Re: (Incarnation in Vedas)

From: shivkhokra
Message: 64837
Date: 2009-08-19

Peter,
--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "G&P" <G.and.P@...> wrote:
> <....> For example, the
> Penguin translation of 10:14:8 instructs the dead soul to "merge with a
> glorious body", which is closer to a union with the divine, than to
> reincarnation.

Here is the sanskrit shloka rendered in English (Second sukta of 10.14.8):

Hitvayaavadhyam punarastamehi sa gachasav tanva suvarchaa

Key compound word to focus on is punarastamehi. Punar in sanskrit means "again" (For example the word punarjanam in Hindi language which means "born again"). In this shloka the rishi is asking the soul to find a "home again"(punarastamehi) by giving up "bad stuff"(avadhyam) and go together(sa gachasava) with a body(tanva) full of life (suvarchaa).


>Likewise in RV 1:164, where the penguin translator suggests
> the cowherd is the sun, not the soul. He who sees the sun does not see the
> night, and vice versa. In any case, 1:164 is a riddle, and particularly
> obscure and difficult to interpret.
>

Penguin got it wrong. If you read 1.164.30 and focus on "jivam" and "amartyo" then it is clear that this shloka is talking about the soul.

That which hath breath and speed and life and motion lies firmly stablished in the midst of houses.
Living, by offerings to the Dead he moveth Immortal One, the brother of the mortal.

And then in 1.164.31 the rishi says:

I saw the Herdsman, him who never stumbles, approaching by his pathways and departing.
He, clothed with gathered and diffusive splendour, within the worlds continually travels.

Penguin translator probably got confused by 1.64.30 but if you read them both one after another the context is consistent and both these shlokas are talking about the soul.


Regards,
Shivraj