Nov 24, 2024
Nov 24, 2024
The Inner Life of Abraham Found in the Vedas
In Brahma and Abraham: Part I – The Common Origin of the Divine Covenant, the research uncovered a relationship between Abraham and Brahma (with his wish born sons) from the related Vedic and Hebrew texts. Given that Abraham embraced the foreign name of God Most High, El Elyon, professed by Melchizedek, is not Brahma also to be understood as a legitimate name of the Supreme Creator to the children of Abraham? If so, this lends credence to the ten common threads found between the Vedic hymns (with the Upanishad philosophy) and the Hebrew Pentateuch’s Abraham. Here again are these ten themes:
The former research revealed the inner life of the Hebrew Abraham and Sarah as:
The laughter they shared at the birthing of Isaac (meaning, he laughs) was itself a spiritual hymn celebrating a true wish-born son of God (El Elyon/Brahma?), this lineage was like a line of pearls cleansed by sacred rites and protected by an eternal vow seasoned with a direct visitation with the Divine Triad.
As if to highlight the influence the Vedas had on Abraham’s inner life, the Vedic commentaries contain the design of the Hebrew Tent of the Meeting. (See Chart 3 below)
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Miriam; by Dan Fefferman
at http://freegroups.net/photos/Bible-Pictures--1897-W-A-Foster/80.html source and rights
The Upanishad’s Brahma Wheel design (Svetasvatara Upanishad 1.4 of 200-400bce) contains the same measurements as the Hebrew Tent of the Meeting (Exodus 26 of 450bce).
The value of this discovery is not so much how the numbers come together, but how the Vedic sages and Hebrews like Abraham came together. Their meeting was likely the result ancient Sumerian and Indian trade relations. All mercantile goods belonged to the city temples and were distributed with seals containing prayers and offerings to the gods. The priests and priestesses likely sent assistants for safe shipment distribution since it belonged to the temple god. As a result an exchange of spiritual culture was inevitable. Here is where Abraham historically compares with the Vedic writers:
Chart 1: Abraham and Vedic (Oral and Written) Timeline
Since the Svetasvatara was a later 3rd to 5th Century bce addition to the Upanishads, it containing the Brahma Wheel Tent of the Meeting measurements confirms a long lasting circle of communication between Vedic and Hebrew sages. As well, though Abraham lived about 4000 years ago, the Hebrew Pentateuch containing the book of Genesis was written closer to 450 bce. Oral traditions of the life of Abraham can be understood historically as follows:
Chart 2: Hebrew Text (Oral and Written) with Abraham Timeline
J or Y (Lord G*d Tradition) represents the ‘Yod’ or first letter of G*d’s name given to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3.14). This is the Hebrew name of G*d too sacred to utter and for the purposes of respecting this custom, the term Lord G*d is used in this research. The J Tradition corresponds to the oral tradition from Judah (Israel’s southern region) that wrote portions of Abraham’s life in Genesis 12-25 containing the Hebrew name of Lord G*d. The E (Most High Tradition) represents El-Elyon or Elohim-Elyon (God Most High), the Canaanite name of God used by Melchizedek, the Canaanite priest who blessed the Hebrew Abraham (see Genesis 14.18-20). Most High Tradition will be used in this research to refer to the scholars from this oral tradition who used this ‘foreign’ (Canaanite and Northern Israel) name of God. P (Priestly Tradition) represents scholars whose oral tradition corresponds to portions of the written life of Abraham (Gen12-25) that reflect Hebrew Temple customs and worship.
Would the reasoning allow that a Brahma-God Tradition represents the scholars whose Vedic Oral Tradition and Written Text used the foreign Hindu name of God (Brahma) reflected in the spiritual life of Abraham? If so, this Brahma Tradition is similar to the Most High Tradition for the use of a name of the Supreme God foreign to the Hebrews (yet in theory acceptable) and similar to the Priestly Tradition due to the focus of the Brahman priests toward sacrificial customs.
To avoid syncretism, the blending of two religions out of fear of losing the respect of both, consider these traditions as having met in history as far back as the father of humanity (Adam/Manu). At some point humanity has to admit that we are all one. Awaking these common traditional elements should only lead to a greater respect for one another and the resurgence of spiritual unity could not come at a more opportune moment in human history as we necessarily come together to overcome the global warming crisis.
