A series of articles has already appeared on Krishna consciousness, i.e. Vaishnavism, and Christianity. In this regard, in this article there will be no detailed analysis of the problem of comparing confessions. Moreover, such a goal was not set also because Krestnikov's article, written as a poem, itself evokes a certain style of perception of two spiritual movements. The reader is invited to see obvious parallels not in general in the Christian and Vaishnava traditions, but in this story about a unique phenomenon - eldership.
Love and devotion
The word "Orthodoxy" means "correct glorification", that is, the correct way of serving God. Serving something or someone else is called sin. It is simply amazing how exactly this fits into the Vaishnava worldview. Jesus Christ taught that the main thing is to love God with all your heart: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength"(Mark 12:29-30). "This is the first and greatest commandment"(Matthew 22:38).
It is to achieve this (what is called prema-bhakti - loving devotional service) that the Vaishnava tradition exists. The latter is represented by several directions, each of which is based on the chain of disciplic succession, parampara. Just as the apostles, on the instructions of Jesus, founded churches in different countries, so the paramparas, following from a single source (from God), preserve (despite their plurality) the truth in an undistorted form.
The Gospel of John (14:6) quotes the words of Jesus: “I am the way and the truth and the life; and no one comes to the Father except through Me.”, and further (14, 7): “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” The Vedas indicate that all the forms in which God manifests himself (Vishnu, Narayana, Jagannatha, etc.) are not different from Him, but reflect His different qualities. Jesus is the incarnation of God, what qualities are inherent in him? Jesus (Yeshua) means "Jehovah's help, Savior." The name Jehovah means "who is". The essence of salvation is expressed by Jesus himself: Love the Lord your God with all your heart... In fact, Jesus is the personification of prema-bhakti, which was preached and introduced by Lord Chaitanya in Bengal about 500 years ago. By the way, both in the Vaishnava and in the Christian traditions, God is one, and the gods in the Vedas are called higher beings, demigods (angels).
In the Bhagavad-gita (“Song of God”, B. g. 7, 18), the Most High, Krishna says: “All these bhaktas [devotees of God] are no doubt noble souls, but whoever knows Me has already attained Me. Serving Me with transcendental love, he comes to Me." In Chapter 9 (verse 33) God calls: "...devote yourself to serve Me with love and devotion."
Thus, in both traditions it is stated that only devotional loving service to God is the way to Him. As for the external, ritual part of worship, Jesus accused the scribes and Pharisees of lack of spirituality, of blindly following traditions and ancient laws (see, for example, Mt. 23), he called on His disciples: “Whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; do not do according to their works.”
In India, there is a trend called smarta, smarta-brahminism, which pays excessive attention to the ritual part of worship. In the Vaishnava tradition, this is considered a meaningless exercise, since only by focusing your thoughts and feelings on Krishna (God), you can, by the grace of your spiritual mentor (teacher, guru), reach Vaikuntha - the Kingdom of God: "Try to find out the truth by turning to spiritual teacher. Ask him humbly and serve him. Self-realized [self-realized] souls are able to give you knowledge, for they see the truth.” (B. g. 4, 34).
The true essence of religious rituals is seen in both traditions as the development of this very pure love for God through self-realization, self-improvement. Both in Christian and Vedic denominations (the latter include various currents of Hinduism: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, impersonalism), “the victory of the spirit over the flesh”, that is, the performance of asceticism, is strongly recommended. It was asceticism, including the fight against pride, that constituted one of the aspects of the spiritual practice of the elders, who turned their body into a sublime and beautiful Temple.
When Jesus Christ spoke about the destruction of the temple and its rebuilding in three days, he meant his own body. "... behold the kingdom of God is within us" (Luke 17:21). According to Vedic philosophy, the Lord Himself is present in the heart of every living being in the form of the oversoul (paramatma), thus every body is the Temple of God. There is even a tradition of bowing to other people. It is characteristic that the rendering of respect (worship) is carried out by lowering one's forehead: these are bows, touching the forehead to a sacred object, to the floor, to the ground - almost the same in all confessions. But worship along with austerities are not the only elements of spiritual practice.
Knowledge and ignorance
To a certain extent, knowledge contributes to spiritual development. It is clear that knowledge about the preparation of wines, drugs and explosives, about obtaining material pleasures, about a secular career and others like them do not contribute to spiritual practice. In addition to empirical (experimental) worldly knowledge, there is also transcendental (incomprehensible in the usual way) knowledge received from saints or from scriptures. This knowledge forms the basis of religious philosophies and worldviews.
Thus, the article by Yu. V. Krestnikov speaks of "the creator of everything visible and invisible, forming a stepped hierarchy." It is in the form of a hierarchy that the Vedas describe the world. The top is God and His spiritual world, the highest living beings (Brahma and all the demigods except Shiva) live on the heavenly levels (planets) of the material worlds created by the manifestation of God in the form of Vishnu. The earth is in the plane of the ecliptic (the orbit of the sun, which corresponds to the so-called "flat earth"), below this level are the infernal, or demonic, planets. The concept of hell and heaven is also among the Jews, and among Muslims, and among Christians and in the Vedic religions.
Just by cultivating knowledge, as both the Bhagavad Gita and the Old Testament teach, it is impossible to comprehend God, for He is transcendent, that is, unknowable by ordinary experience. It is believed that perception and understanding are closed from a person, which is why everyone “should have a leader whose constant help and constant presence will facilitate and ensure his correct ascent up the ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven.” This is precisely what is stated in Bhagavad-gita (B. g. 4, 34): “Try to know the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Ask him humbly and serve him...
In the Vedic sources, everything that comes from God and from the saints is called nectar, so the expression "spiritual honey" of St. Athanasius the Great is perceived quite "Vedically". It is in the spiritual world, also called the Kingdom of God, that those who profess both the Vedas and the Gospel seek pleasure and freedom. In the Vedas, the material world is in a certain sense understood as a “prison”, and a person in the material world is considered to be entangled in the gunas, that is, threads, ropes, goodness (sattva), passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas). Why does the soul get into this world full of suffering, in which birth, illness, old age and death rule the show? For forgetting God, for leaving Him. But this is not just a formal punishment. God is so merciful that he allows non-serving Him. This shows free will. I wanted to become the creator of "like bosi" - please! But just as it is impossible for a creative person to engage in routine, so it is painful for an immortal soul in this “artificial” material world. God hints unobtrusively: “Wrong place you are going, My child! »
Thus, life in this world is considered slavery. Man is more or less a slave to his feelings, delusions. All this prompts him to move further and further away from God, that is, to aggravate his sin. Feelings increasingly overshadow "spiritual vision", forcing a person to act in ignorance of "carnal human arbitrariness for the sake of" and forget about "true freedom - freedom from sin." This is how Krestnikov concludes the paragraph on the path of senile care.
