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MANDALA FOUR VAMADEVA GAUTAMA
SUKTA 1
1. Thee, O Fire, ever with one passion the gods have sent inwards, the divine Traveller;¹ with the will they sent thee in; O master of sacrifice, they brought to birth the immortal in mortals, the divine who brings in the divinity, the conscious thinker, they brought to birth the universal who brings in the divinity, the conscious thinker.
2. Then do thou, O Fire, turn towards the godheads with the right thinking Varuna, thy brother who delights in the sacrifice, the eldest who delights in the sacrifice, — even him who keeps the truth, son of the infinite Mother who upholds seeing-men, the king who upholds seeing-men.
3. O Friend, turn towards and to us in his motion the Friend as two rapid chariot-horses turn a swift wheel, for us, O strong worker, like galloping horses; O Fire, mayst thou be with us and find for us bliss in Varuna and in the Life-powers who carry the universal light; for the begetting of the Son, O thou flaming into lustre, create for us peace, for us, O strong worker, create the peace.
¹Or, worker; this root seems to have indicated originally any strong motion, action or work. Page – 161
4. Do thou, O Fire, for thou knowest, labour away from us the wrath of divine Varuna; flaming into lustre, strongest to sacrifice, mightiest to bear, unloose from us all hostile powers.
5. Do thou, O Fire, be most close to us with thy protection, be most near in the dawning of this dawn: rejoicing in us put away from us Varuna¹ by the sacrifice; reach the bliss, be ready to our call.
6. Most glorious is the vision of this Godhead, most richly bright in mortals; as if the pure and warm butter of the milch-cow that cannot be slain, her desirable gift is the vision of the Godhead.²
7. Three are they, his supreme truths, the desirable births of the divine Fire; within in the infinite he is spread wide every-where and has come to us pure and brilliant and noble,
¹i.e. the pressure of the wrath of Varuna against our impurity. The prayer to put Varuna sounds strange. But if the inner sense is grasped it becomes cogent and apposite. The sacrificer — the seeker — is praying Agni to be close to him, to protect him. He is aspiring that the Divine Fire should be his protector when the Dawn of the higher light comes to his soul, Varuna being the Lord of wisdom. ²Here the connection between Fire and Ra-Cow and Aditi comes out; so also the psychological nature of the clarified butter and its connection with the vision of the Sun. Who is this cow that “cannot be slain” if not the cow Aditi — the Infinite Mother — the supreme Divine Consciousness creativer of the cosmos, of the gods and the demons, of men and of all that is? Page – 162 shining in his beauty.¹ One who has spread wide within in the infinite; he in his luminous beauty conies to us.
8. He is a messenger, a, Priest of the call, whose yearning is towards all the planes, golden is his chariot, red are his horses, ecstatic his tongue of flame, beautiful his body,² wide his lustre, ever is he rapturous like a banquet hall full of the wine.³
9. He makes men conscious of the knowledge and is the friend of their sacrifice; they lead him on with a mighty cord; he dwells in the gated house of the being accomplishing his aims; divine, he accepts companionship in the riches of the mortal.
10. Let this Fire taking knowledge of all things lead us towards the ecstasy. That is enjoyed by the Gods, which all the immortals created by the thought, and Father Heaven was its begetter raining the truth.4
¹These three births of Fire are not, as usually explained, its three physical forms — which even if accepted (taken) shows the Vedic people far from the mere primitive barbarian — His birth is connected with Truth — His births are “within in the Infinite” — saccidananda. These are the three levels of the earthly evolution on each of which this Divine Fire takes his birth, parivītaḥ, on the plane of matter and life and mind. ²Or, great is his body, ³Or, well-stored with food. 4This joy — ratna — in its origin is created by the immortals with the help of their “thought” — and it was the raining down upon the lower hemisphere of the Truth that gave birth to the joy here. Page – 163 11. He was born first and supreme in the Rivers,¹ in the foundation of the vast mid-world, in his native seat; without head, without feet, concealing his two ends he joins them in the lair of the Bull.²
12. He came forth with a vibrancy of light, the first and supreme force, in the native seat of Truth, in the lair of the Bull, desirable and young and beautiful of body³ and wide in lustre; the seven Beloved brought him to birth for the Bull.4
13. Here, our human fathers went forward on their way towards the Truth desiring to possess it; they drove upwards the luminous ones, the good milk-cows in their stone (rocky) pen within the hiding cave, calling to the Dawns.5
14. They rent the hill, they made themselves bright and pure, others around them proclaimed that work of theirs; drivers of the herd,6 they sang the chant of illumination to the Doer of the work; they found the Light, they shone with their thoughts.7
¹Or in our habitations, ²The same Fire joins his two extremities of the superconscient and the spirit and the inconscient matter — in the lair of the Bull. This is the Bull. Which represents the Purusha …The lair of the Bull is the originals status of Him called at other places, viṣṇoḥ paramam padam, sadāpaśyanti sūrayaḥ. ³Or, great in body 4Or, brought to birth the Bull (but the case is Dative) 5This Rik makes the connection between the hidden cows and the Truth, also the Cows and the Dawn. 6Literallty, having the control over the animal or animals, or, the “instruments of control”, 7Or, they did work by their thoughts. This is Sayana’s interpretation. Page – 164
15. By a mind seeking the Rays they rent the firm massed hill which encircled and repressed the shining herds; men desiring laid open the strong pen full of the Ray-Cows by the divine word.
