life of faith

1. Hinduism
When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God
created this universe everything else seems so superfluous
Albert Einstein
The Bhagavad-Gita calls on humanity to dedicate body,
mind and soul to pure duty and not to become mental
voluptuaries at the mercy of random desires and
undisciplined impulses.
M.K. Gandhi

2. One Truth In Many Names
As men approach Me, so I receive them. All paths, Arjuna, lead to Me.
Bhagavad-Gita 4.11
They have called him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and the divine fine-winged Garuda
They speak of Indra, Yama, Matrarisvan: the One Being sages call by many names.
Rig Veda 1.164.46 (Hinduism)

3. Like the bee, gathering honey from different flowers, the wise man accepts the essence
of different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions.
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3

4. The Creation
This, [in the beginning] was the only Lord of the Universe. His Word was with him.
This Word was his second. He contemplated. He said, "I will deliver this Word so that
she will produce and bring into being all this world."
Tandya Maha Brahmana 20.14.2
From the bosom of the sacred Word he brought forth the world.
On high, below, he abides in his own laws.
Atharva Veda 4.1.3

5. Universal Order and Truth were born of blazing spiritual fire,and thence night was born,
and thence the billowy ocean of space. From the billowy ocean of space was born
Time--the year ordaining days and nights, the ruler of every moment. In the beginning,
as before, the Creator made the sun,the moon, the heaven and the earth,
the firmament and the realm of light.
Rig Veda 10.190.1-3

6. There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness; of night or day there was not any sign.
The One breathed without breath, by its own impulse.Other than that was nothing else at
all. In the beginning Love arose,which was the primal germ cell of the mind.
The Seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,discovered the connection of Being in
Nonbeing.
Rig Veda 10.129

7. The Dual Characteristic of GOD
He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings,
watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only
one, free from qualities.
Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.11
Eye cannot see him, nor words reveal him; by the senses, austerity,
or works he is not known. When the mind is cleansed by the grace of wisdom,
he is seen by contemplation—the One without parts.
Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.8
I am Father and Mother of the world.
Bhagavad-Gita 9.17

8. The Universal Prime Force
My material world is eightfold, divided into earth, water, Fire, air, ether, mind, the
faculty of meditation, and self-awareness. This is the lower nature. My higher nature
is different. It is the very life that sustains the world. Do not forget that this is the
source of all existence. I am the genesis and the end of the entire world. There is
nothing higher than I am, O Conqueror of Wealth! The world is strung on me like
pearls on a string.
Bhagavad-Gita 7.4-7

9. The Great Principle, the Divine, is my womb; I cast the seed into it;
There is the origin of all creatures Whatever forms originate in any wombs
The real womb is the Divine, the Great Principle.
I am the Father that gives the seed.
Bhagavad-Gita 14.4

10. The Great Blessings
The first blessing
Truly do I exist in all beings, but I am most manifest in man. The human heart is My
favorite dwelling place.
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2
He, indeed, is the great Purusha, the Lord, who inspires the mind to attain the
state of stainlessness. He is the Ruler and the imperishable Light.
Svetasvatara Upanishad 3.12
Truth is said to be the one unequalled means of purification of the soul.
Truth is the ladder by which man ascends to heaven, as a ferry plies from one bank of a
river to another.
Narada Dharma Sutra 1.210

11. How shall the Infinite rest anywhere but in itself?
"The infinite is below, above, behind, before, to the right, to the
left. I am all this. This Infinite is the Self. The Self is below, above,
behind, before, to the right, to the left. I am all this. One who knows,
meditates upon, and realizes the truth of the Self--such a one delights in
the Self, rejoices in the Self. He becomes master of himself, master of
all worlds. Slaves are they who know not this truth."
Chandogya Upanishad 7.23-25

12. At whose behest does the mind think? Who bids the body live?
Who makes the tongue speak? Who is that effulgent Being that directs the
eye to form and color and the ear to sound?
The Self (Atman) is ear of the ear, mind of the mind, speech of speech. He is also breath
of the breath, and eye of the eye. Having given up the false identification of the Self with
the senses and the mind, and knowing the Self to be Brahman, the wise, on departing
this life, become immortal.
Kena Upanishad 1.1-2