Liberation
What is the way out of this labyrinth? Can you find your own way back? As already mentioned above - no, you can’t do it yourself, but how can you? In Krestnikov's article, monasticism is called "the highest goal that allows one to overcome earthly wanderings." The Vedas also recommend the path of renunciation of the world. As in Orthodox tradition, independent attempts to leave the "prison of the material world" are considered senseless and even dangerous in the Vedas. Illusion is what closes our eyes. Only continuity, obedience, discipleship, the fulfillment of the Commandments of God and the Sacraments make it possible to know the Kingdom of God.
As the author writes: “An elder is one of the senior monks who has gone through the difficult path of self-denial and has taken young monks and laity under his spiritual guidance.” In the Vedic Vaishnava tradition (also among the impersonalists), one who, having reached a high spiritual level, renounces everything material, leaving home, family, bank accounts, etc. for the sake of further spiritual advancement, is called a sannyasi. It is these people who usually become gurus in order to teach others.
The process of choosing a teacher (guru) is thorny, but outwardly determined by the will of the future student. A religious person will see God's providence in this, since meetings with the Teacher are never accidental, just like all events in this world. The teacher is free to accept or not accept the student. All this in a sense resembles a marriage. Indeed, the student and teacher are bound by love and mutual responsibility to each other and to God until the end of their days. Their relationship is no less deep and purely personal, like the relationship of the spouses. As can be seen from the descriptions given by the author:
“In the monastery, the elder usually did not hold any position; he is a spiritual leader and adviser. His disciples gathered around him in the monastery, and he humbly and responsibly took on this heavy duty. The student himself chose the elder he wanted. And it often happened that a person who wanted to talk with the elder on only one issue remained under his guidance for the rest of his life and even accepted monasticism.
Humility
In the third verse of Shikshastaka, the only short work (ashtaka means eight lines) left by Lord Chaitanya, who revived the Vaishnava tradition about 500 years ago, it says:
thrinad api sunicena
taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harih
(Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas, BBT, 1974, p. 33). The translation and commentary on this verse is as follows:
“The holy names of the Lord should be chanted in a humble state of mind, considering oneself to be lower than the straw lying in the street. One must become more patient than a tree, completely free from the feeling of false prestige and always be ready to show respect to others. Only in such a state of mind can one chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.”
Vaishnava etiquette requires more than just humility and respect for others. Insult (aparadha) entails the impossibility of spiritual development, which is considered the most terrible, therefore Vaishnavas do their best not to offend each other even by accident, otherwise they offer their humble obeisances.
As can be seen from Krestnikov's article: “The younger brethren tried in every possible way to humble themselves not only before their elders, but also before their equals, being afraid even with a glance to offend another, and at the slightest pretext they immediately asked each other for forgiveness.”
Perhaps comments are unnecessary. Where goodness prevails, people behave accordingly. In the lectures on Ayurveda by Oleg Gennadyevich Torsunov (Audarya Dhamy dasa), it is said that one should adhere to a “constantly guilty” position, roughly speaking, apologize if you stepped on your foot, because everyone deserves what they get. This should not be misunderstood that there is no need to help and intercede. It's about everyone's personal mindset.
Spiritual rebirth Not only humility, prayers and fasting determine the spiritual growth of a person. The Vedas strongly recommend the observance of sadhana - a certain lifestyle, which includes the notorious daily routine. The best time to get up is considered to be 3-4 o'clock in the morning, starting from which you should devote several hours to spiritual practice, since this is the time of sattva-guna, that is, goodness. In Krestnikov’s article we read: “The elder’s day went like this. To listen to the morning rule, at first he got up at 4 o'clock in the morning, rang the bell, to which lay attendants came and read morning prayers, 12 selected psalms and the First Hour, after which he was alone in mental prayer. By the way, among other prayers and mantras (prayers and hymns that purify the mind and have other spiritual and / or material properties), “secret” ones stand out - gayatri, which are never spoken aloud. They are not given to ordinary parishioners, but only to brahmins (priests). Of course, gayatri in itself is not a smart prayer, since when you read it, you usually don’t do anything else, but it can be.
The author gives a wonderful quote about St. Ambrose of Optina: “He only needed the soul of a person, which was so dear to him that, forgetting himself, he tried with all his might to save her ...” I just want to continue it with another quote, but from the Bhagavad Gita: The humble sages, thanks to true knowledge, see with one eye a learned brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater (untouchable) ” (B. g. 5, 18). Srila Prabhupada's commentary on this verse says: "A person in Krishna consciousness does not distinguish between species of living beings and castes [social strata]...". This does not mean that animals, to which the Vedas deny free will, are equal to man, the only form of life in which the soul can return to the Kingdom of God, but only that the soul and God reside in the heart of every living being.
The author writes about the difficult process of spiritual rebirth in modern Russia. About the restoration of temples and monasteries. But the main thing is that "we all have left a great spiritual heritage, worthy of which we must be." Let us read again the wonderful Prayer of the Optina Elders and repeat in a humble mood: "Abandon all dharmas (religious duties) and take shelter of Me alone" (B. g. 18, 66).
Alexei Ilyich, I want to express my great respect to you - you led me to Orthodoxy, I want to bow to you for what you have done, on behalf of all of us. And I want to ask this question: I went to Orthodoxy from afar; now the Indian Vedic tradition is quite popular with us, there are a lot of lecturers and they are in no way opponents of Orthodoxy, most of them do not even incline to their faith. They explain certain laws of behavior precisely by pure life, which is very similar to what Christ preached to us. It seems to me that one of the reasons why modern world Orthodoxy is not very widespread, is the lack of a clear set of laws on how to behave, as it is, for example, among the Jews. Old Testament 4 times thicker than New Testament, everything is written there, how to behave. If you take other Jewish treatises, everything is said there literally about every button. And Vedic knowledge describes in detail the life of a person, how to build a family correctly, how to build Vedic relationships correctly. What can you relate to the fact that Christ did not give any rules of behavior in this material world. There is a lot about the spiritual realm, and this leads us to eternal life, but a complete misunderstanding of how to behave in this world. And yet, these same lecturers say that Christ went to India, could you dispel these conjectures?
To India, to Japan, what else is there ... I will tell you this: when you talk about Vedic traditions, then keep in mind that we do not know who and when they started it. It is very possible that those authors of the Vedas who were, they also did not give anything at first. Customs and traditions develop gradually. And Christ did not give anything of this either, and already the apostles begin to create these traditions, and then we see how the Church is created, organized, how a tree gradually grows from a seed. We see that there are a lot of recommendations in the Church. Take, for example, the Book of Rules: how many resolutions there are of cathedral and ecumenical, local councils, of some holy fathers; in each, even in the local Church, in particular, in the Russian Church.