16. They meditated¹ on the first name of the Milk-cow, they discovered the thrice seven supreme planes² of the mother; That knowing the herds lowed towards it, the ruddy Dawn became manifest by the glory of the Cow of Light.
17. The darkness was wounded and vanished. Heaven shone out, up arose the light of the divine Dawn, the Sun entered into the fields of the Vast, looking on the straight and crooked things in mortals.
18. Then, indeed, they awoke and saw³ all behind and wide around them, then, indeed, they held the ecstasy that is enjoyed in heaven. In all gated houses were all the gods. O Mitra, O Varuna, let there be the Truth for the Thought.
19. May my speech be towards the upblazing Fire, the Priest of the call, the bringer of all things, strong to sacrifice. It
¹Or, held in their thought ²Or, names ³Then, indeed, and after waking they wholly saw Page – 165 is as if one drank from the pure udder of the cows of light, the purified juice of the Plant of Delight poured on all sides.
20. The indivisibility of all the gods, the guest of all human beings, may the Fire draw to us the protection of the gods and be blissful to us, the knower of all things born.
SUKTA 2
1. He who is immortal in mortals and with him is the Truth, who is the God in the gods, the Traveller,¹ has been set within as the Priest of the call, most strong for sacrifice, to blaze out with the might of his flame, to give men speed on the way by the power of their offerings.
2. O Son of Force, here today art thou born for us and movest as a messenger between those born of both the Births, yoking, O sublime Flame, thy males straight and massive and bright in lustre.
3. I hold in thought with my mind thy two red gallopers of the Truth, swiftest, raining increase, raining light; yoking the ruddy-shining pair thou movest between you Gods and the mortal peoples.
¹Or, fighter or worker, Page – 166
4. Aryaman for them and Mitra and Varuna, Indra, Vishnu and the Maruts and the Ashwins do thou well-horsed, well-charioted, great in the joy of achievement, bring now, O Fire, for the giver of good offerings.
5. O Fire, ever inviolable is this sacrifice and with it is the Cow, the Sheep and the Horse, it is like a human friend,¹ and with it, O mighty Lord, are the word and the offspring; it is a long felicity of riches with a wide foundation, and with it is the hall.
6. To him who brings to thee thy fuel with the sweat of his labour and heats his head with thee, be a protector in thy self-strength, O Fire, and guard him from all around that would do him evil.
7. He who when thou desirest thy food brings thy food to thee, who whets thy flame and sends upwards the rapturous guest, he who as seeker of the godhead kindles thee in his gated house, in him may there be the abiding and bounteous riches.
8. He who in the dusk, he who in the dawn would give expression to thee, or bringing his offering makes thee a beloved
¹Or, it is a comrade with whom are the gods, Page – 167 friend, as the Horse with golden trappings in his own home mayst thou carry that giver beyond the evil.
9. He who gives, to thee, O Fire, to the Immortal, and does in thee the work outstretching the Ladle, may he not in his labour be divorced from the riches, let not the sin of one who would do evil surround him.
10. He in whose pilgrim-rite thou takest pleasure and, divine, takest delight in the well-founded work of a mortal, may the Power of the Call be pleased with him, O most young Fire, of whom worshipping may we bring about the increase.
