The quote book of  Sylvain (En)  2231  | Page 21 / 90


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A nd why should they not pay homage to Thee, Exalted One?
Thou art greater even than Brahman; Thou art the First Creator;
infinite Lord of Gods, in whom the world dwells,
Thou the imperishable, existent, non-existent, and beyond both! (37)

Thou art the Primal God, the Ancient Spirit,
Thou art the supreme resting-place of this universe;
Thou art the knower, the object of knowledge, and the highest station,
By Thee the universe is pervaded, Thou of infinite form! . . . (38)

Thou art the father of the world of things that move and move not,
And thou art its revered, most venerable Guru;
There is no other like Thee, how then a greater?
Even in the three worlds, 0 Thou of matchless greatness! (43)


Hinduism
XI, Selection, Translation by Franklin Edgerton, in Edgerton Bhagavad-Gita, Vol I. Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. 38 (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1944) 

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T hus it is, as Thou declarest
Thyself, 0 Supreme Lord.
I desire to see Thy form.
As God, 0 Supreme Spirit! (3)

If Thou thinkest that it can
Be seen by me, 0 Lord,
Prince of mystic power, then do Thou to me
Reveal Thine immortal Self. (4)

The Blessed One said:
Behold My forms, son of Prtha,
By hundreds and by thousands,
Of various sorts, marvelous,
Of various colours and shapes. . . .(5)

But thou canst not see Me
With this same eye of thine own;
I give thee a supernatural eye:
Behold My mystic power as God! (8)


Hinduism
XI, Selection, Translation by Franklin Edgerton, in Edgerton Bhagavad-Gita, Vol I. Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. 38 (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1944) 

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Y ou are everything, earth, water, fire, air, and space,
the subtle world, the Nature-of-All (pradhana),
and the Person (pums) who stands forever aloof.

0 Self of all beings!
From the Creator (Brahma) to the blade of grass
all is your body, visible and invisible,
divided by space and time.

We worship you as Brahma, the Immense Being, the first shape,
who sprang from the lotus of your navel to create the worlds.

We, the gods, worship you in our selves,
we, the King of Heaven, the Sun, the Lord of Tears,
the Indweller, the twin gods of agriculture,
the Lord of Wind, the Offering, who all are your shapes
while you are our Selves.

We worship you in your demonic shapes, deceitful and stupid,
wild in their passions, suspicious of wisdom.

We worship you in the genii, the yakshas,
with their narrow-minds obdurate to knowledge,
their blunt faculties covetous of the objects of words.

0 Supreme Man! We bow to your fearful evil shapes
which wander at night, cruel and deceitful

0 Giver-of-Rewards (Jundardana)!
We worship you as the Eternal Law
whence virtuous men, who dwell in the heaven,
obtain the blissful fruit of their just deeds.
We bow to the Realized (Siddhas) who are your shapes of joy;
free from contacts, they enter and move within all things.

0 Remover-of-Sorrow (Hari)! We bow to you the serpent shapes,
lustful and cruel, whose forked tongues know no mercy.

0 Pervaderl We worship you as knowledge
in the peaceful form of the seers,
faultless, free from sin.

0 Dweller in the lotus of the Heart! We bow to you
as the self of Time which, at the end of the ages,
infallibly devours all beings.

We worship you as the Lord of Tears,
who dances at the time of destruction,
having devoured gods and men alike.

0 Giver of Rewardsl We worship your human shape
bound by the twenty-eight incapacities (badha),
ruled by the powers of darkness.

We bow to you as vegetal life (mukhya rupa),
by which the world subsists and which-six in kind,
trees, [creepers, bashes, platits, herbs and bamboo]
supports the sacrifcial rites.

0 Universal Self! We bow to you under that elemental shape
from which beasts and tnen have sprung,
gods and living beings, ether and the elements,
sound and all the qualities.

0 Transcendent Self! We bow to you as the Cause of causes,
the Principal shape beyond compare,
beyond Nature (pradhana) and Intellect.

0 All-powerful (Bhagavan)! We bow to your shape
which the seers alone perceive and in which is found
no white nor other colour, no length nor other diniension,
no density nor other quality.

Purer than purity it stands
beyond the sphere of quality.

We bow to you, the birthless, the indestructible,
outside whom there is but nothingness.

You are the ever-present within all things,
as the intrinsic principle of all.

We bow to you, resplendent Indweller (Vasudeva)! the seed of all
that is!
You stand changeless, unsullied.

The Supreme stage is your core, the Universe your shape.
You are the unborn, Eternal.