Remember how wonderful our tradition was: at the table, at dinner - silence, everyone eats food with reverence, do you hear? If someone laughs, immediately - with a spoon in the forehead! There was a great thing going on - food, that you! What was a great tradition, what did they do with it? What was done to her? And in monasteries - at dinner, at a meal, they read the lives of the saints or someone's teachings. What can we find now? - begins, even at the monastery meal, music, even secular music. You hear? - there is destruction from within, and it is expressed in these external forms.
But be careful about the Vedas. One of the most, I would say, influential, authoritative representatives of Hinduism, take Ramakrishna, who said: no matter who, he is one - this is Krishna, and Christ, and Buddha. Or Vivekananda, his famous student, who traveled all over the world, including to America, he generally reached what he came to, he said: “Throw away all your rags, the human soul is who God is, the human body is who God is. Never say that you are sinful. You are strong, you are powerful, you must know that you are He." Do you hear what things? Just devilish things.
I do not know if you will ever be able to read the Song of Samsara, you will simply be horrified by what Vivekananda preached. This is, you know, Satanism.
We no longer take the essence of religion, but some of its modifications that exist adaptively to our Christian psychology, and changes are taking place literally on the go. Don't be at all surprised by this. It would be very nice if they changed so much that they would recognize Christ, - then only welcome. But their roots and origins… Buddha, for example, do you know what he said? - "I myself have achieved everything, I myself have received everything, I myself have achieved nirvana, I am He." Well, how do you like it?
About prayer: “Do not ask anything from Silence, It will not answer you anything” - you see, what sources, what are you!
We, unfortunately, sometimes poorly know the origins of these currents. If you are interested, maybe it was worth taking at least Radha-Krishna in the history of Indian philosophy, to see what he writes there, these are such facts - oh-oh-oh, so everything is very difficult.
Christianity calls man to the likeness of God in what way? By the way, I did not say about one thing: there can be no true love where there is no humility. And humility is a vision of one's sinfulness and, alas, inability to overcome these passions in oneself. Where there is no humility, there can be no true love - this is very important.
This is not the case in the Vedic tradition, that's the point, so it's not easy at all.
And the rules - we have a lot of rules, unfortunately, even too many. And what have we come to now: our Maslenitsa has become, almost church holiday. That's what I say: "The thirteenth feast in the Church."
Decryption:Rimma Adomaityte
12 389
All the ascetic activity of Sergius of Radonezh was aimed at preserving the spirituality of Rus', as opposed to the ideological Western reform of the subordination of Russian lands to a slave complex of economic and spiritual dependence. Russian Vedism began to be destroyed from traditions. Most of the traditions survived only because there was nothing to replace them. For the Christian religion, enlightenment is sacrilege, because it devalues the only thing that is important for it - dogma or externality. There is a test of faith with nonsense or the replacement of sacred rituals with a set of ritual actions devoid of clear meaning: religion becomes higher than faith. If what is accessible to the human concept is not suitable for the sacred, then knowledge is no longer suitable. Thus, the living is replaced by the dead, the versatility of tradition into dogma and unambiguity, from which we get a way, routine, an image of nonsense, faith in a miracle that cannot be explained with the help of reason, which is typical for the lost civilization of the Atlanteans and the Greek traditions of Byzantium. The routine turned out to be much more viable than the spirit. But the routine does not resurrect if it has already died. Resurrects the spirit. Thanks to such ascetics as Sergius of Radonezh, the spirit of the great people was preserved in Russian traditions, the “golden chain” of the spiritual heritage of the philosophical understanding of the world around us, transmitted from teacher to student, and leading along the path of evolution to cosmic heights, was preserved. human knowledge being. The historical feature of Russian Orthodoxy was its isolation not only from Mohammedanism, but also from Latinism, and as a result, the Russian people saw almost no difference between the one and the other.
Around the church of St. Sergius, spiritually reborn Rus' began to unite. Now the Vedic teachings and Christians found a common language. He managed to combine the seemingly incompatible, uniting two warring religions in Rus', and thereby ending the protracted civil strife and wars that claimed more than half of the population of then Rus'. At its core, the teaching of Sergius is the same deep cosmogonic teaching as the ancient Hyperborean faith of our ancestors. Under him, believers considered themselves, as before, the grandchildren of God. He managed to show that the true teaching of Christ has nothing to do with orthodox Christianity, where churches and dissidents are burned. All major Christian holidays Russ are a legacy of the ascetic activity of the Radonezh abbot, which made it necessary to unite both religions into one harmonious whole and saved Rus' in the face of a new Horde invasion. No wonder he is often called the "protector of the Russian land."
Etc. Sergius was born on 10/08/1314 in the Radonezh inheritance, near the present Sergiev Posad, Moscow Region. The boyar parents Kirill and Martha named him Bartholomew at baptism. After the burial of his parents and tonsure as a monastic, all his activities from the age of 23 were aimed at the spiritual revival and enlightenment of Rus', the preservation, strengthening and expansion of the boundaries of the spiritual world by reconciling two ideologies into a single alloy, allowing to have in its political basis not slave labor, but the free labor of an artisan and the valor of a warrior defending his homeland.
Thus, in Muscovite Rus', thanks to church reform Sergius, the feudal social order was fixed, which gave huge advantages in the economic and political structure of the state in comparison with the slavery imposed by the West. Rus' in a short time became able to defend its independence, and Western orthodoxies and Eastern sultans began to reckon with it. New monasteries were built throughout Rus', where the monks were engaged in agriculture, medicine and martial arts. In the cities, new ones were built, no longer similar to Byzantine ones, but copying ancient, Vedic temples and churches.
The Christianization of Rus' under Sergius took place through the outposts of faith - Orthodox monasteries, at the head of which he put reliable people who maintain the purity of faith without hypocrisy, hypocrisy and selfish aspirations. The network of monasteries was unified and communicated with each other. The system of monasteries bordered the fortifications of such cities as Moscow, Mozhaisk, Kolomna and was created in the same order as the border lands. The intra-church reforms of Sergius contributed to the economic and political independence of Orthodox monasteries, which began to play essential role in the political system of North-Eastern Rus'.
The basis of his activity was the rewriting of books, the dissemination of ancient knowledge about faith, the laying of libraries, the preservation of the rituals of the solar cult, despite the Jewish names of the gods. It was important to preserve the "golden chain" of the continuity of spiritual self-improvement, the opportunity to move along the path of the ancestors given by the gods of the Vedas, becoming people of knowledge, and not worshipers dependent on power. It was important not to lose the accumulated experience of many centuries of spiritual traditions that allow the soul to evolve to divine heights.