11. Let the knower discriminate the Knowledge and the Ignorance, the straight open levels and the crooked that shut in mortals; O God, for the riches, for the right birth of the Son,¹ lavish on us the finite and guard the Infinite.²
12. Seers unconquered proclaimed the seer, they established him³ within in the gated house of the human being. Then, O Flame, mayst thou reach with thy journeying feet and, exalted, see those transcendent4 ones who must come into our vision.5
¹Or, for the riches with the fair offspring, ²Diti and Aditi, the divided and the undivided Consciousness, the Mother of division and the Indivisible Mother ³Or, commanded the seer, they upheld him 4Or, wonderful 5Or, made visible; the world means either “visible” or “to be seen”. Page – 168
13. O Fire, ever most young, mayst thou giving thy good leading to the singer of the word who has pressed the wine and performed the sacrifice, bring to him in his labour, luminous one, an ecstasy wide in its delight, filling the seeing man for his safeguard.
14. O Fire, as we have done with our hands, with our feet, with our bodies in our desire of thee, like men who make a chariot with the toil of their two arms, so, the wise thinkers have laboured out the Truth and possess it.¹
15. Now may we be born as the seven illumined seers of the Dawn, the mother, supreme creators creating the Gods within us; may we become the Angirasas, sons of Heaven and, shining with light, break the hill that has within it the riches.
16. Now, too, O Fire, even as our supreme and ancient fathers, desiring to possess the Truth, speakers of the word, reached the very purity, reached the splendour of the Light;² as they broke through the earth and uncovered the ruddy herds.
17. Perfect in action, perfect in lustre, desiring the godhead,
¹Or desiring to possess it. ²Or, entered into meditation and reached the very purity; Page – 169 becoming gods, they smelted and forged the Births as one forges iron, flaming with light they made the Fire to grow, surrounding Indra they reached the wide mass of the Ray-Cows.
18. There was seen as if herds of the Cows in an opulent place, that which, seen near, was the birth of the gods,¹ O Forceful Fire; they both illumined² the widenesses of mortals and were aspirants for the growth³ of the higher being.
19. For thee we worked and became perfect in our works, the Dawn shone out and illumined the Truth; we lit the unstinted Fire in the multitude of its kinds, in the fullness of his delight, brightening the beautiful eye of the Godhead.
20. These are the utterances, O creator, O Fire, we have spoken to thee the seer, in them take pleasure. Flame upwards, make us move full of possessions; O thou of many boons, give us the Great Riches.
SUKTA 3
¹Or, there was seen like herds of the Cow in an opulent place that which is near to the birth of the godheads, ²Or, achieved the wide illuminations of mortals ³Or, warriors for the growth Page – 170 1. Create for yourselves the King of the pilgrim-rite, the Terrible, the Priest of the invocation who wins by sacrifice the Truth in earth and heaven¹ create Fire golden in his form for your protection before the outspreading of the Ignorance.²
2. This is thy seat which we have made for thee, even as, desiring, a wife richly robed for her lord; thou art turned towards us and wide-extended around, sit here within: O once far distant Fire, these are fronting thee, O Fire, perfect in wisdom.
3. O ordinant of sacrifice, to Fire that hears, inviolate, the strong in vision, the happy, the immortal Godhead speak the Thought, the word expressing him, whom I pray as with the voice of the stone of the pressing when it presses out the honey-wine.
4. Thou, too, O Fire, turn towards our labour, become aware of this word, in perfect answer of thy thought, Truth-Conscious, become aware of the Truth. When shall there be thy utterances that share in our ecstasy, when thy acts of cornpanionship in the house?
¹Or, who worships with sacrifice the Truth for earth and heaven, ²Or, before the thunder-crash from the unknown. Page – 171 5. How dost thou blame it, O Fire, to Varuna, to Heaven, what is that sin we have done ? How wouldst thou speak of us to Mitra, the bountiful, how to earth? What wilt thou say to Aryaman, what to Bhaga?
6. What, O Fire, growing in thy abodes, wouldst thou say for us, what to the wind most forceful, to the seeker of the Good, the all-pervading, to the lord of the journey, to the earth ? What, O Fire, to Rudra the slayer of men?
7. How wilt thou speak of us to Pushan, the mighty bringer of increase, what to Rudra great in sacrifice, giver of the offering? What seed of things to wide-striding Vishnu, or what, O Fire, to vast doom?
8. How when they question thee wouldst thou answer to the host of the Life-Gods in their Truth, or to the Sun in his vastness, to the mother indivisible, to the swift traveller? O knower of all things born, thou knowest the Heaven, for us accomplish.
9. I ask for the truth governed by the Truth, together the unripe things of the Cow of light and that of her which is sweet and ripe, O Fire. Even black of hue, she nourishes with a luminous supporting, with a kindred milk.¹
¹The Cow (the Vedic symbol of knowledge) even in the Ignorance where it is black still nourishes us with a truth which is still luminous and governed by the Greater truth which is hers on higher levels where she is the radiant Cow of Light. Page – 172
10. For the Fire the Bull, the Male, is inundated with the Truth, with milk of the heights: unstirred he ranges abroad establishing the wideness, the dappled Bull has milked out the bright udder.
