DAY 231

When We First Gave Names to Things

Rigveda 10.71.1
기원전 1500~1200년경(구전 전승)
ORIGINAL
बृहस्पते प्रथमं वाचो अग्रं यत्प्रैरत नामधेयं दधानाः (bṛhaspate prathamaṃ vāco agraṃ yat prairata nāmadheyaṃ dadhānāḥ)
📜 THE VERSE

When people first sent forth the beginnings of speech, giving names to each thing — then what was purest and hidden within them was, through love, at last brought to light.

❓ TODAY'S QUESTION

Do I use words as mere tools, or as a passage that brings something within me out into the world?

📝Reflection

Is there another poem that draws the birth of language so beautifully — that in the first moment people gave names to things, the purest thing hidden within finally came out. Speech is not a mere tool of communication but a passage that brings the inner world out. To name is to divide, to grasp, to relate to the world. I speak thousands of words a day and forget this wonder. If each word I utter brings something within me to light, what am I bringing out into the world today?

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

Before you speak today, once, briefly weigh: 'what within me does this word bring out?'

📖 Source: Rigveda 10.71.1. Sanskrit original with public-domain translations consulted; rendered independently by ONGO.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.

Threads woven through this verse

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