Why this inspired us
The verse speaks of shared intention, with hearts and minds coming into harmony. We carried that ancient idea into a very modern question: what keeps people connected as their lives take them in different directions?
Explore a verse
Rig Veda 10.191.4
The reference printed on your card, and the idea behind it.
On your card
May our hearts remain connected, no matter where our paths lead.
Inspired by Rig Veda 10.191.4
See the Woven Together cardIn its original context
This is the very last verse of the Rig Veda. Hymn 10.191, which closes the whole collection, has only four verses and is often called the hymn of concord. After more than a thousand hymns to fire, dawn, rain, rivers and gods, the collection ends not with a god but with people, asking how they can live well together.
The hymn moves in steps. The first verse is a short prayer to fire, the centre of every gathering. The second tells the people to come together, speak together and let their minds come to know together. The third asks for a shared plan and a shared meeting. The fourth, this one, ends: may your intention be shared, your hearts be shared, your mind be shared, so that you may live together well.
The word repeated through these lines means "shared" or "alike", not "identical". The poet isn't asking people to become the same person, only to point their hearts in the same direction. A close version of the hymn also appears in the Atharva Veda, and it is still recited at the end of gatherings today as a closing wish.
Something to think about
Does staying connected require staying the same?
Our cards carry original, contemporary words inspired by ancient passages. They are not translations.
The Letterbox
Little letters, occasionally.
New cards, first looks and the odd kind word. Never more than we'd want to receive ourselves.