11. By the Truth the Angiras-seers broke the hill, they parted it asunder, they moved¹ together with the Ray-Cows; men sat happily around Dawn, the Sun-world² was manifested when the Fire was born.
12. By the Truth, divine, immortal and inviolate, the Waters with their honied floods, Fire, like a steed of swiftness pressing forward³ in its gallopings, raced ever on to their flow.
13. Mayst thou never pass over to the Power4 of one who is a thief, or of a neighbour or one intimate who would do us injury,5 mayst thou not incur the debt of a brother who is crooked, may we not suffer by evil thought from6 friend or foe.
¹Or, came ²Or, the Sun ³Or, urged forward 4The word means supernatural or occult Power which captures the force of Agni, the lord of Tapasya, to use it for harm. 5Or, diminishes us, 6Or, by the skill of; here, again, it is skill in an occult working, or an occult and hostile direction of thought that is feared. Page – 173 14. O Fire, strong in sacrifice, protect us ever guarding us with thy keepings, taking pleasure in us; burst out in flame, break the strong evil, slay the (Rakshasa) demon even when he is increasing into greatness.
15. O Fire, become great of mind by these hymns of illumination, by our thinkings touch these plenitudes, O heroic Flame, so take joy in the words of knowledge, O Angiras, let our speech expressing thee come close to thee, enjoyed by the gods.
16. Thus have I, an illumined sage, by my thoughts and utterances spoken to thee, who knowest, O Fire, O creator, secret words of guidance, seer-wisdoms that speak out their sense to the seer.¹
SUKTA 4
1. Make thy mass like a wide marching, go like a king full of strength with his following, running in the rapid passage of thy march; thou art the Archer, pierce the demons with thy most burning shafts.
¹Or, all these in my thoughts and utterances I have spoken to thee, I, an illumined sage, to thee the knower, O Fire, O creator, words of guidance, secret words, seer-wisdoms that speak out their meaning to the seer. Page – 174
2. Swiftly rush thy wanderings; blazing up follow and touch with thy violence; O Fire, spread by thy tongue thy burning heats and thy winged sparks; unleashed, scatter on every side thy meteors.
3. Swiftest to act, spread abroad thy scouts to their places, and become the indomitable protector of this being: he who would bring evil by speech against us from afar or one from near, let not any such bringer of anguish do violence to thee, O Fire!
4. Arise, O Fire, spread out towards us, consume utterly the unfriendly, O sharp-missiled Flame; O high-kindled! whoever has done enmity against us burn him down like a dry log.
5. High-uplifted be, piercing through reveal in us the things divine, O Fire; lay low what the demon forces¹ have established : companion or single, crush the foe.
6. He knows thy right-mindedness, O youngest of the Gods, who hastens the journey² for the Word in its march. For him
¹Or, demon impulsions ²Or, who drives the path Page – 175 the high doer of works has made to shine about his doors all brightness of the day, all treasures and splendours of the light.
7. May he, O Fire, be fortunate and munificent who with the eternal offering, who with his utterances, seeks to satisfy thee in his own life, in his gated house; may there be for him all brightnesses of the day, may such be his sacrificing.¹
8. I make to shine thy right thought in me, may this word diffused in its peal approach close to thee. Rich in horses and chariots may we make all bright and pure for thee, mayst thou hold up thy mights in us from day to day.
9. Here in this world should one largely act from one's self in the presence of thee as day by day thou shinest out in morn and in dusk: right-minded may we touch thee as we play, taking our stand on the luminous inspirations² of men.
10. He who comes to thee, O Fire, with strong horses, with fine gold, with his chariot full of riches, thou becomest his deliverer, his friend and comrade, — he who takes joy in thy uninterrupted guesthood.
¹Or, may all that sacrifice of his be bright in its days. ²Or, luminous energies Page – 176
11. I break great ones by my words, by my friendship with thee; that came down to me from Gotama, my father: domiciled in the house do thou become conscious of this word of ours, O youngest God! O Priest of the call! O strong Will!
12. Undreaming, ever in movement, blissful, undrowsing, imtorn, untired may thy guardian powers sitting linked together guard us, O thou untouched by ignorance, O Fire!
13. Thy guardian powers, O Fire, which protected the son of Mamata from evil, for they saw and he was blind, omniscient guarded them in their good work; the foe who would have hurt them could not hurt.
