire anger. Anger leads to bewilderment, bewilderment to loss of memory of true Self, and by that intelligence is destroyed, and with the destruction of intelligence he perishes"

"To him [the Sage], what seemeth the bright things of day to the mass, are known to be the things of darkness and ignorance—and what seemeth dark as night to the many, he seeth suffused with the light of noonday."

"Not by not acting in this world does one become free from action, nor does one approach perfection by renunciation only. Not even for a moment does someone exist without acting. Even against one’s will, one acts by the nature-born qualities."

"From food come forth beings; from rain food is produced; from sacrifice arises rain, and sacrifice is born of action. Know you that action comes from BRAHMAJI (the Creator) and BRAHMAJI come from the Imperishable. Therefore, the all-pervading BRAHMAN (God-principle) ever rests in sacrifice."

"Nit for me, partha, is there any duty in the three worlds, nor anything to attain that is unattained; and I am always at work."

"All actions are performed by the gunas of prakriti. Deluded by identification with the ego, a person thinks, "I am the doer.""

"One's own duty, even if imperfectly performed, is better than being done by other even if well performed. Death in (performance of) one's own duty is preferable. (The adoption of) the duty of another carries fear (with it)."

"I explained this eternal science of yoga to Vivasvān. Vivasvān shared it with Manu, then Manu imparted it to Ikṣvāku. This science was taught and handed down in succession, but in time it was broken and the science of yoga seems to be lost."

"Whensoever there is the fading of the Dharma and the uprising of unrighteousness, then I loose myself forth into birth. For the deliverance of the good, for the destruction of the evil-doers, for the enthroning of the Right, I am born from age to age."

"In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium."

"However men try to reach me, I return their love with my love; whatever path they may travel, it leads to me in the end."

"Krishna (Sans.) The most celebrated Avatar of Vishnu, the "Saviour" of the Hindus and the most popular god. He is the eighth Avatar, the son of Devaki, and the nephew of Kansa, the Indian Herod, who while seeking for him among the shepherds and cowherds who concealed him slew thousands of their newly-born babes. The story of Krishna's conception, birth and childhood are the exact prototype of the New Testament story. The missionaries, of course, try to show that the Hindus stole the story of the Nativity from the early Christians who came to India."

"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change."

"O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."

"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself."

"To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."

"A learned person sees that although there are different bodies, every living being is the soul. He also sees that Krsna as the Supersoul is equally present in all bodies."

"Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me."

"It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father...of all living entities."

"Let it be clear that Raja Krishna, according to what has been revealed to me, was such a truly great man that it is hard to find his like among the Rishis and Avatars of the Hindus. He was an Avatar—i.e., Prophet—of his time upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend from God. He was from God, victorious and prosperous. He cleansed the land of the Aryas from sin and was in fact the Prophet of his age whose teaching was later corrupted in numerous ways. He was full of love for God, a friend of virtue and an enemy of evil."

"The Bhagavad Gītā, also more simply known as Gita, is a Sanatana Dharma or Hindu scripture produced from the colloquy given by Sri Krishna to Arjuna during the w:Kurukshetra WarKurukshetra War. Its philosophies and insights are intended to reach beyond the scope of religion and to humanity as a whole. The context of the Gita is a conversation between Lord Krishna and the Pandava prince Arjuna taking place on the battlefield before the start of the Kurukshetra War. Responding to Arjuna's confusion and moral dilemma about fighting his own cousins, Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, and elaborates on different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies;"

"Sri Aurobindo on the the Gita, on Krishna as godhead, his aura and the Krishna consciousness There are four very great events in history, the siege of Troy, the life and crucifixion of Christ, the exile of Krishna in Brindavan and the colloquy with Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra. The siege of Troy created Hellas, the exile in Brindavan created devotional religion...Christ from his cross humanized Europe, the colloquy at Kurukshetra will yet liberate humanity. Yet it is said that none of these events ever happened. Krishna as godhead is the Lord of Ananda, Love and Bhakti, he manifests the union of wisdom (Jnana), and works and leads the earth-evolution through this towards union with the Divine by Ananda, Love and Bhakti."

"Blue is his [Krishna’s] special and significant colour, the colour of his aura when he manifests – that is why he is called Nila Krishna. The adjective does not mean that he was blue or dark in the physical body. Violet is the colour of the light of divine Compassion, as also of Krishna’s grace. It is also radiance of Krishna’s protection."

"The broad category suggested by the term “Vaishnava” has been acknowledged by most scholars to encompass the majority of Hindu believers. This includes the veneration of Vishnu, Narayana, Lakshmi, Krishna, Rama, Sita and the remaining avatars (incarnations) with their female consorts, saints, sectarian leaders and followers. A very important division within Vaishnavism is comprised of the mythology and worship of Krishna, one of Hinduism’s most beloved deities. Yet, the “Krishna” traditions themselves are by no means uniform regarding the nature of the personality of Krishna nor the methods of worship. Divided into “normative” and “alternative”, the normative Krishna tradition is based primarily on a canon of early Sanskrit texts, while the so-called alternative Krishna traditions may or may not include these Radhavallabha Sampradaya (RVS)] along with regional or vernacular sources."

"Krishna, Sanskrit Kṛṣṇa, one of the most widely revered and most popular of all Indian divinities, worshipped as the eighth incarnation (avatar, or avatara) of the Hindu god Vishnu and also as a supreme god in his own right. Krishna became the focus of numerous bhakti (devotional) cults, which over the centuries have produced a wealth of religious poetry, music, and painting. The basic sources of Krishna’s mythology are the epic Mahabharata and its 5th-century-ce appendix, the Harivamsha, and the Puranas, particularly Books 10 and 11 of the Bhagavata-purana. They relate how Krishna (literally “black,” or “dark as a cloud”) was born into the Yadava clan, the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, sister of Kamsa, the wicked king of Mathura (in modern Uttar Pradesh). Kamsa, hearing a prophecy that he should be destroyed by Devaki’s child, tried to slay her children, but Krishna was smuggled across the Yamuna River to Gokula (or Vraja, modern Gokul), where he was raised by the leader of the cowherds, Nanda, and his wife Yashoda."

"Radha, in Hinduism, the Gopi (milkmaid) who became the consort of the god Krishna during that period of his life when he lived among the gopas (cowherds) of Vrindavana. Radha was the wife of another gopa but was the most beloved of Krishna’s consorts and his constant companion. In the bhakti (devotional) movement of Vaishnavism, the female, Radha, symbolizes the human soul and the male, Krishna, the divine."

"In my past there is Krishna. In my dreams I dream of recreating a huge college of flutists, a veritable Vrindaban in which students will arrive to learn and study with satchels full of flutes, live in mud huts, eat at a common langar. A modern Vrindaban from which a thousand flutes will ring out each day. For what else is there? When my breath is gone and I can not play anymore what do I leave behind? Some dedicated students! When you leave nothing behind, you cry at the point of death, but I still dream, I dare to dream that through my students my flute will be left behind as the memory of Krishna."

"Rama Rama Rama Rama Sita Rama you chant Do with devotion, and get the release you want... As those Yama hordes arrive, to bid you to come Spirit tries to escape the throat, Hari’s name will not come Body systems cease working and our relative are bemoaning Name of the Ocean-daughter’s lord will it come to your asking? When your breath is blocked by phlegm in your throat Vasudev Krishna’s name will be of no use then to shout When you beautiful body breaks down and falls apart As your eyes get blurred and dead, Ranga’s name will not depart When your body juices mix up and collect down below As the elements disintegrate, uttering God’s name will it allow. Having born as a wicked and done many a cruel deed As soul departs, Puranadara Vittala’s name will not proceed."

"I sometimes wonder if that is what Krishna meant— Among other things —or one way of putting the same thing: That the future is a faded song, a Royal Rose or a lavender spray Of wistful regret for those who are not yet here to regret,... And do not think of the fruit of action. Fare forward. O voyagers, O seamen,... So Krishna, as when he admonished Arjuna On the field of battle. Not fare well, But fare forward, voyagers."

"I always felt at home with Krishna. You see it was already a part of me. I think it's something that's been with me from my previous birth."

"Lord Krishna – the 8th incarnation of God Vishnu, the Creator– had eight wives (the Ashta-Bharyas). They are: Rukmini, Satyabhama,Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravrinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Laksmana. Besides Ashtabharyas, he had thousands of adoring female friends (16,000 are prominent among them) who were young girls known as Gopis. These were not his concubines as some non-Hindus may think of. The amorous relationship between Sri Krishna and the Gopi is the symbol of relationship between the creator and the human beings."

"Hindus interpret the Diwali story based upon where they live:In North India they celebrate the story of King Rama's return to Ayodhya after he defeated Ravana by lighting rows of clay lamps. South India celebrates it as the day that Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. In western India the festival marks the day that Lord Vishnu, the Preserver (one of the main gods of the Hindu trinity) sent the demon King Bali to rule the nether world."

"His first eight wives as told in the Krishna story [appear] in this sequence, 1) Rukmini, 2)Satyabhama, and 3)Jambavati – their marriages are entwined due to a wondrous jewel derived from Surya, the Sun; 4)Kalindi; 5)Mitravinda, 6) Satya or Naganjiti; 7) Bhadra; 8) Laksmana or Madra. Each of these begets ten sons. … Their ranking consists of three sets of wives corresponding to the constituents of Krishna’s soverign rule from Dwarka. The first three of wives signifies Krishna’s majestic status: Rukmini signifies his majesty (sri), Satyabhama signifies his realm (w:Bhumi|bhumi]]); and intertwined with her is Jambavati, who signifies his victory (Vijaya). The second set signifies Aryavarta or the Realm of the Nobles which Krishna takes as his own; Kalindi represents its center, Satya represents its eastern side (and the Solar Dynasty), and Lakshmana represents its western side. The third set signifies the consolidation of Krishna’s Satvata clan, for both Mitravinda and Bhadra are Krishna’s paternal cousins."

"I am not manifest to all, being veiled by yoga-maya and its delusion the world knows Me not, the unborn and immutable (BG 7.25)."

"The second school of yoga is that of Shri Krishna, particularly expounded in the great poem the Bhagavad-Gita... This teaches above all else the doctrine of love. The disciple Arjuna, to whom the Guru spoke, was a great lover of mankind; according to the scripture this great soldier sank down upon the floor of his chariot before the battle of Kurukshetra began, full of sorrow because he loved his enemies and could not bear to injure them. The teacher Shri Krishna then explained to him, amid much philosophical teaching, that the greatest thing in life is service, that God himself is the greatest server—for he keeps the wheel of life revolving, not because any benefit can possibly accrue to him in consequence, but for the sake of the world—and that men should follow his example and work for the welfare of mankind. Many Great Ones, he said, had reached perfection by following this path of life, by doing their duty without personal desire. To love without ceasing is the way of the second Ray; in the Gita it is shown how this love should be directed to men and other beings in karma yoga (the yoga by action or work) and to God in bhakti yoga (the yoga by devotion)."

"On the fourth day, Govardhan puja is performed. On this day Krishna saved Gokul by lifting up the Govardhan Mountain on his little finger and holding it over the people as an umbrella."

"Even if you try not to do your duty you will be perforce obliged to do it. Let the body complete the task for which it came into being. Sri Krishna also says in the Gita, whether Arjuna liked it or not he would be forced to fight. When there is work to be done by you, you cannot keep away; nor can you continue to do a thing when you are not required to do it, that is to say, when the work allotted to you has been done. In short, the work will go on and you must take your share in it -- the share which is allotted to you."

"There was a prophet of God in India who was dark in colour and his name was Kahan."

"My dear husband, You know all the transcendental truths, and by your mercy I have heard the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna. Oh Lord, now I long to hear from you the glories of the Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, which was spoken by Lord Krishna and, by hearing which, one's devotion to Lord Krishna increases."

"The sounding of the mridanga (drum) in the kirtana (Devotional singing) is proclaiming loudly that those who have no devotion to Lord Krishna are very shameful and reprehensible. This is so because the mridanga sound diktum diktum, which means Oh! great shame! Oh! great shame!"

"To attain Supreme peace, everlasting peace and enjoy Supreme bliss, Lord Krishna does not say that there are different Muktis and the liberated jiva (mukta) will go to Several lokas (Vaikuntha etc) and enjoy with different grades of happiness."

"If only people freed themselves from their beliefs in all kinds of Ormuzds, Brahmas, Sabbaoths, and their incarnation as Krishnas and Christs, from beliefs in Paradises and Hells, in reincarnations and resurrections, from belief in the interference of the Gods in the external affairs of the universe, and above all, if they freed themselves from belief in the infallibility of all the various vedas, Bibles, Gospels, Tripitakas, Korans, and the like, and also freed themselves from blind belief in a variety of scientific teachings and infinitely small atoms and molecules,..."

"Second day of [Diwali] is called Naraka Chaturdashi or Chhoti Diwali. Narakasur, after defeating Lord Indra, snatched the magnificent earrings of Mother Goddess Aditi and took sixteen thousand daughters of gods and saints to his harem. Lord Krishna killed the demon, brought all women and earrings of Aditi. Lord Krishna came home early in the morning with demon blood on his forehead. Women massaged scented oil on Krishna and washed away dirt from his body. So we take oil massage and bathe before sunrise this day."

"You must worship the Self in Krishna, not Krishna as Krishna."

"Always resign yourselves to the Lord Shri Krishna. Always remember that we are but puppets in the Lord's hands. Remain pure always. Please be careful not to become impure even in thought, as also in speech and action; always try to do good to others as far as in you lies."

"Krishna also relates that it was he, in a former incarnation, who communicated the indestructible yoga to an ancient illuminato, Vivasvat, who gave it to Manu, the great legislator. He, in turn, instructed Ikshwaku, the father of India's solar warrior dynasty. Passing thus from one to another, the royal yoga was guarded by the rishis until the coming of the materialistic ages. Then, due to priestly secrecy and man's indifference, the sacred knowledge gradually became inaccessible."

"In the family of religions, Hinduism is the wise old all-knowing mother. Its sacred books, the Vedas, claim, 'Truth is one, but sages call it by different names.' If only Islam, and all the rest of the monotheistic 'book' religions, had learned that lesson, all the horror of history's religious wars could have been avoided. Which other religion has its God say, as Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, 'All paths lead to me'"

"While it is the Bhagavata Purana that occupies itself most particularly with the incarnation of Krishna, the Krishna story also occurs in significant detail in other Puranas, particularly the Vishnu Purana, Padma Purana, and the later Brahma Vaivarta Purana, and it is in this genre of literature the stories and legends that developed around his incarnation find their fullest expression."

"Whatever one makes of a few slight references to Krishna in texts that are probably older than the Mahabharata, and of the many efforts to imagine him prior to his literary debut in the epic, the Mahabharata is the first text to portray him as both divine and human, and to conceive of his humanity and divinity in a forceful and complex scale."

"It is also, I believe, a revelation that Karna and the Kauravas consider the option of killing Krishna. Could Karna—and this never-failing spear—really have done that? We are left to ponder the death of God. And what did Karna think of this option?"

"The places and monuments related with Krishna and his life is being encroached, plundered and destroyed systematically, willfully and with all disregard to the cultural and historical heritage. One can well imagine what would have happened during foreign rules and invasions."

"In chapter 7, Krishna reveals that the unquenchably active Nature is actually Krishna's own lower nature (prakriti). What Nature does, therefore, completely conforms to Krishna's will, even to the point that the Gita seems ultimately to teach that all one can do is be Krishna's instrument for Krishna’s activities. At times it appears that Arjuna himself has little say in his actions and will be compelled to do Krishna’s will no matter what Arjuna decides."

"Krishna also reveals that there is an eternal, unchanging, loving relationship between the individual soul and Krishna encompassed by the term bhakti, devotion. **In: p.80"

"In the Bhagavad Gita, devotion to Krishna develops slowly out of the surrounding battle scene. Though that development never quite reaches the depths of attachment of later Krishna bhakti, the text provides an image of Krishna who is both the Lord of the Universe and one who incarnates in this world again and again to set things right and protect the dharma."

"They knew that Yadavas could establish Krishna Raj again and hence it had become necessary to drive wedge, a divide between Krishna and Yadavas. What would be better way than that of making Krishna a god (from god he became God during Bhakti movement)"

"Bless me [Narada to Krishna] that my remembrance [of them] will remain, so that I can travel about meditating [on them]. Thereafter, Narada entered another residence of Krishna's wives, O dear king, desiring to witness the yogamaya of the Lord of the lords of yoga...There he [saw] Krishna again, this time playing with dice with his beloved and with Uddhava..."

"After seeing this exhibition [at many places] of [Maya|yogamaya by Krishna, who was following human ways, Narada said to Hrishikesh Krishna smilingly: “We know that your yogamaya is hard to perceive, even for magicians. But it will manifest, O Soul of the lords of yoga, by service to your lotus feet”....“Give me you leave, O God. I will wonder about the worlds, which are overflowing with your glories, singing about your lilas which purify the earth.”"

"Even the establishment of the system of Char Dham (Four Pilgrimage) related to Krishna's life— Gokul, Dwaraka, Puri and Badrinath— by Sankarachrya seems to be brilliant strategy to keep Krishna in a historical and mythical mode. Hindu or Vedic religion without Krishna or Krishna as God will be nothing but mere rituals and superstition."

"...Buddha, though quite different from Krishna, tried to change the socio-cultural scape of India through his scientific religion, even though he and Buddhism were forcibly exiled from this country."

"Krishna, after exterminating the King of Mathura, did not take the power in to his hands but restored the old system of Vritya or Mandal (circle system) and ruling with the consensus in the consultation with the Samati or Sabha (council)."

"Moreover Krishna was very fond of the downtrodden and oppressed people such as his friends of childhood or his peers or sixteen thousand hapless women whom society could not accept even if they had been liberated by Krishna from the bondage of demon king of Pragjotishpur (Modern Assam) Narakasur. It was Krishna who adopted them, giving his name and telling them, they were his queens as he had given them all the Mangalsutra or matrimonial thread."

"The influence of Krishna philosophy and his different temporal and non-temporal theories on the Buddhism could be deciphered from gleaning the various Buddhist texts, which seems to be the extension, supplantation, and elaboration of the [Krishna philosophy]…"

"...at the time when Gita was happening, Krishna had attained the title of Vasudev as he was addressed as such by Bhisma Pitamah many times and others as well. Moreover, he had already destroyed Kans, w:JarasandhaJarasandh, and the other Prati-Vasudev at the beginning of war, and was going to destroy the remaining Prati-Vasudev in the ensuing war."

"Moreover, Krishna was such a potent force that he had established a new benchmark in the form of Vasudev. What might have been very upsetting and rather threatening for the traditional social and political elites of the ancient India that he had provided virtual guidelines for becoming Vasudev through various acts and machinations. And his life itself was such a broader canvas of Vasudevhood that one could easily imbibe them becoming the Vasudev."

"What might have shocked the highly regimented and stratified society of 1000-900 BC was the Vedic fold and rituals, and mixing with Shudras or 'Dasa' initiated and formalized by Krishna. It was the very daring act of entering the marriage alliance with ‘Shudra’ or the tribal girl (Jambavati) and that too by such popular figure as Krishna who despite not being declared king or heir apparent like his elder brother, Balarama, used to enjoy more power and respect than a King."

"Apart from Krishna, another Yadav, Ghor Angaris who was the second guru of Krishna after Guru Sandipan, enacted another revolutionary feat: He himself performed his last rites embracing the Jainism after leaving the Vedic religion."

"...been appropriated by priestly class and composers of Upanishads without giving credit to Krishna. Moreover, the date of their composition has been stretched to the mythical time preceding the Gita and Krishna."

"...there were many kingdoms such as Avanti, Chedi, Hastinapur, and others where Yadavas or Krishna's relatives were the reigning kings, they did not provide any help to the Mathura."

"It appeared Krishna's act of enforcing the Raj Dharma had angered all the kings of Aryavrata and that was why they did not come to his help. However, Krishna being not an ordinary person, had anticipated the non-cooperative attitude of his [kings of Aryavrata]…"

"It appears to be more of a case of pre-planned conspiracy to obliterate Krishna – a force that had transformed the socio-political scape of ancient India, a visionary, social and political revolutionary, master par excellence in diplomacy and expert in warfare. While the stakes have succeeded in achieving first goal, as Krishna has become not only God but also God of gods, Yadavas survived their joint political-social-cultural-military onslaught."

"In the 4th century BC, Chanakya refers to the story of Krishna's birth, while Megasthenes mentions that the Sourasenoi (Surasenas or Yadavas) hero-worshipped Herakles (Krishna). Their two great cities were Methora (Mathura) and Kleisobora (Krishnapura?) on the navigable river Yobares (Yamuna)....Herkales (Krishna) sent his daughter Pandala to rule over the kingdom of Mathura (Madura)"

"Worship of Krishna as Swayam Bhagvan, or the “Supreme Being”, known as Krishna, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the Bhakti movement. From the 10th century AD, Krishna became a favourite subject in performing arts and regional traditions of devotion developed for forms of Krishna such as Venkateshvara in Andhra Pradesh, Jagannatha in Orissa, Vithoba in Maharashtra and Srinathji in Rajasthan."

"The Sanskrit word ‘krshna’ is primarily an adjective meaning “black”, “dark”, or “dark-blue”. Sometimes it is also translated as “all attractive”. In the Lalitavistara Sutra, Krishna is the chief of the black demons, the enemies of the Buddha."

"The principal scriptures discussing Krishna's story are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana. Worship of a deity or hero called Krishna, in the form of Vasudeva, Bala Krishna or Gopal, can be traced to the 4th century BC."

"The earliest text that explicitly provides detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu. Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen chapters of the sixth book (Bhishma Parva) of the epic that constitutes the Bhagavad Gita contain the advice of Krishna to the warrior-hero Arjuna, on the battlefield."

"Krishna is already an adult in the epic [Mahabharta], although there are allusions to his earlier exploits. The Harivamsa, a later appendix to this epic, contains the earliest detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth."