Hinduism
3, 17,14-34, Translation by Alain Danielou, in his Hindu Polytheism (New York: Bollingen Series LXXIII, 1964).PP. 367-8 

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I was (the spirit in ?) The Primeval Waters,
he who had no companion when my name came into existence.
The most ancient form in which I came into existence was as a drowned one.
I was (also) he who came into existence as a circle,
he who was the dweller in his egg.
I was the one who began (everything), the dweller in the Primeval Waters.
First Hahu (1) emerged from me
and then I began to move.
I created my limbs in my 'glory'
I was the maker of myself, in that I formed myself according to my desire and in accord with my heart


Tradition / African / Egyptian
'Coffin Texts,' 714, (2) Translated by R.T. Rundle Clark, in his Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt (London 1959) p.74 

1. Hahu, the wind which began the separation of the waters and raised the sky. 2. The so-called 'Coffin Texts,' inscribed on the interior of coffins, belong to the middle kingdom (2250-1580 B.C.)

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' The white man' said the Kurahus, 'speaks of a heavenly Father; we say Tirawa atius, the Father above, but we do not think of Tirawa as a person. We think of Tirawa as in everything, as the Power which has arranged and thrown down from above everything that man needs. What the Power above, Tirawa atius, is like, no one knows; no one has been there.'


Tradition / Native American
TIRAWA, THE SUPREME GOD OF THE PAWNEE, H.B. Alexander, The World's Rim (University of Nebraska Press, 1953) p.132 

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A ll the Lenape so far questioned, whether followers of the native or of the Christian religion unite in saying that their people have always believed in a chief Mani 'to, a leader of all the gods, in short, in a Great Spirit or Supreme Being, The other mani 'towuk for the greater part being merely agents appointed by him. His name, according to present Unami usage is Gicelemu 'kaong, usually translated 'great spirit,' but meaning literally, 'creator.'


Tradition / Native American
THE 'GREAT SPIRIT' OF THE LENAPE, M.R Harrington, Religion and Ceremonies of the Lenape (New York, 1921) pp 18-19 

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E very object in the world has a spirit and that spirit is wakan. Thus the spirits of the tree or things of that kind, while not like the spirit of man, are also wakan. Wakan comes from the wakan beings. These wakan beings are greater then mankind in the same way that mankind is greater then animals. They are never born and never die. They can do many things that mankind cannot do. Mankind can pray to the wakan beings for help. The word Wakan Tanka means all the wakan beings because they are all as if one. Wakan Tanka Kin signifies the chief or leading Wakan being is Nagi Tanka, the Great Spirit who is also Taku Skanskan. Taku Skanskan signifies the Blue, in other words, the sky.
. . . .Mankind is permitted to pray to Wakan beings. If their prayer is directed to all the good Wakan beings, they should pray to Wakan Tanka; but if a prayer if offered to only one of these beings, then the one addressed should be named. . . . Wakan Tanka is like sixteen different persons but each person is kan. Therefore, they are only the same as one.


Tradition / Native American
WAKAN TANKA, THE SUPREME DEITY OF THE DAKOTA, J.R. Walker, The Sun Dance and Other Ceremonies of the Oglala Division of the Teton Dakota (American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers, vol XVI, part II, (1917) pp.152-3 

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T he conception of a Deity. The Kikuyu believes in one God, Ngai, the creator and giver of all things. He has no Father, Mother or companion of any kind. He loves or hates people according to their behaviour.


Tradition / African
Ngai, The High God of the Kikuyu, Jomo Kenyatta, 'Kikuyu Religion, Ancestor-worship, and Sacrificial Practices.' Africa, X (1937) pp. 308-28 

The Kikuyu are a Bantu-speaking tribe of East Africa

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I soko Religion begins with Cghene the Supreme Being, who is believed to have created the world and all peoples, including the Isoko. He lives in the sky which is a part of him, sends rain and sunshine, and shows his anger through thunder. Cghene is entirely beyond human comprehension, has never been seen, is sexless, and is only known by his actions, which have led men to speak of Cghene as 'him', because he is thought of as the creator and therefore the father of all the Isokos. He is spoken of as Our Father never as My Father. Cghene always punishes evil and rewards good.


Tradition / African
The Supreme Being of the Isoko (of Southern Nigeria), James W. Telch, 'The Isoko Tribe,' Africa VII (1934), pp 160-73; quotation from p. 163 

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N zambi Mpungu is a being, invisible, but very powerful, who made all men and things, […] He intervenes in the creation of every child, he punishes those who violated his prohibitions. They render him no worship, for he has need of none and is inaccessible.


Tradition / African
Nzambi, The High God of the Bakongo in Van Wing, Etudes Bakongo (Brussels 1921; pp.170 ff.) as translated by Edwin W. Smith in Smith (ed.), African Ideas of God: A Symposium (2nd ed; London, 1950), p.159 

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T he High Gods of a great number of African ethnic groups are regarded as creators, all-powerful, benevolent, and so forth; but they play a rather insignificant part in the religious life. Being either too distant or too good to need a real cult, they are invoked only in cases of great crises.