14. By thee as thy companions, guarded by thee, by thy leading, may we win the plenitudes; impel to their way both annunciations, O builder of Truth: straightaway, confident, create.
15, With the fuel may we do thee worship, O Fire, accept the hymn which we utter, burn the demons who speak not the word of blessing, guard us from the doer of harm, from the censurer and his blame, O friendly Light! Page – 177
SUKTA 5
1. How should we give, one in our joy in him, vast in light,¹ to the bounteous Universal Fire? With his vast and ample upbearing he props up the firmament like a pillar.
2. Blame not him who in his self-law has given this gift, divine to me the mortal, the wise to the ignorant, the immortal, the wide in consciousness, the most strong and mighty Universal Fire.
3. In his twofold mass² may the puissant Bull with his thousandfold seed, with his keen blaze discovering the great Possession, the deeply hidden seat of the Cow, declare to me that Mind of wisdom.
4. May the Fire sharp-tusked with his most burning flame of light, he who is full of felicity,³ consume them, they who impair the domain of Varuna and the beloved and abiding things of Mitra the conscious knower.
¹Or, shining with the4 light of the vast ²Or, force ³Or, he who is ever happy in achievement, Page – 178 5. Going they go on their way like women who have no brothers, like wives¹ with evil movements who do hurt² to their lord, sinful, and untrue and full of falsehood they have brought into being this profound plane.
6. For me who howso small, impair not the heavy burden of this thought, O purifying Fire, uphold with the violence of thy delight this vast and profound and mighty sevenfold plane.³
7. Him, now may the purifying Thought reach and possess by the will, like attaining to its like; in the movement4 of the peace, over the form of the dappled Mother figured out on the summit in its might and its beauty.
8. What of this word do they say to me, what that has to be declared and is mysterious and hidden in the secrecy?5 What was as if a covering defence of the rays6 they have uncovered, — he guards the beloved form, the summit plane of the being.7
9. This which is that great front of the Great Ones to which as its supreme place adheres the shining Cow, he came to know flaming in the plane of the Truth, hastening in its speed in the secrecy.8
¹Or, mothers ²Or, deceive ³Or, plane with its seven layers 4Or, the action 5Or cave? 6Or, the shining Cows 7Or, the Bird 8Or, cave Page – 179
10. Now shining in union with the two Parents, close to him, he perceived the beautiful and secret abode of the dappled Cow. There was the tongue of the Bull of flame intent on its action, it was near the Cow of Light, in the supreme plane of the Mother.
11. Asked with obeisance I. voice the Truth, this which I have won by thy declaring of it,¹ O knower of all things born; thou possesses! all this that is, the treasure which is in heaven and that which is on the earth.
12. What is the treasure of this Truth, what the delight of it, wholly declare to us, O knower of the births, for thou art aware. That supreme plane in the secrecy which is the highest goal of our path, which is over and above all, that we have reached, free from bondage.
13. What is its boundary, its manifestation of knowledge, what the joy of it towards which we must move like gallopers towards the plenitude ? When have the divine Dawns, wives of the immortal, woven it into shape by the hue of light of the sun?
¹Or, by they wish Page – 180 14. Those who live undelighted with the word that is languid and scanty, narrow and dependent on their belief, what now and here can they say to thee, O Fire ? Uninstrumented let them remain united with the unreal.
15. For the glory and beauty of the Bull in his high burning the flame-force of the master of riches glowed in its splendour; clothing himself with brilliance in his form of perfect vision, he has shone out full of many boons like a dwelling with its treasure.
SUKTA 6
1. O Fire, summoner Priest of the pilgrim-rite, stand up very high for us, strong for sacrifice in the forming of the gods: thou art the ruler over every Thought and thou carriest forward the mind of thy worshipper.
2. Free from ignorance. Fire, the rapturous Priest of the Call has taken his seat in creatures, the conscious thinker in their findings of knowledge. He enters into a high lustre like a creator Sun, like a pillar he makes his smoke a prop to heaven.
3. A luminous force of giving, swift and put forth into action, Page – 181 he widens the formation of the gods as he turns round it; new-born he stands up high¹ like an arrow-shaft well-planted and firm and shows by his light the herds.²
4. When the sacred grass is strewn and kindled burns the flame, the leader of the pilgrim-rite stands up to high rejoicing in his work; Fire, the Priest of the call, like a guardian of the herds thrice moves round them, the Ancient of days, ever widening his circle.