"Panini, the ancient grammarian (probably belonged to 5th century or sixth century BC) mentions a character called Vasudeva son of Vasudeva, and also mentions Kaurava and Arjuna which testifies to Vasudeva Krishna, Arjuna and Kauravas being contemporaries. Megasthenes (350-290 BC), a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of Seleucus I to the court of Chandragupta Maurya mentioned about Herakles in his famous work Indica. Many scholars have suggested that the deity identified as Herakles was Krishna"

"There is no unanimity among the theologians and religious figures as what is the position of Krishna. It shows he is being interpreted as per the whims and fancies of the person and sects concerned. This also proves the historicity of Krishna."

"Garbe believes Krishna to have lived about two hundred years before Buddha, to have been son of Vasudeva, to have founded a monotheistic and ethical religion, and to have been eventually deified and identified with the god Vasudeva, he founded. In the Mahabharata we have all traditions about Krishna that survived until then, non-Aryan hero, a spiritual teacher, a tribal god."

"In the Buddhist texts the term 'kala' has been used for denote the villainous men or of wicked tendency, while in the Jain texts the term 'Krishna or Vasudev' has been used for referring to the great personality, called as the 'Slaka Purush'."

"It is clear that Krishna's historicity and legacies have been highjacked to the non-temporal level at the best and mythical level at the worst. If seen from objective point of view, there should not be any doubt about the historicity of Krishna and Mahabharata period"

"Krishna and post-Krishna era underlines the rather high period of Indian socio-political scape when ruling elites or Kshatriya was like philosopher king. The Gana-Sangh system or rather republican credo that Krishna had displayed in his stately conduct or the democratic principles of debate, discussion, and unanimity or a sort of consensus characterizing Yadavas and Krishna’s conduct testifies this."

"Krishna: Political Philosophy If Plato is called the father of politics and Machiavelli as that of modern politics, then Krishna could be undoubtedly designated as the father of politics of all the time. It is another matter that he has been relegated to the mystical realm, making him the God Himself."

"...republican credo of Yadavas were refined and institutionalized by Krishna, and for upholding it, he did not spare his own relatives such as Kans, Shishupal and others. Moreover, for the sake of republican credo of electing the capable King irrespective of whether he is elder, Krishna took part in the great war of Mahabharata on the side of Pandavas, who were the sons of younger brother, Pandu of Hastinapur."

"It is no surprise that Chankya or Kautilya cast off his political theory based on the organizational pattern, appropriating not only the nomenclature but also various aspects of Krishna real politicking and diplomacy. Of course, without acknowledging Krishna and his contribution to the humanity. Even Buddha, whose three-fourth tenets of Buddhism is based on Krishna’s Samkhya, Karma Yoga, Gyana Yoga and Gita has not named Krishna in his acknowledgments, though he has done so indirectly by conceding the ancient traditions, thinkers and philosophers."

"...Nanda the foster parents of Krishna and his uncle who was the brother of Krishna's father has been referred as Mandaladhish (Head of Mandal) of Gokul Mandal. Therefore, the Mandal was administrative unit and the kingdom was organized into different Mandal whose head was responsible for the administration, tax collection and other matters."

"Sri Krishna stole the hearts of the Gopis unconditionally. The Gopis stole His Ecstasy unreservedly."

"Man’s growing divinity cries for the human perfection in Sri Krishna the man. In Sri Krishna’s humanity lies man’s promise of becoming divine."

"Sweetness and grace inexpressible, bond unbreakable, sacrifice unfathomable — this indeed is Radha, the Mother-Heart of Sri Krishna."

"Arjuna is the ascending human soul. Krishna is the descending divine Soul. Finally they meet. The human sou says to the divine Soul: “I need you.”The divine Soul says to the human soul: *I need you, too. I need you for my self-manifestation. You need me for your self-realisation.” Arjuna says: “O, Krishna, you are mine, absolutely mine.” Krishna says: “O, Arjuna, no mine, no thine. We are the Oneness complete, within, without.”"

"God is proud of His Divinity in Sri Krishna. Man is proud of his humanity in Sri Krishna."

"Sri Krishna is the beloved Boatman who untiringly plies His Boat of Consciousness between India’s unparalleled history and Her unrivalled spirituality."

"Sri Krishna’s Flute stirs the Universal Consciousness. Sri Krishna’s Gita enchants the Transcendental Consciousness."

"Sri Krishna plays on His Flute. We hear. We do something more. We barter our body’s dust with His Soul’s Plenitude."

"The influence of the Mahabharata is a flowering of centuries. The influence of Sri Krishna is the Blessing for Eternity."

"The Pandavas had love for Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna had not only love but also unstinting concern for the Pandavas."

"Arjuna ultimately became the spiritual child of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna ultimately became the loving slave of Arjuna’s surrender."

"If the Avatar Sri Krishna is the most complicated Door, then the Gita, His Song, is the most effective Key."

"Radha carries the human soul into Sri Krishna’s Heart. Sri Krishna transforms the human soul into the Divine Soul and commands it to play its role in the Divine Play."

"The Gita is Sri Krishna’s Heart, his Vision-in-Fulfilment. The Gita is humanity’s Breath, its Journey towards Immortality."

"For an earth-bound soul, the Gita can fruitfully reconcile the dark problems of human life. For a Heaven-seeking soul, the Gita can awaken a new consciousness of ever-increasing Bliss."

"I do. I refuse to accept the invitation of Desire. Sri Krishna does. He comes in to illuminate my consciousness."

"My ideal is to mount higher and higher up the ladder of divine evolution. Sri Krishna’s Ideal is to make of Himself the divine Sacrifice to strengthen the rungs of the ladder."

"Sri Krishna is sweet when I realise Him in the perfection of my “I". Sri Krishna is sweeter when I realise Him as the Doer. Sri Krishna is sweetest when I realise Him as the Pilot of all my actions and myself as His dedicated instrument."

"An aspirant’s is the cry that compels Sri Krishna to seize him with the very madness of love."

"A Vaishnava’s life is love-intoxicated. He is a portion of Sri Krishna’s individuality, perpetuating all the divine qualities of an everlasting Life."

"When I live in Sri Krishna’s Soul, I see the Truth from above. When I live in Sri Krishna’s Heart, I see the Truth from within. When I live in Sri Krishna’s Body, I see the Truth from without."

"Sri Krishna is the shoreless ocean of Bliss. But as soon as I sincerely dedicate myself to Him, He presents me with His own Boat and takes me to the boundless Shore, the Golden All."

"Sri Krishna walked the soil to annihilate the philosophies of world-shunning spirituality and of world-grasping materialism. He established on earth the “Dharmarajya,” the Kingdom of the Inner Law. He restored the true spirit of Kshatriya heroism, motivated not by human ego, but by Divine Will, making man a devoted and active instrument of the Supreme. He brought down to the earth-consciousness the supreme Truth that earth and earthly life, being inherently divine, must be made outwardly divine, fully and totally, in every sphere, in every aspect."

"The sky is clouded; and the wood resembles The sky, thick arched with a black tamala boughs; Oh Radha, Radha! Take this soul that trembles In life's deep midnight, to thy Golden house. So Nanda spoke -- and led by Radha’s spirit, The feet of Krishna found the road aright; Wherefore, in bliss which all high hearts inherit, Together taste they love's divine delight."

"Beautiful Radha, Jasmine bosomed Radha, All in the Spring-time waited by the wood For Krishna fair, Krishna the all-forgetful, - Krishna with earthly love's false fire consuming – And some one of her maidens sang this song: --"

"I know where Krishna tarries in these early days of Spring, When every wind from warm Malay brings fragrance on its wing; Brings fragrance stolen far away from thickets of the clove, In Jungles where the bees hum and the Koil flutes her love; He dances with the dancers, at the merry morrice one, All in the budding Spring-time, for ‘tis sad to be alone."

"I know how Krishna passes these hours of blue and gold, When parted lovers sigh to meet and greet and closely hold Hand fast in hand; and every branch upon the Valkul-tree Droops downward with a hundred blooms, in every bloom a bee; He is dancing with the dancers to a laughter-moving tone, In the soft awakenings Spring-time, when ‘tis hard to live alone."

"When Kroona-flowers, that open at a lover's lightest tread, Break, and, for shame at what they hear, from white blush and modest red; And all the spears on all the boughs of all the Ketuk-glades Seem ready darts to pierce the hearts of wandering youths and maids; ‘Tis there thy Krishna dances till the merry drum is done, All in the sunny Spring-time, when who can live alone?"

"Where the breaking forth of blossom on the yellow Keshra-sprays Dazzles like Kama’s sceptre, whom all the world obeys; And Patal-buds fill drowsy bees from pink delicious bowls, As Kama’s nectared goblet steeps in languor human souls; There he dances with the dancers, and of Radha thinketh none, All in the warm new Spring-tide, when none will live alone."

"Mark this song of Jayadev! Deep as pearl in ocean-wave Lurketh in its lines a wonder Which the wise alone will ponder: Though it's seemeth of the Earth, Heavenly is the music's birth; Telling darkly of delights In the wood, of wasted nights, Of witless days, and fruitless love, And false pleasures of the grove,And rash passions of the prime, And those dances of Spring-time; Time, which seems so subtle-sweet, Time, which pipes to dancing-feet, Ah! So softly -- Ah! So sweetly -- That among those wood-maids featly Krishna cannot choose but dance, Letting pass life's greater chance."

"Yet the winds that sigh so As they stir the rose Wake a sigh from Krishna Wistfuller than those; All their faint breaths swinging The creepers to and fro Pass like rustling arrows Shot from Kama’s bow: Thus among the dancers What those Zephyrs bring Strikes to Krishna's spirit Like a darted sting."

"And as if -- far wandered -- The traveller should hear The bird of home, the Koil, With nest-notes rich and clear; And there should come one moment A blessed fleeting dream Of the bees among the mangoes Beside his native stream; So flash those sudden yearnings, That sense of a dearer thing, The love and lack of Radha Upon his soul in spring."

"Then she, the maid of Radha, spake again; And pointing far away between the leaves Guided her lovely Mistress where to look, And note how Krishna wantoned in the wood Now with this one, now that; his heart, her prize; Panting with foolish passions, and his eyes Beaming with too much love of those fair girls -- Fair, but not so as Radha; and she sang:"

"See, Lady! How thy Krishna passes these idle hours Decked forth in fold of woven gold, and crowded with forest flowers; And scented with sandal, and gay with gems of price -- Rubies to mate his laughing lips, and diamonds like his eyes; -- In the company of damsels, who dance and sing and play, Lies Krishna, laughing, toying, dreaming his Spring away."

"One, with star-blossomed champak wreaths, woos him to rest his head On the dark pillow of her breast so tenderly outspread; And o’er his brow with roses blown she fans a fragrance rare, That falls on the enchanted sense like rain in thirsty air, While the company of damsels wave many an odorous spray, And Krishna, laughing, toying, sighs the soft Spring away."

"Another, gazing in his face, sits wistfully apart Searching it with those looks of love that leap from heart to heart; Her eyes -- afire with shy desire, veiled by their lashes black -- Speak so that Krishna cannot choose but send the message back, In the company of damsels whose bright eyes in a ring Shine round him with soft meanings in the merry light of Spring."

"The third one of that dazzling band of dwellers in the wood -- Body and bosom panting with the pulse of youthful blood -- Leans over him, as in his eyes lightsome thing to speak; And then with leaf-soft lip imprints a kiss below his cheek; A kiss that thrills, and Krishna turns at the silken touch To give it back -- Ah, Radha! forgetting thee too much."

"And one with the arch smile beckons him away from Jumna’s banks, Where the tall bamboos bristle like spears in battle ranks. And plucks his cloth to make him come into the mango-shade, Where the fruit is ripe and golden, and the milk and cakes are laid: Oh! golden-red the mangoes, and glad the feasts of Spring, And fair the flowers lie upon, and sweet the dancers sing."

"Sweetest of all that Temptress who dances for him now With subtle feet which part and meet in the Rasa measures slow, To the chime of silver bangles and the beat of rose-leaf hands, And pipe and lute and cymbal played by the woodland bands; So that wholly passion-laden-eye, ear, sense, soul o'er come -- Krishna is there as in the forest; his heart forgets its home."

"Krishna, made for heavenly things, 'Mid those woodland singers sings; With those dancers dances featly, Gives back soft embraces sweetly; Smiles on that one, toys with this, Glance for glance, and kiss for kiss; Meets the merry damsels fairly, Plays the round of folly rarely, Lapped in milk-warm Spring-time weather, He and those brown girls together."

"And this shadowed earthly love In the twilight of the grove, Dance and song and soft caresses, Meeting looks and tangled tresses, Jayadev the same hath writ, That ye might have gain of it, Sagely its deep sense conceiving And its inner light believing; How that Love -- the mighty Master, Lord of all the stars that cluster In the sky, swiftest and slowest, Lord of highest, Lord of lowest - Manifests Himself to mortals, Winning them towards the portals Of his secret house, the gates Of that bright paradise which waits The wise in love. Ah, human creatures! Even your fantasies are teachers. Mighty Love makes sweet in seeming Even Krishna's woodland dreaming; Mighty Love sways all alike From self to selfishness. Oh! Strike From your eyes the veil, and see What love willeth Him to be Who in error, but in grace, Sitteth with that Lotus-face, And those eyes whose rays of heaven Unto phantom-eyes are given; Holding fast of foolish mirth With these visions of the Earth; Leaving Love, and Love imparting; Yet with sense of loss upstarting: --"

"For the cloud that the veils of the fountains Underneath the sandal mountains, How -- as if the sunshine drew All its being to the blue -- It takes flight and seeks to rise High into the purer skies, High into the snow and frost, On the shining summits lost! Ah! And how the Koil's strained Smites the traveller with pain, -- When the mango blooms in Spring, And "Kahoo", "Kahoo", they sing -- Pain of pleasure not yet won, Pain of journeys not yet done Pain of toiling without gaining, Pain ‘mid gladness of still paining."

"But may he guide us all to glory high who laughed when the Radha glided, hidden, by, An all among those damsels free and bold Touch Krishna with a soft mouth, kind and cold; And like the others leaning upon his breast, Unlike the others, left their Love’s unrest; And like the others, joining in his song, Or like the others, made him silent long."

"Be not afraid, O Dharma," said Kalki reassuringly. "Now Satya Yuga has started casting his shadows. I am also supported by these noble kings like Manu and Devapi who assumed form under Brahma's guidance to enhance your influence. At Keetaka City I have already trounced the Buddhist forces which never believed in God. I am also planning to get rid of those who are not followers of Vishnu and who also defy your norms. My forces are ready to depart...."

"When Kalki was published in 1978, it looked to be something of an artistic retrenchment for Vidal, an improbable entertainment in the sci-fi genre that afforded him the opportunity to exercise his spleen on some old friends — grasping politicians, the popular media, and credulous religionists. In retrospect however the novel seems a remarkably insightful cautionary tale and, further, represents an important developmental phase in the Vidal canon. For instance the themes that Vidal addressed straightforwardly in Messiah (1954) — religious hysteria and manipulation of the popular will by the commercial media — are expanded surrealistically in Kalki. These concerns will later be addressed comically, and more effectively yet, in Live from Golgotha (1992). The more serious his purposes, it seems, the more extravagant are Vidal's conceits. Briefly, Kalki is a futuristic affair with a messianic prophet of doom who would save the planet by annihilating the human race."

"Jurgen returned again toward Barathum; and, whether or not it was a coincidence, Jurgen met precisely the vampire of whom he had inveigled his father into thinking. She was the most seductively beautiful creature that it would be possible for Jurgen's father or any other man to imagine: and her clothes were orange-colored, for a reason sufficiently well known in Hell, and were embroidered everywhere with green fig–leaves. "A good morning to you, madame," says Jurgen, "and whither are you going?" "Why, to no place at all, good youth. For this is my vacation, granted yearly by the Law of Kalki—" "And who is Kalki, madame?" "Nobody as yet: but he will come as a stallion. Meanwhile his Law precedes him, so that I am spending my vacation peacefully in Hell, with none of my ordinary annoyances to bother me." "And what, madame, can they be?" "Why, you must understand that it is little rest a vampire gets on earth, with so many fine young fellows like yourself going about everywhere eager to be destroyed.""

"Now, the redemption which we as yet await (continued Imlac), will be that of Kalki, who will come as a Silver Stallion: all evils and every sort of folly will perish at the coming of this Kalki: true righteousness will be restored, and the minds of men will be made as clear as crystal."

"Is it not a pity, Guivric, that this Kalki will not come in our day, and that we shall never behold his complete glory? I cry a lament for that Kalki who will someday bring back to their appointed places high faith and very ardent loves and hatreds; and who will see to it that human passions are in never so poor a way to find expressions in adequate speech and action. Ohé, I cry a loud lament for Kalki! The little silver effigies which his postulants fashion and adore are well enough: but Kalki is a horse of another color."

"From Hellwell to Heaven he went, there to commune with the gods. The Celestial City holds many mysteries, including some of the keys to his own past. Not all that transpired during the time he dwelled there is known. It is known, however, that he petitioned the gods on behalf of the world, obtaining the sympathy of some, the enmity of others. Had he chosen to betray humanity and accept the proffers of the gods, it is said by some that he might have dwelled forever as a Lord of the City and not have met his death beneath the claws of the phantom cats of Kaniburrha..."

"I knew him a long time ago," said Rudra. "Accelerationist?" "He wasn't then. Wasn't much of anything, politically. He was one of the First, though, one of those who had looked upon Urath." "Oh?" "He distinguished himself in the wars against the People-of-the-Sea and against the Mothers of the Terrible Glow." Here, Rudra made a sign in the air. "Later," he continued, "this was remembered, and he was given charge of the northern marches in the wars against the demons. He was known as Kalkin in those days, and it was there that he came to be called Binder. He developed an Attribute which he could use against the demons. With it, he destroyed most of the Yakshas and bound the Rakasha. When Yama and Kali captured him at Hellwell in Malwa, he had already succeeded in freeing these latter. Thus, the Rakasha are again abroad in the world."

""It is you, isn't it, Kalkin? That's your belt. This is your sort of war. Those were your lightnings striking friend and foe alike. You did live, somehow, eh?" "It is I," said Sam, leveling his lance."

"There are only demigods and men upon the field," said Death. "They are still testing our strength. There are very few who remember the full power of Kalkin." "The full power of Kalkin?" asked Sam. "That has never been released, oh Death. Not in all the ages of the world."

"Vishnu (Sk.). The second person of the Hindu Trimûrti (trinity), composed of Brahmâ, Vishnu and Siva. From the root vish, “to pervade”. in the Rig -Veda, Vishnu is no high god, but simply a manifestation of the solar energy, described as “striding through the seven regions of the Universe in three steps and enveloping all things with the dust (of his beams ”.) Whatever may be the six other occult significances of the statement, this is related to the same class of types as the seven and ten Sephiroth, as the seven and three orifices of the perfect Adam Kadmon, as the seven “principles” and the higher triad in man, etc., etc. Later on this mystic type becomes a great god, the preserver and the renovator, he “of a thousand names — Sahasranâma”."

"Oh, never star Was lost here, but it rose afar! Look East, where whole new thousands are! In Vishnu-land what Avatar?"

"O ye who wish to gain realization of the Supreme Truth, utter the name of "Vishnu" at least once in the steadfast faith that it will lead you to such realization."

"Just as the sun's rays in the sky are extended to the mundane vision, so in the same way the wise and learned devotees always see the abode of Lord Vishnu."

"Let me now sing the heroic deeds of Viṣṇu who has measured apart the realms of the earth, who propped up the upper dwelling-place, striding far as he stepped forth three times. They praise for his heroic deeds Viṣṇu who lurks in the mountains, wandering like a ferocious wild beast, in whose three wide strides all creatures dwell."

"Alone, he supports threefold the earth and the sky — all creatures. Would that I might reach his dear place of refuge, where men who love the gods rejoice. For their one draws close to the wide-striding Viṣṇu; there, in his highest footstep, is the fountain of honey."

"The gods were my superheroes growing up. Hanuman, the monkey god, lifting an entire mountain to save his friend Lakshman. Ganesh the elephant headed, risking his life to save the honor of his mother Pārvati. Vishnu, the Supreme Soul. The Soul of all things. Vishnu sleeps, floating on the shoreless cosmic ocean, and we are the stuff of his dreams."

"Like the Indian Vishnu, to float about along an infinite ocean cradled in the flower of the Lotus and wake once in a million years for a few minutes."

"You aim at a result and your efforts subserve one that is different or contrary. It is Shakti that has gone forth and entered into the people."

"India of the ages is not dead nor has She spoken Her last creative word; she lives and has still something to do for herself and the human peoples. And that which She must seek now to awake, is not an Anglicized oriental people, docile people of the West and doomed to repeat the cycle of Occident’s success and failure, but still the ancient immemorial Shakti recovering Her deepest self, lifting Her head higher towards the supreme source of light and strength and turning to discover the complete meaning and Vaster form of Her Dharma."

"The first and ultimate principle of the Universe is a feminine power, Shakti, whose personified form is Beauty and whose essential nature is consciousness and bliss. It exists eternally associated with the male principle, Shiva, who plays a secondary role. The “Srichakra” is the diagrammatic representation of their union."

"There is a word 'Shakti' in Hinduism. We are fighting against a Shakti."

"I am a pujari of Bharat Maa. I am a pujari of ‘Shakti Swaroopa’ mothers, sisters and daughters... Can somebody on the soil of India speak of finishing ‘Shakti’? Will you accept this? Don’t we do ‘aradhana’ of ‘Shakti’."

"Although conceived as female in nature, Shakti is not an individual goddess, but rather a dynamic quality that all goddesses (and even all women, at least within the Shakta Tatric tradition) are said to possess. Unbridled, uncontainable."

"The Guru [Nagaji, Ramakrishna’s] would, never condescend to admit of Maya or Shakti. Brahman only exists – this was his refrain. Ramakrishna on the other hand, had begun his spiritual ascent by his devotion to Shakti standing in the form of the idol of Kali in the temple. To him Shakti was equally real and equally important. Without any argument, or any effort on his part, his guru was caught in the vice like grip of Shakti or Maya."

"There is a deeper symbolism. The black image of Kali is standing on the white image of Lord Shiva. Shiva is Brahman and Kali is Brahman’s energy, Shakti. Brahman is passive while Shakti – Kali –is active. The images so stand that Shiva looks at Kali and Kali at Shiva. This symbolizes the fact that every action, big or small, of destruction or creation, performed by Kali at the instance of Shiva. Kali, as it were, is the working organ of Shiva. Shiva and Kali, Brahman and Shakti, the source and energy, are essential one."

