Maharishi Honey

27 Vedic Honey Quotes

Shrimad Bhagavatam

10.38.38

He, the brother of Lord Krishna] brought [Akrura] a respectful offering of honey* mixed with milk.

*Madhu-parka—honey mixed with milk and sometimes clarified butter—was a highly valued food in Vedic India. In Buddhist texts it is also mentioned that travelers wandering through India traditionally ate honey.

Krishna-Yajur-Veda (Taittiriya Samhita)

Kanda 7, Prapathaka 5, Anuvaka 10, Mantra 1

Honey indeed is the supreme food of the gods.

Krishna-Yajur-Veda (Maitrayani Samhita)

Kanda 2, Prapathaka 7, Anuvaka 16 a

The rivers pour honey for the man who keeps the Law.

Skanda Puran

Book I: Maheshvarakhaada,
Section II: Kaumarikakhaada, Chapter 40, Verse 182

In Sat-Yuga*, trees had leaves shaped like cups, filled by bees with excellent honey of sweet taste and fine colour that sustained civilization.

*Sat-Yuga—the golden Vedic Age of Truth.

Krishna-Yajur-Veda (Kathaka Samhita)

Sthanaka 39, Anuvaka 3, Mantra 29a

May the tall tree be full of honey for us, and full of honey the Sun.

RkVeda

Mandala 1, Sukta 90, Richa 6–8

6. The winds bring sweet (rewards) to the sacrificer: the rivers bring sweet (waters): may the herbs yield sweetness to us.

7. May night and morn be sweet: may the region of the earth be full of sweetness: may the protecting heaven be sweet to us.

8. May Vanaspati be possessed of sweetness towards us: may the sun be imbued with sweetness: may the cattle be sweet to us.

(Parimal Publications, 2001, translator: H. H. Wilson. Edited by R. P. Arya and K. L. Joshi.)

Shukl-Yajur-Veda (Vajasaneyi Samhita)

Adhyaya 13, Kanadika 27–29

27. The winds waft sweets, the rivers pour sweets for the man who keeps the Law: so may the plants be sweet for us.

28. Sweet be the night and sweet the dawn, sweet the terrestrial atmosphere: sweet be our Father Heaven to us.

29. May the tall tree be full of sweets for us, and full of sweets the Sun: may our milch-kine be sweet for us.

(English edition: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1976, translator: Ralph T. H. Griffith. Sanskrit edition: Swadhaya Manadal, edited by Pt. Shripad Damodar Satwalekar)

Krishna-Yajur-Veda (Taittiriya Samhita)

Kanada 4, Prapathaka 2, Anuvaka 9, from Mantra 3

To the pious the winds pour honey, the streams honey;
be sweet to us the plants.

Sweet is the night, and sweet at dawn the air of earth,
sweet be the sky, our father.

Sweet to us be the lord of the forest, sweet the sun,
sweet be the cows to us.

(English edition: Motilal Banarsidass by arrangement with Harvard University Press, 1967, translator: Arthur Berriedale Keith; Sanskrit edition: Swadhyaya Manadal, 1990, edited by Pt. Shripad Damodar Satwalekar)

Krishna-Yajur-Veda (Taittiriya Samhita)

Kanada 5, Prapathaka 2, Anuvaka 8, from Mantra 6

'To the pious the winds honey', (with these words) he anoints with curds, mixed with honey; verily he makes him ready; curds is a food of the village, honey of the wild; in that he anoints with curds mixed with honey, (it serves) to win both.

(English edition: Motilal Banarsidass by arrangement with Harvard University Press, 1967, translator: Arthur Berriedale Keith; Sanskrit edition: Swadhyaya Manadal, 1990. Edited by Pt. Shripad Damodar Satwalekar)

Krishna-Yajur-Veda (Maitrayanai Samhita)

Kanada 2, Prapathaka 7, Anuvaka 16,

Verses 220–222 of Prapathaka 7

The winds waft sweets, the rivers pour sweets for the man who keeps the Law: so may the plants be sweet for us. Sweet be the night and sweet the dawn, sweet the terrestrial atmosphere: sweet be out Father Heaven to us. May the tall tree be full of sweets for us, and full of sweets the Sun: may our milch-kine be sweet for us.

