Rishis: Difference between revisions

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Swami Vivekananda notes that "some of the very greatest of them were women."<ref>Vivekananda, Swami. "Paper on Hinduism." ''Collected Works of Swami Vivekananda''. Vol. 5. 9 vols. Advaita Ashrama, 2016. <nowiki>https://www.holybooks.com/complete-works-of-swami-vivekananda/</nowiki>.</ref>
Swami Vivekananda notes that "some of the very greatest of them were women."<ref>Vivekananda, Swami. "Paper on Hinduism." ''Collected Works of Swami Vivekananda''. Vol. 5. 9 vols. Advaita Ashrama, 2016. <nowiki>https://www.holybooks.com/complete-works-of-swami-vivekananda/</nowiki>.</ref>


"At that time the world was still in its infancy, and the human being was only another animal, hunting for food and digging for roots and fruits. Those were the days when humans existed without proper food, clothing, or housing, and certainly not much of vocabulary. They had no names for the sun, moon, or any of the natural phenomena, even though they could see them. They were sitting, eating, talking, and so on, but had no names for any of these functions. In that inconceivable past, the divine knowledge of the Vedas was revealed to a set of superhuman beings with high receptivity, extraordinary memory, and an understanding far beyond that of even the most intelligent of modern human beings. "<ref>Vanamali. The Science of the Rishis: The Spiritual and Material Discoveries of the Ancient Sages of India. Toronto: Inner Traditions, 2015.</ref>


Critic of Christian hypocrisy. "Christians must always be ready for good criticism, and I hardly think that you will mind if I make a little criticism. You Christians, who are so fond of sending out missionaries to save the soul of the heathen — why do you not try to save their bodies from starvation? In India, during the terrible famines, thousands died from hunger, yet you Christians did nothing. You erect churches all through India, but the crying evil in the East is not religion — they have religion enough — but it is bread that the suffering millions of burning India cry out for with parched throats. They ask us for bread, but we give them stones. It is an insult to a starving people to offer them religion; it is an insult to a starving man to teach him metaphysics. In India a priest that preached for money would lose caste and be spat upon by the people. I came here to seek aid for my impoverished people, and I fully realised how difficult it was to get help for heathens from Christians in a Christian land."<ref>Vivekananda, Swami. "Religion not the Crying Need of India." ''Collected Works of Swami Vivekananda''. Vol. 5. 9 vols. Advaita Ashrama, 2016. https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/SWAMI-VIVEKANANDA-COMPLETE-WORKS-Vol-1.pdf</ref>
Pointed out the Buddha, like Christ, "The great glory of the Master lay in his wonderful sympathy for everybody, especially for the ignorant and the poor. Some of his disciples were Brahmins. When Buddha was teaching, Sanskrit was no more the spoken language in India. It was then only in the books of the learned. Some of Buddha's Brahmins disciples wanted to translate his teachings into Sanskrit, but he distinctly told them, "I am for the poor, for the people; let me speak in the tongue of the people." And so to this day the great bulk of his teachings are in the vernacular of that day in India.<ref>Vivekananda, Swami. "Religion not the Crying Need of India." ''Collected Works of Swami Vivekananda''. Vol. 5. 9 vols. Advaita Ashrama, 2016.https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/SWAMI-VIVEKANANDA-COMPLETE-WORKS-Vol-1.pdf.</ref>


There were originally four rishis.  
There were originally four rishis.  

Revision as of 17:13, 5 December 2022

Rishis are fully connected human beings said to be the "seers of the mantra," or those who represent knowledge of the Divine onto Earth. "The work of the rishis is to decode and make available to the ordinary, five-sensory mortal the great knowledge of creation...." [1]

Related Terms

Sanatana Dharma > Achara, Ashramas, Brahman, Brahmarishi, Dharma, GodHead, Gunas, Illusory Self, Moksha, Neo-Hinduism, Paramatman, Purushaarthas, Rishis, Salvation, Samadhi, Sanskrit Literature, Saptarishis, Satya Yuga, Srutis, The Imperishable, Varnas, Vichara

Rishis > Brahmarishi, Saptarishis

Notes

"...the rishis were the ones who brought the already existing mantras to our conscious knowledge, we always bow to their memory when repeating the mantras."[2]

The rishis are "perfected beings" [3]

Swami Vivekananda notes that "some of the very greatest of them were women."[4]


There were originally four rishis.

"... Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Angiras. Who exactly were these rishis? We know nothing about them but their names, but if we pause a moment to look at the amazing revelation of the Vedas, we will no doubt be struck with awe as to the nature of these seers. These spiritual giants lived in the Himalayas and strode across the Indo-Gangetic plains long before the dawn of historic time. They were the sublime expression of the perfect human being, the crown and cream of Nature’s evolutionary cycle. These men were really suprahuman, multi sensory beings who had the gift of inner vision and were able to seethe past, present, and future as one huge canvas unrolling in front of them. They could go to the realms of the gods and demons, the demigods, and the titans of mythological lore and describe the events that went on at that time and even describe things that would take place at a future time."[5]

"Then came another group of rishis, or seers, with stupendous memory, who passed on this knowledge to successive generations. In India these great beings seem to have taken birth again and again in every age to keep up the Sanatana Dharma, which they cognized at the beginning of the world!"[6]

"In the Vedas, a rishi is strictly defined as one to whom the Vedic hymns were originally revealed. They are the ones who have mantra drashta or the ability to “see” the mantras. Other sages can never be called rishis, maharishis, or brahmarishis, whatever their merits."[7]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Vanamali. The Science of the Rishis: The Spiritual and Material Discoveries of the Ancient Sages of India. Toronto: Inner Traditions, 2015.
  2. ↑ Vanamali. The Science of the Rishis: The Spiritual and Material Discoveries of the Ancient Sages of India. Toronto: Inner Traditions, 2015.
  3. ↑ Vivekananda, Swami. Collected Works of Swami Vivekananda. Vol. 5. 9 vols. Advaita Ashrama, 2016. https://www.holybooks.com/complete-works-of-swami-vivekananda/.
  4. ↑ Vivekananda, Swami. "Paper on Hinduism." Collected Works of Swami Vivekananda. Vol. 5. 9 vols. Advaita Ashrama, 2016. https://www.holybooks.com/complete-works-of-swami-vivekananda/.
  5. ↑ Vanamali. The Science of the Rishis: The Spiritual and Material Discoveries of the Ancient Sages of India. Toronto: Inner Traditions, 2015.
  6. ↑ Vanamali. The Science of the Rishis: The Spiritual and Material Discoveries of the Ancient Sages of India. Toronto: Inner Traditions, 2015.
  7. ↑ Vanamali. The Science of the Rishis: The Spiritual and Material Discoveries of the Ancient Sages of India. Toronto: Inner Traditions, 2015.
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