"Why is it that our country is the weakest and the most backward of all countries? Because Shakti is held in dishonour. Without the grace of Shakti nothing is to be accomplished... To me, Mother's grace is a hundred times more valuable than Father's... fie on him who has no devotion for the Mother....If an Indian woman in Indian dress preaches the religion which fell from the lips of the Rishis of India, it will inundate the Western world. Will there be no women in the land of Maitreyi, Khana, Lilavati, Savitri and Ubhayabharati?"

"Mantra is like atomic power, the more you explore the Shakti, the power, the atomic energy, in the atom, you will the Shakti is even subtler than the atom itself."

"So from where does our lineage of tradition flow? The first is Brahmadeva, the lotus-born one. Then came Vasishta, Lord Rama’s Guru. This indicates that tradition is older than the Ramayana. After Vasishta comes Shakti, then Parasara, followed by Vyasa, author of the epic Mahabharata, and then Shuka."

"All the objects in the external world are definitely projections of shakti, the power of consciousness, but the waking state is not a product of your mind."

"The word shava, means corpse. What is this word? Why is it called shava? It is missing something, it is missing shakti. Shiva without shakti, become shava."

"There is a triangular cavity at the base of the spinal column where sleeps kundalini shakti, called power of powers, coiled some say 2 ½ feet but definitely 3 ½ times."

"The followers of Advaita Vedanta maintain that creation, preservation, and dissolution, the individual ego, the external world, all these are manifestations of the Eternal Energy (Shakti). They also say that when these are properly analyzed, they appear as dreams, that the Absolute Brahman alone is the Reality, and all else is unreal. Even Eternal Energy (Shakti) is like a dream, unreal, but you may analyze and discriminate thousands of times, you cannot transcend the realm of Divine Energy (Shakti) unless you have reached the highest state of Samadhi or Superconsciousness."

"The very thoughts like: ‘I am meditating,’ ‘I am thinking on the Absolute,’ are within the realm of Shakti. They are the manifested powers of that Eternal Energy. Therefore the Absolute Brahman and the Eternal Energy are in separable and one. The existence of one implies that of the other, as the fire and its burning power. If you accept the existence of fire, how can you deny its burning power? No one can think of fire without thinking of its burning power. In the same manner, we cannot think of the rays of the sun, without thinking of sun himself. Again, we cannot think of sun without thinking of his rays. Therefore, no one think of Brahman as apart from Shakti, or Shakti as separate from Brahman. Likewise, no one conceive of the phenomenal as independent of the Absolute, or of the Absolute as apart from the phenomenal. The same Eternal Energy, the Mother of all phenomena, is creating, preserving, and destroying everything. She is called Kali, the Divine Mother. Kali as Brahman, Brahman as Kali, one and the same Being. I call him Brahman when He is absolutely inactive; that is when He neither creates, nor preserves, nor destroys phenomena; but when He performs all such actions, I call him Kali, the Eternal Energy, the Divine Mother. They are one and the same Being, the difference is in the name and form, just as the same substance water is called by different names in different languages such as jal, water, pani, etc. A tank may have four ghats. The Hindus drink at one ghat and call it jal; the Mohammedans at another and call it pani; while the English who drink at the third call it water. Similarly, God is one, only His names are different. Some call Him by the name of Allah, some God, some Brahman, other Kali, others again Rama, Hari, Jesus, Buddha."

"Shakti is the supreme, unchanging and spiritual truth that is beyond time and space. Shakti is the essence of chaitanya, or its true self; she neither male, nor female, but is a male-female entity, i.e. pure intelligence. Shakti is otherwise called vimarsha which is the eternal spirit of chaitanya. Shakti is self-existent and all manifest in the form of creation and dissolution. Like the para-Brahman of the Vedanta, this shakti is also pure intelligence. From the [[tantric point of view Shakti and Shiva are but one and the same, thus essentially differing from the Maya of the Vedanta. Shaktism expounds that the manifestation of the non-ego appears as external to shuddatma or pure ego and that chit-shakti is beyond the nescience."

"The concept of shakti is indivisibly connected with Mother worship (shakti sadhana). Generally the worship of Durga, Kali, Sarasvati and other goddesses is considered Shakti worship. But the worship of Narayana, Shiva, Ganesha and other gods, too, is the worship of Shakti Herself. Whatever the means - image, symbol or yantra - the worship is only of Shakti. This is because, in the use of all these means there is a superimposition of the creation - preservation - destruction aspects of Shakti either fully or partially. So in a wider sense all worshippers are Shakti worshippers."

"Shakti worship, especially the worship of God as Mother, is a personal property of India. The great scholar and illumined soul Swami Abhedananda also says, ‘India is in fact the only place in the world where God is worshipped as Mother’."

"Shakti: the Mother Goddess, power or energy, originating, perhaps, in the non-Aryan culture of the Indus Valley. Mythologically Shakti is equated with the Goddesses Kali, Parvati and Durga, consorts of Shiva. The cult of Shakti flourished since the fifth century A.D."

"The Dharma of the Westerners is worship of Shakti – the Creative Power regarded as the Female Principle."

"There is no word of a wider content in any language than this Sanskrit term [Shakti], meaning “Power”."

"...Brahman and Shakti are identical. If you accept the one, you must accept the other. It is like fire and its power to burn. If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also. You cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor can you think of the power to burn without fire. You cannot conceive of the sun’s rays without the sun, nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays.... You cannot think of the milk without the whiteness, and again, you cannot think of the whiteness without the milk. Thus one cannot think of Brahman without Shakti, or of Shakti without Brahman. One cannot think of the Absolute without the Relative, or of the Relative without the Absolute. The Primordial Power is ever at play. She is creating, preserving and destroying in play, as it were. This Power is called Kàli. Kàli is verily Brahman, and Brahman is verily Kàli. It is one and the same Reality. When we think of it as inactive, that is to say, not engaged in the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, then we call It Brahman. But when It engages in these activities, then we call It Kàli or Shakti. The Reality is one and the same; the difference is in name and form."

"Sri Ramakrishna experienced Shakti, the presence of the Divine Mother in everything. And lo! The whole scene, doors, windows, the temple itself vanished. It seemed as if nothing existed anymore. Instead I saw an ocean of the Spirit, boundless, dazzling. In whatever direction I turned, great luminous waves were rising. They bore down upon me with a loud roar as if to swallow me up. In an instant they were upon me. They broke over me, they engulfed me. I was suffocated. I lost consciousness and I fell... How I passed that day and the next I know not. Round me rolled an ocean of ineffable joy. And in the depths of my being I was conscious of the presence of the Divine Mother."

"The Shakti or Power of Brahman is the manifest aspect of the unmanifest Brahman, the personal aspect of Impersonal Brahman. Brahman and Shakti are inseparable: they are static and dynamic, like energy bottled up and energy released. The one cannot be conceived of without the other: Brahman is inconceivable without Shakti, Shakti is inconceivable without Brahman. It follows that Brahman is a cosmic and cosmic as well as transcendental and relative. These seemingly opposing aspects — unmanifest and manifest, static and dynamic, acosmic and cosmic, transcendental and relative—are identical. In each case the same Being is seen from different viewpoints which balance and supplement each other. Both concepts, Brahman and Shakti, are indispensable to the health and fullness of spiritual life."

"There was the other idea in the old Vedic hymn to the Goddess: ‘I am the light. I am the light of the sun and moon; I am the air which animates all beings.’ This is the germ which afterwards develops into Mother-worship. By Mother-worship is not meant difference between father and mother. The first idea connoted by it is that of energy—I am the power that is in all beings."

"In an old Veda is found the mantra, ‘I am the empress of all that lives, the power in everything. ’Mother-worship is a distinct philosophy in itself. Power is the first of our ideas. It impinges upon man at every step; power felt within is the soul; without, nature. And the battle between the two makes human life. All that we know or feel is but the resultant of these two forces. Man saw that the sun shines on the good and evil alike."

"Mother is the first manifestation of power and is considered a higher idea than father. With the name of Mother comes the idea of Shakti, Divine Energy and Omnipotence, just as the baby believes its mother to be all powerful, able to do anything. The Divine Mother is the Kundalini (“coiled up power”) sleeping in us; without worshipping Her we can never know ourselves....Every manifestation of power in the universe is ‘Mother’. She is life, She is intelligence, She is love....A bit of Mother, a drop, was Krishna, another was Buddha, another was Christ....Worship Her if you want love and wisdom."

"This world is all alike the play of Mother. But we forget this. Even misery can be enjoyed when there is no selfishness, when we have become the witness of our own lives. The thinker of this philosophy has been struck by the idea that one power is behind all phenomena. In our thought of God, there is human limitation, personality: with Shakti comes the idea of One Universal Power. ‘I stretch the bow of Rudra when He desires to kill’ [‘to destroy evil,’ Rigveda, X. 125, Devi-Sukta], says Shakti. The Upanishads did not develop this thought; for Vedanta does not care for the God-idea. But in the Gita comes the significant saying to Arjuna, ‘I am the real, and I am the unreal. I bring good, and I bring evil.’ (Gità, IX: 19, X: 4-)"

"When flowing down from his head, she branched ofl: into seven rivers, of whom three, viz., Hladini, Pavani and Nahni flowed to the east, three others, viz., Su^akshu, Sita and 8iudhuxo the west, and the seventh followed her leader Bhagiratha*s chariot, purifying all those who bathed in her. She was named as his daughter, Bhagirathi. But on the way she was about to submerge the sacrifleial ground of Jahuu who was performing a sacrifice, and who, in order to save it, drank her away outrigiit to the astonishment of all. But, propitiated by Bhagiratha, Jahnu let the river out from his ears; and by thus issuing out from him she was named as his daughter, Jahnavi."

"Those who bathe at Ganga at least once in its pure water are protected from thousands of dangers forever and get rid of sins of generations and are purified immediately."

"The Lord is so kind that He has spread the river Ganges throughout the universe so that by taking bath in that holy river everyone can get released from the reactions of sins, which occur at every step."

"And again, Subhuti, suppose a woman or a man were to renounce all their belongings as many times as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges; and suppose that someone else, after taking from this discourse on dharma but one stanza of four lines would demonstrate it to others. Then this latter on the strength of that would beget a greater heap of merit, immeasurable and incalculable."

"The river Ganges (Ganga) on her way to the ocean, was quafied down in a draught by the Muni when interrupted in his meditation by the rush of the water, and was let out by an incision on his thigh at the intercession by Bhagiratha, hence the Ganges is called Jahnavi or the daughter of Jahnu Rishi."

"There are few things on which Hindu India, diverse as it is, might agree. But of the Ganges, India speaks with one voice. The Ganges carries an immense cultural and religious meaning for Hindus of every region and every sectarian persuasion."

"God creates the world as Brahma, sustains it as Vishnu, and destroys it as Shiva. One day, Shiva started to sing. Vishnu was so moved by the melody that he began to melt. Brahma caught the molten Vishnu in a pot. This was poured on earth. it took the form of the river Ganga. The Ganga nourished the earth. to bathe in the Ganga’s waters is to bathe in God. **Ganga Mahatmya, in Myth = Mithya(2008), p. 6"

"On Wings of Song, Sweetheart, I carry you away, Away to the fields of the Ganges, Where I know the most beautiful place."

"I am the shark among the fishes, and the Ganges (Jahnavi) among the rivers."

"Divine potency can also be a function of time. The confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna is for the Hindus more sacred than any other confluence of any other rivers. Hence more pilgrims bathe at this sangam [confluence]. The flow of pilgrims rises dramatically when the planet Jupiter enters the house of Aries, and the Sun enters the house of Capricorn. The planetary alignment takes place once in twelve years, which is marked by Maha Kumba Mela, the great gathering of holy men, believed to be the largest congregation in the world."

"What need of expensive sacrifices, Or of difficult penances? Worship Ganga, asking for happiness and good fortune, and she will bring you heaven and salvation."

"Fruits as same as that are yielded by a man by remaining undeviatingly engaged in penance at Kasi on the banks of Jahnavi (an epithet of Gahga) for a thousand of yugascan be obtained by the religious observance of sitting throughout the night with eyes wide-open in the worship of Krsna on the eleventh day of the month"

"Suppose a man becomes pure by chanting God’s holy name, but immediately afterwards commits many sins. He has no strength of mind. He does not take a vow not to repeat his sins. A bath in the Ganges undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what does that avail? They say that the sins perch on the trees along the banks of the Ganges. No sooner does the man comes back from the holy waters than the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees. The same old sins take possession of him again. He is hardly out of the water before they fall upon him. Therefore I say, chant the name of God, and with it pray to Him that you may have love for Him. Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day."

"In consquence of whose (Madanapala's) distinguished prowness, there was never any talk of Hamibra's coming to the banks of the river of the Gods (i.e. the Ganges)."

"Scholars who build weighty theories on the paucity of references to the Ganges should remember that in the Yajus and Atharva Samhitas it is not mentioned at all."

"O Jahnavi! O Ganga! deliverer of the fallen.... O Protectress from hell! O Jahnavi! O Ganga!"

"Favour ye this my laud, O Gangā, Yamunā, O Sutudri, Paruṣṇī and Sarasvatī: With Asikni, Vitasta, O Marudvrdha, O Ārjīkīya with Susoma hear my call. First with Trstama thou art eager to flow forth, with Rasā, and Susartu, and with Svetya here, With Kubha; and with these, Sindhu and Mehatnu, thou seekest in thy course Krumu and Gomati."

"Your ancient home, your auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on the banks of the Jahnavi."

"Brbu hath set himself above the Panis, o'er their highest head, Like the wide bush on Ganga's bank."

"Ashwins, when you came speeding on your course to Divodasa-Bharadvaja, holding you, your splendid vehicle traveled, yoked by a bull and a dolphin. Carrying wealth, dominion, progeny, life and vigor, accordant you came to the Jahnavi with strength, where your offering is made three times a day."

"Mention is made of Ganga in Rig Veda. Krishna identifies himself as Ganga in Gita....Shankaracharya considers Ganga as the chief of all Gods and Goddesses and is the ‘redeemer of the fallen’. Vivekananda carried the river water to the West with the faith that whenever in trouble a drop or two of Ganga water would soon be calm again."

"The Mississippi, the Ganges, and the Nile, those journeying atoms from the Rocky Mountains, the Himmaleh, and Mountains of the Moon, have a kind of personal importance in the annals of the world. The heavens are not yet drained over ..."

"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the Brahmin, priest of Brahma, and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits in his temple on the River Ganga reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water jug. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganga (Ganges)."

"The Ganges front is the supreme showplace of Banares. Its tall bluffs are solidly caked from water to summit, along a stretch of three miles, with a splendid jumble of massive and picturesque masonry, a bewildering and beautiful confusion of stone platforms, temples, stair flights, rich and stately palaces...soaring stairways, sculptured temples, majestic palaces, softening away into the distances; and there is movement, motion, human life everywhere, and brilliantly costumed - streaming in rainbows up and down the lofty stairways, and massed in metaphorical gardens on the mile of great platforms at the river's edge."

"Mother [Ganga] you girdle the earth and thereby lend it grace and beauty. You are the pathway, bedecked with banners of victory, to heaven. My only prayer to you is that I may live on your bank, watch your waves, repeat your name in my heart forever and die with my eyes fixed on you."

"Gita and Ganga constitute, between themselves, the essence of Hinduism: one its theory, and the other is practice."

"Whether you bathe in the Ganga for a thousand years or live on vegetable food for a like period, unless it helps towards the manifestation of the Self, know that it is all of no use"

"Darshanatsparshanatpanattatha Gangeti Keertanat Punatyapunyanpurushana Shatashotha The holy sight of Ganga gives knowledge, splendours, name, fame etc. The gravest of sins like Bramhhatya (killing of a Brahmin) and Gauhatya (killing of a cow) get absolved by the mere touch of Ganga holy water."

"All the superior religions had their growth between the Ganga and the Euphrates."

"Paris is the fountain-head of European civilisation, as Gomukhi is of the Ganga."

"See what an atmosphere of holiness is here -- the pure air of the Ganga -- what an assemblage of Sadhus -- will you find anywhere a place like this!"

"See here, how fresh is the air, there is the Ganga, and the Sadhus (holy men) are practising meditation, and holding lofty talks! While the moment you will go to Calcutta, you will be thinking of nasty stuff."

"Fool indeed is he, who, living on the banks of the Ganga, digs a little well for water. Fool indeed is the man who, coming to a mine of diamonds, begins to search for glass beads."

"The vapour becomes snow, then water, then Ganga; but when it is vapour, there is no Ganga, and when it is water, we think of no vapour in it. The idea of creation or change is inseparably connected with will. So long as we perceive this world in motion, we have to conceive will behind it."

"The waters of the Ganga are roaring among His matted locks."

"One day as this sage, Valmiki, was going to bathe in the holy river Ganga, he saw a pair of doves wheeling round and round, and kissing each other. The sage looked up and was pleased at the sight, but in a second an arrow whisked past him and killed the male dove. As the dove fell down on the ground, the female dove went on whirling round and round the dead body of its companion in grief. In a moment the poet became miserable, and looking round, he saw the hunter. "Thou art a wretch," he cried, "without the smallest mercy! Thy slaying hand would not even stop for love!" "What is this? What am I saying?" the poet thought to himself, "I have never spoken in this sort of way before." And then a voice came: "Be not afraid. This is poetry that is coming out of your mouth. Write the life of Rama in poetic language for the benefit of the world." And that is how the poem first began. The first verse sprang out of pits from the mouth of Valmiki, the first poet. And it was after that, that he wrote the beautiful Ramayana, "The Life of Rama."."

"There are men who practice Titiksha, and succeed in it. There are men who sleep on the banks of the Ganga in the midsummer sun of India, and in winter float in the waters of the Ganga for a whole day; they do not care. Men sit in the snow of the Himalayas, and do not care to wear any garment. What is heat? What is cold? Let things come and go, what is that to me, I am not the body."

"With the Holy Mother as the centre of inspiration, a Math is to be established on the eastern bank of the Ganga... On the other side of the Ganga a big plot of land will be acquired, where unmarried girls or Brahmacharini widows will live; devout married women will also be allowed to stay now and then. Men will have no concern with this Math."

"As sound—blithe race! whose mantles were bedecked With golden grasshoppers, in sign that they Had sprung, like those bright creatures, from the soil Whereon their endless generations dwelt. But stop! these theoretic fancies jar On serious minds: then, as the Hindoos draw Their holy Ganges from a skyey fount, Even so deduce the stream of human life, From seats of power divine; and hope, or trust, That our existence winds her stately course Beneath the sun, like Ganges, to make part Of a living ocean; or, to sink engulfed, Like Niger, in impenetrable sands And utter darkness: thought which may be faced, Though comfortless!"

"O Mother Ganga, may your water, abundant blessing of the world, treasure of Lord Shiva, playful lord of all earth, essence of the scriptures and embodied goodness of the gods, May your water, sublime wine of immortality, soothe our troubled souls."

"Even the most hardened atheist of a Hindu will find his heart full of feelings he has never felt before the first time he reaches the bank of the Ganga."

"The poet seers of the Vedas launched a tradition of praise for the blessings and purifying energy of the “goddess waters”... in poetic hymns of the Ganga such as "Ganga Lahiri". It is particularly the life, the movement, the activity of the waters of the Ganga that has attracted poets through the ages. Hers are not the motionless waters of the procreation seas, but running energetic waters of life. The traditional etymology of Ganga derives the name from the verb gam, “to go”"

"Her hymns constantly emphasize the running, flowing, energetic movement of her waters, and they do so at times with elaborate alliteration and onomatopoeia, as in this line from the famous Ganga Lahriri; marullila-lolallahari-lulitambhoja-patala 9May your running waters …”covered with lotuses that rock in your waves and roll playfully in the wind”…weaken the web of my earthly life)."

"According to some accounts, the Ganga split into seven streams as she emerged from the hair of Shiva, three flowing to the east, three to the west, and the Bhagirathi to the south. This tradition recalls the seven rivers of the Vedic hymns and reminds us that the Ganga in essence waters the whole earth. Indeed, when Bhagiratha brought the Ganga to earth, her waters not only restored the ashes of the dead but also replenished the ocean, which had been swallowed by the sage Agastya."

"As a Gauri (Parvati) is, so is the Ganga. Therefore, whoever worships Gauri properly also worships the Ganga And as I am, so are you, O Vishnu. And as you are, so am I. And as Uma (Parvati) is, so is the Ganga. The form is not different. And whoever says that there is some difference between Vishnu and Rudra, between Sri and Gauri, or between the Ganga and Gauri is a very foolish person."

"She, the Ganga, is my supreme image, having the form of water, the very essence of Shiva’s soul, She is nature (Prakriti) supreme and the basis of countless universe. For the protection of the world, I playfully uphold the Ganga. Who is mother of the world, the supreme Brahman’s embodiment."

"O Agastya, one should not be amazed at the notion that the Ganga is really Shakti, for is she not the supreme energy of the eternal Shiva, which has taken the form of water?"

"Om, Praise be to the auspicious Ganga, gift of Shiva, O Praise! Praise be to her who is Vishnu embodied, the very image of Brahma, O praise! Praise to her who is the form of Rudra, Shankara, the embodiment of all gods, the embodiment of healing, O praise!"

"Essence of the scriptures and embodied goodness of the gods."

"I come to you as a child to his mother I come as an orphan to you, moist with love I come without refuge to you, giver of sacred rest. I come a fallen man to you, up lifter of all . I come undone by disease to you, the perfect physician. I come, my heart dry with thirst, to you, ocean of sweet wine Do with me whatever you will."

"This Ganga was sent out for salvation of the world of Sambhu, Lord of lords, filled with the sweet wine of compassion. Shankara, having squeezed out the essence of yoga and the Upanishads, created this excellent river because of his mercy for all creatures."

"As a celestial stream flowing upon the earth she has her mythic origins in the world of the Vedas. As the tradition developed, she wound her way into the myth and ritual of Vaishnavas and Shaivas alike. She is hardly the best known consort of either Vishnu or Shiva, but she has acquired the position of consort to both of them, something no other goddess can claim. Even Brahma keeps close company with her, carrying the river in his water pot."

