rigveda

"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."

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

"As the priest seeks the station rich in cattle, like a true king who goes to great assemblies, Soma hath sought the pitchers while they cleansed him, and like a wild buffalo, in the wood hath settled."

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

"The chronological order of the Mandalas, as we saw, is: VI, III, VII, IV, II, V, VIII, IX, X, with the chronological period of Mandala I spread out over the periods of at least four other Mandalas (IV, II, V, VIII).... [Mandala I also because] ‘it is, for the most part, earlier than Mandala V’."

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

"Mighty, with wondrous power and marvellously bright, selfstrong like mountains, ye glide swiftly on your way. Like the wild elephants ye eat the forests up when ye assume your strength among the bright red flames."

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

"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."

"God is one and the sole ruler of the Universe. God is one but the learned call him by many names."

"The Angirasas gained the whole enjoyment of the Pani, its herds of the cows and the horses."

"Indra, in short, is “the best winner of horses” (1.175.5)"

"Indra is... the “finder of horses” (9.61.3). ..."

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

"The Gods have not ordained hunger to be our death: even to the well-fed man comes death in varied shape, The riches of the liberal never waste away, while he who will not give finds none to comfort him, The man with food in store who, when the needy comes in miserable case begging for bread to eat, Hardens his heart against him, when of old finds not one to comfort him. Bounteous is he who gives unto the beggar who comes to him in want of food, and the feeble, Success attends him in the shout of battle. He makes a friend of him in future troubles, No friend is he who to his friend and comrade who comes imploring food, will offer nothing. Let the rich satisfy the poor implorer, and bend his eye upon a longer pathway, Riches come now to one, now to another, and like the wheels of cars are ever rolling, The foolish man wins food with fruitless labour: that food – I speak the truth – shall be his ruin, He feeds no trusty friend, no man to love him. All guilt is he who eats with no partaker."

"Whence this creation has arisen – perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not – the one who looks down on it, in the highest heaven, only he knows – or perhaps he does not know."

"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."

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

"What thing I am I do not know. I wander secluded, burdened by my mind. When the first-born of Truth has come to me I receive a share in that self-same Word."

"His spies are seated round about."

"May He delight in these my words."

"The wise speak of what is One in many ways."

"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."

"Elsewhere, he “found the cattle, found the horses, found the plants, the forests and the waters” (1.103.5)."

"The four-and-thirty ribs of the. Swift Charger, kin to the Gods, the slayer's hatchet pierces. Cut ye with skill, so that the parts be flawless, and piece by piece declaring them dissect them."

"A dolphin lying on the sands, dried out by the North wind, could refer to the Gangetic dolphin, as in fact it does at 1.176..."

"The people deck him like a docile king of elephants."

"We saw Indra and Soma “winning cows and horses” from their enemies, but Soma occasionally wins chariots too (9.78.4) (besides the Sun and waters ...). Here too, a literalist reading would force us to conclude that the Dasyus and Dåsas, besides horses, possess “chariots”, defeating the dogma that chariots were brought (physically or mentally) by the Aryans."

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

"“The gods are later than this world’s production.”"

"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."

"Then was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it. What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water? Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever. Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent. Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being? He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not."

"There was neither non-existence nor existence then; there was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond. What stirred? Where? In whose protection? Was there water, bottomlessly deep? There was neither death nor immortality then. There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day. That one breathed, windless, by its own impulse. Other than that there was nothing beyond."

"“On the whole ... the language of the first nine Mandalas must be regarded as homogeneous, inspite of traces of previous dialectal differences... With the tenth Mandala it is a different story. The language here has definitely changed.”"

"Child of a double birth he grasps at triple food; in the year's course what he hath swallowed grows anew. He, by another's mouth and tongue a noble Bull, with other, as an elephant, consumes the trees."

"I laud Agni the priest, the divine minister of sacrifice, who invokes the gods, and is most rich in gems. May Agni, the invoker, the sage, the true, the most renowned, a god, come hither with the gods!"

"Soma stirs the ocean with the winds."

"When you drove the course for Divodāsa and for Bharadvāja, Aśvins, urging your steeds onward, your accompanying chariot conveyed wealth. A bull and a river dolphin were yoked to it.Conveying wealth with good rule and a full lifetime with good descendants and good men, Nāsatyas, you two of one mind journeyed here with the prizes of victory to the wife of Jahnu, who was setting your portion three times a day."

"He (Indra) boasts of “winning cows and horses” (10.48.4) with his weapon; won over from his enemies, they were initially not his."

"Just as revealing is the famous dialogue between the divine hound Saramå, Indra’s intransigent emissary, and the Panis, after she has discovered their faraway den, where they jealously hoard their “treasures”. Saramå boldly declares Indra’s intention to seize those treasures, but the Panis are unimpressed and threaten to fight back; they taunt her: “O Saramå, see the treasure deep in the mountain, it is replete with cows and horses and treasures (gobhir a‹vebhir vasubhir). The Panis guard it watchfully. You have come in vain to a rich dwelling” (1.108.7). Every verse makes it clear that all these treasures – “horses” included – belong to the Panis."

"Thou leadest as a warrior king thine army's wings what time thou comest in the van of these swift streams.""

"When they divided Purusa how many portions did they make? What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?"

"He who nourishes neither God nor man, he who eats alone, gathers sin."

"Play not with dice, [but] cultivate your corn-land. Enjoy the gain, and deem that wealth sufficient."

"These very bounteous Gods made the Sun mount to heaven, and spread the righteous laws of Āryas o’er the land."

"Having gained access to Vāk by evil means, they spin out their thread in sheer ignorance’ (RV 10.71.9)."

"In the earliest age of the gods, existence was born from non-existence."

"His, through his might, are these snow-covered mountains, and men call sea and Rasā his possession: His arms are these, his are these heavenly regions. What God shall we adore with our oblation?"

"They were the Gods’ companions at the banquet, the ancient sages true to Law Eternal. The Fathers found the light that lay in darkness, and with effectual words begat the Morning."