O man and woman, having acquired knowledge from the learned, proclaim amongst the wise the fact of your intention of entering the married life. Attain to fame, observing the noble virtue of nonviolence, and uplift your soul. Shun crookedness. Converse together happily. Living in a peaceful home, spoil not your life. Spoil not your progeny. In this world, pass your life happily, on this wide Earth full of enjoyment! §
Śukla Yajur Veda 5.17. TY, 44§
Husband and wife in sweet accord give milk oblations to the Gods and press and strain the Soma. They acquire a plenteous store of food. They come united to the altar. Their rewards never lessen. They do not wander from the Gods or seek to hide their favors granted. Thus they acquire great glory. With sons and daughters at their side, they live a good long span of years, both decked with precious gold.§
Ṛig Veda 8.31.5-8. VE, 265§
Have your eating and drinking in common. I bind you together. Assemble for worship of the Lord, like spokes around a hub. Of one mind and one purpose I make you, following one leader. Be like the Gods, ever deathless! Never stop loving.§
Atharva Veda 3.30.6-7. VE, 857§
Many are the paths of the Gods winding heavenward. May they stream for me with favors, bringing me milk and butter! Thus in my business may I succeed and accumulate treasure. I offer this wood and this butter in your honor, O Lord, with a prayer for energy and strength. These sacred words I now chant with all my devotion, to win by this hymn a hundredfold. Thus, steadfast and firm as a horse, we shall offer our praises, Omniscient Lord, forever. Replete with food and with riches, being close to you always, may we never suffer reverses!§
Atharva Veda 3.15.2-3; 8. VE, 295§
May Mitra, Varuṇa and Aryaman grant us freedom and space enough for us and for our children! May we find pleasant pathways, good to travel! Preserve us evermore, O Gods, with blessings!§
Ṛig Veda 7.63.6. VE, 822§
Divine Architect of the universe, well pleased, may you give us procreant vigor, whence a brave son—skilled in action, lover of divine powers and resolute like grinding stones—be born.§
Ṛig Veda 7.2.9. RVP, 2,355§
Unite, O Lord, this couple like a pair of lovebirds. May they surrounded by children be, living both long and happily.§
Atharva Veda 14.2.64. VE, 259§
May the Lord of the clouds protect our stores, piled high in our homes! May the Lord of the clouds give us vitality in our homes, granting goods and riches! O generous God, Lord of thousandfold abundance impart to us now a share of abundance; may we have a share in prosperity! §
Atharva Veda 6.79.1-3. VE, 274§
Let there be faithfulness to each other until death. This, in short, should be known as the highest duty of husband and wife. So let husband and wife ever strive, doing all their duties, that they may not, separated from each other, wander apart.§
Manu Dharma Śāstras 9.101-2. SD, 161§
Family life, however full, remains empty if the wife lacks the lofty culture of the home. It is said a worthy wife is the blessing of a home, and good children are its precious adornments.§
Tirukural 52; 60. WW§
No greater dignity exists than when a man resolutely declares, “I will never cease in laboring to fulfill my karmas.” The posterity of householders who gather wealth without misdeeds and share meals without miserliness will never perish.§
Tirukural 45; 1021; 44. WW§
Whether he be a sannyāsin or a householder, he who is devoid of both affection and hatred is a superman. Great souls speak of him as a jīvanmukta. To live in communion with one’s true nature is the greatest bliss. That does not entail conformity with any external pattern—it is a real feeling. Everything will become clear if one is true to oneself. To love others as oneself is tapas. That is dharma. Everywhere is Śiva.§
Natchintanai, Letter 6. NT, 19§