5. He goes round in his self-motion with measured run, Fire, the rapturous Priest of the call, sweet of word, possessing the Truth; his flames gallop like horses, all the worlds are in fear when he blazes.
6. O Fire of the fair front! happy is thy vision; even when thou art terrible and adverse great is thy beauty: for they hem not in thy flame with the darkness, for the destroyers cannot set evil in thy body.
7. He is the begetter of things and his conquest cannot be held back, not even the father and the mother can stay him any longer in his impulsion. Now like a friend well-established, the purifying Fire has shone out in the human peoples.
¹Greek akra. ²Or, a sun-beam fixed and constant. Or, it may possibly mean, a pole, banner well planted and firm he shows (the place of) the herds. Page – 182
8. The twice five sisters who dwell together have given birth to the Fire in the human peoples, the waker in the dawn, like a tusk of flame, brilliant and fair of face, like a sharp axe.
9. Bay-coloured are those horses of thine, dripping light, or they are red, straight is their motion, swift is their going, males, ruddy-shining, straight and massive, great in their deeds they are called to our forming of the Gods.
10. These are thy rays, O Fire, that put forth overwhelming force, moving, impetuous in their blaze, they move towards the goal like hawks in their action, with many voices of storm like an army of the life-god.
11. O high-kindled Fire, the Word has been formed for thee, one voices the utterance, one sacrifices, — now ordain: men set the Fire within as the Priest of the call, making to him their prostration of surrender, aspirants to the self-expression of the human being.
SUKTA 7
Page – 183 1. This is he who was established as chief and first by the Founders of things, the Priest of the call, most strong for sacrifice, to be prayed in the pilgrim-rites, — he whom the doer of works and the flame-seers¹ set shining wide in the forests, rich in light, all-pervading, for man and man.
2. O Fire, when shall the conscious waking of thy godhead become uninterrupted? For, now mortals have laid hold on thee as one desirable in human creatures.
3. For they see thee, possessor of the Truth and wide in knowledge like waking heaven with its stars, the smile of light of all these pilgrim-sacrifices in house and house, —
4. The swift messenger of the illumining Sun who comes to all the seeing people; men hold him as the ray of intuition and he shines as the Bhrigu-flame-seer for each being.
5. This is the Priest of the call whom they set within, who uninterruptedly wakes to knowledge, rapturous with his purifying flame, most strong to sacrifice by his seven seats.²
¹Apnavan and Bhrigus ²Or, with his seven lights. Page – 184 6. Him in the many mothers linked together, wide-spread and unapproached in the forest, abiding in the secret Cave and rich with many lights, full of knowledge or moving to some unknown goal.
7. When in the separation from sleep the Gods have joy in that udder of the Cow, in the plane of the Truth, great becomes the Fire by the offering given with prostration and journeys for the pilgrim-sacrifice and the Truth is ever with him.
8. He journeys knowing the embassies of the pilgrim-sacrifice between both the firmaments, utterly awakened to knowledge. A messenger, the Ancient of days, ever widening, ever greater in knowledge, thou travellest the mounting slopes of heaven.¹
9. Black is the path of thy shining, thy light goes in front, a journeying ray, the one supreme of all thy bodies; when one unimpregnated bears thee as the child of her womb, in the sudden moment of thy birth thou art already the messenger.
10. The moment he is born his might becomes visible when the wind blows behind his flame; he turns his sharp tongue round the trunks and tears his firm food with his jaws of flame.
¹Or, thou travellest to the inmost places of heaven. Page – 185
11. When quickly he carries his foods on his rapid tongue, this mighty Fire fashions himself into a swift messenger; consuming all he clings to the mad course¹ of the wind, as a driver a swift horse he sets it to gallop for the seeker of the plenitude.
SUKTA 8
1. Array with your word the messenger, the carrier of your offerings, most strong to sacrifice, the omniscient, the Immortal.
2. For, he knows the place of the possession of the riches, he knows the ascending slope of heaven, he shall bring here the gods.
3. A God, he knows for the seeker of the Truth his way of submission to the gods in the house of Truth, and he gives the beloved treasures.
4. He is the Priest of the call, it is he who travels between, aware of his embassy, knowing the ascending slope of heaven.
¹Or, to the roar Page – 186
5. May we be of those who have given to the Fire with the gift of their offerings, who kindle him and increase.
6. They by the treasure, by the hero-strengths have conquered and have heard who have upheld their work in the Fire.
7. In us may the riches move from day to day bringing the multitude of our desires, may we receive the impulsion of the plenitudes.
