Chips from a German Workshop
Format: Paperback
ISBN13: 9780217695862
Paperback|9780217695862
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Overview
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: But let me state at once that there is nothing in the hymns themselves to warrant such extravagant theories. In many a hymn the author says plainly that he or his friends made it to please the gods; that he made it, as a carpenter makes a chariot (Rv. I. 130, 6; V. 2, 11), or like a beautiful vesture (Rv. V. 29, 15); that he fashioned it in his heart and kept it in his mind (Rv. I. 171, 2); that he expects, as his reward, the favour of the god whom he celebrates (Rv. IV. 6, 21). But though the poets of the Veda know nothing of the artificial theories of verbal inspiration, they were not altogether unconscious of higher influences: nay, they speak of their hymns as god-given (' devattam, ' Rv. III. 37, 4). One poet says (Rv. VI. 47, 10): ' 0 god (Indra) have mercy, give me my daily bread Sharpen my mind, like the edge of iron. Whatever I now may utter, longing for thee, do thou accept it; make me possessed of God ' Another utters for the first time the famous hymn, the Gayatri, which now for more than three thousand years has been the daily prayer of every Brahman, and is still repeated every morning by millions of pious worshippers: 'Let us meditate on the adorable light of the divine Creator: may he rouse our minds6.' This consciousness of higher influences, or of divine help in those who uttered for the first time the simple words of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, is very different, however, fromthe artificial theories of verbal inspiration which we find in the later theological writings; it is indeed but another expression of that deep-felt dependence on the Deity, of that surrender and denial of all that seems to be self, which was felt more or less by every nation, but by none, I believe, more strongly, more constantly, than by the Indian. ' It is He that has made it'?vi...
| ISBN-13 | 9780217695862 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0217695868 |
| Weight | 0.84 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.58 In |
| List Price | $20.03 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Pages | 256 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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