"As one of India’s largest and most sacred pilgrimage centers, Benares (Varanasi) has been revered for centuries by Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jains, millions of whom come to visit its innumerable temples and shrines and come to bathe along a three-mile stretch of steps leading to the Holy Ganga (Ganges) River. Whether coming for salvation, prosperity, or healing, most of these pilgrims have sought some form of ritual purification – a means of unloading their troubles and sins upon stars and holy men, the river Ganga, and the many sacred tanks fed by her springs and tributaries."

"...it is more than river. She is the Holy Mother. She is Ganga Ma."

"The Ganga is the foremost of India’s seven sacred rivers, winding fifteen hundred miles from the glaciers of Himalayas through twenty nine cities and seventy towns of the northern Indian plains and exiting into the Indian Ocean through the great delta that feeds into the Bay of Bengal on the eastern coast."

"The story of Holy Mother’s decent to earth has been recounted in numerous oral traditions, as well as in the Epic and Puranic literature. Through the single minded austerities of the pious King Bhagiratha, Lord Brahma granted a boon that Ganga Ma would descend upon the earth so she might carry sixty thousand of his cursed ancestors to the netherworld. Her fall was broken by Shiva’s matted locks, which prevented the earth from being destroyed by her impact, and locks channeled her downward flow from the Himalayas. Once upon the plains, Ganga Ma sought out King Bhagiratha in Banaras, who led her to the remains of his ancestors in Bengal, where she swept them along to the other world."

"Although any point along the Ganga can serve as a pilgrimage site, a number of especially powerful thirthas (sacred crossings) along her banks allow pilgrims to cover multiple spiritual bases with a single visit. Banaras is the largest and most visited of these thirthas, presenting itself as Kashi (“the luminous”), an otherworldly abode that rests Shiva’s trident and grants instant liberation to all who die within its boundaries."

"One should not be amazed … that this Ganges is really Power, for is she not the Supreme Shakti of the Eternal Shiva, taken in the form of water? This Ganges, filled with the sweet wine of compassion, was sent out for the salvation of the world by Shiva, the Lord of the Lords. Good people should not think this Triple-Pathed River to be like the thousand other earthly rivers, filled with water."

"Eck describes the creative power of the Ganga as “liquid Shakti”, evidenced by the fertility of fields along her banks and her position as a second consort and active principle of Shiva."

"In discussing the unlimited grace of the Ganga, Eck cites a common Indian saying that “no child is too dirty to be embraced by its mother”. Indeed mother Ganga embraces everyone and everything that is put into her (or that she enters)."

"The mother keeps the baby in the stomach for nine months and then gives birth. She cleans her excreta and urine, and the child is [always] in this when he is small. Then that is [how] the mother takes care of the baby, doesn’t she? So she is Ganga Ma. All this trash, good things, bad things, everything, is in her. So she will never be impure. The mother is never impure."

"There is a common saying that even a single droplet of Ganges water carried one’s way by the breeze will erase the sins of many life times in an instant."

"Just as Banaras is a prototype for sacred India, her sacred features are prototypes for the divine roles of the city as a whole. Foremost among these features are the Ganga and the two famous cremation grounds (Shmashans) along her banks. Pilgrims commonly say that Banaras is like the Mother Ganga, who accepts and purifies anyone and anything that come to her and transforms them into herself… each of these features, - the Ganga, the Shmashans and the city as a whole – functions as a kind of cosmic sink, a sacred dumping ground…"

"When Ganga was brought to Haridwar, then all the Gods asked: ’We wash all sins, but who will wash us?’ Ganga said this to Lord Vishnu:’Lord Vishnu Bhagwan, tell us, what should we do?’ Then the Lord said: ‘As many sadhus and saints are living in this world, every time they will bathe in Ganga, all your sins will be washed away [automatically]."

"At the time of Ganesha's 'birth', Shiva was away from the family home. On returning, and finding an unknown young man standing guard outside the bathroom of his wife, he naturally challenged him. Ganesha was equally unknowing of his father, and the two came to blows. The result was never in doubt, for Shiva is the greatest of the Gods, and the father killed his own son, by cutting off his (human) head. When Parvati found out what had happened and explained the circumstances to Shiva, the god undertook to restore Ganesha to life. This he did by ordering by one of his retinue to bring the head of the first animal he met. This was an elephant, and thus Ganesha was returned to life with an elephant’s head. Further, as compensation for the loss of his human head, Ganesha was entrusted by Shiva with the leadership of the members of his rowdy and dwarfish retinue (the ganas). Ganesha’s name means no more than ‘Lord of the Gana’. In recognition of his courage in the defense of his mother’s chamber, Ganesha is given custody over all doorways."

"Symbolically, Ganesha represents the basic unity of the macrocosm and microcosm, the immense being (the elephant) and the individual being (man). This highly implausible identity is however a fundamental reality and the key to all mystic or ritual experience as well as to Yogic possibilities. Without being aware of Ganesha, and without worshiping him, no accomplishment is possible."

"When the two boys [Ganesha and Skanda] were of marriageable age, Shiva and Parvati did not know which of the children to marry off first. So they proposed a competition: We shall celebrate the marriage of the one who first returns after having gone round the world. The clever Ganesha walked around his parents and said to them “You are the Universe”. He was considered the winner and his wedding was celebrated with Siddhi (Success) and Buddhi (Intelligence), the two daughters of the Lord of the World - w:Vishvarupa."

"He is the guardian of gates and mysteries. In Egypt, Osiris appears as the guardian of his mother’s door. As guardian of gates, Ganesha guards the entrance to the labyrinth, the mysterious paths inside the human body which start from the energy coiled at the base of the spine. In Yoga practice, Ganesha’s centre is situated in the region of the rectum."

"Mythology is but the veiled Reality. Myths and legends form an integral part of the tale of human progress and advancement. The galaxy of Hindu gods and goddesses is so rich, varied and alive as to inspire awe and wonder...Ganesha, the god of wisdom, riches, strength, illumination and prudence is one of these deities. In fact he is more close to our heart than any other God...Ganesha is one of the best examples of reconciliation of opposites and unity in diversity. In harmony all opposites are reconciled and contradictions dissolved, which in its turn inspires confidence, peace and fearlessness. He occupies the first and foremost position in various creeds and their religious ceremonies. The Jains and Buddhists also invoke his blessings at the commencement of all their undertakings and endeavors."

"Figures of Ganesha can be found in a little niche at the top of every Hindu door and gate. Now, the door of a house is a very important place. It separates your house from hostile outer environs. Ganesha stands there to protect you and your dwelling against all possible evil forces. He is a great God at the gate"

"As Vighneshwara, Ganesha is the god of obstacles. He removes as well as places obstacles. His work is both negative and positive. He prevents the people from the execution of their evil designs by putting various hurdles in their path."

"Vishnu offers Ganesha his worship by calling him Ekadanta, Heramba, Vighnayaka, Lambodara, Shurpakarna, Gajavaktra and Guhagraja. Praising Ganesha, Radha, the most beloved companion of Sri Krishna recited the mantra."

"Ganesha is a great scribe. It is who has written down the Mahabharata, the biggest epic ever composed in the world. Having composed Mahabharata mentally, Vyasa was in search of a competent scribe, but he could not find one. At last he found one in Ganesha, the lord of the worldly wisdom and learning. It was agreed upon that Vyasa would go on dictating the epic non-stop to Ganesha provided the former thoroughly understood what he dictated. Ganesha started taking dictation of Mahabharata from the sage Vyasa Dwaypana on palm leaves. He was writing with an iron spike. When about three-fourths of the epic was over, suddenly the pen snapped and Ganesha for a moment in a kind of a fix but then at once he broke his right tusk and continued writing Mahabharata with it. This act of Ganesha clearly reflects his great wisdom and resourcefulness, and the idea that no sacrifice is great for a noble cause. Because of this incident Ganesha is also known as Ekadanta or single tusked."

"Ganesha is the eldest son of Shankara and Parvati. Karttikeya or Skanda is his younger brother. As regards the origin and birth of Ganesha there are several stories and legends enshrined in Puranas and Upa-puranas"

"After dissolution of the Universe, Brahma, drifting in the primordial waters that preceded creation, came across Ganesha sitting in a lone banyan tree that remained. Ganesha touched Brahma's head and initiated him into the mantra 'Om'. Brahma prayed before Ganesha who bestowed upon him the knowledge to create the universe, in return for which he gave Ganesha his two wives, representative of prudence and prosperity."

"Ganesha is frequently depicted with Saraswati, the Goddess of learning and music, and Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. Since Ganesha is associated with similar attributes as the goddesses, many devotees believe that they are his wives in previous incarnations. This assumption is reinforced by their worship along with Ganesha, especially during Diwali. But no myths support this notion. The deities are worshiped together simply because they represent similar goals."

"The gods were my superheroes growing up. Hanuman, the monkey god, lifting an entire mountain to save his friend Lakshman. Ganesh the elephant headed, risking his life to save the honor of his mother Pārvati."

"That poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter," that's an indictment of organized religion. The walrus, with his girth and good nature, obviously represents either Buddha or, with his tusks, the Hindu elephant god Lord Ganesha — that takes care of your eastern religions. Now the carpenter, which is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ, who was raised a carpenter's son, he represents the western religions."

"All talk of surrender is like stealing sugar from a sugar image of Ganesha and then offering it to the same Ganesha. You say that you offer up your body and soul and all your possessions to God, but were they yours to offer? At best you can say, 'I wrongly imagined till now that all these, which are Yours, were mine. Now I realise that they are Yours and shall no longer act as though they were mine'. And this knowledge that there is nothing but God or Self, that 'I' and 'mine' do not exist and that only the Self exists is jnana. It is enough that one surrenders oneself."

"Dr. Uma Mysorekar lifted the coconut above her head and dashed it against the gray granite floor of the temple, shattering it into pieces. A riotous orchestra of ringing bells, thumping drums and the oboe-like nadaswaram reverberated in the cool predawn air. A piercing call emanated from a silver-tipped conch shell. And a semicircle of onlookers, draped in magenta, saffron, violet and burgundy, clapped as if in chorus. At the Hindu Temple Society of North America, in Flushing, Queens, this week is time to worship Ganesh, the elephant-headed, many-armed deity who is believed to remove obstacles. Here, as at temples in over a dozen countries, Hindus are celebrating Ganesha Chaturthi, which marks the god’s birth (and rebirth). “The coconut shell is like the human ego,” said Mohan Ramaswamy, who teaches at the temple on Bowne Street. “You have to crack it open before you can let in the lord.”"

"Ganesh Chaturthi also known as Vinaya Chathurthu, is the festival day celebrating the birth of Lord Ganesha. One of the great national festivals of India, and the foremost annual festival to Ganesha, it is celebrated on the chathurthi or fourth day after the new Moon in the Tamil month of Avani (August/September). He receives special pujas throughout the day and often a festival parade. Each year we obtain or make a small or large soft clay image of Ganapati and use it for worship at home for two to ten days after Ganesha Chaturthi."

"In Karnataka, India, young people make a ritual of seeing 108 Vinayakas on this occasion, so they go about visiting their friends’ and relatives’ houses on this day...The worship of Ganesha on this day is supposed to confer advancement in learning to the young student and success in any enterprise undertaken."

"Ganesha Visarjana (a Sanskrit word meaning “departure”) names the Ganesha Chathurthi immersion ceremony. Especially in Maharashtra state, it takes place ten days after Ganesh Chathurthi; though in some areas Visarjana is done on the Chathurthi day itself. It is a ceremony of fond farewell to a beloved God. On Chathurthi day we celebrate Ganesha’s birthday and then honour Him as our beloved guest for ten days. Then on the tenth day called Anant Chaturdashi of the lunar fortnight, we bid Him fond farewell at the ocean shore or banks of a river or babbling brook of love and watch Him float off on the conveyance [we have] prepared for Him until he finally disappears from sight into the waters. We honor his departure with a grand parade, as we carry Him on a palanquin bedecked with flowers and accompanied by puja, music, dance and celebration."

"Loving Ganesha and living with Ganesha will enlighten the soul and give one the peace and ecstasy that all seek."

"Iconographically, the torso of Ganesha resembles Yaksha images found in the country. Some consider Ganapati as an elephant-headed Yaksha. That establishes a pre-Aryan origin of the deity as the Yaksha cult is more ancient than the Vedas. In Rigveda we find mention of Ganapati who is equated with Brihaspati or Brhamanaspati, a deity of intellect and study."

"Ganesha the god-maker regarded the jungle about him. Though he walked through the realm of the phantom cats, he feared no evil. For the Lord of Chaos walked by his side, and the Trident of Destruction comforted him."

"Do you know about Hanuman, sir? He was the faithful servant of the god Rama, and we worship him in our temples because he is a shining example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love, and devotion. These are the kinds of gods they have foisted on us Mr. Jiabao. Understand, now, how hard it is for a man to win his freedom in India."

"Lord Hanuman escorted me into the inner palace, where I gazed on Lord Rama in human form. Hanuman approached the Lord, on whose left side Lakshmana was present. I saw that Hanuman, while chanting the Lord’s praises, sometimes rotated the royal fly-whisk over him sometimes stood before him and recited spontaneous hymns, sometimes held a white umbrella over him, and sometimes massaged his feet. And sometimes he did all these things at once."

"Hanuman, the well-known monkey god, can be seen in temples throughout the country. In some temples his image is set up alone standing with a mace in the right hand or sitting in a devotional posture before the images of Rama and Sita. He is considered to be the god of power and strength, who remained a celibate through his whole life. He is worshipped as being the greatest of Ram, who loves Hanuman the most."

"Hanuman’s other names are Hanumat and pavana-Sut. He is the son of Vayu, the Lord of winds and Anjana, the female seduced by Vayu. Along with Ram, Hanuman is usually worshipped and he is the most favoured of wrestlers and grapplers. Tuesday is the sacred day on which lacs [hundred thousands] of Hindus worship and pray to him for strength and prosperity."

"This god is described as having a short thick neck, a round red face, sharp white fangs, a mane like Ashoka flowers, a tail like Indra's banner and ability to expand until he could be as large as a mountain or to contract until he could become as small as a fly."

"Hanuman attends Rama, one of the incarnations of Vishnu, and personifies the ideal and faithful servant. He is the son of Pavana, the god of winds, and is noted for his speed and agility in which context he is often worshipped by young men and athletes. He leads a mythical forest army of monkeys, and is depicted as a monkey with a long tail. He takes a major role in the Ramayana epic searching for, rescuing the goddess Sita who has been captured by the demon Ravana."

"It is said that the sure antidote of Saturn or Shanee's evil effect is the worship of Lord Hanuman. Scriptures say that when Saturn warned Lord Hanuman about his onset of the Seven and Half Years (w:Sade SatiSaade Saati) [period of bad times], the Monkey Lord accepted the challenge and allowed Saturn to have his play. When the planet dwelled on his head, the Monkey Lord ‘headed’ heavy rocks so viciously that the planet was almost crushed. Similar agony he faced when he tried to dwell on the Monkey Lord’ body and legs. Then the planet had to bow before the Lord, saying that whosoever worshipped Lord Hanuman shall be beyond the evil effect of the planet."

"A less-common form of Hanuman is the Panchmukhi—that which has five heads or faces. Each head represents an animal. The five animals are the monkey (Vanar), the horse (Hay-griv), the lion (Narasimh), the boar (Varah) and the eagle. Some of these are incarnations of Vishnu. There is also an eleven headed Hanuman (ekadash-mukhi) Hanuman. These two forms are the result of the popularity of the tantric cults during the medieval era. The five-headed Hanuman may have as many pairs of arms, or just one pair. The eleven-headed Hanuman normally has ten pairs of arms."

"HANUMAN, HANUMAT, HANÜMAT. A celebrated monkey chief. He was able to fly and is a conspicuous figure in the Ramayana, ...Hanuman leaped from India to Ceylon in one bound; tore trees, carried away the Himalayas, seized the clouds and performed many other wonderful exploits... Among his other accomplishments, Hanuman was a grammarian; and the Ramayana says: “The chief of monkeys is perfect; no one equals him in the sastras, in learning, and in ascertaining the sense of the scriptures (or in moving at will). It is well known that Hanuman was the ninth author of grammar."

"Hanuman represents the inner life that the confrontation with dukkha opens up. But his job is to help differentiate pure desire from the clinging that tends to obscure it. Hanuman's exploits fill the central part of the Ramayana."

"For some it is primarily a story of devotion centering on the monkey-god Hanuman, who is something of a trickster but who is completely at the service of Rama, saving his life and rescuing his wife from the evil demons."

"Hanuman, the embodiment of devotion, brings Sita's jewels to Rama and then takes a gold ring back to her as a symbol of Rama's unflagging love, a ring given to him by Sita's father at the time of their marriage. Sita welcomes Hanuman, takes the ring and gives him one more jewel, a pearl mounted on a gold leaf that her father had tied to her hair on the day of the wedding. She refuses Hanuman’s offer to fly back to Rama, insisting he come to free her himself...Rama is able to free Sita only by securing the help of Hanuman. Hanuman, the monkey-god, son of the wind, is the bridge between the two lovers, the vehicle that helps them."

"Grief-stricken Rama meets a tribe of vanaras whose chief Sugriva and eloquent minister Hanuman become Rama's devoted helpers in the task of rescuing the princess [Sita]. After leaping to Lanka Hanuman discovers the captive Sita surrounded by rakshasas in the Ashoka grove, but she insists on being rescued by her husband. Hanuman reports to Rama who assembles an army of Vanaras and crosses to Lanka where the final battle is fought between the heroes and the rakshasas."

"The divine name Rama was not only on the lips of Hanuman; He was enthroned in his heart. Rama gave Hanuman exhaustless strength. In Rama's strength Hanuman lifted the mountain and crossed the ocean. It is faith that steers us through the stormy seas, faith that moves mountains, and faith that jumps across the ocean. That faith is nothing but a living, wide-awake consciousness of God within. He who has achieved that faith wants nothing."

"Son of the wind the epithet refers to Hauman a Hindu deity, who was an ardent devotee of Rama. Hanuman is mentioned as an avatar of Shiva or Rudra in the Sanskrit texts and was the son of Anjana, an Apsara cursed to be born as a monkey and Kesari, after the couple performed intense prayers to Shiva to get a child. According to a story, when Anjana, was worshipping Shiva, king Dasharatha of Ayodhya was also performing penances for having children. The prasad (portion of the offerings) he received was to be shared by his three wives. A kite snatched a part of the Prasad and dropped it near Anjana. Vayu, the Hindu deity, caught it before it fell to the ground and delivered into the outstretched hands of Anjana, who consumed it leading to the birth of Hanuman. So he is also called the son of vayu, while still being considered as an incarnation of Rudra (Shiva). He is a central character in the epic Ramayana and also finds mention in several other texts, including Mahabharata, the various Puranas and some Jain texts. Hanuman is worshipped by villagers as a boundary guardian, by Shaiva ascetics as a yogi, and by wrestler for his strength."

"Our road lay through the bazaar, close to a little temple of Hanuman, the Monkey god, who is a leading divinity worthy of respect. All gods have good points, just as have all priests. Personally, I attach much importance to Hanuman, and am kind to his people – the great grey apes of the hills. One never knows when one may want a friend."

"Hanuman Monkey-headed Hindu god originally appears in the Ramayana, the earlier of the two great Indian epics, where he is described as a minister of the monkey king Sugriva and a devoted servant of Rama, the god-king who is the epics protagonist."

"After his birth the infant Hanuman is continuously hungry, and one day he attempts to eat the sun. Indra, the king of gods and ruler of heaven, is incensed at Hanuman’s action and strikes the infant with a thunderbolt, breaking his jaw (hanu). Vayu become very angry upon learning of his son’s injury and ceases to perform his usual activities. Since in Indian physiology winds are responsible for all internal functions- including digestion, respiration, and elimination – Yavu’s strike means that no one can live a normal life. After a short time the gods realize their predicament and beg Vayu for forgiveness; he is placated when each of the gods promise to give Hanuman a divine gift. By virtue of these divine gifts, Hanuman gains great powers. He is immensely strong and his image portrays him with bulging muscles. He is also skilled as a healer, both through his skill with herbs and natural medicines, and his magical abilities to protect people from evil supernatural beings. Among his most unusual divine gifts are the power to live as long as he likes and to chose the time of his death."

"Hanuman Jayanti is a Hindu holiday that celebrates the birth of Hanuman, the popular deity who appears as a monkey. Actually, he is of the vanara, the race of ape-like humanoids who play a prominent role in the India epic Ramayana. The vanaras were created by the gods to assist the deity Rama.in his battle against the demon Ravana. Hanuman led the vanara in the fight against Ravana."

"Watercolour painting on paper of Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa meeting Hanumān at Rishyamukha, the residence of Sugriva. Rāma and Laksmana are shown wearing dhoti’s with animal skins covering their shoulders. They hold bow and arrows in their hands and have their hair tied in a top knot on their heads. They face towards a male figure wearing a pink dhoti with a green shawl. He has a shaven head and raises his hands in anjali mudra. Behind the three figures is a staircase which leads up to a city on top of a mountain, Rishyamukha. On the edges of the staircase kneel monkeys wearing golden hats. In the centre of the city is a large building with a golden roof and a large red flag flying. The painting is surrounded by a black border."

"The Great Monkey closes his eyes, scratches himself again and muses: before the sun has become completely hidden — it is now fleeing amid the tall bamboo trees like an animal pursued by shadows — I shall succeed in reducing this grove of trees to a catalogue. A page of tangled plant calligraphy. A thicket of signs: how to read it, how to clear a path through this denseness? Hanumān smiles with pleasure at the analogy that has just occurred to him: calligraphy and vegetation, a grove of trees and writing, reading and a path. Following a path: reading a stretch of ground, deciphering a fragment of world. Reading considered as a path toward... The path as a reading: an interpretation of the natural world? He closes his eyes once more and sees himself, in another age, writing (on a piece of paper or on a rock, with a pen or with a chisel?) the act in the Mahanātaka describing his visit to the grove of the palace of Rāvana. He compares its rhetoric to a page of indecipherable calligraphy and thinks: the difference between human writing and divine consists in the fact that the number of signs of the former is limited, whereas that of the latter is infinite; hence the universe is a meaningless text, one which even the gods find illegible. The critique of the universe (and that of the gods) is called grammar... Disturbed by this strange thought, Hanumān leaps down from the wall, remains for a moment in a squatting position, then stands erect, scrutinizes the four points of the compass, and resolutely makes his way into the thicket."