13. Second Blessing
I am He, you are She;
I am Song, you are Verse,
I am Heaven, you are Earth.
We two shall here together dwell,
becoming parents of children.
Atharva Veda 14.2.71
Sweet be the glances we exchange,
our faces showing true concord.
Enshrine me in your heart and let
one spirit dwell within us.
I wrap around you this my robe
which came to me from Manu,
so that you may be wholly mine
and never seek another.
Atharva Veda 7.36-37

14. He found no joy; so even today, one who is all alone finds no joy. He yearned for a
second. He became as large as a man and a woman locked in close embrace. This self
he split into two; hence arose husband and wife. Therefore, as Yajnavalkya used to
observe, "Oneself is like half of a split pea." That is why this void is filled by woman. He
was united with her, and thence were born human beings.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.3

15. Third Blessing
Rama, whose arms reached to his knees, the powerful elder brother of Lakshmana, ruled
the earth in glory and performed many sacrifices with his sons, brothers, and kinsfolk. No
widow was ever found in distress nor was there any danger from snakes or disease
during his reign; there were no malefactors in his kingdom nor did any suffer harm; no
aged person ever attended the funeral of a younger relative; happiness was universal;
each attended to his duty and they had only to look to Rama to give up enmity. Men lived
for a thousand years, each having a thousand sons who were free from infirmity and
anxiety; trees bore fruit and flowers perpetually; Parjanya sent down rain when it was
needed and Maruta blew auspiciously; all works undertaken bore happy results and all
engaged in their respective duties and eschewed evil. All were endowed with good
qualities; all were devoted to pious observances, and Rama ruled over the kingdom for
ten thousand years.
Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda 130

16. The mode of living which is founded upon a total harmlessness towards all creatures or
[in case of actual necessity] upon a minimum of such harm, is the highest morality.
Mahabharata, Shantiparva 262.5-6
To love is to know Me,
My innermost nature,
The truth that I am.
Bhagavad-Gita 18.55

17. The relationship between God and man
God! Give us wisdom as a father gives to his sons.
Guide us, O Much-invoked, in this path.
May we live in light.
Rig Veda 7.32.26
That breast of Thine which is inexhaustible, health-giving,
by which Thou nursest all that is noble,
containing treasure, bearing wealth, bestowed freely;
lay that bare, Sarasvati [divine Mother], for our nurture.
Rig Veda 1.164.49

18. Purpose of Life
Truth is victorious, never untruth.
Truth is the way; truth is the goal of life,
Reached by sages who are free from self-will.
Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6
Sweet blows the breeze for him who lives by Law, rivers for him pour sweets.
So [as we live by Law] may the plants be sweet to us!
Pleasant be our nights, pleasant dawns, and pleasant the dust of the earth!
Pleasant for us be Father Heaven!
Rig Veda 1.90.6-7
Those who live in accordance with the divine laws without complaining,
firmly established in faith, are released from karma. Those who violate these laws,
criticizing and complaining, are utterly deluded, and are the cause of their own suffering.
Bhagavad-Gita 3.31-32

19. Spirit World
Meet the Fathers, meet Yama, and meet with the
fulfillment of wishes in the highest heaven;
casting off imperfections, find anew thy dwelling,
and be united with a lustrous body.
Yama was the first to find us our abode,
a place that can never be taken away,
where our ancient Fathers have departed; all
who are born go there by that path, treading their own.
Rig Veda 10.14.2,8

20. Giving no pain to any creature, a person should slowly accumulate spiritual merit for the
sake of acquiring a companion in the next world....
For in the next world neither father, nor mother, nor wife, nor sons, nor relations stay to
be his companions; spiritual merit alone remains with him.
Laws of Manu 4.238-39
What is here [the phenomenal world], the same is there [in Brahman]; and what is there,
the same is here. Katha Upanishad 2.1.10