It was not for nothing that Khan Tokhtomysh's raid on Moscow in 1382, when Prince Dmitry was not in the capital, pursued one single goal - to burn the prince's library, which was collected by St. Sergius himself. Tokhtomysh carried out a direct order, but this was a small part of a large plan for the destruction of Vedicism in Rus'.
At each monastery, his efforts organized the rewriting of ancient books and book depositories, which described ancient services, initiation rituals, historically significant events "where the Russian land came from." Who are the Russ or Suras, if you read from right to left, the history of their appearance on planet Earth. The split into Rusov-Uranian (Uranus is the spirit, the masculine principle personifying the sky) and Ants (an-no) - the rulers of the earth who denied the power of heaven or the cosmic principle. Then the paths of evolution diverged, wars began. People began to degrade, primates appeared. The confrontation led to a world war or the Flood, with all the ensuing consequences: glaciation, man-made deserts, the collapse of civilization. The planet was depopulated, but evolution resumed, the Spirit did not lose itself in a hard struggle. Sergius preached the ascent to the Spirit, the return to the cradle of the Cosmos, the fulfillment of the laws of the Rule and the Universal order. But while people were arguing and fighting, a third force intervened, which managed to seize world domination for a while - the power of Zion, which replaced the spiritual path with acquisitiveness. The Christianization of Rus' at that time carried the danger of a unipolar world, which ultimately led most peoples to stagnation and spiritual degradation, throwing the world in its development for more than 500 years into the darkness of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, when simple literacy was considered a crime.
With Sergius, each hermit monk worked for himself and for the good of the community, providing himself with everything necessary, being an independent worker who fully took responsibility for his life and spiritual development. No one was given privileges, no one had the right to live at the expense of others or at the expense of the community. The free labor of each for the benefit of all made people equal and naturally weeded out those who were not ready for the difficulties of monastic life and spiritual service. The use of wine was forbidden in monasteries and monastic dormitories. But moral qualities were supported and encouraged: honesty, truthfulness, incorruptibility, courage, love for the motherland, hard work. Thus, the institution of self-discipline and the moral stages of spiritual evolution were preserved.
In his teaching, Sergius always relied on Christ. He expanded the idea of Christ, showed his teachings to be multifaceted and did it very convincingly. He managed to clothe the ancient Vedic worldview in a Christian form. And only the initiates understood that the head of the gods Rod became the “heavenly father”, Dazhbog, the son of Rod, became the son of God Jesus Christ, and Lada, the goddess of love and harmony, took the form of the Virgin Mary, etc. The Vedic functions of the ancient Aryan (Orian) gods were extrapolated by Sergius of Radonezh to the names of archangels, angels and saints of the Christian pantheon. It is not difficult for a truly Russian person to realize this, if we remember that all the main words and most important concepts are still based on the root clan: people, parents, relatives, city, garden, etc., and we all live under the Family or in Nature.
Around the church of St. Radonezh, spiritually reborn Rus' began to unite. Now both Vedic and Christians found a common language, and the Catholic West was looked upon as a hotbed of discord and evil, which perverted the true teachings of Christ.
Orthodox priests, together with the surviving Magi, taught people literacy and philosophy. The Church of St. Radonezh very soon crossed the borders of the Moscow Principality and began to spread throughout southern and northwestern Rus'. The spirituality of the Russian state was formed from the interaction of two large religious trends. For the West, it seems like orthodox Christianity, taking into account local characteristics, for its people - the cosmogonic Vedic ancient teachings.
All major Christian holidays in Rus' are a legacy of the asceticism of St. Sergius. They were not imposed on the people, but, on the contrary, were kept for them. Albeit in a different form, but their essence remains the same. Sergius of Radonezh, translating all the ancient Vedic knowledge into Christian terms, created a secret Orthodox mystical teaching, which all Russian clergy began to teach. So in Rus', the once powerful Orthodox shield was revived from any occult-religious influences from outside, trying to influence the soul of the Russian people.
Over time, there were plans to dissociate the Russian Orthodox Church from the spiritually decaying Byzantine, whose days were already numbered then.
The Orthodox Christianity of St. Sergius made it possible to preserve traditional self-government, the institution of sorcery, and even wedding ceremonies.
The unity around Moscow of the Russian lands was the result of the spiritual unity of people professing, it would seem, two different religions. He was able to show that the true teaching of Christ has nothing to do with Western Christianity, that Jesus never taught to destroy temples, organize crusades and burn heretics at the stake, and that there is no reason for religious strife within the country.
Sergius transferred Russian Christianity from the egregor of destruction to the egregor of creation, and by his asceticism he saved for many generations the true and lofty teaching that Jesus brought to Judea.
Sergius, in essence, called for the use of only what nature itself gave without violence against it. You can not take immature or wormy, as the fruit of good and evil, for which people were not ready. The Sergius Keliot Charter made it possible for everyone to work on their patrimony, ennoble the land, learn to share everything that you have and at the same time protect your work and land together. In the cell it was possible to retire. Everyone built the world for himself, but it was common to all. No offense was punished, everyone acted as his conscience dictated. He himself voluntarily had to decide for himself to obey him the rules of the Keliot community, believing in the divine power of the laws of the Rule, or go the other way. In other words, to work for the glory of peace and goodness, without demanding anything in return. Each monk learned to be responsible for his life, food, health, fate, feelings and thoughts.
Etc. Sergius gave the path of silent solitude, that is, the path of a permanent inner meditative state. For him, Christian salvation is asceticism and self-knowledge of the inner nature of man according to Christ's teaching that "the kingdom of God is within us." The path that was once characteristic of the Magi of ancient Rus'. Later, St. Sergius and his followers were called "great silencers." Sergius did not try to emphasize his importance, he walked everywhere. He was able to get seventy kilometers to Moscow in one day.
The battle on the Kulikovo field played a big role in the unity of the Russian people. The Moscow Prince Dmitry listened in everything to his spiritual mentor, St. Sergius, with whom he wanted to dissociate the Orthodox Church from the Byzantine one. To put over it their Moscow Patriarch close in spirit to the reformers and thereby unite all the Russian lands into a single whole.
In response, the West organized a new Tatar-Mongol invasion led by Khan Mamai, who was hostile to everything Christian. It was necessary to force Mamai to move his troops to Rus', and above all to Moscow, in order to put an end to the reforms of Prince Dmitry and the educational activities of St. Sergius.
Mamai was convinced that Rus' was easy prey, that Moscow had no regular army, except for mercenaries, and that the war would strengthen the influence of the Golden Horde and Islam so much that he, as a khan and commander, could compete with Tamerlane himself. They promised to help with money and weapons, and even a military contingent.