As well, there is always an oral tradition prior to writing of sacred texts. Though Abraham lived about 100 years before the Vedas were written, the spirit of the Vedas was likely active in earlier oral tradition as confirmed in the 10 common themes of Part I of this research. The Hebrew Oral Tradition of Abraham was evident in J, P and E traditions up to 450 years before the writing of the Pentateuch, but Abraham actually lived over 1500 years before the Pentateuch. Therefore, it would be premature to assert that Abraham’s lived experience reflected in ten common themes found in the Vedas resulted in the outcome of Vedic customs. Rather, Abraham is an essential living example of Hebrew and Hindu customs common to the 10 themes, which must have influenced the next generation of Vedic scholars and left the aroma of a saint upon their commentaries.
For instance, in the Svetasvatara Upanishad, this inner life of the true Brahman (Abraham/Brahmanaspati) must first be understood by defining the relationship between the cause and Brahma (the Supreme Self) and how we define them?
1. The Brahma-students say: Is Brahman the cause (or: What is the cause, what is the Brahman)? Whence are we born? Whereby do we live, and whither do we go? O ye who know Brahman, (tell us) at whose command we abide, whether in pain or in pleasure. — Svetasvatara Upanishad 1
Abraham came from the City of Light (Ur) and traveled to land provided by God to produce wealth and offspring in an endless lineage that would bless the entire earth. He chose a very painful sacrifice, perhaps the most painful of all in the walk up the mount of sacrifice toward the offering up of his son. Yet, he received the pleasure of God’s favor over a lesser sacrifice with all the friendship, prosperity and victory in which that favor rests. This foundation of birth in the City of Enlightenment (Ur: lit. Light) predisposes or has raised Abraham into the knowledge of self-sacrifice to the highest degree, a higher degree of infusing with the divine life and an unlimited continuation of sacrifices made on behalf of the poor as a result of the outflowing of this divine life.
2. Should time, or nature (created identity), or necessity, or chance, or the elements be considered as the cause, or he who is called the person (purusha, vigñân-âtmâ)? It cannot be their union either, because that is not self-dependent (an outside unifier with an eternal river of life is needed), and the self (atman) also is powerless, because there is (independent of him) a cause of good and evil (karma fashions the atman – it is not self-existent). — Svetasvatara Upanishad 1
Somewhere along the way Abraham understood that he was ‘powerless’ in himself, he understood his vulnerability (perhaps by a 100 years of barrenness or any number of life’s virtue building events).
3. The sages, devoted to meditation and concentration, have seen the power belonging to God himself (Isvara Deva – Lord God), hidden in its own qualities (guna – strands of brightness). He, being one, superintends all those causes, time, self, and the rest (atman on par with, time and cause are all governed by the Brahma). — Svetasvatara Upanishad 1
Abraham is one of the sages meditating on the emptiness of his ideal self (atman), once God (Brahma) fills the atman, Abraham is a true Brahman. Therefore, it would be no surprise to see Abraham selflessly learning knew names of an unfathomable God, such as the name of Brahma as Supreme Lord God (Isvara Deva), since Melchizedek named this God, El (El-yown, God Most High), with a foreign tongue which Abraham embraced (Genesis 14.18.), as did the Hebrew nation from that day forth.
4. We meditate on him who (like a wheel) has one felly with three tires, sixteen ends, fifty spokes, with twenty counter-spokes, and six sets of eight; whose one rope is manifold, who proceeds on three different roads, and whose illusion arises from two causes.
5. We meditate on the river whose water consists of the five streams, which is wild and winding with its five springs, whose waves are the five vital breaths, whose fountain head is the mind, the course of the five kinds of perceptions. It has five whirlpools, its rapids are the five pains; it has fifty kinds of suffering, and five branches. — Svetasvatara Upanishad 1
Without knowing the meaning of these numbers the sage is thrown into a fit of confusion: 1 wheel, 3 tyres, 16 ends, 100 spokes divided by 2, 20 counter-spokes, 6 by 8s, 1 rope that takes every shape, 3 different roads and 1 illusion with 2 causes. Perhaps the Divine is clearing out the crowd with, ‘Who wants to learn about the Great Mystery that is utterly beyond the understanding of the pure and empty soul (Atman)?’ Anyone slightly full of some level of worldly knowledge is going to walk away. Abraham and the Vedic sages stick around for a walk into the secret treasure house of the Eternal. One such sign is the correlation between the Brahma-wheel numerals (SvetU1.4.) and the design of the Tent of the Meeting Moses made in the desert (Exodus 26 and 36) as shown in Chart 3 above.