(An English translation has not been published, but the Sanskrit text is identical to the Shukl-Yajur-Veda, therefore the English translation used is from Ralph T. H. Griffith, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1976. Sanskrit edition: Swadhyaya Manadal, 1990, edited by Pt. Shripad Damodar Satwalekar.)

Krishna-Yajur-Veda (Kathaka Samhita)

Sthanaka 39, Anuvaka 3,

Mantra 27–29 of Sthanaka 39

Shatapatha Brahmanaa

Kanada 7, Adhyaya 5, Brahmanaa 3–4

3. He anoints it with sour curds, honey, and Ghee,—sour curds doubtless are a form of this (earth-)world, Ghee of the air, and honey of yonder sky: he thus supplies it (the tortoise) with its own form. Or, sour curds are the life-sap of this (earth-)world, Ghee that of the air, and honey that of yonder sky: he thus supplies it with its own life-sap.

4. [He anoints it, with Vajasaneyi Samhita 13.27–29; Rk Samhita 1.90.6–8] ‘Honey the winds pour fourth for the righteous [honey the rivers; full of honey may the plants be for us! —Honey by night and morn, rich in honey may the region of the earth be for us, honey the father Heaven!—Rich in honey may the tree be for us, rich in honey the sun, full of honey the kine!’]

To whatever deity a Rk verse, and to whatever (deity) a Yajus formula applies, that very deity the verse is, and that very deity the sacrificial formula is. This triplet then is honey (Madhu); and honey being life-sap, it is life-sap he thus puts into him (Agni). With three Gayatri verses (he performs): the significance of this has been explained.

(English edition: Motilal Banarsidass, 1996, translator: Julius Eggeling. Sanskrit edition: Gangavishnu Shrikrishnadass, Proprietors, Laxmi Venkateshwar Steam Press, 1940.)

Taittiriya Aranayak

Prapathaka 10, from Anuvaka 49

To the pious the winds pour honey, the streams honey;
be sweet to us the plants.

Sweet is the night, and sweet at dawn the air of earth,
sweet be the sky, our father.

Sweet to us be the lord of the forest, sweet the sun,
sweet be the cows to us.

(An English translation has not been published, but the Sanskrit text is identical to the Taittiriya Samhita, therefore the English translation used is from the Taittiriya Samhita, from Motilal Banarsidass by arrangement with Harvard University Press, 1967, translator: Arthur Berriedale Keith. Sanskrit edition: Anandashrama, 1981, edited by Babashastri Phadke.)

Brihadaranayak Upanishad

Chapter 6, Section 3, Verse 6

Then he drinks the paste uttering these Mantra: ‘The sun’s adorable—; The winds are blowing sweetly, the rivers are pouring sweetness, may the herbs be sweet unto us! This is to the earth, Swaha; Glory—the effulgent sun’s—we meditate upon; May the nights and the days be sweet, may the dust of the earth be soothing, may heaven, our father, be propitious!

This is to the sky, Swaha; May he guide our intellect! May the Soma creeper be sweet unto us, may the sun be pleasant, and may the directions be agreeable to us! This is to heaven, Swaha.' Then he repeats the whole Gayatri and all the Madhumati verses and says at the end, ‘May I myself be all this.

This is to the earth, sky and heaven, Swaha.' Then he drinks the remnant of the paste, washes his hands and lies behind the fire with his head eastwards. In the morning he salutes the sun with the Mantra, ‘Thou art the one lotus (glory) of the direction; may I be the one lotus of men!’ Then he comes back by the same way that he went out, sits behind the fire, and repeats the line of teachers.

(English edition from Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1951; Sanskrit edition: Ten Principal Upanishads with Lajkarabhaya, Motilal Banarsidass, 1978.)

Mahanarayanaa Upanishad

Anuvaka 39, Verses 4–6

4. To me, who is the devotee of the Supreme Truth, let the wind blow sweetly. Let the rivers run sweetly. Let the herbs be to us sweet and beneficial.

5. Let there be sweetness day and night. Let the particles of the earth be sweetness-bearing. Let heaven, our father, be sweet to us.

6. Let the fruit bearing trees be sweet to us. Let the sun be sweet and beneficial to us. Let the cows be sweetness-bearing to us.

(Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1979, translator: Swami Vimalananda)

Manava Shrauta Sutra

Chayana Kalpa (Book 6), Adhyaya 1, Section 7, Sutra 22

He smears a spotted tortoise with sour milk mixed with Ghee, with the three verses: ‘To the pious the winds pour honey [the streams honey; sweet be the plants to us.

