Art News:
For
immediate release
Vatican
keeps extensive collection of Hindu texts
Vatican
Library carries extensive collection of ancient Hindu scriptures and various
other Hinduism related texts.
Catalogue
search reveals books on Rig-Veda, Atharva-Veda, Sama-Veda, Upanishads,
Mundaka-Upanishad, Brhadaranyaka-Upanishad, Chandogya-Upanishad, Katha
Upanishad, Svetasvatara-Upanishad, Bhagavat-Puran, Devimahatmya, Ramayana,
Valmiki-Ramayana, Tulsidas-Ramayana, Mahabharata, Nala-Damayanti,
Bhagavad-Gita, Parsuram, Mira, Wise Sayings of Bhartrhari, Bhaktiyoga, Krishna,
Ramcharitmanas, Ramanuja, Brahma, Brahmanas, Hindu civilization, Hindu
manners-customs-ceremonies, Hindu music, Hindu pantheon, Hindu psychology,
Hindu theology, Yoga, Hinduism, Yoga-system of Patanjali, Yogic Powers and God
Realization, etc. This Hindu collection is in various languages and some of the
editions are as old as 1819.
Hindu
statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, applauding Holy See
and Pope Benedict, said that it was a remarkable gesture and a step in the
right direction to understand each other. Zed invited Pope for a deeper study
of ancient Hindu scriptures, which were very rich in philosophical thought, and
offered to provide help if asked.
Zed,
who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also commended Vatican for
including well-known verse from Brhadaranyaka-Upanishad ("Lead me from the
unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality."),
line from Tagore’s Gitanjali ("Give me the strength to make my love
fruitful in service."), and reference to Mahatma Gandhi in “Way of the
Cross at the Colesseum” Meditations and Prayers on Good Friday 2009 led by Pope
and put together by Vatican Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the
Supreme Pontiff.
Rajan
Zed further said that in 200-page “Verbum Domini” (The Word of the Lord)
apostolic exhortation released on November 11, 2010, Pope Benedict wrote about
“the sense of the sacred, sacrifice and fasting…” in Hinduism.
Zed
argues that in our shared pursuit for the truth, we can learn from one another
and thus can arrive nearer to the truth. Dialogue may help us vanquish the
stereotypes, prejudices, caricatures, etc., passed on to us from previous
generations. As dialogue brings us reciprocal enrichment, we shall be
spiritually richer than before the contact.
Vatican
Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) in Vatican City, library of the Holy
See, whose traces go back to fourth century, has manuscripts, printed books,
prints and drawings, coins and medals. His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal
Raffaele Farina is the librarian of the Holy Roman Church while Monsignor
Cesare Pasini is the Prefect. It is said to hold about 75,000 manuscripts and
over 1.1 million books, which includes Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, the oldest
known nearly complete manuscript of the Bible.
His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is the ex-officio head of state of Vatican City, a
sovereign city-state within the city of Rome (Italy). Pope also heads the Roman
Catholic Church, which is the largest of the Christian denominations with about
1.2 billion members. Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the
world with about a billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate
goal.