This crossroads in Hindu and Hebrew history is not a contest, but rather a sacred meeting place. There is a parallel cultural reference among the meeting circle of the Blackfoot Tipi, where the numbers of poles used to make the tent are associated with certain values needed for the family to live a good life. (see. http://www.hindu dharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=11147 .
The Tent of the Presence was for a travelling priestly people and this is the imagery given by the Brahma-Wheel itself moving through human history (for two commentaries on the Svetasvatara Wheel (see: http://www.whitewolfpack.com/ 2011_02_01_ archive.html).
In the Brahma-wheel roves the goose, a symbol of the Self (Atman) differentiated from the Divine (Brahma, God), yet still clinging to the Divine like Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, clutching the divine wrestler awaiting the blessing:
6. In that vast Brahma-wheel, in which all things live and rest, roves the goose, so long as he thinks that the self (in him) is different from the mover (the god, the lord). When he has been blessed by him, then he gains immortality. — Svetasvatara Upanishad 1
The goose as the self within the Brahma-wheel is an ancient image found even on the Indus Valley seals. Early Indian coins have the Buddha surrounded by such a Brahma-wheel as well.
Indus Seal
Indian Coin
The Indus Seals contain a vessel ‘Ka’, for the self (from ancient Egypt where Abraham travels), surrounding the goose enclosed by a circle. The Vedic meaning of Ka is ‘Who?’ from Rig Veda 10.121. ‘Who is the god we should worship with the oblation?’ It is Prajapati (Lord of Creation, the Golden Embryo) whose name is synonymous with ‘Ka’. The ‘Ka’ is called Brahman (ChanU4.10.5.) and equated with ‘Kha’ (What? and akasa, meaning space, BU5.1.).
5. 'Breath is Brahman, Ka (pleasure) is Brahman, Kha (ether) is Brahman.' He said: 'I understand that breath is Brahman, but I do not understand Ka or Kha (Ka also means pleasure).' They said: 'What is Ka is Kha, what is Kha is Ka (pleasures of the infinite void, the soul).' They therefore taught him Brahman as breath, and as the ether (in the eternally selfless empty Atman of the heart where meditation by prana or breath attains Brahman). — Chandogya Upanishad 4.10.5.
The saying ‘Ka is Kha’ identifies the kind of pleasure as being from the space, ether or infinity void. This pleasure in nothing is unattached to worldly desire, and therefore must be an unselfish spiritual pleasure. The ‘Ka is Kha’ then, speaks of a lasting vow between the Divine and the soul where devotion is exchanged selflessly and ceaselessly. The reverse saying ‘Kha is Ka’ identifies the kind of space within the Atman were a spiritual pleasure exists, which could only mean within the heart (see http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01087.htm). The example of Abraham is one who is so generous with his goods that he bears witness to an infinite void in his heart overflowing only with the Infinite Divine Life.
Also, consider ‘Ka is Kha’ as the soul is empty, which is the ultimate prayer of Abraham in his true Atman nature. While the ‘Kha is Ka’ as emptiness is the soul, which is the echo of the divine life in answer to Abraham’s prayer making his true Brahman nature immediately appear. That is, there is no distance or time lapse between Atman and Brahman, since the Ultimate Creator designed the human soul to be empty that the Brahma might find a home. Therefore, the true Atman is content to be empty, for this is the sign of his or her true Brahman nature. And the Brahman does not labor apart from waiting on Brahma for an infilling of the Divine Life. The moon is the perfect celestial sign of this waning and waxing experience of the Atman/Brahman effected by the rays of Brahma. Is this the spiritual upbringing of Abraham? Given that both of his homeland cities, Ur to the south and Haran to the north, contained temples to the moon god, Sin/Nanna, his knowledge of this spirituality is understandable.