"The gods were my superheroes growing up. Hanuman, the monkey god, lifting an entire mountain to save his friend Lakshman. Ganesha the elephant headed, risking his life to save the honor of his mother Pārvati."

"Tulsidas wrote 12 books, but, by far, the most important is the Ramacharitamanas (the holy Lakes of the Acts of Ram), a Ramayana written in old Hindi (Avadhi) couplets. The book was written under the direction of Hanuman himself. It is read all over North India, and particularly during the time of the Ramlila. It is sung aloud in large groups for devotional purposes."

"Devanagari: यत्र यत्र रघुनाथकीर्तनं तत्र तत्र कृतमस्तकाञ्जलिम् । बाष्पवारिपरिपूर्णलोचनं मारुतिं नमत राक्षसान्तकम् ॥"

"Hunterian: yatra yatra raghunāthakīrtanaṃ tatra tatra kṛta mastakāñjalim । bāṣpavāriparipūrṇalocanaṃ mārutiṃ namata rākṣasāntakam ॥"

"English translation: Bow down to Hanumān, who is the slayer of demons, and who is present with head bowed and eyes full of flowing tears wherever the fame of Rāma is sung."

"Indeed, I hadn’t dared to think of that, but yes, indeed, when you read the Ramayana you’ll come across the story of Hanuman on which I built my version of that very old myth...I love Friend Monkey. I love the story of Hanuman. For many years, it remained in my very blood because he’s someone who loves too much and can’t help it. I don’t know where I first heard of him, but the story remained with me and I knew it would come out of me somehow or other. But I didn’t know what shape it would take."

"Lord Ram gave Hanuman a quizzical look and said, "What are you, a monkey or a man?" Hanuman bowed his head reverently, folded his hands and said, "When I do not know who I am, I serve You and when I do know who I am, You and I are One"."

"Poem from Hanuman Chalisa in Devanagari: ॥दोहा॥ श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज, निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि। बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायकु फल चारि॥"

"English translation: Doha: With the dust of guru’s lotus feet having, I cleanse the mirror of my soul sparkling, Raghuvar’s spotless glory I be singing, The four fruits of life it ever is giving."

"Poem from Hanuman Chalisa in Devanagari: ॥दोहा॥ बाल समय रबि भक्षि लियो तब तीनहुँ लोक भयो अँधियारो। ताहि सों त्रास भयो जग को यह संकट काहु सों जात न टारो। देवन आनि करी बिनती तब छाँड़ि दियो रबि कष्ट निवारो। को नहिं जानत है जग में कपि संकटमोचन नाम तिहारो॥१॥"

"English translation: Doha: When as a child you lapped the sun, darkness on triple world fell, The worlds so got into trouble and a crisis that none could dispel, Gods then prayed to you to spare the sun and you did so quell, Who doesn’t know in this world your name `Problem Solver’ bells?"

"There is a story of Hanumân, who was a great worshipper of Râma. Just as the Christians worship Christ as the incarnation of God, so the Hindus worship many incarnations of God. According to them, God came nine times in India and will come once more. When he came as Rama, this Hanuman was his great worshipper. Hanuman lived very long and was a great Yogi. During his lifetime, Rama came again as Krishna; and Hanuman, being a great Yogi, knew that the same God had come back again as Krishna. He came and served Krishna, but he said to him, "I want to see that Rama form of yours". Krishna said, "Is not this form enough? I am this Krishna; I am this Rama. All these forms are mine". Hanuman said, "I know that, but the Rama form is for me. The Lord of Jânaki (Janaki is a name of Sitâ.) and the Lord of Shri Shri is a name of Laksmi.) are the same. They are both the incarnations of the Supreme Self. Yet the lotus-eyed Rama is my all in all". This is Nishtha — knowing that all these different forms of worship are right, yet sticking to one and rejecting the others. We must not worship the others at all; we must not hate or criticize them, but respect them."

"A great Bhakta [Devotee] (Hanuman) once said when asked what day of the month it was, "God is my eternal date, no other date I care for."

"As on the one hand Hanuman represent the ideal of service, so on the other hand he represents leonine courage, striking the whole world with awe. He has not the least hesitation in sacrificing his life for the good of Rama. A supreme indifference to everything except the service of Rama, even to the attainment of the status of Brahma and Shiva, the great World - gods! Only the carrying out of Shri Rama's best is the one vow of this life! Such whole - hearted devotion is wanted."

"Eka-Nishtha or devotion to one ideal is absolutely necessary for the beginner in the practice of religious devotion. He must say with Hanuman in the Râmâyana, though I know that the Lord of Shri and the Lord of Jânaki are both manifestations of the same Supreme Being, yet my all in all is the lotus-eyed Râma."

"Hanuman, the best of the monkeys, became the most faithful servant of Rama and helped him in rescuing Sita."

"Hanuman, the devotee of Rama, summed up his philosophy in these words: When I identify myself with the body, O Lord, I am Thy creature, eternally separate from Thee. When I identify myself with the soul, I am a spark of that Divine Fire which Thou art. But when I identify myself with the Atman, I and Thou art one."

"His devotion to Rama was so great that he is still worshipped by the Hindus as the ideal of a true servant of the Lord."

"In the course of the article I described the 'god' worshiped by terrorists as 'a monkey god.' I was wrong and that was offensive. I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God... Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength and devotion. He is known as a destroyer of evil and to inspire and liberate. Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship and worthy of my respect and admiration not ridicule."

"If you be very generous, you may think that like the great devotee, Hanuman."

"Raganuga Bhakti is of five kinds: (1) Shanta [peace] as illustrated by the religion of Christ; (2) Dasya as illustrated by that of Hanuman to Rama; (3) Sakhya [friendship] as illustrated by that of Arjuna to Shri Krishna; (4) Vatsalya [affection] as illustrated by that of Vasudeva to Shri Krishna; (5) Madhura (that of the husband and wife) in the lives of Shri Krishna and the Gopikas."

"(Shiva) Thou art pure; thou art the Creator of Brahman; thou art Brahma; thou art a brahmacari; thou art an observer of vows; thou art devoted to ascetic austerities; thou art infinite; thou art the refuge of all ascetics; thou art multiform; thou art the leader of diverse tribes of ghostly beings;..."

"In Silappadikaram, eleven dances are referred to, which were danced by divinities like Shiva, Tirumal (Vishnu), Muruga, Kama, Kali, Tirumagal (Lakshmi) and Indrani. They depict the destruction of various demons and symbolize the triumph of good over evil. This is evidence enough that dance was a divine art whose theme was the destruction of evil and the purification of the spirit."

"The introduction of the Shiva as the central deity to the form, a god who incinerates impurity introduced to Bharata Natyam, a modality quite outside that of devadasi dance, a dance preoccupied with cataloguing the infinite shadings of feeling in love."

"The first and ultimate principle of the Universe is a feminine power, Shakti, whose personified form is Beauty and whose essential nature is consciousness and bliss. It exists eternally associated with the male principle, Shiva, who plays a secondary role. The “Srichakra” is the diagrammatic representation of their union."

"At the time of Ganesha's 'birth', Shiva was away from the family home. On returning, and finding an unknown young man standing guard outside the bathroom of his wife, he naturally challenged him. Ganesha was equally unknowing of his father, and the two came to blows. The result was never in doubt, for Shiva is the greatest of the Gods, and the father killed his own son, by cutting off his (human) head. When Parvati found out what had happened and explained the circumstances to Shiva, the god undertook to restore Ganesha to life. This he did by ordering by one of his retinue to bring the head of the first he met. This was an elephant, and thus Ganesha was returned to life with an elephant’s head. Further, as compensation for the loss of his human head, Ganesha was entrusted by Shiva with the leadership of the members of his rowdy and dwarfish retinue (the ganas). Ganesha’s name means no more than ‘Lord of the Gana’. In recognition of his courage in the defense of his mother’s chamber, Ganesha is given custody over all doorways."

"The geography of the Himalayas is such that all its passes lead one to the region of Kailash and Manasarovar, Western Tibet, the place of the heavenly abode of Lord Shiva, has been known to the Hindus and their ancestors since thousands of years."

"Linga Purana, listed eleven in the order of composition, enunciates many rituals in the text with legends and stories that date back to a hoary period. It gives details of Shiva Puja and has two parts – the first part is said to be ‘Poorva Bhaga’ and the other ‘Uttara Bhaga'. It has 180 chapters in the first part and 55 in the second. The language of the Purana is difficult."

"The image of Shiva as Nataraj is indelibly stitched into the Indian imagination. How many various dances of Shiva are known to His worshippers. I cannot say. No doubt the root idea behind all of these dances is more or less one and the same, the manifestation of primal rhythmic energy. Whatever the origins of Shiva's dance, it became in time the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of."

"In Vishnu Purana, in the final dissolution Vishnu assumes the form of Rudra, the destructive persona of Shiva, and proceed to set the world ablaze. The seven main rays of the Sun which are mentioned in this myth are, according to Hindu Astronomy in this myth the most important among its thousands. These seven are all identified by name and supply heat and light to the moon, stars and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The blaze is followed by a flood and then a period of quiescence and regeneration."

"The worship of Shiva is one of the oldest, most profound and most terrible elements in Hinduism. Sir John Marshall reports “unmistakable evidence” of the cult of Shiva at Mohenjo-daro, partly in the form of a three-headed Shiva, partly in the form of little stone columns which he presumes to be as phallic as their modern counterparts. “Shivaism,” he concludes, “is therefore the most ancient living faith in the world.”... Never has another people dared to face the impermanence of forms, and the impartiality of nature, so frankly, or to recognize so clearly that evil balances good, that destruction goes step by step with creation, and that all birth is a capital crime, punishable with death."

"The faithful of Shiva or Dionysus seek contact with those forces which...lead to a refusal of the politics, ambitions and limitations of ordinary social life. This does not involve simply a recognition of world harmony, but also an active participation in an experience which surpasses and upsets the order of material life."

"When the two boys [Ganesha and Skanda] were of marriageable age, Shiva and Parvati did not know which of the children to marry off first. So they proposed a competition: We shall celebrate the marriage of the one who first returns after having gone round the world. The clever Ganesha walked around his parents and said to them “You are the Universe”. He was considered the winner and his wedding was celebrated with Siddhi (Success) and Buddhi (Intelligence), the two daughters of the Lord of the World - Visharupa."

"Shiva is by no means a non-Vedic god, and Indra never really disappeared from popular Hinduism but lives on under another name."

"All the multiverses are trying to merge, to create a true universe such as we have only imagined previously. Maybe it will be spiritual, like Zen or telepathy, or maybe it will be physical, one great big gang-fuck, but it has to happen: the creation of a universe and the one great eye opening to see itself at last. Aum Shiva! — Oh, man, you're stoned out of your gourd. You're writing gibberish."

"O Mother Ganga, may your water, abundant blessing of the world, treasure of Lord Shiva, playful lord of all earth, essence of the scriptures and embodied goodness of the gods, May your water, sublime wine of immortality, soothe our troubled souls."

"...if we study the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, we find that though He taught the truths contained in the Upanishads, He illustrated these principles to us by methods that are Tantric in origin and content. His worship of and devotion to Mother Kali, Sri Krishna, Mother Sita, Lord Chaitanya, Lord Shiva, and others, reveal His wonderful Tantric nature and point to the many ways of practicing the Vedic truths."

"Through these transcendent categories, Śiva, the ultimate reality, becomes the efficient and material cause of all that exists."

"Most of the puranas are highly sectarian as is the Shiva Purana, which is one of the longer and larger puranas. It gives an exhaustive account Shiva’s mythic deeds – many of which have become the common mythic currency for many traditional Hindus – as well as instructions for how, where, and when Shiva is to be worshipped."

"He comes from Kilas, earth and sky, Bright before the deity; The sun shines, as he shone when first His glory over ocean burst. The vales put forth a thousand flowers, Mingling the spring and summer hours; The Suras fill with songs the air. The Genii and their lutes are there; By gladness stirred, the mighty sea Flings up its waves rejoicingly; And Music wanders o'er its tide, For Siva comes to meet his bride."

"According to some accounts, the Ganga split into seven streams as she emerged from the hair of Shiva, three flowing to the east, three to the west, and the Bhagirathi to the south. This tradition recalls the seven rivers of the Vedic hymns and reminds us that the Ganga in essence waters the whole earth. Indeed, when Bhagiratha brought the Ganga to earth, her waters not only restored the ashes of the dead but also replenished the ocean, which had been swallowed by the sage Agastya."

"Shiva might perhaps best be described as a transformer who moves humanity and the universe forward in the evolution of consciousness."

"God creates the world as Brahma, sustains it as Vishnu, and destroys it as Shiva. One day, Shiva started to sing. Vishnu was so moved by the melody that he began to melt. Brahma caught the molten Vishnu in a pot. This was poured on earth. it took the form of the river Ganga. The Ganga nourished the earth. to bathe in the Ganga’s waters is to bathe in God."

"Vishnu and Siva as integral components of the Triad, while continuing to be a subject of theological speculation, however in their subsequent sectarian avatars began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came to be known and worshipped.... Siva became identified with countless local cults by the sheer suffixing of Isa or Isvara to the name of the local deity, e.g., Bhutesvara, Hatakesvara, Chandesvara."

"...Purusha was personified as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva while Prakriti was personified as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Shakti."

"Shiva and Shakti are the two names given to the monistic Absolute (Paramasiva) when it is being considered in its dual aspects of eternal and transcendent changelessness (Shiva), and the ever-changing and immanent manifestation of universal appearances (Shakti)."

"According to the deep yogic experience of the sages of this philosophy, there is no difference between Shiva tattva and Shakti tattva. They are both actually one with Paramasiva. They are considered to be two tattvas only for the convenience of philosophical thinking and as a way of clarifying the two aspects of the one absolute reality, Paramasiva. These two aspects are Shiva, the transcendental unity, and Shakti, the universal diversity. The changeless, absolute and pure consciousness is Shiva, while the natural tendency of Shiva towards the outward manifestation of the five divine activities is Shakti. So, even though Shiva is Shakti, and Shakti is Shiva, and even though both are merely aspects of the same reality called Paramasiva, still, these concepts of Shiva-hood and Shakti-hood are counted as the first two tattvas. These two tattvas are at the plane of absolute purity and perfect unity."

"There is a deeper symbolism. The black image of Kali is standing on the white image of Lord Shiva. Shiva is Brahman and Kali is Brahman’s energy, Shakti. Brahman is passive while Shakti – Kali –is active. The images so stand that Shiva looks at Kali and Kali at Shiva. This symbolizes the fact that every action, big or small, of destruction or creation, performed by Kali at the instance of Shiva. Kali, as it were, is the working organ of Shiva. Shiva and Kali, Brahman and Shakti, the source and energy, are essential one."

"She, the Ganga, is my supreme image, having the form of water, the very essence of Shiva’s soul, She is nature (Prakriti) supreme and the basis of countless universe. For the protection of the world, I playfully uphold the Ganga. Who is mother of the world, the supreme Brahman’s embodiment."

"The word shava, means corpse. What is this word? Why is it called shava? It is missing something, it is missing shakti. Shiva without shakti, become shava."

"I am Shakti, as well as Shiva. I am everything male and female, light and dark, flesh and spirit. Perfectly balanced in one single moment lasting an eternity..."

"Perform Vishnu smaranam in Shiva temples and Shiva smaranam in Vishnu temples. Without fail, all those who have gathered here today remember these. The world is full of troubles."

"The most elegant and sublime of these is a representation of the creation of the universe at the beginning of each cosmic cycle, a motif known as the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. The god, called in this manifestation Nataraja, the Dance King. In the upper right hand is a drum whose sound is the sound of creation. In the upper left hand is a tongue of flame, a reminder that the universe, now newly created, with billions of years from now will be utterly destroyed."

"One should know all things of the phenomenal world as of a fivefold character, for the reason that the eternal verity of Śiva is of the character of the five-fold Brahman."

"It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony, in the pure and sincere love in the heart. Unless a man is pure in body and mind, his coming into a temple and worshipping Shiva is useless. The prayers of those that are pure in mind and body will be answered by Shiva, and those that are impure and yet try to teach religion to others will fail in the end. External worship is only a symbol of internal worship; but internal worship and purity are the real things. Without them, external worship would be of no avail. Therefore you must all try to remember this. People have become so degraded in this Kali Yuga that they think they can do anything, and then they can go to a holy place, and their sins will be forgiven. If a man goes with an impure mind into a temple, he adds to the sins that he had already, and goes home a worse man than when he left it."

"This is the gist of all worship — to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Shiva; and if he sees Shiva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary. He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Shiva in him, without thinking of his caste, or creed, or race, or anything, with him Shiva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples."

"A rich man had a garden and two gardeners. One of these gardeners was very lazy and did not work; but when the owner came to the garden, the lazy man would get up and fold his arms and say, "How beautiful is the face of my master", and dance before him. The other gardener would not talk much, but would work hard, and produce all sorts of fruits and vegetables which he would carry on his head to his master who lived a long way off. Of these two gardeners, which would be the more beloved of his master? Shiva is that master, and this world is His garden, and there are two sorts of gardeners here; the one who is lazy, hypocritical, and does nothing, only talking about Shiva's beautiful eyes and nose and other features; and the other, who is taking care of Shiva's children, all those that are poor and weak, all animals, and all His creation. Which of these would be the more beloved of Shiva? Certainly he that serves His children. He who wants to serve the father must serve the children first. He who wants to serve Shiva must serve His children — must serve all creatures in this world first. It is said in the Shâstra that those who serve the servants of God are His greatest servants. So you will bear this in mind."

"Let me tell you again that you must be pure and help any one who comes to you, as much as lies in your power. And this is good Karma. By the power of this, the heart becomes pure (Chitta-shuddhi), and then Shiva who is residing in every one will become manifest. He is always in the heart of every one. If there is dirt and dust on a mirror, we cannot see our image. So ignorance and wickedness are the dirt and dust that are on the mirror of our hearts. Selfishness is the chief sin, thinking of ourselves first. He who thinks, "I will eat first, I will have more money than others, and I will possess everything", he who thinks, "I will get to heaven before others I will get Mukti before others" is the selfish man. The unselfish man says, "I will be last, I do not care to go to heaven, I will even go to hell if by doing so I can help my brothers." This unselfishness is the test of religion. He who has more of this unselfishness is more spiritual and nearer to Shiva. Whether he is learned or ignorant, he is nearer to Shiva than anybody else, whether he knows it or not. And if a man is selfish, even though he has visited all the temples, seen all the places of pilgrimage, and painted himself like a leopard, he is still further off from Shiva."

"Linga Purana is where Maheshwara [Shiva], present in the Agni Linga, explained {the objects of life) virtue, wealth, pleasure, and final liberation at the end of the Agni Kalpa, and this Purana, consists of eleven thousand stanzas. It is said to have been originally composed by Brahma and the primitive Linga is a pillar of radiance, in which Maheswara is present."

"So, as the Council of Trent declared, the Catholic Church, rich with the experiences of ages and clothed with their splendor, has introduced mystic benediction (mantra), incense (dhupa), water (achamana), lights (dipa), bells (ghanta), flowers (w:Pushpanjalipushpa),vestments and all the magnificence of ceremonies in order to excite the spirit of religion to the contemplation of the profound mysteries which they reveal. As are its faithful, the Church is composed of both body (deha) and soul (atma). It renders to the Lord (ishvara) [Shiva] a double worship, external (bahyapuja) and interior (manaspuja), the latter being the prayer (vandana) of the faithful."

"I danced in the morning When the world was begun, And I danced in the moon And the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven And I danced on the earth, At Bethlehem I had my birth."

"Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he."

"I danced on the Sabbath And I cured the lame; The holy people Said it was a shame. They whipped and they stripped And they hung me on high, And they left me there On a Cross to die."

"They buried my body And they thought I'd gone, But I am the Dance, And I still go on."

"They cut me down And I leapt up high; I am the life That'll never, never die; I'll live in you If you'll live in me — I am the Lord Of the Dance, said he."

"The optimistic lines "I danced in the morning when the world begun and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun" also contain a hint of paganism which, mixed with Christianity, makes it attractive to those of ambiguous religious beliefs or none at all. Carter himself genially admitted that he had been partly inspired by the statue of Shiva which sat on his desk; and, whenever he was asked to resolve the contradiction, he would declare that he had never tried to do so. However, he admitted to being as astonished as anyone by its success. "I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian. But in fact people did sing it and, unknown to me, it touched a chord."

"God creates the world as Brahma, sustains it as Vishnu, and destroys it as Shiva. One day, Shiva started to sing. Vishnu was so moved by the melody that he began to melt. Brahma caught the molten Vishnu in a pot. This was poured on earth. it took the form of the river Ganga. The Ganga nourished the earth. to bathe in the Ganga’s waters is to bathe in God."

"Om means Brahma. Meaning “whole world is in this word”."

"At the muezzin's call for prayer, The kneeling faithful thronged the square, And on Pushkara's lofty height The dark priest chanted Brahma's might. Amid a monastery's weeds An old Franciscan told his beads; While to the synagogue there came A Jew to praise Jehovah's name. The one great God looked down and smiled And counted each His loving child; For Turk and Brahmin, monk and Jew Had reached Him through the gods they knew."

"I am the dweller with the one high God, And God himself dwells here, unseen, with me! He is embodied in the meanest clod, And he exists in every stone and tree.Man thinks he slays me, saying, God is naught: For chance first framed and still creation sways: I am the chance he worships in his thought, And I am all to which he homage pays.“As milk to curd, as water is to ice,” So do I change my ever-changing form; I am fair virtue, I am hideous vice, I am the sunshine and the raging storm.All things to me, how far soe’er they seem, Are near, for I am earth, air, water, fire; The life of man is but a “fitful dream,” And all created things to me aspire.Many may doubt,—’tis I who gave them thought With which they vainly think from me to flee,— Dispel illusions! seek me as you ought! Say “I am Brahma”—in thyself find me.Wouldst thou this riddle read? I am the Soul, Whence both the known and unknown have their start, And I am God, for God is but the whole, Of which all souls form each an equal part."