Honey at night and at dawn, sweet is the air of the earth; honey be the heaven, our father. Sweet to us be the lord of the forest, sweet the sun, sweet be the cows to us’.]

With [the Mantra]: 'I place thee in the depth of the waters, in the flooding of the ocean; may the heavenly rain follow thee; may the sun heat thee not nor Agni Vaishwanara; with unhurt wings do thou behold men' he places it in front (of the pebble, its head) to the west.

(Sri Satguru Publications, 1985, translator: Jeanette M. van Gelder)

Manava Shrauta Sutra

Book 11, Shraddha Kalpa (Chapter 9), Section 2, Sutra 3

With the verse: ‘May I place milk, etc.’ (as 6.2.5.28) he shall give rice in milk (to the Brahmanaas), with the verse: ‘To the pious the winds, etc.’ (as 6.1.7.22) honey, with the verse: 'Granting longevity, etc.’ (as 2.5.4.20) Ghee.

(Sri Satguru Publications, 1985, translator: Jeanette M. van Gelder)

Manava Shrauta Sutra

Book 11, Shraddha Kalpa (Chapter 9), Section 2, Sutra 5

He shall take the thumb of a Brahmanaa of those for the All-gods with: ‘O Vishnau, guard the oblation’, of those for the fathers with: ‘O Vishnau, guard the oblation to the fathers’; then he shall pour the water into his hand and say three times: ‘Om Bhur Bhuva? Swa?’, the three verses: ‘To the pious the winds, etc.’ and: ‘May the fathers be pleased. May the grandfathers be pleased.

May the great-grandfathers be pleased’, and refrain from speech; then he shall give him his dearest food, with: ‘May they be satiated’.

(Sri Satguru Publications, 1985, translator: Jeanette M. van Gelder)

Ashwalayana Grihya Sutra

Adhyaya 1, Khanada 24, Sutra 15

He accepts it [the Madhuparka] with joined hands with (the Mantra), ‘By the impulse of the god Savitri, with the arms of the two Ashwins, with the hands of Pushan, I accept thee’.

He then takes it into his left hand, looks at it with the three verses, ‘Honey the winds to the righteous one’ (Rk Veda 1.90.6–8), stirs it thrice from left to right with the fourth finger and the thumb, and wipes (his fingers) with (the Mantra), ‘May the Vasus eat thee with the Gayatri metre’ —to the East.

(English edition: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981 (Sacred Books of the East), translator: Hermann Oldenberg. Sanskrit edition: Eastern Book Linkers, 1976, edited by Narendra Nath Sharma.)

Katyayana Shrauta Sutra

Adhyaya 17, Kanadika 4, Sutra 27

(Subsequently) he smears a tortoise with curds, honey and clarified butter with the Mantras Madhu vata ('Honey the winds . . .') etc.

(English edition: H. G. Ranade and R. H. Ranade, 1978, translator: H. G. Ranade. Sanskrit edition: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1937, edited by Pt. Shri Vidyadhara Sharma.)

Paraskara Grihya Sutra

Kanada 1, Kanadika 3, Sutra 20–22

20. He partakes of it [the Madhuparka] three times with (the formula), ‘What is the honeyed, highest form of the honey, and the enjoyment of food, by that honeyed, highest form of honey, and by that enjoyment of food may I become highest, honeyed, and an enjoyer of food.’

21. Or with (the verses) that contain the word ‘honey’, verse by verse.

22. Let him give the remainder (of the Madhuparka) to a son or a pupil who is sitting to the north.

(English edition: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981 (Sacred Books of the East), translator: Hermann Oldenberg. Sanskrit edition: Harihar Jha, Shree Sadashiva Kendriya Samskrit Vidyapeetham, 1981, edited by Pt. Kulamani Mishra Sharma.)

Gautama Dharma Sutra

Adhyaya 15, Sutra 28

These are the persons who purify those alongside whom they eat: a man who knows the six Vedic Supplements; a man who sings the Jyeshtha Samans; an expert in the three Nachiketa fire altars; a man who knows the three 'Honey' verses; a man who knows the Trisuparnaa; a man who maintains the five sacred fires; a bath-graduate (Snataka); a man who knows the Vedic Hymns and Brahmanaa texts; a man who knows the Law (Dharma); and a descendent from a line of Vedic Scholars.