Far-reaching plans were directed not only against Moscow, but also against the Novgorod Republic, later with the help of the Livonian knights and the same Mongol-Tatars. It is not for nothing that the western Russian border moved to the west, then retreated to the east, but in any position it remained fortified. Only the Great Wall of China can be called a historical analogue. We have always been barbarians for them, from the word varra - a wall.
The army of Mamai went from the Volga to the Don, sweeping away everything in its path. For the Vedic population of the Cossacks, the adoption of Mohammedanism by the Golden Horde meant a quick death. The inhabitants of the Don region, the descendants of the Scythian-Sarmatians, lived independently under any conquerors. Even Tamerlane could not conquer born warriors. But Mamai swung at their independence.
The Cossacks did not see much difference between the teachings of Sergius in comparison with the ancient Vedic religion. Moreover, Orthodox Christianity made it possible to preserve the traditional Don self-government and the institution of sorcery, and Vedic rites. They had a Cossack circle as a kind of analogue of the veche.
The Russian army was not a regular army, but to a greater extent a zemstvo militia, except for the small squad of the prince. They were waiting for the promised help from the Russian-Lithuanian principality. But Jagiello, for some reason, was late, or the Catholics did not want to help their Orthodox brothers in faith. He camped not far behind the Muscovites. The numerical superiority was clearly on the side of Mamai. Despite the bravery and courage of the troops of Prince Dmitry, the defeat from the Tatars was inevitable, if the Orthodox Cossacks had not unexpectedly entered the battle. A corps of ten thousand Cossacks, led by Ataman Tmar, appeared on the banks of the Don when the battle was in full swing. Having crossed the Don, the Cossacks immediately rushed to the last reserve of Mamai at his camp, and Bobrok, the commander of the prince, at that time sent a reserve regiment to the right wing of the Tatars. Bobrok saw how the fresh forces of Mamai with someone entered into battle and, drowning out the roar of the battle, a many-voiced choir was heard. As-saks or Cossacks of the Don, attacking Mamai's personal tumen, sang a hymn to Perun. A few minutes later, the entire Russian army picked up the hymn to the ancient Russian god of victory. Over the Kulikovo field on September 8, 1380, the anthem of the Russian victory sounded, silent for more than two centuries.
The features of the saint were later succinctly listed in one of the letters of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Ser. 17th century: "a marvelous supporter of the enemy with us and scolding the Russian reign." Therefore, it is no coincidence that regular pilgrimages to the Trinity Monastery on the feast of the Trinity and on the day of the memory of Sergius of Radonezh became part of the royal ritual. True, this did not prevent the tsar from implementing the Nikonian reform, which led to a deep split within the Russian Orthodox Church, the prohibition and destruction of church books left as a legacy by St. Sergius and his associates. These reforms were called "correction of church books according to the Greek model." The main thing was that church democracy was replaced by a strict vertical of power, headed by the patriarch, but in fact the tsar. The Western Christian puppeteers took their revenge in full, having perpetrated the Holy Inquisition in Rus' in their own way. The split caused irreparable damage to the cause of St. Sergius and all of Russia. Aggravated by Peter's reforms, it turned into an abyss that lay between the people and the authorities and became the cause of many subsequent riots.
But despite the constant attempts of the militant Latin religion to subjugate Moscow to its power, Rus' remained inaccessible to the goals of the West. There were moments when Latin patriarchs sat in Jerusalem and Constantinople. But throughout history, they never reached Moscow. Although they managed to drive the Vedic worldview of Rus' into the deep underground, impose Western Christianity on Russia and bring civilization to the common denominator of globalization. But it is obvious that the fear of the "pagan" Christianity of St. Sergius is still alive in Rome and in the minds of Western and overseas rulers.
Etc. Sergius was never a secular politician and did not have a significant clergy. But he was, in fact, the spiritual leader of the resurgent power, to whom not only the people listened, but also those in power. His merits as a political and spiritual figure cannot be overestimated. If it weren’t for his wise, far-sighted foreign and domestic policy, Rus' would have found itself in the iron grip of the crusades of the German and Baltic knights, the steppes - henchmen of Tamerlane and the Horde, and, finally, could become a hostage to the internal strife of the specific princes. Shortly after his death in 1447, St. Sergius of Radonezh was canonized and canonized, and later revered as heavenly patron and patron of the Moscow sovereigns. And not without reason it was in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery that grand-ducal and royal children were baptized.
The icon "Trinity" by A. Rublev, created in the Sergius Monastery and unanimously recognized as one of the greatest monuments of Russian culture, was written "in memory and praise" of Sergius. This work of ancient Russian painting, full of peace, peace and quiet, harmoniously reveals the main Christian symbols of the trinity of images of God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. The icon most fully characterizes the spiritual heritage of St. Sergius, where God the Father is the creator of the material world, and God is the keeper of the diversity of the world revealed to people. The central place is occupied by the sacrificial cup and its consecration by the Holy Spirit, the embodied image of the spiritual world, which is not subject to the destructive inexorability of time. The Rublev icon of its kind became the artistic embodiment of the theological and religious-philosophical views of St. Sergius. Already during his lifetime, St. Sergius of Radonezh was considered as incarnated in real person a collective image of a united Rus', which the Russian people so longed for in the 13th-14th centuries, and which gave rise to the unparalleled scope of Orthodox asceticism in history, which happened in the 14th-15th centuries.
We continue the comparative analysis of the Vedic tradition and Christianity due to the fact that Vedism, once widespread in Rus', began to revive again not only in our country, but throughout the world. Vedism is not an Indian religion, but a universal culture based on the most ancient scriptures of the earth - the Vedas. The revival of Vedic culture is manifested in the fact that more and more people begin to understand the reality of the law of karma and reincarnation. More and more people are becoming vegetarians. Everywhere there is growing interest in Ayurveda, Vedic architecture - Vastu - and Vedic astrology. Shops of esoteric literature and paraphernalia successfully sell Indian incense, disks with Vedic mantras for all occasions, and figurines of Vedic gods. More and more people are trying to practice some form of yoga. To correctly understand all these things, it is necessary to obtain information from primary sources - the original Vedas, which are best preserved in India.
This time, we'll start with the relationship of both traditions to food, vegetarianism, and violence. One of the most famous biblical commandments says: "Thou shalt not kill!". However, there is a lot of debate about this short and unambiguous phrase - should you not kill only people or also animals? Oddly enough, India - not a Christian country at all - has the most vegetarians in the world who follow this Christian rule. But in those countries where many people consider themselves Christians, this rule is not so simple.