"When Rintrah gave Abstract Philosophy to Brahma in the East."

"According to Brahma, in the moment the male and female beheld one another, desire simply happened. Overwhelmed with the beauty of Sandhya, Brahma looked up to see Kama, fully formed and well armed, with his own beauty, five flower arrows, and a seductive gaze."

"BRAHMA, n. He who created the Hindoos, who are preserved by Vishnu and destroyed by Siva — a rather neater division of labor than is found among the deities of some other nations. The Abracadabranese, for example, are created by Sin, maintained by Theft and destroyed by Folly. The priests of Brahma, like those of Abracadabranese, are holy and learned men who are never naughty."

"In the pre-Vedic period the Hindu system of medicine is said to have originated from Lord Brahma, the fountainhead of all learning. Brahma passed on this knowledge of life to Indra through Daksha Prajapati and Ashwins. This story is constant in several texts."

"If the red slayer think he slays, Or if the slain think he is slain, They know not well the subtle ways I keep, and pass, and turn again.Far or forgot to me is near; Shadow and sunlight are the same; The vanish’d gods to me appear; And one to me are shame and fame.They reckon ill who leave me out; When me they fly, I am the wings; I am the doubter and the doubt, And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.The strong gods pine for my abode, And pine in vain the sacred Seven; But thou, meek lover of the good! Find me, and turn thy back on heaven."

"So it is that bird and man, Sun and moon Are born and die in Brahma the Sacred–Where all things become one."

"After dissolution of the Universe, Brahma, drifting in the primordial waters that preceded creation, came across Ganesha sitting in a lone banyan tree that remained. Ganesha touched Brahma's head and initiated him into the mantra 'Om'. Brahma prayed before Ganesha who bestowed upon him the knowledge to create the universe, in return for which he gave Ganesha his two wives, representative of prudence and prosperity."

"I am a sinner and you are a sinner, but someday the sinner will be Brahma again, will someday attain Nirvana, will someday become a Buddha. Now this 'someday' is illusion; it is only a comparison."

"Great Brahma from his mystic heaven groans, And all his priesthood moans,"

"The knowers of ancient things call this Purana Brahma Vaivarta because in it Brahman (I Khanda [chapter]) and the Universe (II Khanda) are unfolded by Krishna. The actual structure of the Brahma and the Prakriti khandas, is a further corroboration that in the word ‘Brahma-Vivarta’ what is meant is Brahman and not Brahma. It is the Purana of manifested Brahmin, which seems to be comprehensive of all topics of the Purana."

"The idea of God I an idea of the form of the infinite. As long as the mystery of the Infinite weighs heavily on human though, temples will be erected for the worship of the Infinite, whether God be called 'Brahma,' 'Allah,' 'Jehovah,' or 'Jesus'; and on the pavement of those temples men will be seen kneeling, prostrate, annihilated, in the thought of the Infinite."

"...Purusha was personified as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva while Prakriti was personified as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Shakti."

"The individual self is subject to beginningless nescience, which has brought about an accumulation of karma, of the nature of both merit and demerit. The flood of such karma causes his entry into four kinds of bodies — heavenly, human, animal and plant beginning with that of Brahma downwards. This ingression into bodies produces the delusion of identity with those respective bodies (and the consequent attachments and aversions). This delusion inevitably brings about all the fears inherent in the state of worldly existence."

"Soul means Brahma; and the Brhmajnan flows through soul to the intellect. That is termed Atmajnan. Thus Soul (Atma), Brahma, and Om have same meaning."

"I am the mote in the sunbeam, and I am the burning sun; “Rest here!” I whisper the atom; I call to the orb, “Roll on!” I am the blush of morning, and I am the evening breeze; I am the leaf’s low murmur, the swell of the terrible seas; I am the net, the fowler, the bird and its frightened cry, The mirror, the form reflected, the sound and its echo, I; The lover’s passionate pleading, the maiden’s whispered fear, The warrior, the blade that smites him, his mother’s heart-wrung tear; I am intoxication, grapes, wine-press, and must and wine, The guest, the host, the tavern, the goblet of crystal fine; I am the breath of the flute, I am the mind of man, Gold’s glitter, the light of the diamond, and the sea-pearl’s lustre wan, The rose, her poet nightingale, the songs from his throat that rise, Flint sparks, the taper, the moth, that about it flies. I am both Good and Evil; the deed and the deed’s intent, Temptation, victim, sinner, crime, pardon and punishment, I am what was, is, will be; creation’s ascent and fall; The link, the chain of existence; beginning and end of all."

"The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still."

"Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Deva Maheshwara. Guru Sakshath Parambrahma, Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha. Guru is the creator Brahma, Guru is the preserver Vishnu, Guru is the destroyer Shiva. Guru is directly the supreme spirit — I offer my salutations to this Guru."

"Since first she lisped the mighty Brahmah’s name!"

"The human soul is on its journey from the law to love, from discipline to liberation, from the moral plane to the spiritual. Buddha preached the discipline of self-restraint and moral life; it is a complete acceptance of law. But this bondage of law cannot be an end by itself; by mastering it thoroughly we acquire the means of getting beyond it. It is going back to Brahma, to the infinite love, which is manifesting itself through the finite forms of law."

"It is not a mere sentiment; it is truth; it is the joy that is at the root of all creation. It is the white light of pure consciousness that emanates from Brahma. So, to be one with this sarvānubhūh [Omnipotent], this all-feeling being who is in the external sky, as well ..."

"In every third world age (Dvapara), Vishnu, in the person of Vyasa, in order to promote the good of mankind, divides the Veda, which is properly but one, into many portions. Observing the limited perseverance, energy, and application of mortals, he makes the Veda fourfold, to adapt it to their capacities; and the bodily form which he assumes, in order to effect that classification, is known by the name of Veda-vyasa. Of the different Vyasas in the present Manvantara and the branches which they have taught, you shall have an account. Twenty-eight times have the Vedas been arranged by the great Rishis in the Vaivasvata Manvantara... and consequently eight and twenty Vyasas have passed away; by whom, in the respective periods, the Veda has been divided into four. The first... distribution was made by Svayambhu (Brahma) himself; in the second, the arranger of the Veda (Vyasa) was Prajapati... (and so on up to twenty-eight)."

"Magnifying and applying come I, Outbidding at the start the old cautious hucksters, Taking myself the exact dimensions of Jehovah, Lithographing Kronos, Zeus his son, and Hercules his grandson, Buying drafts of Osiris, Isis, Belus, Brahma, Buddha, In my portfolio placing Manito loose,Allah on a leaf, the crucifix engraved, With Odin and the hideous-faced Mexitli and every idol and image, Taking them all for what they are worth and not a cent more, Admitting they were alive and did the work of their days, (They bore mites as for unfledg'd birds who have now to rise and fly and sing for themselves)."

"Brahma Purana is the whole of which was formerly repeated by Brahma to Marichi and contains ten thousands stanzas. In all the lists of Puranas, Brahma Purana is placed at the head of the series, and is thence sometimes also entitled to Adi or ‘First’ Purana. It is also designated as Saura, as it is in great part appropriated to the worship of Surya, the ‘sun’. There is a supplementary or concluding section called the Brahmottara Khanda, which contains about three thousand more; but there is every reason to conclude that this a distinct and unconnected work...The immediate narrator of the Brahma Purana is Lomaharshana, who communicates it to the Rishis or sages assembled at Naimisharanya, as it was originally revealed by Brahma, not to Marichi as the Matsya affirms, but to Daksha, another of the patriarchs: hence the denomination of the Brahma Purana."

"Brahmananda Purana, has declared in twelve thousand two hundred verses, the magnificence of the egg of Brahma, and in which an account of the future Kalpa is contained, as was revealed by Brahma. It is usually considered to be in much the same predicament as Skanda, no longer procurable in a collective body, but represented by a variety of Khandas and Mahatmyas, professing to be derived from it."

"The well-known Sanskrit hymn that defines the Panchakanyas (five iconic heroines of Hindu epics) runs:"

"Sanskrit transliteration IAST: ahalyā draupadī sītā tārā mandodarī tathā । pañcakanyāḥ smarennityaṃ mahāpātakanāśinī॥"

"English translation: Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita, Tara and Mandodari One should forever remember the Panchakanya who are the destroyers of great sins."

"Mahari dance tradition in which the Oriya verse goes: Pancha bhuta khiti op tejo maruta Byomo Pancha sati nirjyasa gyani bodho Gomyo Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Tara Mandodari totha Pancha kanya..."

"Five elements, earth, water, fire, wind, [[ether are in essence the five satis. This the wise know as Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari Five virgins...Ahalya personifies water, Draupadi represents fire, Kunti symbolises mother earth, Tara personifies wind and Mandodari ether. Draupadi’s personality personifies fire, while Sita (whom she incongruously includes in the group instead of Kunti) is the daughter of the earth."

"Valin assured Tara that he would only overthrow Sugriva and not hurt him in any other way. In course of the fight, Valin was mortally wounded by Rama - unjustly though - and, finding his death imminent, made peace with Sugriva. Along with other last minute instructions on how to administer the kingdom, Valin explained to Sugriva that since Tara’s judgment was always sound, he should follow her advice."

"The profiles of eleven women who have been clearly referred to as ideals or given enough importance are Ahalya, Draupadi, Tara, Kunti, Mandodari, Sita, Savitri, Parvati, Damayanti, Maitreyi and Shakuntala. Evidently, all of them were not held in the same degree of esteem and reverence. The first five women, known as pancakanya, may be recommended for daily prayers but none of them is regarded as an ideal woman, at least not recommended by anyone for emulation by others. The only exception is Draupadi who was praised by Gandhi for her wisdom and courage."

"In spite of several plus points to their credit – like the wisdom, courage, and sagacity of Draupadi, Tara and Damayanti, the keen and lively interest they evinced in their surroundings and also the part played by the former two in the management of their respective realms, the strong sense of duty, love and loyalty to their respective husbands as shown by Kunti, Mandodari and Shakuntala, the carving for knowledge as expressed by Maitreyi – none of them is a model for Hindu women."

"Contrarily, epic characters like Draupadi and Tara, whose devotion to their husbands and affinal families was duly noted, participated in activities outside the confines of their homes. On this additional merit, therefore, they should have superseded Sita, Savithri or Parvati as ideal women."

"Ahalya “for her forbearance is likened to the freshness and active nature of the wind Tara (all the three women of that name, that is, Harishchandra’s queen, Vali’s wife and Brihaspati’s wife who is Chandra’s beloved) is associated “with space and has the quality of intelligence, compassion and large-heartedness; Mandodari with the element of water, turbulent on the surface yet deep and silent in her spiritual quest."

"Thus by the mighty Sire addressed They all obeyed his high behest, And thus begot in countless swarms Brave sons disguised in sylvan forms. Each God, each sage became a sire, Each minstrel of the heavenly quire, Each faun, of children strong and good Whose feet should roam the hill and wood. Snakes, bards, and spirits, serpents bold Had sons too numerous to be told. Báli, the woodland hosts who led, High as Mahendra's lofty head, Was Indra's child. That noblest fire, The Sun, was great Sugríva's sire, Tára, the mighty monkey, he Was offspring of Vrihaspati: Tára the matchless chieftain, boast For wisdom of the Vánar host. Of Gandhamádan brave and bold The father was the Lord of Gold."

"And the worthy daughters of those far-famed ladies [Ahalyâ, Târâ, Mandodari, Kunti, and [Draupadi] of the Paurânika age, whose names we are to repeat every morning—they can no longer marry more than one husband at a time, even if they want to, and so they turn unchaste."

"...refers to some real event amongst the aboriginal tribes; namely, the quarrel between an elder and younger brother for the possession of a Raj; and the subsequent alliance of Rama with the younger brother. It is somewhat remarkable that Rama appears to have formed an alliance with the wrong party, for the right of Vali was evidently superior to that of Sugriva; and is especially worthy of note that Rama compassed the death of Vali by an act contrary to all the laws of fair fighting. Again, Rama seems to have tacitly sanctioned the transfer of Tara from Bali to Sugriva, which was directly opposed to modern rule, although in conformity with the rude customs of a barbarous age; and it is remarkable that to this day the marriage of both widows and divorced women is practiced by the Marwars or the aborigines of southern Caranatic, contrary to the deep-rooted prejudice which exists against such unions amongst the Hindus at large."

"The five ideal women are role models for all Hindus. They are not perfect but they fulfill their dharma as mothers, sisters, wives, and occasionally leaders in their own right. They are most often listed as Ahalya, Draupadi, Mandodari, Sita and Tara."

"Then BaIi's soul with rage was fired, Queen Tara and the dames retired; And slowly, with a laugh of pride, The king of Vénars thus replied 'Me, fiend, thou deemest drunk with wine: Unless thy fear the fight decline, Come, meet me in the fray, and test The spirit of my valiant breast"

"Nala and Nila came behind With Hanuman of lofty mind, And valiant Tara, last in place, A leader of the Vénar race. They gazed on many a tree that showed The glory of its pendent load, And brook and limpid rill that made Sweet murmurs as they seaward strayed."

"They praise thy valour, patience, ruth, Thy firmness, self-restraint, and truth: Thy hand prepared for sin's control, All virtues of a princely soul. I thought of all these gifts of thine, And glories of an ancient line, I set my Tara's tears at naught, I met Sugriva and we fought."

"I thought of all these gifts of thine, And glories of an ancient line, I set my Tara's tears at naught, I met Sugriva and we fought. O Rama, till this fatal morn I held that thou wouldst surely scorn To strike me as I fought my foe And thought not of a stranger’s blow."

"In vain my Tara reasoned well, On dull deaf ears her counsel fell. I scorned her words though sooth and sweet, And hither rushed my fate to meet. Ah for the land thou rulest! she Finds no protection, lord, from thee, Neglected like some' noble dame By a vile husband dead to shame."

"Though stayed by Tara's fond recall, By thy dear hand I longed to fall. Against my brother rushed and fought, And gained the death I long have sought. Then Ruma thus the prince console'd From whose clear eyes the mists were rolled."

"Again the hapless Tara wept As to her husband's side she crept, And wild with sorrow and dismay Sat on the ground where Bali lay."

"And hapless Tara sank below The whelming waters of her woe, Looked upon Bali's face and fell Beside him whom she loved so well, Like a young creeper clinging round - A tall tree prostrate on the ground."

"Lover of wail beloved by me, Why hast thou fled away and left Thy Tara of all hope bereft? Unwise the father who allows His child to be a warrior's spouse, For, hero, see thy consort's fate, A widow now most desolate. For ever broken is my pride"

"Prepare with Tara and her son That Bali's rites be duly done. A store of funeral wood provide Which wind and sun and time have dried, And richest sandal fit to grace The pyre of one of royal race. With words of comfort soft and kind Console poor Angad’s troubled mind, Nor let thy heart be thus cast down, For thine is now Vanara’s town."

"When Tara' heard the words he said Within the town he quickly sped, And brought, on stalwart shoulders laid, The litter for the rites arrayed, Framed like a car for Gods, complete With painted sides and royal seat, With latticed windows deftly made."

"About thee stands in mournful mood; A sore-afflicted multitude, And Tara and thy lords of state Around their monarch weep and wait. Arise my lord, with gentle speech, As was thy wont, dismissing each, Then in the forest will, we play. And love shall make our spirits gay, The Vanar dames raised Tara, drowned In floods of sorrow, from the ground;"

"With royal Ruma by his side, Or Tara yet a dearer bride, He spent each joyous day and night In revelry and wild delight, Like Indra whom the nymphs entice To taste the joys of Paradise."

"The king, untroubled by alarms, Held Tara in his amorous arms, And in the distant bower with her Heard not each clamorous messenger. Then, summoned at the lords' behest, Forth from the city portals pressed, Each like some elephant or cloud, The vanaras in a trembling crowd: Fierce warriors all with massive jaws... With eyes of furry Lakshman viewed."

"Son of Queen Tara, Angad ran To parley with the godlike man. Still fiery-eyed with rage and hate Stands Lakshman at the city gate, And trembling Vénars scarce can fly Scathed by the lightning of his eye. Go with thy son, thy kith and kin, The favour of prince to win And bow they revered head that so His fiery wrath may cease to glow."

"A faithful friend untouched by blame. May look upon another's dame. He passed within, by Tara pressed, And by his own impatient breast. Refulgent there in sun like sheen Sugriva on his throne was seen."

"He ceased: and Tara starry-eyed Thus to the angry prince replied : Not to my lord shouldst thou address A speech so fraught with bitterness: Not thus reproached my lord should be, And least of all, O Prince, by thee. He is no thankless coward – no- With spirit dead to valours glow."

"She ceased: And Laksmana gave assent, Won by her gentle argument So Tara's pleading, just and mild, His softening heart had reconciled. His altered mood Sugriva saw, And cast aside the fear and awe, Like raiment heavy with the rain, Which on his troubled soul had lain. Then quickly to the ground he threw His flowery garland bright of hue."

"Sugriva’s heart swelled high with pride As to the prince he thus replied:’Come we speed forth without delay': ’Tis mine thy mandate to obey’ Sugriva bade the dames adieu, And Tara and the rest withdrew. Then at their chieftain's summons came The Vénars first in rank and fame, A trusty brave and reverent band, Meet e'en before a queen to stand."

"Far southward, as his lord decreed, Wise Hanumén, the Wind-God's seed, With Angad his swift way pursued, And Tara's warlike multitude. Strong Vinata with all his band Betook him to the eastern land, And brave Sushen in eager quest Sped swiftly to the gloomy west."

"But Hanumén, while Tara, best Of splendid chiefs, his thought expressed, Perceived that Bali's princely son A kingdom for himself had won. His keen eye marked in him combined The warrior's arm, the ruler’s mind And every noble gift should grace."

"Go, you bow at Sugreeva’s feet, And in my name the Monarch greet. Before the sons of Raghu bend, And give the greeting that I send Greet kindly Ruma too, for she A son's affection claims from me, And gently calm with friendly care My mother Tara's wild despair; Or when she hears her darling's fate The queen will die disconsolate.' Thus Angad bade the chiefs adieu."

"Then Ruma his devoted wife For her dead lord will leave her life, And Tara, widowed and forlorn, Will die in anguish, sorrow-worn. On Angad too the blow will fall Killing the hope and joy of all. The ruin of their prince and king The V6nars' souls with woe will ring."

"Rama himself makes no effort at conciliation and hears no testimony from Vali. He simply passes judgment and assassinates him for taking Sugriva's wife even though Sugrlva had taken his wife Tara after blocking the mouth of the cave and assuming the throne in Kiskindha."

"Sanskrit transliteration IAST: sugrivah prapya kiskindharh nanadaughanibhasvanah; nasya tanmamrse vaii tam tara pratyasedhayat. sugrivah prapya kiskindham nanada."

"Purport in English: When we reached Kishkinda, Sugriva roared with a sound like a flood. Valin did not tolerate it from him. Tara checked him."

"Sanskrit transliteration IAST: cintayitva muhurtarh tu tara taradhipaprabha; patimityabravltprajna srnu sarvam kapisvara."

"Purport in English: Look, you [Tara] knowing the speech of all beings, endowed with intelligence! With whom as support this pseudo-brother of mine arrived?"

"Sanskrit transliteration IAST: garhayitva sa kakutstharh papata bhuvi murchitah; tara dadarsa tam bhumau tarapatimiva cyutam."

"Purport in English: He [Vali] censured the descendant of Kukustha (Rama) and fell on the ground unconscious. Tara saw him fallen on the ground like the lord of the stars."

"When Valin had been slain, Sugriva returned to Kiskindha and to her whose lord had fallen, Tara, whose face was like the lord of the stars."

"Of the five kanyas, none quite measure up to the standard of monogamous chastity, commended so overwhelmingly in our culture. Each has had either an extra-marital relationship or more than one husband. Of this group three – Ahalya, Tara, and Mandodari – belong to the Ramayana, the epic composed by Valmiki, the first seer-poet."

"In the Mahabharata she is called sarvabhutarutajna, able to understand the language of all creatures. In the Kishkindha Kanda of the Ramayana, we see her warning Vali against Sugriva when he comes to challenge Vali for the second time."

"Appearances are deceptive, she [Tara] points out; normally no contestant returns to the field so soon after having been soundly thrashed. Moreover, she says, she has heard that Rama, prince of Ayodhya, has befriended him. She urges Vali to anoint Sugriva as the crown prince and live in peace with him. Vali, in the Mahabharata account, suspects that Tara might be favouring Sugriva and therefore rejects her advice."

"By brushing aside her wise warning, he walks into Rama’s arrow, as he himself admits while he lies dying. He pays a fine tribute to his wife, imploring Ram to ensure that tapasvinim Tara is not insulted by Sugriva and advising Sugriva to follow Tara’s advice unquestioningly. She is skilled, he says, in assessing a situation and deciding what action should be taken; she never judges the merit of anything wrongly."

"After Vali’s fall, Tara not only rallies the fleeing subjects, but also shows great political sagacity. When Hanuman asks her to stop grieving and place her son Angada on the throne, she refuses, since, with his uncle Sugriva alive, this would be inadvisable. Then she rushes to Rama and, in an extremely forceful speech, demands that he kill her too. The strength of her personality in facing up to the prince of Ayodhya is strikingly portrayed. In Krittibas’ Bengali Ramayana, Tara curses Rama to be slain by Vali in a future birth. This is confirmed in the Mahanataka and the Ananda Ramayana where the hunter who causes Krishna’s death is Vali reborn. In several vernacular versions of the epic, Tara also curses Rama that he will not be able to enjoy the company of Sita for long. Tara’s upbraiding elicits Rama’s assurance that Sugriva will protect both her and her son’s rights. To ensure that her son Angada is not deprived of his father’s throne, she becomes her brother-in-law Sugriva’s consort."

"When Lakshmana storms into the inner apartments of Kishkindha, to upbraid Sugriva who has reneged on his promise to track down Sita, it is Tara who is sent by the terrified Sugriva to tackle this rage-incarnate. Approaching Lakshmana with intoxicated, half-closed eyes and unsteady gait, lovely, slim, unashamed, Tara effectively disarms him. She gently reprimands him for being unaware of lust’s overwhelming power that overthrows the most ascetic of sages, whereas Sugriva is a mere vanara (a forest dweller). When he abuses Sugriva, Tara fearlessly intervenes, pointing out that the rebuke is unjustified and details all the efforts already made to gather an army. Once again, as when tendering advice to Vali, Tara displays her superb ability to marshal information and to intervene in a crisis. Thus, she acts as Sugriva’s shield while ensuring that her son Angada becomes the crown prince. In the Mahabharata there is an interesting statement in the Vana Parva that Vali and Sugriva fought over a woman. Surely that woman was the remarkable Tara for, the Ramayana tells us, when attendants report Lakshmana’s arrival, Sugriva is so engrossed in Tara (and not his original wife Ruma) that he remains oblivious to the news."

