In a recent piece of writing, I referenced a text by Michel-Gérald Boutet, “Druidism and Vedism Compared.”[1] Mr. Boutet’s thesis is that there is an ancestral link between Druidism and Vedic religion. That is interesting proposition because Druidism took root way out in the backwaters of the Roman empire - the Isles of present-day U.K. Mr. Boutet draws many striking parallels between the two religions and cultures. One of which is a comparison of sacred texts. Here are two of a handful that Mr. Boutet reproduced from the Bhagavad Gita and a Druidic Song.
Though I must admit I do not quite see the ringing similarity as Mr. Boutet in this case to indicate similar ancestry, but definitely see similar thematic elements at play and a style favoring drawing upon elemental imagery. I am the sea. I am the fire of digestion (Krishna). etc. I thought the lyrics of the Druidic song especially were too delish not to share. :)
On the druidic side:
The Song of Amarogenos the Druid
I am a wind on the sea
I am a wave of the ocean
I am the roar of the sea,
I am a powerful ox,
I am a hawk on a cliff,
I am a dewdrop in the sunshine,
I am a boar for valor,
I am a salmon in pools,
I am a lake in a plain,
I am the strength of art,
I am a spear with spoils that wages battle,
I am a man that shapes fire for a head.
Who clears the stone-place of the mountain?
What the place in which the setting of the sun lies?
Who has sought peace without fear seven times?
Who names the waterfalls?
Who brings his cattle from the house of Tethra?
What person, what god Forms weapons in a fort?
In a fort that nourishes satirists,
Chants a petition, divides the Ogam letters,
Separates a fleet, has sung praises?
A wise satirist.
He sang afterwards to increase fish in the creeks:
Fishful sea
Fertile land
Burst of fish
Fish under wave
With courses of birds--
Rough Sea
A white wall--
With hundreds of salmon
Broad Whale
A port song
A burst of fish.
And on the Vedic side:
Knowledge of the Absolute. Bhagavad Gita. Chp. 7.
O son of Kunti, I am the taste of water,
the light of the sun and the moon,
the syllable ôm in the Vedic mantras;I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
I am the original fragrance of the earth,
and I am the heat in fire.I am the life of all that lives,
and I am the penances of all ascetics.O son of Prthà, know that
I am the original seed of all existences,
the intelligence of the intelligent,
and prowess of all powerful men.I am the strength of the strong,
devoid of passion and desire.I am kàma-ràga which is not contrary to dharma,
O lord of the Bhàratas (Arjuna).Know that all states of being be they of goodness, passion or ignorance are manifested by my energy.
I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent.
I am not under the modes of material nature,
for they, on the contrary, are within Me.Deluded by the three modes,
the whole world does not know Me,
who am above the modes and exhaustible.(BG chapt. 10. v. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
Not wanting to totally bite Mr. Boutet’s work - here is third selection that I would add as a similarity. I added a third selection from the bible from the lyrical and unique Book of Ecclesiastes that discuss the ephemeral and recurrent nature of material reality in a way that I feel is very similar to the Vedic text highlighted and the Vedic themes of samsara, rebirth and reincarnation.
The Bible Side
Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to the place where it rises.The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north.round and round goes the wind,
and returning on its course.All streams into the sea,
yet the sea is not full.To the place where the streams come from,
there they flow again.All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear of hearing.What been will be again,
what has been done will be done again,
there is nothing new under the sun.There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.- Ecclesiastes [Slightly Abridged]
One question I have in my mind is that if concepts like Karma, rebirth, reincarnation and the like were common currency at the time of Christ - would that help explain how Christianity took off like wildfire? The alternative that Christianity would offer in that context is the promise that by surrendering to Christ, one could work off all their karmic debt in a single lifetime. That idea as compared to karmic based beliefs that say it takes many lifetimes of pious living to work off karma and liberate the soul from material rebirth, would be very attractive to many.
In verse 1 of Chapter 9 of the Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna that he will reveal sacred and forgotten knowledge that will relieve him of the miseries of material existence. Krishna explains that this knowledge is constituted, lost and re-constituted over many eons. Krishna explains the point of human institutions of knowledge - which are often religion - which is to across lifetimes build on the practice that leads to liberation through dutiful activity with the principles of rebirth and karmic debt in mind. Only through living many such lifetimes, Krishna explains, does one liberate themselves. Without the stable continuity of institutional knowledge and practice, humans live each lifetime episodically - randomly acquiring and relieving debts over each lifetime - bobbing like a buoy floating on the high and low tides of the sea.
Notes
[1]
[2] Chapter 9. The Most Confidential Knowledge. Bhagavad Gita.