Sacred Concord

RV 15 (10)

Rig Veda · translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith

2 Now let us pay this homage to the Fathers, to those who passed of old and those who followed, 3 1 have attained the gracious−minded Fathers, I have gained son and progeny from Visnu. 4 Fathers who sit on sacred grass, come, help us: these offerings have we made for you; accept them. 5 May they, the Fathers, worthy of the Soma, invited to their favourite oblations. 6 Bowing your bended knees and seated southward, accept this sacrifice of ours with favour. 7 Lapped in the bosom of the purple Mornings, give riches to the man who brings oblations. 8 Our ancient Fathers who deserve the Soma, who came, most noble, to our Soma banquet,− 9 Come to us, Agni, with the gracioug Fathers who dwell in glowing light, the very Kavyas, 10 Come, Agni, come with countless ancient Fathers, dwellers in light, primeval, God−adorers, 11 Fathers whom Agni's flames have tasted, come ye nigh: ye kindly leaders, take ye each your proper pla 12 Thou, Agni Jatavedas, when entreated, didst bear the offerings which thou madest fragrant, 13 Thou, Jatavedas, knowest well the number of Fathers who are here and who are absent, 14 They who, consumed by fire or not cremated, joy in their offering in the midst of heaven,−
RV 15 (10) · Rig Veda · null

Themes in this passage

FamilyThe DivineWorshipCharityChildrenCompassionJoyMercy

Family in other traditions

The same theme, as Christianity, Islam, Hellenism and Taoism address it.

The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Luke 12:53 · Bible · Luke
Unto the men (of a family) belongeth a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, and unto the women a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, whether it be little or much - a legal share.
Quran 4:7 · Quran · Women
“O wretched husband of a wretched wife! Born with one fate, to one unhappy life! For sure one star its baneful beam display’d On Priam’s roof, and Hippoplacia’s shade. From different parents, different climes we came. At different periods, yet our fate the same! Why was my birth to great Aëtion owed, And why was all that tender care bestow’d? Would I had never been!—O thou, the ghost Of my dead husband! miserably lost! Thou to the dismal realms for ever gone! And I abandon’d, desolate, alone! An only child, once comfort of my pains, Sad product now of hapless love, remains! No more to smile upon his sire; no friend To help him now! no father to defend! For should he ’scape the sword, the common doom, What wrongs attend him, and what griefs to come! Even from his own paternal roof expell’d, Some stranger ploughs his patrimonial field. The day, that to the shades the father sends, Robs the sad orphan of his father’s friends: He, wretched outcast of mankind! appears For ever sad, for ever bathed in tears; Amongst the happy, unregarded, he Hangs on the robe, or trembles at the knee, While those his father’s former bounty fed Nor reach the goblet, nor divide the bread: The kindest but his present wants allay, To leave him wretched the succeeding day. Frugal compassion! Heedless, they who boast Both parents still, nor feel what he has lost, Shall cry, ‘Begone! thy father feasts not here:’ The wretch obeys, retiring with a tear. Thus wretched, thus retiring all in tears, To my sad soul Astyanax appears! Forced by repeated insults to return, And to his widow’d mother vainly mourn: He, who, with tender delicacy bred, With princes sported, and on dainties fed, And when still evening gave him up to rest, Sunk soft in down upon the nurse’s breast, Must—ah what must he not? Whom Ilion calls Astyanax, from her well-guarded walls,[279] Is now that name no more, unhappy boy! Since now no more thy father guards his Troy.
Iliad 22.46a · Iliad · 22
When the mother is found, we know what her children should be. When one knows that he is his mother's child, and proceeds to guard (the qualities of) the mother that belong to him, to the end of his life he will be free from all peril.
Tao Te Ching 52.2 · Tao Te Ching

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