I have read some of the Book of Mormon and some of The Quran, but not in their entirety. I do plan to read both of these in their entirety.
I don’t consider the Constitution a religious text, but I have read it. Also the Didache, which isn’t very long.
Some do ; )
I encourage everyone to read “The Didache.” It was written around the late first century or early second century and gives you a glimpse into what some of the Early Christians taught, how they worshiped, and some of the struggles they were dealing with. It is a short read, but worth it : )
Yes, I have read the Vedic book called Mahabharata, one chapter of which is 700 verses, called the Bhagavad-gita. The translation of the title Bhagavad-gita is “Song of God”. There are some 600 translations and commentaries on Bhagavad-gita in the world. Generally, in all of them, the translator/commentator is not a fundamentalist. In other words, they do not accept the text literally, but impose their own speculative ideas on the text. For a fundamentalist translation and commentary, one can read Bhagavad-gita As It Is, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. This book says that the purpose of life is to cultivate feelings of love for God. It says that there are various yoga systems. Jnana yoga is the cultivation of knowledge; hatha yoga is the first step in a process for calming the body and mind in preparation for meditation; karma yoga is about living one’s life as a responsible and moral social person, so that one can be rewarded by going to heaven. Bhakti-yoga is about connecting with God through feelings of love, without being motivated by desires for material or spiritual rewards in return for one’s worship. Most Christians all over the world, as well as Jews and Muslims worship God asking for every kind of material enhancement to their life. They ask for health, wealth, success in politics, a good job, a good car, a good marriage partner, and for their husband or son to come home after a war. This is not pure devotion to God. This is a kind of business arrangement in which the worshiper is faithful as long they obtain what they are praying for. In Bhagavad-gita, Krishna (name of God) instructs that one give up all of these motivated forms of worship and simply cultivate love of God in our hearts. This is also the message of Jesus, simply to love the Lord thy God with all of our heart, with all of our strength. Not to cultivate our love of Mammon through our spiritual practice. When Jesus began his activity as a preacher, he performed austerities similar to some of the great yogis, by remaining in the desert and fasting, etc. The result was that Satin approached Jesus, in return for his austerities, and said that he could now have all kinds of material rewards. But Jesus refused. In this way Jesus teaches that spiritual life is not about gaining material rewards. Similarly Jesus taught that the most important rule of spiritual cultivation is simply to love God with all of our heart. Similarly, when affliction came to Jesus, he did not pray to God for help, but simply prayed, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” In other words Jesus is teaching the path of our unmotivated devotion to God. This is also the message of Bhagavad-gita, as translated literally by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.