b May the two-footed, the four-footed, The three-footed, the six-footed, The metrical, the unmetrical, Pierce thee with needles. c May the Mahanamnis, the Revatis, All the regions that are rich in fruits, The lightnings of the clouds, the voices. Pierce thee with needles. d The silver, the gold, the leaden, Are yoked as workers with the works, On the skin of the strong horse, May they pierce thee with needles. e May the ladies [1], the wives, With skill separate thy hair, The wives of the gods, the quarters, Pierce thee with needles. f What then? As men who have barley Reap the barley in order, removing it, Hither bring the food of those Who have not gone to the reverential cutting of the strew. a Who cutteth thee? Who doth divide thee Who doth pierce thy limbs? Who, too, is thy wise dissector? b May the seasons in due season, The dissectors, divide thy joints, And with the splendour of the year May they pierce thee with needles. c May the divine Adhvaryus cut thee, And divide thee; May the piercers piercing Joint thy limbs. d May the half-months, the months, Cut thy joints, piercing, May the days and nights, the Maruts, Make whole thine injuries [1]. e May the earth with the atmosphere, May Vayu heal thy rent, May the sky with the Naksatras Arrange thy form aright. f Healing to thy higher limbs, Healing to thy lower; Healing to bones, marrow, Healing too to thy body!YV 2.5q · Yajur Veda
YV 2.5q
Yajur Veda · translated by Arthur Berriedale Keith
Themes in this passage
HealingWealthMarriageNatureThe DivineKarmaStrengthWisdom
Healing in other traditions
The same theme, as Christianity, Islam, Hellenism and Taoism address it.
And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.2 Chronicles 21:15 · Bible · 2 Chronicles
In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increaseth their disease. A painful doom is theirs because they lie.Quran 2:10 · Quran · The Cow
But Hector, from this scene of slaughter far, Raged on the left, and ruled the tide of war: Loud groans proclaim his progress through the plain, And deep Scamander swells with heaps of slain. There Nestor and Idomeneus oppose The warrior’s fury; there the battle glows; There fierce on foot, or from the chariot’s height, His sword deforms the beauteous ranks of fight. The spouse of Helen, dealing darts around, Had pierced Machaon with a distant wound: In his right shoulder the broad shaft appear’d, And trembling Greece for her physician fear’d. To Nestor then Idomeneus begun: “Glory of Greece, old Neleus’ valiant son! Ascend thy chariot, haste with speed away, And great Machaon to the ships convey; A wise physician skill’d our wounds to heal, Is more than armies to the public weal.” Old Nestor mounts the seat; beside him rode The wounded offspring of the healing god. He lends the lash; the steeds with sounding feet Shake the dry field, and thunder toward the fleet.Iliad 11.44 · Iliad · 11
It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not the disease. He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he does not have it.Tao Te Ching 71.2 · Tao Te Ching
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