Tradition / African
Mircea Eleade, Essential Sacred Writings From Around the World (From Primitive to Zen), HarperSanFrancisco, p.5-6 

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T he sum and substance of the whole matter is that a man must love God, must be restless for Him. It doesn't matter whether you believe in God with form or God without form. You may or may not believe that God incarnates Himself as man. But you will realize Him if you have that yearning. Then He himself will let you know what He is like. If you must be mad, why should you be mad for the things of the world? If you must be mad, be mad for God alone.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 449 

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H ow can one attain yoga? By completely renouncing attachment to worldly things. The mind must be pure and without blemish, like the telegraph wire that has no defect.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 375 

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Y ou will feel restless for God when your heart becomes pure and your mind free from attachment to the things of the world. Then alone will your prayer reach God. A telegraph wire cannot carry messages if it has a break or some other defect.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 375 

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D o you know how a lover of God feels? His attitude is: "0 God, Thou art the Master, and I am Thy servant. Thou art the Mother, and I am Thy child." Or again: "Thou art my Father and Mother. Thou art the Whole, and I am a part." He doesn't like to say, "I am Brahman."


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 134 

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T he path of knowledge leads to Truth, as does the path that combines knowledge and love [bhakti]. The path of love too leads to this goal. The way of love is as true as the way of knowledge. All paths ultimately lead to the same Truth. But as long as God keeps the feeling of ego in us, it is easier to follow the path of love.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 104 

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A man does not have to suffer any more if God, in His grace, removes his doubts and reveals Himself to him. But this grace descends upon him only after he has prayed to God with intense yearning of heart and practiced spiritual discipline. The mother feels compassion for her child when she sees him running about breathlessly. She has been hiding herself; now she appears before the child.

It -is His will that we should run about a little. Then it is great fun. God has created the world in play, as it were. This is called Mahamaya, the Great Illusion. Therefore one must take refuge in the Divine Mother, the Cosmic Power Itself. It is She who has bound us with the shackles of illusion. The realization of God is possible only when those shackles are severed.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 116 

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O ne cannot see God without purity of heart. Through attachment to "woman and gold" the mind has become stained -covered with dirt, as it were. A magnet cannot attract a needle if the needle is covered with mud. Wash away the mud and the magnet will draw it. Likewise, the dirt of the mind can be washed away with the tears of our eyes. This stain is removed if one sheds tears of repentence and says, "0 God, I shall never again do such a thing." Thereupon God, who is like the, magnet, draws to Himself the mind, which is like the needle. Then the devotee goes into samadhi and obtains the vision of God.

You may try thousands of times, but nothing can be achieved without God's grace. One cannot see God without His grace. Is it an easy thing to receive the grace of God? One must altogether renounce egotism; one cannot see God as long as one feels "I am the doer ... ... God doesn't easily appear in the heart of a man who feels himself to be his own master. But God can be seen the moment His grace descends. He is the Sun of Knowledge. One single ray of His has illumined the world with the light of knowledge. This is how we are able to see one another and acquire varied knowledge. One can see God only if He turns His light toward His own Face.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 173-174 

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E ven after attaining samadhi, some retain the "servant ego," or the "devotee ego." The bhakta keeps this "I-consciousness." He says, "0 God, Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant; Thou art the Lord and I am Thy devotee," He feels that way even after the realization of God. His "I" -is not completely effaced. Again, by constantly practicing this kind of consciousness," one ultimately attains God...

One can attain the Knowledge of Brahman too by following the path of bhakti. God is all-powerful. He may give His devotee Brahmajnana [the knowledge of Brahman] also if He so wills. But the devotee generally doesn't seek the Knowledge of the Absolute. He would rather have the consciousness that God is the Master and he the servant, or that God is the Divine Mother and he the child.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 171 

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T he Vedantist says, "I am He." Brahman is real and the world illusory. Even the "I" is illusory. Only the Supreme Brahman exists.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 181 

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T he jnani--the Vedantist, for instance-always reasons, applying the process of "Not this, not this." Through this discrimination he realizes, by his inner perception, that the ego and the universe are both illusory, like a dream. Then the jnani realizes Brahman in his own consciousness.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 148 

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I , and "mine" that is ignorance. By discriminating, you will realize that what you call "I" is really nothing but Atman [the Self].


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 208 

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M aya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul. This egotism has covered everything like a veil. All troubles come to an end when the ego dies. 'if by the grace of God a man but once realizes that he is not the doer, then he at once becomes a jivanmukta [a liberated being]. Though living in the body, he is liberated. He has nothing else to fear.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; pp. 168-169 

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T he phenomenal world belongs to that very Reality to which the Absolute belongs; again, the Absolute belongs to that very Reality to which the phenomenal world belongs. He who is realized as God has also become the universe and its living beings. One who knows the Truth knows that it is He alone who has become father and mother, child and neighbor, man and animal, good and bad, holy and unholy, and so forth.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 328 

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B rahman is Shakti; Shakti is Brahman. They are not two. These are only two aspects, male and female, of the same Reality-Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.


Hinduism
Nikhilananda, 1942; p. 271 

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