Therefore, the Brahma-wheel revolves around this Ka revolving Kha imagery also reflected in the motion of celestial phenomena, the Milky Way, the sun, the moon, etc.. Since the empty Atman is filled to become Brahman by the miracle of Brahma, the natural environment of earth and space is considered a stepping stone to the Brahma or Great Mystery we cannot see. Was Abraham’s grandson Jacob captured by the unseen Brahma-wheel when he wrestled with the Divine Spirit? His hip dislodged to prove the greatness of the Angelic Wrestler and that offerings are most valued from the animal’s hip (Genesis 32.22-32). If humanity would only be a good animal, would there still be global warming? Jacob, though wounded at the hip, held onto the Divine Life until he had been blessed by him, as in the above verse.
7. But what is praised (in the Upanishads) is the Highest Brahman, and in it there is the triad (good support, atman, Brahma). The Highest Brahman is the safe support, it is imperishable. The Brahma-students, when they have known what is within this (world), are devoted and merged in the Brahman, free from birth.
8. The Lord (îsa) supports all this together, the perishable and the imperishable, the developed and the undeveloped. The (living) self, not being a lord, is bound, because he has to enjoy (the fruits of works); but when he has known the god (deva), he is freed from all fetters… (see 9-12 also) — Svetasvatara Upanishad 1
Jacob required support for his limp. His assistance comes in a dream of servants delivering gifts back and forth from heaven and earth (Genesis 28:10-19).
1. Uddâlaka Âruni (Vagasravasa Gautama) said to his son Svetaketu (Nachiketas who was offered by his father to Underworld guardian, Yama, KatU1-3): Learn from me the true nature of sleep (svapna). When a man sleeps here, then, my dear son, he becomes united with the True (Sat, not mere truth, but the True, the highest substance or subject, Brahman), he is gone to his own (Self). Therefore they say, svapiti, he sleeps, because he is gone (apîta) to his own (sva).
2. 'As a bird when tied by a string flies first in every direction, and finding no rest anywhere, settles down at last on the very place where it is fastened, exactly in the same manner, my son, that mind (the gîva, or living Self in the mind, see VI, 3, 2), after flying in every direction, and finding no rest anywhere, settles down on breath (prana as Sat, the True Middle Breath); for indeed, my son, mind is fastened to breath. — Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.1-2.
That support through the Tonglen meditation of breathing in suffering of the world, realization of emptiness, atman and breathing out goodness, brahman, is guided by the Divine Brahma who alone can fill the middle-breath (see Tonglen wiki). Or, as the Upanishad states, the meditators head will burst open if they breath in and breath out without Divine support. That is, perceiving suffering and pain, while simultaneously understanding the solution, without the power to do anything about it is complete madness. But the Vedic sages teach us that there is a Deva, a God, a Divine Source, an Eternal River and Tree of Life. Abraham has a limp of his own, barrenness with the love of his life, Sarah. His journey consisted on leaving the City of Light (Ur). He left the Atman’s City in a sacrificial journey in order to receive the blessing of Divine Life and a lineage of priestly people; of Brahma and Brahman. A reflection of this Brahma and priestly offering continues:
3. 'Learn from me, my son, what are hunger and thirst. When a man is thus said to be hungry, water is carrying away (digests) what has been eaten by him. Therefore as they speak of a cow-leader (go-nâya), a horse-leader (asva-nâya), a man-leader (purusha-nâya), so they call water (which digests food and causes hunger) food-leader (asa-nâya). Thus (by food digested &c.), my son, know this offshoot (the body) to be brought forth, for this (body) could not be without a root (cause). See 4-5 also. — Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.3-5.
The inner life of Abraham surely involved a dialogue with El, the Most High, about the cause of his life. In order to raise his understanding of the empty self toward the Most High, Abraham had to fast and pray. He had to empty himself. Understanding is not necessarily an ‘aha!’ moment, rather it is a lived experience with the ‘aha!’ As above, a dialogue with hunger and thirsty must first occur. This is the first offering of every priest or brahman, first they must stop eating in order to prepare their body and soul for the priestly portion of the offering. Chandogya continues by discussing the stepping stones from the empty self to the Divine Life. These stepping stones are the portions of creation within the grasp of the empty self (Atman). For the cow-leader, he can offer up the cow; for the man-leader or father, he can offer up the man. This is precisely what Abraham does with Sarah’s first-born, when the Most High replaces his son Isaac with a ram, just as Brahma and Sarasvati restore their son Daksa to life with a ram’s head. Later, Abraham understood that a mere washing would purify the empty self to receive the Divine life, much like Hindu washing in the Ganges. The point is these stepping stones of nature merely point us to the root source, (the upsidedown tree) the True (Brahma) Divine Life of the Most High (El).
