Drink Drug Of People And Gods example essay topic

Robert Walsh 3rd Periodic Assignment 09/07/2005 The Hindu Tradition 1.) Agni Agni is mentioned as many different things such as: the household priest king god of sacrifice, most brilliant leader of all gods, wish granter, shines up in darkness, guardian of the order, lord of power and master of sacrificed food, always included in sacrifices to other gods, favorite priest, sharp sight of a poet, great speaker who inspires all with his shining speech, the first god to rejoice in human friendship, lord of tribes, the chief priest who finds riches and a combination of Indra (the strongest of all except Agni? ?) and the wide striding Vishnu who is worthy of reverence. Worshippers of Agni want to: hold a safe household, find riches and treasure, grow as a person in wealth and happiness, give animal (human?) sacrifice to him, be inspired by his speeches, protection of their tribes and always be granted what they wish for. AngirasAngiras was mentioned just once in this text as the mediator between heaven and Earth. This name is related to the English word: Angel.

Varuna Varuna was said to have spread out the Earth, extended the air above the trees, put strength in horses, milk in cows, will power in the heart, fire in waters, the sun in heaven, Soma upon the mountains, caused rain by pouring his leather bag, moistened the Earth, to be the magic (maya) worker and measured the Earth to the Sun with a measuring rod. Worshippers of Varuna ask for reconciliation from him and forgiveness of sins or offenses. Mitra and AryamanThese two were listed but there were not any writings about them except that they did have powers. I wonder whether Arya man is the Leader of the gods for the Aryan people or tribe.

Manu The first man on Earth according to the Rig Veda, he is the Clan founder or Adam, Noah, Abraham or Moses. He is only listed on these texts. Indra Indra is mentioned in these texts as: the bull, the strongest of all that exist (except Agni?? ), he is one of the most honored besides Agni, the warrior king of 33 gods of Manu, wielder of thunderbolt, a killer of dragons, killer of the first born dragon, overpowering the wily tricksters, the god who brought forth the sun, heaven and dawn, not having anymore enemies after Vritra, the greatest enemy of Indra, who challenged Indra, who is without shoulders. Indra killed Vritra with a thunderbolt, broke his nose and crushed him. Indra is a mighty overwhelmed, drinker of Soma to the dregs (? ).

Danu, the mother of Vritra, struck Indra with the va jura (?) and then she was killed also by a thunderbolt from Indra. It seems to me that Vritra and Danu blocked the rivers of the Indo Valley from flowing and that they are representative of a damn or levy or even a mountain. By Indra, killing them he was able to release the closed clefts of the rivers (Vritra & Danu) and allow them to flow once again. This might have represented a lightening bolt hitting a mountain and causing a free flowing river to run through it. This is just a guess of mine because I do not really know.

Indra is also considered the winner of cows, Soma and he is victorious all the time to come. He crossed nine and ninety rivers, the lord of what moves and is rested, what is peaceful and what is homed, he is the ruler of the tribes as a king and he encloses them like a rim, he had insight the moment he was born and protects the other gods with his power of thought. Indra also made the two worlds tremble with his hot breath which I think symbolizes an earthquake with the steaming magma and water table below the crust of the Earth. He had manly powers that made the tottering Earth, quaking mountains, measured and extended the air, propped up the sky and drove the "race of Das us" (? ?) into obscurity.

Indra stole wealth from his enemies, kind of like their Robin Hood, ruled over all the riches, commands the horses, cows, villages and chariots. He gave birth to the sun and dawn, and made the lights in the sky so high so no one could move them. This birthing by a male god shows the lack of respect for women at that time. Lastly, without his blessing the people will not conquer and will fall. His people ask for his blessing in war and fighting, they praise him for vast riches and victory and they ask him for happiness in their lives and sing praises to him for that reason. I am very confused about Indra because Agni is considered to be the greatest of all of their gods, yet Indra, seems to have as many powers if not more than Agni.

These two gods also seem to have the same responsibilities to the Earth and are praised in the same way. For some reason I think that they might be the same god, but I could be very wrong. Vishnu He is just mentioned once as wide striding and worthy of reverence. Surya He is mentioned once as the Sun. Soma The most difficult to understand of all of the gods, it is difficult to know if he is a god and a drink or just a great drug / drink that helped the people and gods of this civilization succeed in war and life. I will discuss it later, but to me there is a similarity between Soma and the Christian idea of the Eucharist.

