Ancient Texts audiobooks page 8
Most of the Upanishads were kept secret for centuries, only passed on to others orally in the form of Shloka (a category of verse line developed from the Vedic Anustubh meter).
Kena (Sanskrit: केन) literally means, depending on the object-subject context, "by what, by whom, whence, how, why, from what cause". This root of Kena, in the sense of "by whom...
Most of the Upanishads were kept secret for centuries, only passed on to others orally in the form of Shlokas (a category of verse line developed from the Vedic Anustubh meter).
Shvetashvatara Upanishad is embedded in Yajurveda. The name "Shvetashvatara" has the compound Sanskrit root Shvetashva (श्वेताश्व, Shvet + ashva), which literally means "white...
The party goes down to the washing pool. Nausicaa is about to fold and put away the clothing when the ship-wrecked Odysseus, who is asleep nearby, wakes up. He wonders where he is.
Grabbing an olive branch to hide his modesty, he walks out, caked in salt from the sea and looking terrible. The attendants run away at sight of him, but Nausicaa stands her ground. Odysseus thinks that sh...
"Naturalis Historia" (Latin for "Natural History") is an encyclopedia published circa AD 77-79 by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. The work became a model for all later encyclopedias in terms of the breadth of subject matter examined, the need to reference original authors, and a comprehensive index list of the contents. The scheme of his great work is vast and comprehensive, being nothing short of an encyclopedia of learning and of art so far as they are connected with nature or draw their material...
Maitra (Sanskrit: मैत्र) and Maitri (मैत्री) are related words which literally mean "kindly, benevolent, good will, amity, friend of all creatures". The Maitrayaniya Upanishad is assoc...
“… an alemaunde tre schal floure, a locuste schal be maad fat, and capparis schal be distried; for a man schal go in to the hous of his euerlastyngnesse…” – Eccl. xii, 5 (see Note below).
Traditionally composed by Solomon sometime around 950-970 BCE but dated on linguistic evidence somewhere in the third century, this meditation on the futility of mankind’s striving can bring comfort to those of firm or fragile faith, or of no faith at all. The text used here is a revision of Wycliffe’s original translation, made by his follower John Purvey in the mid-1390s. Wycliffe’s chapter divisions in some cases differ from those of later versions (the King James, for example).
The Preac...