"There is an illuminating story told of the deity Krishna, who, in the form of a human
child, was raised among a little company or tribe of herdsmen. One day he said to
them, when he saw them preparing to worship one of the great Gods of the
Brahminical pantheon: "But why do you worship a deity in the sky? The support of
your life is here, in your cattle. Worship these! " Whereupon, they hung garlands
around the necks of their cattle and paid them worship. This wonderful art of
recognizing the divine presence in all things, as a ubiquitous presence, is one of
the most striking features of Oriental life, and is particularly prominent in Hinduism."
- Joseph Campbell
child, was raised among a little company or tribe of herdsmen. One day he said to
them, when he saw them preparing to worship one of the great Gods of the
Brahminical pantheon: "But why do you worship a deity in the sky? The support of
your life is here, in your cattle. Worship these! " Whereupon, they hung garlands
around the necks of their cattle and paid them worship. This wonderful art of
recognizing the divine presence in all things, as a ubiquitous presence, is one of
the most striking features of Oriental life, and is particularly prominent in Hinduism."
- Joseph Campbell
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'I have seen very simple people out in the country, climbing a hill, who, when they
became tired and paused to rest and eat, set up a stone, poured red paint around
it, and then reverently placed flowers before it. The pouring of the red paint set that
stone apart. The idea was simply that those people were now going to regard it, not
as a stone, but as a manifestation of the divine principle that it is immanent in all
things. The pouring of the red paint and placing of the flowers were typical acts of
Bhakti, Devotional Yoga: simple devices, readily available to anyone, to shift the
focus of the mind from the phenomenal aspect of the object as a mere stone to its
mystery of a miracle of being. And this popular form of yoga, no less than the very
much sterner and more difficult discipline of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, to which I first
alluded, is a technique to link consciousness to the ultimate truth: the mystery of
being. The sense of the whole universe as a manifestation of the radiance of God
and of yourself as likewise of that radiance, and the assurance that this is so, no
matter what things may look like, round about, is the key to the wisdom of India..."
- -Joseph Campbell
became tired and paused to rest and eat, set up a stone, poured red paint around
it, and then reverently placed flowers before it. The pouring of the red paint set that
stone apart. The idea was simply that those people were now going to regard it, not
as a stone, but as a manifestation of the divine principle that it is immanent in all
things. The pouring of the red paint and placing of the flowers were typical acts of
Bhakti, Devotional Yoga: simple devices, readily available to anyone, to shift the
focus of the mind from the phenomenal aspect of the object as a mere stone to its
mystery of a miracle of being. And this popular form of yoga, no less than the very
much sterner and more difficult discipline of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, to which I first
alluded, is a technique to link consciousness to the ultimate truth: the mystery of
being. The sense of the whole universe as a manifestation of the radiance of God
and of yourself as likewise of that radiance, and the assurance that this is so, no
matter what things may look like, round about, is the key to the wisdom of India..."
- -Joseph Campbell
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