Soma is considered a drink or drug made from the pressing stones and some sort of plant that was unknown at the time the Rig Veda was written because the Aryans had gotten there beyond its natural habitat. Soma causes a person to: become immortal, to attain the light of the gods, protect one from their foes, live longer, prolong their existence, have stronger joints, receive freedom, get protection from slipping, be more secure from disease and death, see better and be a better person. It is enjoyable, helps Surya (the sun) shine longer which brings about longer days, and it helps people prosper, become mightier and calm so they can rest securely and lastly get high. These are the characteristics of it as a drink / drug of people and gods; however, it has many characteristics of a god, itself. Here they are: Soma is: restless, elusive, overpowering, a sage inspired by poetry, confusing to people, scary to people along with being helpful. The many devoted to this drink / drug /god ask for it to: give mercy, give goodness to the heart, not to enrage them and to most of all protect and help them prosper.

Tvash tar He is stated as making the thunderbolt weapon for Indra. Rudra the Hunter This god was very ambivalent to the civilization and writings of the texts. He is a late comer in the Vedic Pantheon, he might have been created by other tribes and he has a lack of hymns written to him. He has braided hair and he rules over heroes so all is well with people and animals. Rudra is a sage who flies, the father of the Maruts (which is a title usually reserved for Indra), violent god, drinker of drugs (not Soma? ), declares the light, sails through the air, reads minds, moves with motion of heavenly girls, youths and wild beasts and he is a great friend. Followers of this god ask him to make their tribes and villages flourish, keep them and their family unharmed and repel them from the anger of the gods.

A problem was that I did not understand the Ascetics; I believed that they were a part of Rudra, not something wholly different. It was not explained well enough in the texts, so that is what I made of it. The texts stated something about the long hair of the Ascetics, so this is why I drew my conclusion. 2.) There were several religious practices stated in these texts and they were: Polytheism (religion of many gods), chanting, praying / worship, sacrifice of animals (humans slaves? ), ritual- dressing in robes (drinking of Soma), priests and sages, oral and written books for study and worship, tribal worship, fear of gods, parabolic writings and stories, the belief in creationism (Manu), giving money and riches to the gods for statues and icons, magic and illusion (maya), gods have different jobs of protecting and guarding and who they do it for much like the Christian belief in Saints (e.g. Saint Patrick the Patron Saint of the Irish), the sacrament of confession and confessing their wrongs and sins, their belief of good and evil and the knowledge of "free will", belief that light / fire is important to gods, the idea of a warrior king / god much like the Jewish belief and gods are in heaven / space /sky / upwards. 3.) The images of these gods are very similar to all other religions of the past and present, but they are also much different. The images most resemble the earlier non-Christian ideas of religious gods.

Their images of gods were polytheistic, who wanted sacrifice to appease them, put fear into the people, used magic and spells (maya) and were ruthless. Their gods enjoyed money and riches and wanted power over all else. My image of God (not gods), is of the Christian perspective. This perspective of God is that he is one with three different spiritual beings (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and that he relies on love of man, peace among brothers and forgiveness of sins. He is a good God who does not care about the physical being and tangible life; he cares about the spiritual living and prayer. This does not mean that there are just differences, there are many more similarities.

The Rig Veda shows that they believe in chanting as our Christian monks have done so for years since the middle and dark ages. Prayer and rituals such as priests dressing in garments to lead prayer are similar to this civilization. Another ritual, the drinking of Soma, at first does not seem to be comparable to what the Christian religion does; however, when you really analyze it, there are significant similarities. Soma is both a god and a drink for and from the gods that they drink to nourish and help them in everyday life so that they will be happy and at the Last Supper, Jesus made bread and wine into his body and blood so that we will be nourished in our souls and we will remember what he sacrificed for us to have a better life before and after we die. So both of these drinks nourish and try to make people happy and better and they also are a god and a piece of the body and blood of my God. This show's an amazing similarity because if the body and blood are part of Jesus Christ, my God, then the Eucharist is God, just as Soma was a god to them.

This is very confusing, but also somewhat remarkable. Another similarity with these was the similar beliefs in creationism, their Manu, Christianity's Adam. Reconciliation or Confession from their gods was also another similarity to our religions and my idea and image of gods. There is also similarity with good versus evil, light or fire being important to their gods and Christianity calling Jesus the "Light of the World". Both religions have also taught that the gods are living up in the sky in Heaven or Xanadu, while below, the underworld, Hell is where evil and pain exists.

While all religions and images of gods are different in their ideas, beliefs and ways of living and worshipping, they all seem to have one huge and important similarity... the unknown and the faith needed to believe. It seems that all people from all different civilizations at different times, past and present have the need to have to believe in a greater existence and power than ourselves. We all need to believe that good will always triumph over evil and that we have the free will to do either. We want to believe that someone is watching over us and taking care of us so that we do not hurt ourselves or others we love and care about. We hope for a Heaven, a greater place to live after we die, so that the fear of dying is replaced by a hope of everlasting life, a better life than we live on Earth. A life without fear, war and hate, a life with peace and love, a life very different from here and today!