Vegetarianism is connected not only with health, ethics and karma, but also with our state of consciousness, with spiritual perspectives. After all, the meaning of spiritual practice is that our stone hearts become soft, and we can feel divine love. But when a person directly or indirectly participates in violence, his heart hardens, and with a hardened heart it is impossible to feel subtle spiritual emotions.
Therefore, the commandment "Thou shalt not kill!" directly related to our spiritual development. And therefore vegetarianism is the practical embodiment of this commandment.
Obviously, it is simply impossible to completely avoid violence in this world. But there is violence inevitable, and there is violence unjustified. Inevitable violence includes self-defense, forced punishment of criminals, unconscious violence when we accidentally hurt someone. And unjustified violence includes conscious aggression and exploitation, killing of animals by civilized people, etc. It was not by chance that I emphasized the definition of "civilized". This word means not just a person who can read, write and use a computer, but one who knows the highest spiritual goal of life. Such a civilized person in the ancient Vedic language Sanskrit is called the term Arya. The opposite of this concept is Mleccha - a barbarian. I already briefly mentioned these people in the last issue in connection with the Vedic version of the story of Adam and Eve. The main feature of the barbarian is not his appearance, but the inner aspiration of consciousness. This person may look quite civilized outwardly, but if the meaning of his life is the enjoyment of the senses of the body, then he differs from the animal only in the way of life. And a civilized person must differ from an animal not only in the way of life, but also in the purpose of life. So, if a person who knows about the highest goal of life, but due to habit or bad communication and education, directly or indirectly participates in violence, this will prevent him from reaching the highest goal. After all, by killing others, we unconsciously kill the ability to love in ourselves. Killing animals for food is more or less forgivable for savages, for whom hunting and fishing is the only way to survive, but not for modern man, who has a large selection of products and a developed consciousness.
The original constitution of mankind, the Vedic code of laws Manu Samhita, states: “Although meat-eating, attachment to intoxications (tobacco and alcohol) and sexual excesses are natural for the conditioned soul and therefore not subject to condemnation, until one gives up all this, he cannot achieve the highest perfection of life - love of God. This is both the loyal and categorical position of the Vedas.
So the Vedas strongly recommend a bloodless diet to a civilized person. And how can this be confirmed by quotations from the Bible? At the very beginning of the Book of Genesis it is written: "And God said - Behold, I have given you every herb that yields seed ... and every tree that has fruit of a tree that yields seed - this will be food for you." And in the "Epistle to the Romans" it says: "For the sake of food, do not destroy the works of God ... It is better not to eat meat and not drink wine ...". The proverbs say: "Intoxicating drinks lead to violence and distract a person from God." And the meaning of religion is to draw a person to God. It is clear that in spiritual scripture such recommendations can appear only in connection with spiritual goals.
It is noticed that different foods affect our consciousness in different ways. According to the Vedas, vegetarian food carries the energy of goodness. It calms and enlightens a person. Food that is too spicy, dry, hot carries the energy of passion and unnecessarily excites a person, leading to inflammatory processes. Food obtained by killing animals, birds and fish (as well as eggs) carries the energy of ignorance. It dulls a person and leads to stagnant processes in the body. For example, according to the Bible, "John the Baptist ate only honey and locust (yogurt) to distinguish good from evil." This means one simple thing - certain foods can affect our consciousness so negatively that we cannot distinguish good from evil. And when the hungry apostle Paul was offered to eat meat, he said: "I will never be defiled." What defilement is he talking about here? Obviously, we are talking about internal pollution, associated with the fact that it is impossible to eat meat without killing someone directly or indirectly (by consuming the products of violence). All Christians know that eating meat is bad. After all, during a 40-day fast, they abstain from it. For what? To be cleansed. If in 40 days you can somehow cleanse yourself, then how much stronger is this purification if you follow this rule all your life? And isn't it strange to abstain from meat for the sake of purification for 40 days, and then again turn your organisms into "walking cemeteries" in which the remains of dead bodies are located?
The reason why people so thoughtlessly commit unjustified violence is the sincere belief that animals do not have a soul or they are specially designed for us to eat, and therefore killing them is not sinful.
If you think that there are different souls (important and unimportant), then it is easy to justify any violence. In the Book of Genesis, God says that in all beings (in the water, the sky, and on land) there are living souls. The same word is used there for the soul of an animal as for the soul of a man. So all souls are equal. Animals also rejoice and grieve, feel pain and pleasure. It's just that their consciousness is bound by the karma of their past sinful life in the form of lower bodies. Animals are a kind of imprisoned souls, whose lives are very limited while serving their sentences. Therefore, the Bible says that we should have love and compassion for our smaller brothers, and not kill them.
Man has been given power over animals, but this does not mean that violence is sanctioned. Animals can serve a person: plow, carry goods, protect, give milk, wool.
The Vedas say that in different bodies there are qualitatively equal souls, but temporarily differently conditioned. This is where the idea of non-violence comes from. Until this point is properly understood, it will be difficult to understand all other aspects of the spiritual life. This is where all the differences in philosophy begin. If unjustified violence is justified, hardening of the heart occurs, and this contradicts the main principle of spiritual life - purification and softening of the heart. Love cannot live in a hard heart.
So, violence is sometimes inevitable and necessary, but not in matters of nutrition. The early Christians were mostly vegetarians. This tradition began to degenerate around the beginning of the 4th century AD under the pressure of Emperor Constantine. Since the Roman Empire decided to make Christianity the state religion, it had to become as socially acceptable as possible, and therefore the lowering of standards began by order. But since the spiritual process is a technology, no elements can be thrown out of it, otherwise it will stop working. Therefore, Christianity itself suffered the most internally from this and other editions.
Despite all these arguments, someone may object with the well-known phrase: “It doesn’t matter what goes in, but what matters is what comes out ...”. Well, then let him try to eat what comes out, and it will immediately become clear that, it turns out, it is important, “what goes in.”
Now it is necessary to understand the relationship between Jesus Christ and Krishna. These names are surprisingly similar (in Greek, Christ sounds like Christus), and this is not accidental. The Vedas unanimously proclaim Krishna or Vishnu (the aspect of Krishna's power) as the Supreme Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.17) He Himself says about Himself: “I am the father and mother of this universe. I am the support and progenitor. I am the goal of knowledge. I am the one who purifies. I am the syllable OM. I am also the source of the four Vedas." What is the position of Christ? He himself repeatedly called himself the son of God, but in the Gospel of John (10.30) he says about himself this way: "I and the Father are one." Does this mean that Christ is God the Father Himself? If so, why in the same chapter (John 14:28) did he say, "My Father is greater than I"? There will be no contradictions if we correctly understand the relationship between God and His various incarnations. Christ himself explains all this wonderfully (John 14:10): “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak of Myself. The Father who is in Me does the works.”