6. 'And where could its root be except in water? As water is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. fire. As fire is an offshoot, seek after its root, viz. the True. Yes, all these creatures, O son, have their root in the True, they dwell in the True, they rest in the True. 'And how these three beings (devatâ), fire, water, earth, O son, when they reach man, become each of them tripartite, has been said before (VI, 4, 7). When a man departs from hence, his speech is merged in his mind, his mind in his breath, his breath in heat (fire), heat in the Highest Being (upon dying, he speaks no more, thinks no more, moves no more, then he is cold, therefore these are signs of life from the Creator).
7. 'Now that which is that subtle essence (the root of all), in it all that exists has its self. It is the True (Sat, Brahma). It is the Self, that art thou (Tat tvam asi), O Svetaketu.' — Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.6-7.
Tat Tvam asi, that art thou, akin to you are made in the image of God (Genesis 1.26-27). This covenant required total trust in the Divine Brahma, the Creator of humanity and shaper of our purpose and destiny.
13. As the form of fire, while it exists in the under-wood, is not seen, nor is its seed destroyed,
but it has to be seized again and again by means of the stick and the under-wood, so it is in both cases, and the Self has to be seized in the body by means of the pranava (the syllable Om: meditating the middle breath by aligning the empty atman and the full brahman with Eternal Brahma). See 14-16 also. — Svetasvatara Upanishad 1
Brahma loves Abraham by creating surroundings for Abraham to find the empty atman self and the full brahman, molding them together and waiting for the Divine response to the covenant to occur in an exchange of devotion void of fear. This love is evident to the Vedic text drawing out a priesthood lead by the heart of a child:
1. Verily he who knows the babe (subtle inner body of the lingatman disciple) with his place (course outer body), his chamber (head), his post (the vital breathe), and his rope (food binding inner to outer body), he keeps off the seven relatives who hate him (seven senses of attachment to the world). …
3. On this there is this Sloka:
'There is a cup having its mouth below and its bottom above.
Manifold glory has been placed into it.
On its lip sit the seven Rishis,
The tongue as the eighth communicates with Brahman.'
— Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 2.2.1-3.
(See also Atharva Veda 10.8.9-28)
The sacrifice ordained by the seven Rishis and the priestly Brahma as reflected in Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) is accessible to their disciple who merely reflects within himself (the babe). His breathing meditation is as valid as the sacrificial post and rope holding the horse or bull offering fed to the deity. The Big Dipper is pouring down for two reasons: to specify the season telling of meditation repeated to clarify the gift within is poured down from above. The Buddha found his breathing meditation confirmed (in Atharva Veda and Upanishads) practiced by disciples to become Brahman. Yet, the heavenly gift is intertwined with the rope (uniting mind to body) of eternal food provided in the breathing sacrifice. The meditation offering has a unifying effect, fastening occurs between priest and farmer, spirit and body, perhaps religion and culture, etc.. Is Abraham’s quickness to bless the three heavenly beings with such offering of food a testimony that he also fashioned on his heart this heavenly meditation with a childlike devotion?
The cup with its mouth below and bottom above is contrasted with the World-Tree of life:
1. 'There is that ancient tree (fig tree dropping branches growing roots making a forest), whose roots grow upward and whose branches grow downward; that (BG 15.1-3) indeed is called the Bright, that is called Brahman, that alone is called the Immortal. All worlds are contained in it, and no one goes beyond. This is that.'
5. 'As in a mirror, so (Brahman may be seen clearly) here in this 'body; as in a dream, in the world of the Fathers; as in the water, he is seen about in the world of the Gandharvas; as in light and shade, in the world of Brahmâ.'… (see 13-19 also) — Katha Upanishad 6.1-19.
This single fig tree producing a forest and overturned cup of heaven represents the continuous miraculous attainment of the divine presence (Brahma) in the empty vessel of self (atman). The atman is required to enter the current moment or breath and become empty to receive the Space of Brahma. Brahma is named the ether or space to express the eternal vastness of the divine and at the same time the minuteness, the ‘dwarfness’ or ease at which the Brahma can enter the empty self or atman, yet at the same time fill the atman with a deluge of cleansing water, a permanent river of life.
