Which epic was written with the worship of nature in the beginning

Though rituals and practices vary among people who identify as Wiccan, most observations include the festival celebrations of solstices and equinoxes, the honoring of a male god and a female goddess, and the incorporation of Every year around October and November, Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, or Deepavali—a festival of lights that stretches back more than 2, years.

Diwali occurs on Thursday, November 4. In India, the five-day celebration traditionally marks the biggest holiday of The Bible is the holy scripture of the Christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the Earth from its earliest creation to the spread of Christianity in the first century A. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have undergone changes over the centuries, Mormons are a religious group that embrace concepts of Christianity as well as revelations made by their founder, Joseph Smith.

Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Hinduism Beliefs Some basic Hindu concepts include: Hinduism embraces many religious ideas.

Followers believe there are multiple paths to reaching their god. Hindus believe in the doctrines of samsara the continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation and karma the universal law of cause and effect.

Hindus strive to achieve dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good conduct and morality. Hindus revere all living creatures and consider the cow a sacred animal. Food is an important part of life for Hindus. Hinduism is closely related to other Indian religions, including Buddhism , Sikhism and Jainism.

Hinduism Symbols. Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. The Swiss Guard. Inside The Vatican Archives.

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion that may have originated as early as 4, years ago. Islam Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1. Wicca Wicca is a modern-day, nature-based pagan religion. The Bible The Bible is the holy scripture of the Christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the Earth from its earliest creation to the spread of Christianity in the first century A.

Mormons Mormons are a religious group that embrace concepts of Christianity as well as revelations made by their founder, Joseph Smith. Satan is so astounded when he first sees her that for a brief period he forgets his purpose and stands "Stupidly good" The scene makes two points: First, the goodness expressed just by Eve's physical person is overwhelming. And second, Satan has lost the capacity for real goodness.

He may be momentarily struck dumb and be "stupidly good," but he quickly recovers and is not in any way deflected from his evil purpose. Satan's temptation of Eve is a cunning masterpiece. The images of circuitous, folding mazes occur intermittently throughout Paradise Lost and reach their culmination in this image of the serpent rising to tempt Eve with his body a coiling labyrinth. Visually, Eve is pure, simple innocence; the serpent, unfathomable, complex evil.

Eve will soon be lost in his labyrinthine argument and plot. Satan as serpent first uses his physical beauty and speech to impress Eve, who finds him beautiful. An old Jewish tradition even had it that Eve made love with the serpent. Milton's subtle sexualizing of the serpent followed this tradition and adds another element to Eve's fall.

William Blake, in his illustration for this scene, certainly noticed sexual imagery. At first glance, Eve appears to kiss the serpent, but is, in fact, taking a bite of a very phallic apple in the serpent's mouth. The fruit hanging from the Tree of Life in Blake's illustration suggests nothing so much as male genitalia. Eve is also taken with the fact that the serpent talks. Further, the snake is not in the angelic form of the tempter in Eve's dream, so she is not put on guard by the creature.

Milton has made it clear earlier that Adam and Eve were never threatened by any animal in Eden. Satan first flatters Eve. He licks the ground. He says he worships her beauty. The reader recalls that Eve narcissistically became enamored of her own image in the water at her creation. She is vain, but she is also secondary to Adam. Here a talking snake praises her beauty and says he worships her. She is interested though not enraptured. But when the serpent takes Eve to the Tree of Knowledge, his arguments come so fast and so deviously that she cannot follow them.

At first, she does what she should. She tells the serpent that she cannot eat from the tree. He argues that he has eaten and did not die. Then he adds that God wants her to eat of the tree and, contradictorily, that he envies what the humans might learn if they did eat.

The arguments come so fast that Eve cannot answer, let alone think through them. Her innocence in comparison with Satan's cunning overcomes her reason. She is no match for Satan, and so his sophistic arguments seem reason to her. Unlike Adam, Eve buys into the arguments without grasping what is really happening. Eve eats the fruit, and eats, for the first time, gluttonously, letting her appetite take control of her reason.

After she eats, Eve at first feels elated. She thinks that she has reached a higher level but shows this ironically by starting to worship the tree. Her thoughts turn to Adam. Initially, she thinks she might keep this new power for herself and perhaps become his equal. At this point, Eve is conniving; already the fruit has changed her innocence. Even her reason for telling Adam shows this fact. If the fruit indeed leads to death, she does not want to die and leave Adam to another woman.

She selfishly wants him to be in the same condition she is. Adam's temptation and fall is much less complicated than Eve's. When Adam drops the flowery chaplet that he has been making for Eve, he symbolically drops all that he has in Eden.

He immediately realizes what Eve has done. Adam makes a conscious decision to eat the fruit because he cannot give up Eve. He allows his physical passion for her to outweigh his reason, and so he eats. Adam's decision is willful, unlike Eve's, which was based on fraudulent argument and weak reason. After the fall, the two are overcome by lust. The language of the entire scene is charged with sexual imagery and innuendo. Their appetites are in control, and reason is lost. After their lovemaking, they fall into a troubled sleep — no more innocent dreams.

When they wake, they are cognizant of what they have done, and their arguing is that of real people. If their argument at the end of Book IX is compared with their discussion of whether to work alone or together at the beginning, the difference in Man before and after the fall is clear. The opening discussion is reasoned and pleasant; the closing, irrational and bitter. Seneschal 38 a steward or major-domo in the household of a medieval noble.

Milton uses the word to describe one of the elements of ignis fatuus or fool's fire , a phenomenon like St. Each is complete in itself. Therefore, they represent not a consistent philosophy or worldview, but rather the experiences, opinions, and lessons of many different men and women.

The Bhagavad Gita is an ancient Indian text that became an important work of Hindu tradition in terms of both literature and philosophy. It is composed as a poem and it contains many key topics related to the Indian intellectual and spiritual tradition. There is a part in the middle of this long text, consisting of 18 brief chapters and about verses: this is the section known as the Bhagavad Gita. It is also referred to as the Gita , for short. Around the time when the Gita was written, asceticism was seen in India as the ideal spiritual life.

Ascetics from different sects along with Jains and Buddhists all agreed that leaving everything behind family, possessions, occupations, etc. What can someone who does not want to give up family and social obligations do to live the right way? The Gita challenges the general consensus that only ascetics and monks can live a perfect spiritual life through renunciation and emphasizes the value of an active spiritual life. The plot of the Gita is based on two sets of cousins competing for the throne: The Pandavas and the Kauravas.

Arjuna , the great archer and leader of the Pandavas, is a member of the Kshatriyas caste the warrior rulers caste. He looks out towards his opponents and recognizes friends, relatives, former teachers, and finally realizes that controlling the kingdom is not worth the blood of all his loved ones.

Emotionally overwhelmed, Arjuna drops down, casts aside his bow and arrows, and decides to quit. He prefers to withdraw from battle; he prefers inaction instead of being responsible for the death of the people he loves.

His chariot driver is the god Vishnu, who has taken the form of Krishna. Krishna sees Arjuna quitting and begins to persuade Arjuna that he should stick to his duty as a warrior and engage the enemy. The Bhagavad Gita is presented as a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna, a man and a god, a seeker and a knower.