According to the Vedas, Christ belongs to the category of Shakti-avesha avatars - living beings who are authorized by God for a specific mission and endowed with supernatural energy for this. Therefore, they are simultaneously one with God in the sense of a common cause, but they are different from Him, remaining His particles. It is like the sun, which is both one with its rays and distinct from them. The coming of Jesus (Isha) is predicted in the Vedic text Bhavishya Purana: “At the beginning of the Kali Yuga (our era), the holy Isha-putra (son of God) and the son of Ku-mari (virgin Mary) will come and will preach the message of God to the west of the Indus River in the land of the barbarians. He will be crucified, but he will rise again.”
In conclusion of this topic, it must be said that each tradition has a concept of its exclusivity. This is quite natural, because. there are no many religions, but there are only different versions of a single spiritual path, colored by national and linguistic features different peoples. However, on the surface, it looks like the religions are vying with each other for supremacy. Christians will say in the words of Jesus, "No one comes to the Father except through Me." The supporters of the Vedas will say in the words of Krishna: "Those who worship other gods with faith actually worship Me alone, but they do it in a wrong way" (Bhagavad-gita, 9.23). There is no need to talk about the superiority of this or that tradition, because. God in the heart directs the soul to learn according to its desires and level.
There are no differences in the basis of both teachings: There is one God; the soul is His particle; there is an eternal spiritual world and a temporary material world. The way to move into the higher reality is the purification of the soul and attachment to God. Everything else is a purely external specificity of different traditions.
It is generally accepted that the word "religion" comes from the Latin word re-ligio (reunion, connection), which means reunion with God, whose image is formed in the depths of our soul. However, the definition of religion that is most rooted in our practice is “the worldview and attitude, as well as the corresponding behavior based on the belief in the existence of God or many Gods.” This is a very common interpretation, includes the key word that defines its essence - FAITH. Thus, “faith” in the modern sense is a statement based on the authority of the church about the existence of a supernatural, powerful, kind, merciful and ruthless SOMETHING, whom (or what) must be feared and obeyed in order to avoid severe punishment. And in our real life, it turns out - to follow the subjective opinion of people-clergymen who appropriated, privatized the right to interpret the activity and will of this unknown SOMETHING.
Our ancient Russian culture (it's hard to call it a religion in the modern sense of the word) was based on knowledge. In Old Russian, knowledge is VEDA, so our primordial Russian culture, without any doubt, can be called Vedic. Vedic culture is currently known as a system of religious ideas of the ancient peoples living on the Hindustan peninsula. But at the same time, one must always remember who brought the Vedas to the territory of modern India. It was one of the tribal unions of the Russ-Aryans, who about 4 thousand years ago moved from the territory of Russia to the aforementioned peninsula, conquered the local Negroid population - the Dravidians, brought them perfect knowledge, culture, art, social structure and much more. It was our Russian Vedas that gave impetus to the development of all modern religions and philosophical movements of the East: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc. All of them, one way or another, stem from the Vedas and represent a somewhat distorted and simplified version of the ancient teaching, adapted by local sages to the needs of the time and the possibilities of the population to whom it is addressed.
The Indians themselves recognize the emergence of the Vedic tradition as a result of the cultural influence of the Aryans. Some of the Indian researchers also believe that their ancestral home is in Russia, in the Arctic. However, this is not entirely true, since Russia is not the ancestral home of the Indians themselves, but of their white, blue-eyed, fair-haired teachers. Unfortunately, the white population, who came to Dravidia in ancient times, has long been assimilated with the locals. But now, after millennia, we have unique opportunity to study our own ancient culture through the prism of past times, a strange mentality and a foreign language unknown to us ... Therefore, there is such an interest among our compatriots in various oriental cultures, religions, and philosophies.
What does it mean to be a follower of the Russian Vedic tradition? This is to study the foundations of the world order, laid down in ancient Russian culture, and to master the methods of using natural universal laws and principles, their manifestation and action in our world for the benefit of the world around us. Since these laws are unshakable, universal, and operate not only on our planet, but also in any “corner” of the Universe, then all natural cults, one way or another, should be similar to each other, like two drops of water. Of course, they have their own characteristics, since they are “voiced” in different languages and are distributed among peoples with an unequal degree of development and, accordingly, a different degree of understanding of knowledge (Vedas).
It is conditionally possible to distinguish between natural religions (traditions) and artificial (“man-made”). All modern so-called "mass religions" were written, created by people, "wise men" of antiquity, prophets, i.e. “man-made,” or rather, “brain-made.” Anyone who carefully studied the history of religions could not but pay attention to the fact that these teachings did not represent an unshakable creation. Christianity at the dawn of its formation was repeatedly reformed: books were rewritten, fundamental postulates were clarified, a couple of dozen gospels were withdrawn from “circulation”, ancient manuscripts were burned or hidden in the vaults of the Vatican.
For example, Christianity in Russia was reformed in the 17th century, which led to the destruction of a huge number of ordinary Russian people - believers of the old sense (Old Believers). The church was also reformed in Soviet times. And now, in pseudo-democratic times, some figures are trying to turn the Church into a kind of Closed Joint Stock Company, carrying out profit-making activities, exploiting the needs of a normal person in communication, interaction with God.
As for the Russian tradition, it is absolutely impossible to imagine our Vedas, that is, the Knowledge about Nature, subjected to reform. Any ignorance of the true knowledge received by our ancestors directly from God leads to negative consequences. What will happen, for example, to a person if, having climbed a tall tree, he starts sawing the bough under him, "spitting" on the laws of gravity? That's right, finish it and collapse down. This is how humanity falls into the bottomless abyss, having lost touch with the Vedas.
The words "VEDA", "VEDAT" are primordially Russian words, understandable to all of us without any translation and mean "KNOWLEDGE", "KNOW". Russian Vedic culture was a perfect regulator of social relations and a natural scientific basis for human life in interaction with nature, for his free spiritual and physical development.
It seems that it is necessary to distinguish between the concept of "Vedic culture of the Russian people" and "paganism". Our culture has always been Vedic (that is, the culture of knowledge), and by paganism our ancestors understood those areas of human knowledge where ancient wisdom was lost or distorted. Paganism is a folk faith, the faith of a simple, poorly educated people. The word came from the ancient Russian “tongues” - people, people ... There was a gradual profanation of the great ancient teachings as the carriers of the ancient Vedic tradition in Rus' were physically destroyed and ideological enslavement by foreign religious cults.
