{"id":239,"date":"2013-07-13T01:26:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=239"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:26:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:49","slug":"34-the-vamadeva-hymns-to-agni-vol-11-hymns-to-the-mystic-fire-volume-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/11-hymns-to-the-mystic-fire-volume-11\/34-the-vamadeva-hymns-to-agni-vol-11-hymns-to-the-mystic-fire-volume-11","title":{"rendered":"-34_The Vamadeva Hymns to Agni.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\n
\nThe Vamadeva Hymns to Agni
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nINTRODUCTION<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nT<\/font><\/b>HE
\n<\/b><\/span>interpretation of the Rig-veda is perhaps the most difficult and disputed question with which the
\nscholarship of today has to deal. This difficulty and dispute are
\nnot the creation of present-day criticism; it has existed in different forms since very early times. To what is this incertitude due?
\nPartly, no doubt, it arises from the archaic character of a language in which many of the words were obsolete when ancient
\nIndian scholars tried to systematise the traditional learning about
\nthe Veda, and especially the great number of different meanings
\nof which the old Sanskrit words are capable. But there is another
\nand more vital difficulty and problem. The Vedic hymns are full
\nof figures and symbols, \u2014 of that there can be no least doubt,
\n\u2014 and the question is, what do these symbols represent, what is
\ntheir religious or other significance? Are they simply mythological figures with no depth of meaning behind them ? Are they the
\npoetic images of an old Nature-worship, mythological, astronomical, naturalistic, symbols of the action of physical phenomena
\nrepresented as the action of the gods? Or have they another and
\nmore mystic significance ? If this question could be solved with
\nany indubitable certitude, the difficulty of language would be no
\ngreat obstacle; certain hymns and verses might remain obscure,
\nbut the general sense, drift, purport of the ancient hymns could
\nbe made clear. But the singular feature of the Veda is that none
\nof these solutions, at least as they have been hitherto applied,
\ngives a firm and satisfactory outcome. The hymns remain con-
\nfused, bizarre, incoherent, and the scholars are obliged to take
\nrefuge in the gratuitous assumption that this incoherence is
\na native character of the text and does not arise from their
\nown ignorance of its central meaning. But so long as we can
\nget no farther than this point, the doubt, the debate must
\ncontinue.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA few years ago I wrote a series of articles in which I suggested <\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\nan explanation of the ambiguous character of the Veda. My
\nsuggestion hinged on this central idea that these hymns were
\nwritten in a stage of religious culture which answered to a similar
\nperiod in Greece and other ancient countries, \u2014 I do not suggest
\nthat they were contemporary or identical in cult and idea, \u2014 a
\nstage in which there was a double face to the current religion,
\nan outer for the people, profanum vulgus<\/i>, an inner for the initiates,
\nthe early period of the Mysteries. The Vedic Rishis were mystics who reserved their inner knowledge for
\nthe initiates; they
\nshielded them from the vulgar by the use of an alphabet of symbols which could not readily be understood without the initiation,
\nbut were perfectly clear and systematic when the signs were once
\nknown. These symbols centred around the idea and forms of
\nthe sacrifice; for the sacrifice was the universal and central institution of the prevailing cult. The hymns were written round
\nthis institution and were understood by the vulgar as ritual
\nchants in praise of the Nature-gods, Indra, Agni, Surya Savitri, aruna, Mitra and Bhaga, the Ashwins, Ribhus, Maruts, Rudra,
\nVishnu, Saraswati, with the object of provoking by the sacrifice
\nthe gifts of the gods, \u2014 cows, horses, gold and other forms of
\nwealth of a pastoral people, victory over enemies, safety in travel,
\nsons, servants, prosperity, every kind of material good fortune.