"In the Balinese dance Kebyar, Rama helps Sugriva get his lover, Dewi Tara, back from his brother, SuVali. In both the Nrisimha Purana and the Mahanataka, Tara is actually Sugriva’s wife whom Vali forcibly took away."

"The Telegu Ranganatha Ramayana has an even more interesting account of Tara’s origins that aligns her more closely with Ahalya, by also depicting her as not born of woman. In this account, Tara is said to have emerged along with the other apsaras during the churning of the ocean for amrita, the nectar of immortality. Tara was then gifted to Vali and Sugriva for the help they had given the gods. Subsequently, Sugriva married Sushena’s daughter Ruma."

"The earliest bearer of the name Tara is the wife of Brihaspati who runs away with his disciple Chandra, causing the Tarakamaya war between the devas and their stepbrothers, the asuras. The name Tara, therefore, carries an aura of internecine strife. Tara, like Helen with Paris, let herself be ruled by her preferences, ignoring social conventions in choosing to leave her ascetic husband for the young and irresistibly handsome Chandra. Even after the war, when the devas and the asuras fight again over possession of her son, it is she who has the last word. As this second war is inconclusive, Brahma himself requests Tara to declare who is the father of her son. Once again, Tara chooses to announce the truth instead of hiding behind the safety of conventions and declares that Chandra, not Brihaspati, is the father. That is how she becomes the ancestress of the Lunar dynasty, the Chandra Vamsa, whose fortunes are the stuff of Vyasa’s epic."

"Tara is the name of the second of the Ten Mahavidyas (the ten Transcendental Wisdoms). Erich Neumann, while discussing the highest form of the feminine archetype, the Goddess of Spiritual Transformation, views Tara as the highest evolution of this universal aspect of consciousness. Her name signifies both ‘star’ and ‘the pupil of the eye’, conveying the idea of a focal point, which suggests that Tara is in some manner a very concentrated essence. We can also interpret her name as coming from the causative form of the verb t.’r, meaning ‘to cross’, ‘to traverse’ or ‘to escape’. Like Draupadi, as we shall see later, Tara is ‘she who ferries across’, ‘she who saves’. Indeed, by her intrepidactions Tara, the wife of Vali, saves the kingdom and her son from ruin."

"Tara and Mandodari are parallels. Both offer sound advice to their husbands who recklessly reject it and suffer the ultimately responsible for the deaths of their husbands. Thereby, they are able to keep their kingdoms strong and prosperous as allies of Ayodhya, and they are able to continue to have a say in governance. Tara and Mandodari can never be described as shadows of such strong personalities as Vali and Ravana."

"It was Pururavas who first brought from the region of the Gandharvas the three kinds of fire (for sacrificial purpose). And he brought thence, the Apsara Urvasi also. And the son of Ila begat upon Urvasi six sons who were called Ayus, Dhimat, Amavasu and Dhridhayus, and Vanayus, and Satayus. And it is said that Ayus begat four sons named Nahusha, Vriddhasarman, Rajingaya, and Anenas, on the daughter of Swarbhanu. And, O monarch, Nahusha, of all the sons of Ayus, being gifted with great intelligence and prowess ruled his extensive kingdom virtuously."

"Of the dialogue in the Rig Veda it may be said, that 'the language is coarse and the meaning is obscure.' We only gather that Urvasi, though she admits her sensual content in the society of Pururavas, is leaving him 'like the first of the dawns'; that she 'goes home again, hard to be caught, like the winds.' She gives her lover some hope, however—that the gods promise immortality even to him, 'the kinsman of Death' as he is. 'Let thine offspring worship the gods with an oblation; in Heaven shalt thou too have joy of the festival.' In the Rig Veda, then, we dimly discern a parting between a mortal man and an immortal bride, and a promise of reconciliation."

"Rigveda Hymn XCV. Urvasi. Purūravas."

"Purūravas: Ho there, my consort! Stay, thou fierce-souled lady, and let us reason for a while together. Such thoughts as these of ours, while yet unspoken in days gone by have never brought us comfort."

"Urvashi: What am I now to do with this thy saying? I have gone from thee like the first of Mornings. Purūravas, return thou to thy dwelling: I, like the wind, am difficult to capture."

"Purūravas: Like a shaft sent for glory from the quiver, or swift-steed winning cattle winning hundreds. The lightning seemed to flash, as cowards planned it. The minstrels bleated like a lamb in trouble."

"Urvashi: Giving her husband's father life and riches, from the near dwelling, when her lover craved her, She sought the home wherein she found her pleasure, accepting day and night her lord's embraces."

"Purūravas: Thrice in the day didst thou embrace thy consort, though coldly she received thy fond caresses. To thy desires, Purūravas, I yielded: so wast thou king, O hero, of my body."

"Urvashi: The maids Sujirni, Sreni, Sumne-api, Charanyu, Granthini, and Hradecaksus,— These like red kine have hastened forth, the bright ones, and like milch-cows have lowed in emulation."

"Purūravas: While he was born the Dames sate down together, the Rivers with free kindness gave him nurture; And then, Purūravas, the Gods increased thee for mighty battle, to destroy the Dasyus."

"Urvashi: When I, a mortal, wooed to mine embraces these heavenly nymphs who laid aside their raiment, Like a scared snake they fled from me in terror, like chariot horses when the car has touched them."

"Purūravas: When, loving these Immortal Ones, the mortal hath converse with the nymphs as they allow him. Like swans they show the beauty of their bodies, like horses in their play they bite and nibble."

"Urvashi: She who flashed brilliant as the falling lightning brought me delicious presents from the waters. Now from the flood be born a strong young hero May Uruvasi prolong her life for ever."

"Purūravas: Thy birth hath made me drink from earthly milch-kine: this power, Purūravas, hast thou vouchsafed me. I knew, and, warned thee, on that day. Thou wouldst not hear me. What sayest thou, when naught avails thee?"

"Urvashi: When will the son be born and seek his father? Mourner-like, will he weep when first he knows him? Who shall divide the accordant wife and husband, while fire is shining with thy consort's parents?"

"Purūravas: I will console him when his tears are falling: he shall not weep and cry for care that blesses. That which is thine, between us, will I send thee. Go home again, thou fool; ṭhou hast not won me."

"Urvashi: Thy lover shall flee forth this day for ever, to seek, without return, the farthest distance. Then let his bed be in Destruction's bosom, and there let fierce rapacious wolves devour him."

"Purūravas: Nay, do not die, Purūravas, nor vanish: let not the evil-omened wolves devour thee. With women there can be no lasting friendship: hearts of hyenas are the hearts of women."

"Urvashi: When amid men in altered shape I sojourned, and through four autumns spent the nights among them, I tasted once a day a drop of butter; and even now with that am I am contented."

"Purūravas: I, her best love, call Urvasi to meet me, her who fills air and measures out the region. Let the gift brought by piety approach thee. Turn thou to me again: my heart is troubled."

"Urvashi: Thus speak these Gods to thee, O son of Iḷā: As death hath verily got thee for his subject, Thy sons shall serve the Gods with their oblation, and thou, moreover, shalt rejoice in Svarga."

"King Pumrava of Vikramorvashiyam already had a beautiful queen but this does not deter him from running after Urvashi. Poor queen, daughter of king of Kashi, too looks on helplessly the affair of her husband with doting [[w:Apsara|Apsara."

"Urvashi, the heroine of his [Kalidasa’s] play Vikramorvashiyam, according to myth recorded in the Vishnudharmottara Purana, was herself a painting incarnate. Once beautiful heavenly damsels, Devastriya, appeared before Narayana|Bhagavan Narayana to seduce him."

"Mahamuni with mango juice drew on the earth the painting of an extremely beautiful girl, Urvashi. Witnessing the painting the pride of heavenly damsels lay shattered and they departed feeling terribly ashamed of themselves. This, the Purana says, was the first painting on the earth. However Kalidasa gives some other myth about the origin of Urvashi, the myth that she was born from the uru or thigh of Narayana."

"Kalidasa's Vikramorvashiyam is based on the Puranic versions of the love story of king Pururava and celestial nymph Urvashi. However earliest mention of Urvashi is found in the Vedic literature in different contexts. In a Rig Vedic hymn in a dialogue form, Samvad Sukta, the love story of Pururavas and Urvashi is found recorded. In this rather obscure hymn Pururava is portrayed as a glum melancholy dejected lover of a celestial nymph who had abandon him at will."

"In the hymn we see the pathetic king asking his cruel hearted beloved to take pity on him and return to him otherwise he may commit suicide. Urvashi rejects his entreaties and asks him to go back to his kingdom and perform his kingly duties. She also tells him that at appropriate time she will send his son to him who at that time was growing in her womb."

"The nymph Urvashi loved Pururavas, the son of Ila. When she wedded him she said, 'Thrice a day though embrace me, but do not lie with me against my will and let me not see naked for such is the way to behave to us women.'"

"She then dwelt with him a long time, and was even with child of him, so long she dwelt with him. Then the Gandharvas said to one another, 'For a long time, indeed, has this Urvashi dwelt among men; devise ye some means how she may come back to us. Now an ewe with two lambs was tied to her coach; Gandharvas than carried off one of the lambs."

"'Alas', she cried, 'they are taking away my darling, as if I were where there is no hero and no man!' They carried off the second, and she spake in the selfsame manner. He then thought within himself, 'How can that be [a place] without a hero and without a man where I am?' And naked, as he was, he sprang up after them: too long he deemed it that he should put on garments. Then the Gandharvas produced a flash of lightning, and she beheld him naked even as by daylight. Then, indeed, she vanished."

"Wailing with sorrow he wandered all over Kurukshetra. Now there is a lotus-lake there called Anyatahplaksha. He walked along its bank; and there nymphs were swimming about in the shape of Swans. And she (Urvashi) recognised him, said, 'This is the man with whom I have dwelt.' They then said, 'Let us appear to him!' 'So be it!', she replied; and they appeared to him."

"According to this theory Pururava-Urvashi dialogue hymn was one of the earliest known performative texts. Urvashi was the key figure of this text. There are legends showing relationship of Urvashi with dramatic art. Through a legend recorded in Natyashastra it is implied that she was responsible for bringing on earth the heavenly art of drama."

"...there was a king of the name of Purúravas, who was a devoted worshipper of Vishṇu; he traversed heaven as well as earth without opposition, and one day, as he was sauntering in Nandana, the garden of the gods, a certain Apsaras of the name of Urvaśí, who was a second stupefying weapon in the hands of Love, cast an eye upon him. The moment she beheld him, the sight so completely robbed her of her senses, that she alarmed the timid minds of Rambhá and her other friends."

"The king too, when he saw that torrent of the nectar of beauty, was quite faint with thirst, because he could not obtain possession of her. Then Vishṇu, who knoweth all, dwelling in the sea of milk, gave the following command to Nárada, an excellent hermit, who came to visit him"

"O Divine sage, the king Purúravas, at present abiding in the garden of Nandana, having had his mind captivated by Urvaśí, remains incapable of bearing the pain of separation from his love. Therefore go, O hermit, and informing Indra as from me, cause that Urvaśí to be quickly given to the king."

"Rise up, O king, for thy sake I am sent here by Vishṇu, for that god does not neglect the sufferings of those who are unfeignedly devoted to him."

"Nárada cheered up Purúravas, and then went with him into the presence of the king of the gods. Then he communicated the order of Vishṇu to Indra, who received it with reverent mind, and so the hermit caused Urvaśí to be given to Purúravas. That gift of Urvaśí deprived the inhabitants of heaven of life, but it was to Urvaśí herself an elixir to restore her to life."

"Purúravas returned with her to the earth, exhibiting to the eyes of mortals the wonderful spectacle of a heavenly bride. Thenceforth those two, Urvaśí and that king, remained, so to speak, fastened together by the leash of gazing on one another, so that they were unable to separate."

"One day Purúravas went to heaven, invited by Indra to assist him, as a war had arisen between him and the Dánavas. In that war the king of the Asuras, named Máyádhara, was slain, and accordingly Indra held a great feast, at which all the nymphs of heaven displayed their skill. And on that occasion Purúravas, when he saw the nymph Rambhá performing a dramatic dance called chalita, with the teacher Tumburu standing by her, laughed."

"I suppose, mortal, you know this heavenly dance, do you not?"

"From associating with Urvaśí, I knew dances which even your teacher Tumburu does not know."

"Mayest thou be separated from Urvaśí until thou propitiate Kṛishṇa."

"When he heard that curse, Purúravas went and told Urvaśí what had happened to him, which was terrible as “a thunderbolt from the blue.” Immediately some Gandharvas swooped down, without the king’s seeing them, and carried off Urvaśí, whither he knew not. Then Purúravas, knowing that the calamity was due to that curse, went and performed penance to appease Vishṇu in the hermitage of Badariká."

"But Urvaśí, remaining in the country of the Gandharvas, afflicted at her separation, was as void of sense as if she had been dead, asleep, or a mere picture. She kept herself alive with hoping for the end of the curse, but it is wonderful that she did not lose her hold on life, while she remained like the female chakraváka during the night, the appointed time of her separation from the male bird. And Purúravas propitiated Vishṇu by that penance, and, owing to Vishṇu’s having been gratified, the Gandharvas surrendered Urvaśí to him. So that king, re-united to the nymph whom he had recovered at the termination of the curse, enjoyed heavenly pleasures, though living upon earth."

"So many a Season rolled away, When Menaká, fair nymph, one day Came down from Paradise to lave Her perfect limbs in Pushkar's wave, The glorious son of Kus'ik saw That peerless shape without a flaw Flash through the flood's translucent shroud Like lightning gleaning through a cloud. He saw her in that lone retreat, Most beautiful from head to feet, And by Kandarpas might subdued He thus addressed her as he viewed: 'Welcome, sweet nymph! O deign, I pray, In these calm shades awhile to stay. To me some gracious favour show, For love has set my breast aglow."

"He spoke. The fairest of the fair Made for awhile her dwelling there, While day by day the wild delight Stayed vow austere and fervent rite There as the winsome charmer wove Her spells around him in the grove, And bound him in a golden chain, Five sweet years fled, and five again. Then Vis'vámitra woke to shame, And, fraught with anguish, memory came For quick he knew, with anger fired, That all the Immortals had conspired"

"To lap his careless soul in ease, And mar his long austerities. 'Ten years have past, each day and night Unheeded in delusive flight. So long my fervent rites were stayed, While thus I lay by love betrayed.' As thus long sighs the hermit heaved, And, touched with deep repentance, grieved, He saw the fair one standing nigh With suppliant hands and trembling eye. With gentle words he bade her go, Then sought the northern hills of snow. With firm resolve he vowed to beat The might of love beneath his feet. Still northward to the distant side Of Kaus'ikí, the hermit hide, And gave his life to penance there With rites austere most hard to bear."

"And Sakra, thus addressed by her, then commanded him who could approach every place (viz., the god of the wind) to be present with Menaka at the time she would be before the Rishi. And the timid and beautiful Menaka then entered the retreat and saw there Viswamitra who had burnt, by his penances, all his sins, and was engaged still in ascetic penances."

"Saluting the Rishi, she then began to sport before him. And just at that time Marut [Wind] robbed her of her garments that were white as the Moon. And she thereupon ran, as if in great bashfulness, to catch hold of her attire, and as if she was exceedingly annoyed with Marut. And she did all this before the very eyes of Viswamitra who was endued with energy like that of fire. And Viswamitra saw her in that attitude. And beholding her divested of her robes, he saw that she was of faultless feature."

"Viswamitra best of Munis saw that she was exceedingly beautiful, with no marks of age on her person. And beholding her beauty and accomplishments that bull amongst Rishis was possessed with lust and made a sign that he desired her companionship. And he invited her accordingly, and she also of faultless features expressed her acceptance of the invitation. And they then passed a long time there in each other's company."

"Sporting with each other, just as they pleased, for a long time as if it were only a single day, the Rishi begat on Menaka a daughter named Shakuntala. And Menaka (as her conception advanced) went to the banks of the river Malini coursing along a valley of the charming mountains of Himavat. And there she gave birth to that daughter. And she left the new-born infant on the bank of that river and went away."

"Beholding the new-born infant lying in that forest destitute of human beings but abounding with lions and tigers, a number of vultures sat around to protect it from harm. No Rakshasas or carnivorous animals took its life. Those vultures protected the daughter of Menaka. I went there to perform my ablution and beheld the infant lying in the solitude of the wilderness surrounded by vultures. Bringing her hither I have made her my daughter. Indeed, the maker of the body, the protector of life, the giver of food, are all three, fathers in their order, according to the scriptures."

"...a great Rishi called Sthulakesa possessed of ascetic power and learning and kindly disposed towards all creatures. At that time, Brahmana sage, Viswavasu, the King of the Gandharvas, Menaka, the celestial dancing-girl and the Apsara, Menaka, brought forth an infant near the hermitage of Sthulakesa."

"Menaka dropped the newborn infant on the banks of the river. She, being destitute of pity and shame, went away. And the Rishi, Sthulakesa discovered the infant lying forsaken in a lonely part of the river-side. It was a female child."

"Sthulakesa, filled with compassion, took it up and reared it. And the lovely child grew up in his holy habitation. Rishi Sthulakesa performed in due succession all the ceremonies beginning with that at birth as ordained by the divine law. And because she surpassed in goodness, beauty, and every quality, the great Rishi called her by the name of Pramadvara."

"Thou, O Menaka, art the first of celestial Apsaras...My heart is trembling with fear. Indeed, O slender-waisted Menaka, this is thy business...you must see that Viswamitra of soul rapt in contemplation and engaged in the austerest penances, who might hurl me down from my seat. Go and tempt him and frustrating his continued austerities accomplish my good."

"And the timid and beautiful Menaka then entered the retreat and saw there Viswamitra who had burnt, by his penances, all his sins.... And beholding her beauty and accomplishments that bull amongst Rishis was possessed with lust and made a sign that he desired her companionship..."

"And they then passed a long time there in each other's company. And sporting with each other, just as they pleased, for a long time as if it were only a single day, the Rishi begat on Menaka a daughter named Shakuntala. And Menaka went to the banks of the river Malini...And there she gave birth to that daughter. And she left the new-born infant on the bank of that river and went away."

"King: The sage Kanwa lives in the constant practice of austerities. How, then, can this friend of yours [Shakuntala] be called his daughter?"

"Anasúyá: I will explain to you. Sir. You have heard of an illustrious sage of regal caste, [[w:Vishwamitra|Vishwámitra, whose family name is Kaushika....Know that he is the real father of our friend. The venerable Kanwa is only her reputed father. He it was who brought her up, when she was deserted by her mother."

"King: 'Deserted by her mother!' My curiosity is excited; pray let me hear the story from the beginning."

"Anasúyá: You shall hear it, Sir. Some time since, this sage of regal caste, while performing a most severe penance on the banks of the river Godavari, excited the jealousy and alarm of the gods; insomuch that they despatched a lovely nymph named Menaká to interrupt his devotions.... You shall hear it, Sir. Some time since, this sage of regal caste, while performing a most severe penance on the banks of the river Godávarí, excited the jealousy and alarm of the gods; insomuch that they despatched a lovely nymph named Menaká to interrupt his devotions...."

"King: The rest may be easily divined. Shakoontalá, then, is the offspring of the nymph....It is quite intelligible. How would a mortal to such charms give birth? The lightning's radiance flashes not from earth. And so my desire has really scope for its indulgence. Yet I am still distracted by doubts, remembering the pleasantry of her female companions respecting her wish for a husband....I am so eager to hear the particulars of your friend's history, that I have still another question to ask."

"[Menaka] An apsara who attracted the rishi Vishvamitra. From her, Shakuntala was born. With the Gandharva king Vishavasu she was the mother of Mramadavara. She is considered the foremost of apsaras."

"Pramadvara was an apsara whose story is described in ancient texts. She was the daughter of Menaka and Vishvavasu. Menaka left her near the ashram of the rishi Sthulakesha who brought her up."

"When Vishvamitra undertook severe austerities to become a rishi, the gods were afraid of his power, and sent the apsara Menaka to seduce him. She succeeded, and a daughter Shakuntala was born. Vishvamitra then realized his error and sent Menaka away."

"It was the union of Krodha and Himsa that bred the world-destroying being called Kali (Kaliyuga)."

"Right at the time of his birth Kali carried an Upaasthi (a small bone) and his entire body complexion was sooty and dark. This huge-being, with a terrible tongue and an obnoxious smell about his entire physique, chose gambling, liquor, woman and gold as his permanent abodes."

"The army of Kalki soon reached the abode where Kali Yuga lived. The place was haunted and dogs were barking all around. The crows were crowing and the owls were letting out eerie noises. When Kali Yuga learnt about Lord Kalki's arrival, readying his chariot marked with an owl sign, and accompanied by his progeny, he set out to meet him. Soon a huge herd of the dark forces emerged out of that Vishanampuri."

"Kali tried to jointly face Dharma and Satya (Yuga) but panicked and fled on his mount, an ass. His chariot having an owl emblem fluttering on his flag was broken to pieces. When Kali entered his citadel, he was a wounded person with blood trickling down his wounds. His blood's pungent odour was filling the entire atmosphere. This way while Kali escaped to save himself, his other lieutenants also fared no better."

"Seeing them coming Kali tried to run away, but since his all body parts had been burnt and his wife and progeny almost dead, weeping bitterly Kali quietly entered his unmanifest years."

"King Duryodhana, the foolish, wicked bringer of disgrace to the Kurus, was born on earth from a portion of Kali; he was the man of ill omen, hated throughout the entire universe, who slew the whole world, the base man who sparked off the terrible enmity which led to the deaths of so many."