What is the name of our ancient Vedic tradition? The original religion of our ancestors can be called ORTHODOXY. "Orthodoxy", but not "Orthodox Christianity". Somewhere in the dictionaries it was written that our ancient word "Orthodox" comes from the Greek "orthodox". But it's not right! The ancient Roman and Greek civilizations (and many others) are fragments of the once single world of white people, united by a common culture, language, history, ancestors ... Therefore, it is unscientific and unethical to categorically prioritize the origin of concepts, words. However, it is safe to say that most terms, including those of Roman and Greek origin, are easily interpreted and translated precisely from the position of the RUSSIAN language. This speaks volumes! "Orthodoxy" is simply a translation of the word "Orthodoxy" (from Greek ὀρθοδοξία: Greek ὀρθός ("straight", "correct") +δόξα ("opinion", "glory"))
Our ancient pre-Christian word "ORTHODOXY" is formed from two Russian words RIGHT and GLORY.
RIGHT is the highest cosmic Law, according to which all elements of the manifested and unmanifested Universe interact. The essence of this divine Law in modern scientific interpretation can be expressed as "The law of ensuring the sustainable development of the System (Universe) to achieve effective interaction of its elements based on the principle of emergence."
It should be noted that modern science has long been using in its practice the knowledge that was a daily toolkit for Russian Vedic Magi thousands of years ago. And in order to quickly assimilate the sacred knowledge of our ancestors and try to look at the world through the eyes of the ancient Russian Magi, it is recommended to turn to such disciplines as “systems theory”, “information theory”, “synergetics”, “tectology”, “control theory”, etc. . Over time, they will become the basis on the basis of which there will be a breakthrough in all fundamental areas of modern science and a return to the ancient Vedic (natural) worldview, but, apparently, already in a modern form.
From this term, meaning the fundamental and all-encompassing law of universal existence. - "RIGHT" the well-known concepts of "RIGHT", "TRUTH", "RIGHT", "RIGHT", "JUSTICE", "RULE", "RIGHT", "GOVERNMENT" and many others.
It should be noted that in the related Russian language of the Vedic Aryans, Sanskrit, there are a number of words derived from the root "PRAV". Even today they provide an opportunity to expand the understanding of some sacred concepts and terms of our Ancestors. For example, in ancient Sanskrit: prava - hovering in the sky; pravata - breath, spirit, breath; pravarosa - rain (literally: "rule's dew"). A monument of ancient Russian literature - the Book of Veles calls rain "living water", which is sent to people by the Gods of Rule.
In the ancient Indian treatise Rigveda, the concept of Rule as a universal law of the development of the Universe is conveyed by the word R "ta (Rita, Rota) as a kind of cosmic pattern, according to which disordered chaos turns into an ordered harmonized cosmos (Slavic - Lad). This Lad (order) provides the conditions for the existence of the Universe, its circulation, the life of mankind, its morality.Russian Rule, as well as the Aryan Rita (some kindred peoples used the term "Arta" ("Orta") with the same meaning), determines the ritual , the ritual harmony on Earth, that is, it provides not only the physical, but also the moral (spiritual) and everyday side of human life in general.
Thus, this Comprehensive Law (Law of Rule) applies to systems of various levels, origins, states. It is equally true for the Universe, as a single supersystem, for the system of planets in our solar system, the biosphere of planet Earth, for the human body, as a biological system, and for society, as a social system.
Our Russian Rule, among other things, reveals the innermost and deepest meaning of the cult of the Ancestors. According to ancient teachings, our ancestors after earthly life in Yavi are sent to "Luki Svarogya" (Meadows of Svarog), where "they will stay for some time to get a new body." The stay of our great Ancestors on the Bows of Svarozhy brings them closer to our Gods. Therefore, there was a deep belief that our Ancestors help us together with the Gods, maintaining a continuous connection with us. Judge for yourself: the words GREAT-grandfather, GREAT-grandfather, GREAT-BABA and others - after all, they all have the same Slavic root as RIGHT. The basis of the spiritual life of our people is the energy and information connection with our ancestors who went to the Rule.
The second word - "GLORY" is understandable without any dictionary to any normal Russian person. And this word for a better understanding of its meaning can be divided into two parts: the preposition "C" and "LAV". In old Russian LOVE, and in English LOVE, means the same thing - LOVE. Thus, PRAISE means “to treat with the greatest and sincere feeling of love”, “to love”.
Our kindred white peoples preserved many words of ancient origin better than we do, and in order to understand the meaning of some terms, it makes sense to refer to related Indo-European languages.
SLAVA is a very ancient concept that is directly related to the self-name of the great people - the Slavs. Even in the IV century. the writer Agatangel, secretary of Tsar Terdat, wrote about the ancient Russian Goddess of Glory as "the great queen and mistress, the glory of the people, supporting the life of the people, the Mother of all virtues, the Mother Goddess, the Golden Mother." He also described her temple, which has countless treasures. Image Goddess (her statue) was made by skilled craftsmen of pure gold.The holiday of the Goddess of Glory, which was celebrated in the spring, is most fully preserved among the Serbs close to us in spirit and faith.It should be noted that the cult of the Russian Goddess of Love Lada is almost identical to the cult of the Great Goddess of Glory.
So, our ancient culture, with a fair degree of certainty, can be defined as "Glorification of the divine law of RIGHT". And our great ancestors, bearers of this wonderful culture, were called ORTHODOX or SLAVES, i.e. THOSE "THAT GLORIFY THE GODS" and who are "GLORY IN THEIR GREAT DEEDS AND PURE THOUGHTS". It should be noted here that the Slavs were originally a religious and cultural rather than an ethnic term. Slavs began to be called those tribes that, after the gradual displacement of our ancient culture alien, overseas ideologies, as well as the Christianization of the majority of the European population, for a long time remained committed to the ancient Russian tradition, that is, they continued to glorify Prav, the great Russian Gods and bring love to people.
In ancient Rus', the Creator of the Universe himself, the God of KIND, was most revered, therefore our culture is sometimes called RODOSLAVIY or RODOLOVIE in our time. Such a name as SVETOSLAVIE is widely known ...
It must be emphasized that there can be as many modern names that reflect the essence of this multifaceted phenomenon, like ancient Russian culture. The Russes themselves lived according to the Vedas for millions of years and did not name their way of life in any way. The Vedas - global information about the world order, were the basis on which the whole everyday life, household chores and sacred holidays, ceremonies, rituals, the birth and upbringing of children, physical culture and medicine, agricultural work and craft.
In other words, the Russian Vedas are all that now for us should be a natural and necessary set of knowledge that allows us to simply live, orienting ourselves in the complex world of things and phenomena.
Illustrations:
"Tales of the Russian Forest" Klimenko Andrey
"Svarog-Progenitor" Klimenko Andrey
"Perun" Klimenko Andrey
"The Birth of a Warrior" Olshansky Boris
(First museum Slavic mythology, Tomsk,