8. An illumined seer, by the might of seeing human beings he pierces beyond like a swift arrow.
SUKTA 9
1. O Flame, be gracious, for great art thou who comest to the seeker of the godheads to sit on his seat of sacrifice.
2. He becomes manifest in human beings,¹ invincible,² immortal,
¹Or, he becomes in human beings a protector, ²Or, indestructible, Page – 187 the messenger of all.
3. He is borne round the house, a rapturous Priest of the call in our heavenward urges; he takes his seat as the Priest of the purification.
4. The Fire is the Goddess-powers in the pilgrim-rite and he is the master of the house in his home, he sits too as the Priest of the word.
5. Thou comest to the offerings as the speaker of the sanction for human beings when they would perform the pilgrim-sacrifice.
6. Thou comest to be his envoy to him in whose sacrifice thou takest pleasure to carry the offerings of the mortal.
7. Take pleasure in our pilgrim-rite, in our sacrifice, O Angiras, hear our call.
Page – 188 8. Let thy invincible car reach us and move round us on every side by which thou guardest the givers of the offering.
SUKTA 10
1. O Fire, let us today make thee affluent with our lauds as thy vehicles to bear thee, — even that of thee which is as if the Horse, as if a happy will touching the heart.
2. For now, O Fire, thou hast become the charioteer of a happy Will, of an all-accomplishing Discernment, of the Vast Truth.
3. Become close to us, O Fire, by these hymns of illumination, right-minded with all thy flame-powers, thy light like the sun-world.
4. Today uttering thee with these utterances may we give to thee, O Fire; thy strengths thunder forth like the heavens.¹
5. Most sweet is thy vision, now in the day, now in the night; it
¹Or like the strength of heaven. Page – 189 shines out close to us like gold for its beauty and splendour.
6. Free from evil is thy body; it is like pure clarified butter, it is pure gold; that in thee is golden in its shining, for such is thy self-law.
7. Even the lasting hostility done, O thou who possesses! the Truth, thou drivest away perfectly from the mortal sacrificer.¹
8. O Fire, auspicious may be all our friendship and brotherhood with you Gods. That is our centre, where is our home, where is that udder of the Cow of Light.
SUKTA 11
1. Happy is that flame-power of thine, O forceful Fire; it shines close to the Sun, glowing to vision it is seen even in the night, it is as if in its beauty² there were an unarid feast for the eye.
¹Or, away from the mortal who is exact in his sacrifice. ²Or, in its form Page – 190 2. O Fire, O thou with thy many births, even as we hymn thee force open the heavens¹ with thy quivering lustre² for him who utters the mind of wisdom; O Brilliant, O glorious Flame, what thou with all the gods hast won, that give to us, that mighty thought.
3. O Fire, from thee are born the seer-wisdoms, from thee the mind of knowledge, from thee the utterances that achieve; from thee come the riches that take the hero's form to the mortal giver who has the true thought.
4. From thee is born the steed of swiftness that carries the plenitude, that has the force of Truth, that makes the great approach, that has the vastness; from thee is the treasure sent by the gods that creates the bliss, from thee the rapid speeding war-horse, O Fire.
5. Thee, O Fire, O immortal, first and chief of the godheads, mortals who are seekers of the godheads illumine by their thoughts. Fire with the rapturous tongue who pushest away the hostiles, the one domiciled within, the master of our house untouched by ignorance.
6. Far from us all unconsciousness, sin and evil mind when thou art on guard, a benignant Power in the night, O Fire,
¹Or, the door or entrance ²Or, with thy lustre of knowledge Page – 191 O son of force, over him to whom thou cleavest for his weal.
SUKTA 12
1. He who kindles thee, O Fire, and with his ladle in action creates food for thee thrice in the day may he, awakened to knowledge, be ever with thy illuminations and wholly put forth his force and overcome by thy will, O knower of all things born.
2. He who labours and brings to thee thy fuel serving the flame-force of thy greatness, O Fire, he kindling thee every day and night ever grows and cleaves to the Treasure slaying the unfriendly Powers.
3. The Fire is the master of the vast might, the Fire is master of the supreme plenitude and riches; ever young, faithful to his self-law, he founds wholly uninterruptedly the ecstasy for the mortal who worships him.
4. If at all in our humanity by our movements of ignorance we have done any evil against thee, O Fire, make us wholly sinless before the mother indivisible; O Fire, may&t thou loosen from us the bonds of our sins to every side. Page – 192
5. Even though our sin be great before gods and men, even though it be wide, O Fire, may we not come ever to harm from it who are thy friends and comrades; give to our Son, our begotten, the peace and the well-doing.