1. In the imperishable and infinite Highest Brahman, wherein the two, knowledge and ignorance, are hidden, the one, ignorance, perishes, the other, knowledge, is immortal; but he who controls both, knowledge and ignorance, is another…. (see 2-5 also)
6 . Brahma (Hiranyagarbha) knows this, which is hidden in the Upanishads, which are hidden in the Vedas, as the Brahma-germ. The ancient gods and poets who knew it, they became it and were immortal.
7 (Tat, That, is described as the Eternal Brahman, while Tvam, Thou/You is the living soul). But he who is endowed with qualities, and performs works that are to bear fruit, and enjoys the reward of whatever he has done, migrates through his own works, the lord of life, assuming all forms, led by the three Gunas, and following the three paths (vice, virtue and knowledge).
8 That lower one also, not larger than a thumb, but brilliant like the sun, who is endowed with personality and thoughts, with the quality of mind and the quality of body, is seen small even like the point of a goad.
9. That living soul is to be known as part of the hundredth part of the point of a hair, divided a hundred times, and yet it is to be infinite…. (see also 10-14) — Svetasvatara Upanishad 5.1-14.
That is, the one whose sacrificial meditation of breathing in/breathing out (of the Soma sacrifice, of Yoga, etc) is sincere, they become truly self-empty and Brahman full in a profound miraculous way, much like a fig tree or eternally pouring vessel and their destiny is secure in love not fear. Therefore, this fear of one’s destiny can be transformed by way of this eternally breathing sacrifice with a healthy love of the self, or the atman. Consider the following quotations:
Verily, the priesthood (Brahman) is not dear, for love of the priesthood; but for love of the Self (Atman), the priesthood is dear. — Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.5.; 4.5.6.
Whoever looks for the priesthood (Brahman) outside of the Self, is lost to the priesthood…. Whoever looks for anything outside of the Self, is lost to anything. This priesthood (Brahman) … these Devas, these Vedas, all these beings, this everything, all is that Self (Atman). — Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.7.
This indeed is the great, the unborn Self (Atman), the strong (Annada: strength of food of the gods dwelling in all beings), the giver of wealth. He who knows this obtains wealth. This great, unborn Self, undecaying, undying, immortal, fearless, is indeed Brahman. Fearless is Brahman, and he who knows this becomes verily the fearless Brahman. — Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.24-25.
The Atman, then, is the model/mold of the greatest self a person can become. This person is not fearful, but eternally loving, self-giving, empty, as a vessel (with the Seven Rsis and Brahman around the edge), ready to enter the breathing sacrifice to give and receive all.
Like those in Brahma’s world looking to Sarasvati for nourishment towards enlightenment of speech, those in Abraham’s circles look to Sarah. Together they eagerly enter a sacrificial covenant with God even by offering a son, in order to also immortalize his lineage. The angel came and pointed to the Ram caught in the bush. Like Brahma’s son, Daksha, and the Dakshina gift given to the Brahma of the Soma Sacrifice, Abraham was given the gift of his son at the mountain when the ram was caught in the branch. Like the farmer in Krishna’s day, the offering of self can be anything from the heart. Like the first ancestor, Adam, a single breath was enough to nourish the man into life and as the Buddha has taught, a breath is all that is needed as an offering toward our pathway to enlightenment. With newborn Ishmael, his very ankle rubbing the sand was enough to unleash an eternal spring from the desert that saved the life of Hagar and her son. This essential influence of the women in Abraham’s life will be further explored in Part III of this research. Maitri Upanishad 6.1, 9. The Breath and the Sun rise in the heart of the selfless meditator; Maitri Upanishad 7 (see all); See also, Genesis 24, resembling a repetitive hymn of the Eldest Servant (Eliezer) of Abraham, likely used in his upbringing. See also, the tablets of Ur from Abraham’s era, researched in Part III coming soon.
References:
Ballou, R. O. (Ed.), 1972. The Viking Portable Library World Bible. New York: The Viking Press.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm
http://www.biblewheel.com
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yv/yv07.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri_Mantra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma
http://books.google.ca/books?
http://www.dmkraig.net/page13/page4/files/archive-15-august-2010.html
http://thenutgarden.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/wisdom-of-the-east/#comment-46
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus
http://ajitvadakayil.blogspot.ca/2012/07/brahma-and-sarawati-abraham-and-sara.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_Apocryphon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonglen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaga
10-Dec-2013
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