Spiritual Foundation
Learning at Walden’s Path is deeply rooted in Ancient Indian teachings with focus on
physical, psychological and spiritual development of children.
नासदीय सूक्तम
नास॑दासी॒न्नो सदा॑सीत्त॒दानी॒म् नासी॒द्रजो॒ नो व्यो॑मा प॒रो यत् ।
किमाव॑रीव॒: कुह॒ कस्य॒ शर्म॒न्नंभ॒: किमा॑सी॒द्गह॑नं गभी॒रम् ॥१॥
nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīṁ nāsīd rajo no vyomā paro yat | kim āvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmann ambhaḥ kim āsīd gahanaṁ gabhīram || 1 ||
न मृ॒त्युरा॑सीद॒मृतं॒ न तर्हि॒ न रात्र्या॒ अह्न॑ आसीत्प्रके॒तः ।
आनी॑दवा॒तं स्व॒धया॒ तदेकं॒ तस्मा॑द्धा॒न्यन्न प॒रः किञ्च॒नास॑ ॥२॥
na mṛtyur āsīd amṛtaṁ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsīt praketaḥ | ānīd avātaṁ svadhayā tad ekaṁ tasmād dhānyan na paraḥ kiṁ canāsa || 2 ||
तम॑ आसी॒त्तम॑सा गू॒ळ्हमग्रे॑ऽप्रके॒तं स॑लि॒लं सर्व॑मा इ॒दं ।
तु॒च्छ्येना॒भ्वपि॑हितं॒ यदासी॒त्तप॑स॒स्तन्म॑हि॒ना जा॑य॒तैकं॑ ॥३॥
tama āsīt tamasā gūlham agre ‘praketa ̥ ṁ salilaṁ sarvam ā idam | tucchyenābhv apihitaṁ yad āsīt tapasas tan mahinājāyataikam || 3 ||
काम॒स्तदग्रे॒ सम॑वर्त॒ताधि॒ मन॑सो॒ रेत॑: प्रथ॒मं यदासी॑त् ।
स॒तो बन्धु॒मस॑ति॒ निर॑विन्दन् हृ॒दि प्र॒तीष्या॑ क॒वयो॑ मनी॒षा ॥४॥
kāmas tad agre sam avartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṁ yad āsīt | sato bandhum asati nir avindan hṛdi pratīṣyā kavayo manīṣā || 4 ||
ति॒र॒श्चीनो॒ वित॑तो र॒श्मिरे॑षाम॒धः स्वि॑दा॒सीदु॒परि॑ स्विदासीत् ।
रे॒तो॒धा आ॑सन्महि॒मान॑ आसन्त्स्व॒धा अ॒वस्ता॒त्प्रय॑तिः प॒रस्ता॑त् ॥५॥
tiraścīno vitato raśmir eṣām adhaḥ svid āsīd upari svid āsīt | retodhā āsan mahimāna āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt || 5 ||
को अ॒द्धा वे॑द॒ क इ॒ह प्र वो॑च॒त्कुत॒ आजा॑ता॒ कुत॑ इ॒यं विसृ॑ष्टिः ।
अ॒र्वाग्दे॒वा अ॒स्य वि॒सर्ज॑ने॒नाथा॒ को वे॑द॒ यत॑ आब॒भूव॑ ॥६॥
ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṁ visṛṣṭiḥ | arvāg devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yata ābab || 6 ||
इ॒यं विसृ॑ष्टि॒र्यत॑ आब॒भूव॒ यदि॑ वा द॒धे यदि॑ वा॒ न ।
यो अ॒स्याध्य॑क्षः पर॒मे व्यो॑म॒न्त्सो अ॒ङ्ग वे॑द॒ यदि॑ वा॒ न वेद॑ ॥७॥
yaṁ visṛṣṭir yata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na | yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅga veda yadi vā na veda || 7 ||
The Hymn of Creation
Jagadish Chandra Bose requested Swami Vivekananda to translate the Nàsadiya Sukta, 129th hymn of the 10th mandala of RigVeda (X.129).
Existence was not then, nor non-existence,
The world was not, the sky beyond was neither.
What covered the mist? Of whom was that?
What was in the depths of darkness thick?
Death was not then, nor immortality,
The night was neither separate from day,
But motionless did That vibrate
Alone, with Its own glory one —
Beyond That nothing did exist.
At first in darkness hidden darkness lay,
Undistinguished as one mass of water,
Then That which lay in void thus covered
A glory did put forth by Tapah!
First desire rose, the primal seed of mind,
(The sages have seen all this in their hearts
Sifting existence from non-existence.)
Its rays above, below and sideways spread.
Creative then became the glory,
With self-sustaining principle below.
And Creative Energy above.
Who knew the way? Who there declared
Whence this arose? Projection whence?
For after this projection came the gods.
Who therefore knew indeed, came out this whence?
This projection whence arose,
Whether held or whether not,
He the ruler in the supreme sky, of this
He, O Sharman! knows, or knows not
He perchance!
An audio of Nāsadīya Sūkta, Hymn of Creation from Bharat Ek Khoj.
|| Eṣa Dharmaḥ Sanātanaḥ ||
What is Sanatana Dharma?
It all started few thousands of years ago when early humans tried to understand and make sense of the world they lived in. What is the nature of reality? What is this all about? Who are we? What are we doing here? They were trying to suss out the human condition and resolve it. Trying to make sense of the world, is the foundation of Sanatana Dharma – a term use to define the culture & civilisation of Ancient India.
The word Dharma comes from the Sanskrit root dhṛ – meaning that which is holding everything together. That which is behind this creation. The one out of which everything is created, including the living things, nonliving things, human beings, intellect, emotions, etc., the foundation to everything. From the word dhṛ– we derived the word Dharma. So trying to resolve human condition was defined as Dharma. Making sense of the human condition and resolving, sorting yourself out becomes practicing Dharma.
The word Sanatana – means we are trying to resolve the human condition which is not just a temporary fad, only suitable for one particular group of people during a particular period of history, but something that has got eternal universal values. That is the meaning of the word Sanatana.
Sanatana Dharma means we want to try and find resolution which is permanent and which is universal. It is a universal phenomena. It should resolve the human condition throughout the world!
If you tell any scientist (physicist/chemist/biologist/etc) that this is what we are trying to find out – understand the nature of reality, the rules and laws that operate in the world that we see around us, and harness them for our betterment, they will say this is what we as scientists do too. Understanding the rules and laws that operate in this world and coming to terms with them and harnessing them for our betterment is the actual purpose of Sanatana Dharma. That’s what science is all about.
A scientist, any scientist, a hard scientist who’s studying physics and chemistry or a soft scientist who is looking at psychology and anthropology will immediately understand it, because you are talking their language. The enterprise of a scientists is to understand the human condition, the rules that operate with human beings individually or as social groups. The reason why you study physics – electromagnetism, gravitation, thermodynamics, etc. is to understand the rules that operate and harness them. This is the enterprise of science – understanding and harnessing nature.
And understanding the emotions that drive human beings – jealousy, hatred, attraction, depression, desires – if we can understand them and come to terms, meditating on the roots of these emotions and harness them we are harnessing nature internal – yoga, dharana, dhyana. So the word Dharma encompasses issues of hard sciences as well as soft sciences – external world as well as inter world.