6. Even as that was done when the Masters of Riches, the Lords of sacrifice released the bright cow tethered by her foot, so release us utterly from evil; mayst thou carry forward our life so that it crosses beyond, O Fire.
SUKTA 13
1. The Fire facing the front of the dawns as they shine out has revealed the founding of ecstasy; the two Riders of the horse are coming to the gated house of the doer of good works; the divine Sun is rising up with its light.
2. The divine creator Sun has reached his high shining, he is like a warrior seeker of the Light brandishing his flag. There is Varuna, there is Mitra, all follow the working of the Law when they make the Sun to rise up in heaven.
3. Him Whom, firm m their foundation, never ceasing from Page – 193 their aim they have made for the removing of the darkness, this Sun seven mighty brilliant mares bear as the scouts of the whole world.
4. O God, thou goest with steeds most strong to bear separating the weft woven, unweaving the black garment; the streaming rays of the Sun cast the darkness like a covering skin down within the waters.
5. Unextended, unbound, facing downwards, facing upwards, how does he not sink? By what self-law does he go on his journey? Who has seen when he joins heaven and is its pillar and guards the firmament ?
SUKTA 14
1. Fire, the godhead has been revealed, the knower of all things born, fronting the dawns as they gleam with the greatness of their lustres; wide-moving, lords of the journey, come moving in their chariot towards this our sacrifice.
2. The creator Sun is lodged in his high Ray of intuition fashioning the light for the whole world; the Sun in his universal knowledge has filled earth and heaven and the mid-world with his rays. Page – 194
3. The Dawn bearing him has come with the Light, Dawn vast and rich in her lustres, knowing all by her rays; the divine Dawn awakening to the happy path is journeying in her well-yoked chariot.
4. May these horses and chariots, strong to bear, bring you both in the shining out of the dawn: for, here for you are the juices of the Wine for the drinking of the sweetness; O strong Ones, may you take rapture of them in this sacrifice.
5. Unextended, unbound, facing downwards, facing upwards how does he not sink? By what self-law does he go on his journey? Who has seen when he joins heaven and is its pillar and guards the firmament?
SUKTA 15
1. The Fire is our Priest of the call in the pilgrim-sacrifice; he is led around as the horse, he is the godhead in the gods who is lord of the sacrifice.
2. The Fire goes thrice around the pilgrim-sacrifice and is like one driving a chariot, he founds our delight in the gods. Page – 195
3. The Fire moves around the offerings, a seer, a master of the plenitudes and founds for the giver the ecstasies.
4. This is he who is kindled in the front in Srinjaya, son of Devavata, he is luminous and a destroyer of foes.
5. The mortal who is a hero can have mastery over the Fire in its march, the sharp-tusked bountiful Fire.
6. They make him bright from day to day like a conquering war-horse, like a shining babe of heaven.
7. When the prince, the son of Sahadeva, woke me with his two bay horses, though called towards him I was not ready to rise.
8. Even so, I took at once from the prince, the son of Sahadeva, those two sacred horses he gave.
Page – 196 9. O divine Riders, here before you is the prince Somaka, son of Sahadeva; long-lived may he be!
10. Even him the prince, the son of Sahadeva, O divine Riders, make long of life.
SUKTA 40
1. Dadhikravan is he of whom now we must do the work; may all the Dawns speed me on the path! For the Waters and for the Dawn and the Sun and Brihaspati, he of the puissance, the Victor.
2. May this Power of being who seeks the full-bringing and seeks the Light and who abides in all activity turn into inspiration the impulsions of the Dawn, may he abide in their speed that carries us beyond. Dadhikravan who is the truth in his running, — yea, he gallops and he flies, — brings into being the impulsion, the abundant force, the heavenly light.
3. When he runs, when he speeds in his passage, as the wing of the Bird is a wind that blows about him in his greed of the gallop; as the wing that beats about the breast of the rushing Eagle, so about the breast of Dadhikravan when Page – 197 with the Force he carries us beyond.
4. For the abundance of his strength he carries his impeller beyond, a rein^binds his neck and a rein holds him about the chest and a rein is in his mouth. Dadhikravan puts forth his energy according to the will in the mind and gallops along the turning of the path.
5. This is the swan that dwells in the purity, the lord of substance in the middle world, the Priest of the offering whose seat is upon the altar, the guest in the gated house. He dwells in the Man, he dwells in the Truth, he dwells in the wide Ether; he is born of the Waters, he is born of the Light, he is born of the Law, he is born of the Hill of Substance, he is the Law of the Truth. Page – 198 |