"When wise Vidura heard what he had done and understood that the gates of Kali were at hand, and that Destruction had shown its face, he hurried to Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Brother approached noble firstborn brother; he bowed his head to Dhṛtarāṣṭra's feet and spoke. 'I cannot applaud this resolve of yours, O king! My lord, act to prevent gambling from causing discord among your sons.'"

"Indra now encounters Kali and Dvāpara, who are planning to attend the swayamvara. When he learns that it has already taken place, and what the outcome was, Kali is furious; he determines to possess Nala and ruin him, and he instructs Dvāpara to enter the dice."

"Then, in the Kali age, shall a man acquire by a trifling exertion as much eminence in virtue as is the result of arduous penance in the Krita age, or age of purity."

"In the Kali Yuga, demons take birth in the families of Brahmins."

"Meanwhile, Krodh and Himsa also produced a horrible daughter who was as horrendous as Kali had been. She established union with Kali to produce deadly son called Bhayanak and a daughter called Mrityu (death)."

"From those two Lobha [Greed] and Nikrita [Cunning] were born, oh great soul. And from the both of them there were Krodha [Anger] and Himsâ [Malice]. From these two [irreligiously being bound in incest] Kali and the sister called Durukti [Harsh Speech] were born. Oh best of the truthful, bound to Durukti Kali produced Bhaya [Fearfulness] and Mrityu [Death] and of those two combined Yâtanâ [Excessive Pain] and Niraya [Hell] took birth."

"In the Kali Yuga, demons take birth in the families of Brahmins."

"Savitar (the Sun God) has revealed eight mountains of the earth, three desert (or shore) regions and seven rivers."

"He surveys the all-encompassing richnesses between the eastern and the western mark."

"Indra was the god of the thunderstorm that puts an end to the oppressive summer heat and opens the rainy season.... However, the Buddha arrived just in time for Indra to play a role in his career. it was Indra himself who persuaded the freshly awakened Shakyamuni to start preaching his newfound path. Buddhist monks then spread the cult of Indra to foreign lands as far as Japan. Indra’s weapon, the lightning or vajra, became the emblem of instant Enlightenment. The sought-after “Self-nature” (Chinese zixing) is present all the time, deep in all of us; but when we embark on the path of meditation and finally awaken to it, it strikes like lightning."

"The legend of Indra’s slaying VRtra… in the Vedas is merely an allegorical narrative of the production of rain. VRtra, sometimes also named Ahi, is nothing more than the accumulation of vapour condensed or figuratively shut up in, or obstructed by, a cloud. Indra, with his thunderbolt, or atmospheric or electrical influence, divides the aggregate mass, and vent is given to the rain which then descends upon the earth."

"Indra stands accused (of destroying the Harappan civilization)."

"Shiva is by no means a non-Vedic god, and Indra never really disappeared from popular Hinduism but lives on under another name."

"Temples were built in ancient times in Tamilnadu for worshipping Indra. Grand festivals were celebrated by the Tamil kings in honor of Indra, the “the national hero of the Aryans.’ Indra was so much cherished by the Tamil people, that priority of worship was given to him in the great Epic Silappadikaram’ – the epic of the Anklet. Besides, references to Indra worship are found in Tholkapiam (600 BCE) Purananuru, Paripadal Aingurunuru and Pattupaddu, all belonging to the Sangam period. Certainly Seran Senguttuvan, his brother Illango Adikal, and, above all, the great Sangam Poets were not naïve as to accept Indra the lord of the Aryans who were the enemies of the Dravidians as their God, How can historians reconcile these contradictory views?"

"All songs give increase to Indra who is as expansive as the sea."

"Indra has an extent like the sea."

"He slew the dragon lying at the foot of the mountain. The creator fashioned for him his flashing thunderbolt. As milch cows bellowing as they flowed, directly the waters entered the ocean."

"All songs give increase to Indra who is as expansive as the sea (I.11.1)."

"Indra has an extent like the sea (I.30.3)."

"Indra, an ocean of wealth (I.51.1)."

"Indra, extensive as the sea (1.52.4)."

"Hymns to Indra like the ocean in their convergence (I.56.2)."

"As rivers to the ocean strong hymns and songs have entered Indra whose extent is vast (VI.36.3)."

"The Soma drops, like rivers into the sea enter into Indra (III.40.4)."

"In the slope of the mountains, in the concourse of the rivers, by the power of the hymn the sage (Indra) was born. Hence, arisen conscious he looks down upon the sea, from which awakening he stirs (VIII.6.28-9)."

"You destroyed the dragon who withheld the waters. Earth in her awareness furthered your thunderbolt. You gave energy to the ocean-going floods. You became the Lord through strength, thou daring hero (IV.16.7)."

"He slew the dragon lying at the mountain. The creator fashioned for him his flashing thunderbolt. As milch cows bellowing as they flowed, directly the waters entered the ocean (I.32.2)."

"You slew the serpent who encompassed the floods. You released the waters to the ocean (VI.30.4)."

"By which you released the great floods to the ocean, Indra that power of yours is vigorous (VIII.3.10)."

"As rivers according to their impulse go forth, the floods as if chariot borne entered into the sea. As rivers uniting to the sea, to Indra they carry the well- pressed Soma (III.36.6-7)."

"Indra and Soma, the serpent, the withholder of the waters, you slew. You destroyed the dragon and Heaven approved. You sent forth the flood of the rivers and filled manifold seas (VI.72.2)."

"To Indra and Agni, like the seer Nabhaka, direct your prayers, who poured out the sea with seven foundations, whose opening is above (VIII.40.5).16"

"The thunderbolt lies within the ocean enclosed by the waters (VIII. 100.9)."

"Indra, not by the seas or mountains is your chariot contained (II. 16.3)."

"Whether you are in the luminous realm of Heaven or in the domain of the sea, whether in the station of the Earth or in the atmosphere, come to us, Indra (VIII.97.5)."

"Whether in the east, the south, the north or the west you are called by men, come quickly with your powers; whether you exult yourself on the slope of Heaven in the Sun-world or in the ocean of Soma (VIII.65.2-3)."

"Come to us quickly, Indra, from Heaven or Earth, from the ocean or the heavenly sea (IV.21.3)."

"To Indra I direct my songs in an unceasing flow, like waters from the bottom of the sea (X.89.4)."

"Not ceasing, not coming to rest, his body is hidden in the middle of their depths. The waters move around the secret body of the serpent. Indra's enemy lies in extended darkness (I.32.10)."

"The translations by Grassmann and Ludwig show once again quite strikingly the errors that an exegesis that wants to see in the Veda something other than a purely Indian monument and that does not take Indian views into account must lead to. ... Here, verse 1 says that the gods determined that the place where a man who makes a sacrifice is to be found is the east. Such a man, the text says directly, is the east, but verse 4 says that in the west is a miser who lets nothing come of it and a rich man who gives no gifts. ... "In the west are the ill-wishers whose horses are badly harnessed; in the east are those who are here for giving, who give a variety of gifts," i.e. the misers who have given bad horses are to be in the extreme west, the region of the sunset, thus of darkness and therefore of raksas, while the generous are to be in the east, the region of the sunrise, thus in the eternal light, which is what 10, 107,2 says. So 7,6,3 is to be translated quite literally: "He (Agni), the Eastern One, has made those who do not make sacrifices into Westerners," i.e. he, the bright one, has plunged them into deep darkness."

"It is astonishing to what a degree some remember instances from their past lives, whereas others have completely lost all memories of their former accumulations. A karmic cause does not completely explain such a marked difference in the understanding of life. Truly, the deciding factor in such understanding lies not in the circumstances of former lives, but in the acceptance of Agni. People call such wisdom a talent, but it is no special talent to keep Agni alight. Only the kindling of the centers produces uninterrupted vigilance of consciousness. Even a partial manifestation of Agni already preserves the accumulations inviolate. Agni is no violator, but our friend. It must be explained that the ascent of the spirit is indeed a manifestation of Agni."

"Agni, the Lord of Fire, rules over all the fire elementals and devas on the three planes of human evolution, the physical, the astral, and the mental, and rules over them not only on this planet, called the Earth, but on the three planes in all parts of the system. (p. 65)"

"Agni, the sum-total of the Gods. He is Vishnu and the Sun in His glory; He is the fire of matter and the fire of mind blended and fused; He is the intelligence which throbs in every atom; He is the Mind that actuates the system; He is the fire of substance and the substance of fire; He is the Flame and that which the Flame destroys. (p. 602) All potentiality lies in the vitalising, energising power of Agni, and in His ability to stimulate. He is life itself, and the driving force of evolution, of psychic development and of consciousness. (p. 606)."

""Our God is a consuming Fire" refers primarily to Agni, the controlling factor in this age. The devas of the fire will play an increasingly important part in all earth processes. To them is given the work of inaugurating the New Age, the new world and civilisation and the new continent … Agni controls not only the fires of the earth and rules the mental plane, but He is definitely associated with the work of arousing the sacred fire, the kundalini . . . The Lord of Fire will achieve his peculiar work for this cycle by arousing the fire of kundalini in the large numbers of those who are ready. This will be begun in this century, and carried forward actively for the next one thousand years. (p. 390/1)"

"Agni – (Sk.). The God of Fire in the Veda; the oldest and the most revered of Gods in India."

"I praise Agni, the priest who is the light and the invoker of the sacrifice, whose chants bestow treasure."

"Who shake the mountains across the wavy ocean. May Agni come with the Maruts."

"All delights converge in Agni, as seven mighty streams the ocean."

"Agni, you move to the ocean of Heaven...to the waters which are beyond the luminous heaven of the Sun and to those which stand below it."

"Far far away hath Agni chased those Dasyus, and, in the east, hath turned the godless westward."

"Vaiśvānara the God, at the sun's setting, hath taken to himself deep-hidden treasures: Agni hath taken them from earth and heaven, from the sea under and the sea above us."

"All delights converge in Agni, as seven mighty streams into the ocean (I.71.7)."

"Oh Agni, for your firm law our words like cattle are spoken, as rivers to the sea (VIII.44.25).24"

"Agni, whose vesture is the ocean. (VIII. 102.4-6)."

"From Heaven, Agni first was born; second on Earth from us as the knower of all births; third, in the Waters as the God-mind, enkindled perpetually, those of wisdom laud him. In the ocean, in the Waters, as the God-mind, you are enkindled as the Divine vision, oh Agni, in the udder of Heaven. Standing in the third region, in the lap of the Waters, the bull has grown (X.45.1, 3)."

"Agni who possesses a sevenfold humanity is placed in all the rivers (VIII.39.8)."

"Agni the one ocean, the upholder of treasures (X.5.1)."

"Agni, your splendor that is in Heaven and on the Earth, which has entered the plants and the waters, by which the wide atmosphere is extended, it is a brilliant ocean of light. Agni, you move to the ocean of Heaven ... to the waters which are beyond the luminous heaven of the Sun and to those which stand below it (III.22.2- 3)."

"Having controlled the Nahusha people, Agni made them tribute bearers by his strength. In whose peace all people stand seeking grace according to their nature, the Universal Man sits at the supreme place of Heaven and Earth, in the lap of the parents. The Divine Fire, as the universal ruler, received the foundation treasures in the rising of the Sun. From the inferior and superior oceans, he received them, from Heaven and Earth (VII.6.5-7)."

"Iravathan Mahadevan proposes that “the mysterious cult object that you find before the unicorn on the unicorn seals is a filter. (…) Since we know that the unicorn seals were the most popular ones, and every unicorn has this cult object before it, whatever it represents must be part of the central religious ritual of the Harappan religion. We know of one religion whose central religious cult [object] was a filter, that is the soma [cult] of the Indo-Aryans.”131 If this is not an argument for the identity of Vedic and Harappan, I don’t know what is. Yet, Mahadevan dismisses this conclusion citing the well-known arguments that the Vedas know of no cities while Harappa had no horses, so “the only other possibility is that a soma-like cult (…) must have existed in Harappa and that it was taken over by the Indo-Iranians and incoming Indo-Aryans.”"

"Flow on Soma as wealth from four oceans to us, a thousandfold and from every side"

"Flow on Soma as peace for us, draw out for our milk an ambrosial juice, and increase the ocean of the hymn."

"Forming the ray from Heaven, you flow through all forms. Soma, as the ocean you overflow. Soma, beloved enter the ocean."

"To the ocean the Soma drops, like cows to their home, have come to the source of truth."

"Soma stirs the ocean with the winds."

"The king of the river plunges into the sea, lodged in the rivers, he holds to the wave of the waters."

"Soma, as the ecstatic, you were the first to extend the ocean for the Gods."

"We drank soma, we became immortal; we went to the light, we found the gods; how could now affect us distress, O Immortal One, how man’s malevolence?"

"THERE where the broad-based stone raised on high to press the juices out, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds."

"Where, like broad hips, to hold the juice the platters of the press are laid, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds."

"There where the woman marks and leans the pestle's constant rise and fall, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds."

"Where, as with reins to guide a horse, they bind the churning-staff with cords, O Indra, drink with eager thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds."

"SPRUNG from tall trees on windy heights, these rollers transport me as they turn upon the table. Dearer to me the die that never slumbers than the deep draught of Mujavan's own Soma."

"The king of the river plunges into the sea, lodged in the rivers, he holds to the wave of the waters (IX.86.8)."

"Soma flows as the first of the rivers (IX.86.12)."

"Thus like rivers down to the sea the Soma drops have poured into the chalices (IX.88.6)."

"The king of the rivers has put on the vesture. He has mounted the most righteous ship of truth (IX.89.2)."

"The ocean roars in the original laws, generating creation as the king of the world (IX.97.40)."

"Soma the Moon) stirs the ocean with the winds (IX.84.4)."

"You are the all knowing ocean, oh seer, yours are the five directions in the law, you transcend Heaven and Earth, yours are the constellations, flowing Soma, who are the Sun (IX.86.29)."

"Flow on Soma as peace for us, draw out for our milk an ambrosial juice, increase the ocean of the hymn (IX.61.15)."

"Forming the ray from Heaven, you flow through all forms. Soma, as the ocean you overflow. Cleansing themselves, the living ones, as to the sea, the Soma drops have come to the source of truth. Soma, beloved, enter the ocean (IX.64.8, 17, 27)."

"To the ocean the Soma drops, like cows to their home, have come to the source of truth (IX.66.12).79"

"The ocean-going angels have flowed to the wise Soma (IX.78.3).80"

"Flowing Soma, the Divine King the vast truth, crosses the ocean by the wave (IX.107.15)"

"Soma, as the ecstatic, you were the first to extend the ocean for the Gods (IX. 107.23)."

"Flow on Soma as the great ocean the Father of the Gods through all the laws (IX.109.2)."

"Flow on Soma as wealth from four oceans to us, a thousandfold and from every side (IX.33.6)."

"The Soma libations have extended like the oceans (IX.80.1)."

"Indra is a fourfold ocean, the support of treasures (X.47.2)."

"Which Somas are in the superior region, which are in the inferior region, or which are in Sharyanavat, which are in the well-made Arjikas, which are in the middle of the Pastyas (home regions), or which are among the five peoples (IX.65.22-3)."

"I choose the grace of Heaven and Earth, of the mother rivers, and the mountains of Sharyanavat (X.35.2).1"

"Indra, dragon-slayer, drink the Soma at Sharyanavat. Flow, oh compassionate Soma, lord of the directions, from Arjika ... Flow, oh Soma, to Indra (IX.113.1-2)."

"The personification of ṛta among the Vedic gods is Varuṇa, lord (Asura) of heavenly hosts, the star-studded night sky, the oceanic expanse above us."

"Varuṇa is the first one of the twelve Ādityas, “suns”, also named the “charioteers of ṛta”. He is iconographically depicted as sitting on a makara, a sea monster that in different contexts may be a dolphin or a crocodile. Makara happens to signify Capricorn in the Hellenistic zodiac (rāśicakra), meaning the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, when the sun’s northward course (uttarāyaṇa) sets in, the Hindu equivalent of the Yuletide. Prehistorical woodhenges and stone circles with astronomical alignments teach us that it was the principal feast of the year worldwide."

"He disciplines sinners, but also confers mercy: “Have mercy, spare me, Varuṇa.” (RV 7:89:1) Or: “Free us from sins committed by our fathers… Not our own will betrayed us, but seduction, thoughtlessness, oh Varuṇa, wine, dice, or anger.” (7:86:5-6) He makes his devotee medhira, “wise” (RV 7:87:4), meaning that he has and confers medhā, “wisdom”, the Sanskrit equivalent of Iranian mazdā."

"The Maruts move through Heaven, Agni through the Earth, the Wind moves through the atmosphere. Through the Waters and the oceans, Varuna moves."

"That is the great magic power of this divine greatest seer, Varuna, that no one can challenge, when the diverse flowing streams cannot fill the one ocean with their water."

"Varuna dug a path for the Sun and led forth the ocean-going floods of the rivers."

"Varuna is a secret ocean."

"Varuna knows the station of the birds who fly through the atmosphere. He knows the ocean-going ships (I.25.7)."

"Varuna dug a path for the Sun and led forth the ocean-going floods of the rivers (VII.87.1)."

"When Varuna and I ascend into the ship, when we go forth to the middle of the sea, then we move with the waves of the waters and swing back and forth as if on a swing for joy. Varuna placed Vasishta in a ship. Skillful, he made him into a seer by his greatness. A sage, he made him a singer in the brightness of the days, as far as the heavens extended, as far as the dawns VII.88.3-4)."

"The Maruts move through Heaven, Agni through the Earth, the Wind moves through the atmosphere. Throuph the Waters and the oceans, Varuna moves (I.161.14)."

"May you all be ever protected by Lord Vāmana in the form of Trivikrama who, though being dwarf, is tall with a physique which is an embodiment of all sixteen branches of knowledge. He bears in his palm the Universe which gets disturbed by cloud Samavarta and Pramad, as they strike against the rocks of Kulagiri and create echo."

"Spreading thy web with mightiest Steeds thou comest, rending apart, thou God, the black-hued mantle. The rays of Sūrya tremulously shining sink, like a hide, the darkness in the waters."

"I know the knowledge that leads to heaven. I will explain it to you so that you will understand it. O Nachiketas, remember this knowledge is the way to the endless world; the support of all worlds; and abides in subtle form within the intellects of the wise."

"What enemy is invincible? What constitutes an incurable disease? What sort of man is noble and what sort is ignoble?"

"Of the celestial Naga snakes I am Ananta; of the aquatic deities I am Varuna. Of departed ancestors I am Aryamaa and among the dispensers of law I am Yama, lord of death."

"As long as Vidura played the part of a śūdra, being cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni [also known as Māṇḍavya Muni], Aryamā officiated at the post of Yamarāja to punish those who committed sinful acts."

"I know that you are now Vidura due to the cursing of Māṇḍavya Muni and that formerly you were King Yamarāja, the great controller of living entities after their death. You were begotten by the son of Satyavatī, Vyāsadeva, in the kept wife of his brother."

"My dear servants, you have accepted me as the Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose."

"O Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, what shall I do for You and Lord Balarāma, who are playing the part of ordinary humans?"

"Riding on his terrible buffalo, the god of Death Yama hastened to that place. He was holding his sceptre (rod of chastisement). His physical body was yellow in colour. In prowess he was comparable to none. He was unparalleled in brilliance, strength and power of demanding obedience. His limbs were well developed and he wore garlands."

"The great sage, do not be angry. The number of people of the same name in the world are many. It must be that those who arrested you made a mistake."

"The Maruts, children of Rudra , are not divinities superior to their fierce and mighty Father; but they have manyhymns addressed to them and are far more constantly mentioned in connection with other gods, because the function they fulfilled was of a constant and immediateimportance in the Vedic discipline. On the other hand, Vishnu, Rudra, Brahmanaspati, the Vedic originals of the later Puranic Triad, Vishnu-Shiva-Brahrna , provide the conditions of the Vedic work and assist it from behind the more present and active gods, but are less close to it and in appearance less continually concerned in its daily movements."

"Maruts, let there be for us a powerful hero, who is the almighty ruler of men, through whom we may cross the waters to good habitations and dwell in our own home with you (VII.56.24)."

"The rivers and the mountains cannot obstruct you. Wherever you decide, oh Maruts, there you go; and you travel around Heaven and Earth (V.55.7)."

"To what, Sudas, did you flow along with the rain and the nourishing waters? Come, oh Maruts, from Heaven and from the atmosphere and from here (the Earth). Do not stay in the distance. May the Rasa, Anitabha, Kubha, Krumu, and Sindhu not obstruct you, oh Maruts. May the Sarayu full of the heavenly waters (Purisha) not stop you (V.53, 2, 8-9)."

"Oh skillful Maruts, when through the nights and the days, oh powerful ones, when through the atmosphere and the region, when through the level ground you drive like boats, across all difficulties you are not disturbed (V.54.4)."

"Oh Maruts, you raise up from the ocean the rain, and as carriers of the heavenly waters (Purisha) make it rain (V.54.5)."

"Of easy access for the Maruts is the Earth, of easy access is Heaven for their descent, of easy access are the paths of the atmosphere, of easy access are the mountains to those who move quickly (V.54.9)."

"Worship thou Rudra for his great good favour: adore the Asura, God, with salutations."

"The God Rudra is described to have possessed golden hair . . . yet we cannot make a Nordic viking out of him, as he had brown-hued skin-colour and golden-coloured arm. . . . Surely we cannot take the god Rudra as a specimen of race-miscegenation. . . . we beg to state that these allegories should be accepted as poetic fancies. They cannot be used as scientific data, for anthropological purpose."

"You, oh sacred fire, are the fast living one for living men. The Gods made you as the lord of the peoples of Nahusha. They made Ila the teacher of men (1.31.11)."

"Let the two heavenly Heralds, first, most wise, most fair, present oblation duly with the sacred verse, Worshipping God at ordered seasons decking them at three high places at the centre of the earth. Sarasvatī who perfects our devotion, Iḷā divine, Bhāratī all surpassing,— Three Goddesses, with power inherent, seated, protect this holy Grass, our flawless refuge!"

"We set you down, oh sacred fire, at the most holy place on Earth, in the land of Ila, in the clear brightness of the days. On the Drishadvati, the Apaya and the Saraswati rivers, shine out brilliantly for men. - Rig Veda III.23.4"

"Parjanya and Vata, bulls of the Earth, you energize the heavenly waters (Purishas) (VI.49.6)."