Rigveda

Thus does that deity carry him who knows this across death.

then breath vital by singing obtained for himself eatable food for whatever food is eaten is eaten by breath alone and in it breath rests the devas said verily thus far whatever food there is thou hast by singing acquired it for thyself now therefore give us a share in that food he said you there enter into me they said yes and entered all into him therefore whatever food is eaten by breath by it the other senses are satisfied if a man knows this then his own relations come to him in the same manner he becomes their supporter their chief leader their strong ruler and if everyone tries to oppose one who is possessed of such knowledge among his own relatives then he will not be able to support his own belongings but he who follows the man who is possessed of such knowledge and who with his permission wishes to support those whom he has to support he indeed will be able to support his own belongings he was called ayasa angirasa for he is the sap rasa of the limbs verily breath is the sap of the limbs yes breath is the sap of the limbs therefore from whatever limb breath goes away that limb withers for breath verily is the sap of the limbs He breath is also Brihaspati, for speech is Brihati, Rig Veda, and he is her Lord.

Therefore, he is Brihaspati.

He breath is also Brahmanasipati, for speech is Brahman, Yajur Veda, and he is her Lord.

These are the three worlds.

Earth is speech, sky mind, heaven breath.

these are the three vedas the rig veda is speech the yajur veda mind the sama veda breath these are the devas fathers and men the devas are speech the fathers mind men breath These are father, mother, and child.

The father is mind, the mother speech, the child breath.

Some old authors say that it is called so because it contains sixty-four chapters.

Others are of opinion that the author of this part, being a person named Panchala, and the person who recited the part of the Rig Veda called Dashatapa, which contains sixty-four verses, being also called Panchala, the name Sixty-Four has been given to the part of the work in honor of the Rig Vedas.

The followers of Vabhravya say on the other hand that this part contains eight subjects, that is, the embrace, kissing, scratching with the nails or fingers, biting, lying down, making various sounds, playing the part of a man, and the Apurishtaka, or mouth congress.

Each of these subjects being of eight kinds, and eight multiplied by eight being sixty-four, this part is therefore named Sixty-Four.

Memorization was so highly valued that entire families devoted themselves to memorizing complete Vedic texts word for word, passing them down from generation to generation.

The Rig Veda is the oldest, composed approximately around fifteen hundred BC in the Punjab region.

It is a collection of one thousand twenty-eight poems divided into ten sections, or mandalas, as they are known.

They are not simply religious texts.

Over time, however, a caste system emerged that divided society into distinct groups according to occupation and birth.

This system would persist throughout Indian history and shape civilization for thousands of years.

The Rig Veda also shows us how important horses and chariots were to these pastoral peoples.

Horses appear constantly in the texts, sometimes as offerings to the gods, sometimes as prizes in competitions, and sometimes as part of sacrificial rituals.

... that there were people who smoked a lot of it who called themselves holy men, and [laughs] I thought they were onto something.

And the more I discovered about these people, I realized that they were regarded, in some ways, as yogis, and that they were quite similar to other characters going as far back as the Rigveda, who are described basically ingesting some kind of psychoactive substance and having some kind of transcendent experience.

And so I thought-

Hmm

Yeah.

And, uh, you know, in the, uh, Rig Veda, there's this, uh, phrase, "ekam sat vipra bahudha Vadanti, Vadanti." Is that correct? Am I pronouncing it-

Ekam sat vipra bahudha Vadanti

Correct.