Written by London Swaminathan

 

Date:12 October 2017

 

Time uploaded in London- 20-32

 

 

Post No. 4295

Pictures shown here are taken from various sources such as Facebook friends, Books, Google and newspapers; thanks.

 

Hindus believe that spirits or angels live everywhere in nature- from sea to the hill top. They are the guardians of hills, groves, streams, fountains, paths, trees, rivers, paths and cities. Sangam Age Tamils called them Anangus. They are cognisant of every human action. In considering the domination of the above, compare Milton’s lines:-

 

 

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth

Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep

—Paradise Lost

 

Xxx

 

Worship of Earth by the Hindus

 

They always ask for forgiving before stepping on it or ploughing or digging a well. The worship of the earth assumes many forms. The pious Hindu does reverence to her when he rises from his bed in the morning and even the indifferently religious man worships her when he begins to plough or sow.

 

Pious Hindu recites a couplet saying, please forgive me for stepping on you, Vishnu patni namastubhyam padas sparsam kshmasvame

 

In Punjab when a cow or a buffalo  is first bought, or when she gives milk after calving, the first five streams of milk drawn from her allowed to fall on ground in honour of the goddess Mother Earth, and at every time of milking the first stream is so treated.

 

The dying man is laid on the earth at the moment of dissolution and so is the mother at the time of parturition.

 

Milton in his Paradise Lost says

………till like ripe fruit thou drop

Into thy mother’s lap- 9-273

 

 

Earth again is regarded as a remedy for disease. It is used frequently as a poultice, and an application for the cure of wounds and sores.

 

Xxxx

Earth in Wedding Ceremony of Lower Castes

 

Following incident is mentioned by Rev. Osborne Martin in his book Gods of India, year 1914

 

 

At the side of a Mission compound in North India is a tank which during half the year is dried up. The women of a neighbouring Chamar village, before any wedding, go in a procession to the dry tank to fetch from it sacred earth used to make the marriage altar and fire place on which the wedding feast is cooked.  The ground close to which the earth is taken is smeared away with vermillion, and marigold flowers are scattered here and there, while puja is offered before the soil is removed. The earth is always given by the digger to a maiden, and married women are not allowed to touch it. The maiden receives it in her sari and heads the procession on its return to the village. This rite is performed with secrecy, and usually at nightfall. This is part of ancient earth worship.

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Valluvar and Milton

 

Tamil poet Tiru Valluvar says,

 

If one exercises self-restraint with knowledge and intent

He will gain distinction among the wise (Kural couplet 123)

 

If one practises self-control in respect of thought, word and deed, he will certainly come to be counted among the good people of the world. In fact as the great English poet Milton would say

 

“The command of one’s self is the greatest

Empire one can aspire to”

 

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita about the Self-Restrained:

“But the self-controlled man, moving among objects with senses under restraint, and free from attraction or aversion, attains tranquillity- Gita 2-64

 

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Milton says

The Ionian Gods – of Javan’s issue held

Gods, yet confessed later than Heaven and Earth

Their boasted parents – Paradise Lost 1-508

 

Vedic Rishis also give queer notions of their gods.

 

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In the Vedas there is a hymn called the Bhumi Sukta and that is the oldest hymn by a community to Mother Earth. I Have already written about it:-

 

 Bhumi Sukta | Tamil and Vedas

https://tamilandvedas.com/tag/bhumi-sukta/

Posts about Bhumi Sukta written by Tamil and Vedas.

–SUBHAM—