\nBut behind this mask of primitive and materialistic naturalism,
\nlay another and esoteric cult which would reveal itself if we once
\npenetrated the meaning of the Vedic symbols. That once caught
\nand rightly read, the whole Rig-veda would become clear, consequent, a finely woven, yet straightforward tissue.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nAccording to my theory the outer sacrifice represented in
\nthese esoteric terms an inner sacrifice of self-giving and communion with the gods. These gods are powers, outwardly of physical, inwardly of psychical nature. Thus Agni outwardly is the
\nphysical principle of fire, but inwardly the god of the psychic
\ngodward flame, force, will, Tapas; Surya outwardly the solar
\nlight, inwardly the god of the illuminating revelatory knowledge;<\/font> 
\nSoma outwardly the moon and the Soma-wine or nectarous
\nmoon-plant, inwardly the god of the spiritual ecstasy, Ananda.
\nThe principal psychical conception of this inner Vedic cult was
\nthe idea of the Satyam, Ritam, Brihat, the Truth, the Law, the<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nVast. Earth, Air and Heaven symbolised the physical, vital and
\nmental being, but this Truth was situated in the greater Heaven,
\nbase of a. triple Infinity actually and explicitly mentioned in
\nthe Vedic Riks, and it meant therefore a state of spiritual and
\nsupramental illumination. To get beyond earth and sky to Swar,
\nthe Sun-world, seat of this illumination, home of the gods, foundation and seat of the Truth, was the achievement of the early
\nFathers, pūrve pitaraḥ<\/i>, and of the seven Angiras Rishis who
\nfounded the Vedic religion. The solar gods, children of Infinity,
\nAdityas, were born in the Truth and the Truth was their home,
\nbut they descended into the lower planes and had in each plane
\ntheir appropriate functions, their mental, vital and physical cosmic motions. They were the guardians and increasers of the
\nTruth in man and by the Truth, ṛtasya pathāḥ<\/i>}, led him to felicity
\nand immortality. They had to be called into the human being
\nand increased in their functioning, formed in him, brought in or
\nborn, devavīti<\/i>, extended, devatāati<\/i>, united in their universality,
\nvaiśvadevya<\/i>.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe sacrifice was represented at once as a giving and worship, a battle and a journey. It was the centre of a battle between
\nthe Gods aided by Aryan men on one side and the Titans or
\ndestroyers on the opposite faction, Dasyus, Vritras, Panis, Rakshasas, later called Daityas and Asuras, between the powers of
\nthe Truth or Light and the powers of falsehood, division, dark-
\nness. It was a journey, because the sacrifice travelled from earth
\nto the gods in their heaven, but also because it made ready the
\npath by which man himself travelled to the Home of the Truth.
\nThis journey opposed by the Dasyus, thieves, robbers, tearers,
\nbesiegers (Vritras) was itself a battle. The giving was an inner
\ngiving. All the offerings of the outer sacrifice, the cow and its
\nyield, the horse, the Soma were symbols of the dedication of inner
\npowers and experiences to the Lords of Truth. The divine gifts,
\nresult of t he outer sacrifice, were also symbols of inner divine gifts,
\nthe cows of the divine light symbolised by the herds of the sun,
\nthe horse of strength and power, the son of the inner godhead
\nor divine man created by the sacrifice, and so through the whole
\nlist. This symbolic duplication was facilitated by the double
\nmeaning of the Vedic words; go<\/i>, for instance, means both cow <\/font><\/p>\n

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\n\u2013 467<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand ray; the cows of the dawn and the sun. Heaven’s
\nboes
\nHelioi<\/i>, are the rays of the sun-god. Lord of Revelation, even
\nas in Greek mythology Apollo the sun-god is also the Master of
\npoetry and of prophecy. Ghṛta <\/i>means clarified butter, but also
\nthe bright thing; soma <\/i>means the wine of the moon-plant, but also delight, honey, sweetness,
\nmadhu<\/i>. This is the conception, all
\nother features are subsidiary to this central idea. The suggestion
\nseems to me a perfectly simple one, neither out of the way and
\nrecondite, nor unnatural to the mentality of the early human
\npeoples.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere are certain a priori <\/i>objections which can be brought
\nagainst this theory. One may be urged against it from the side
\nof Western scholarship. It may be objected that there is no need
\nfor all this mystification, that there is no sign of it in the Veda
\nunless we choose to read it into the primitive mythology, that it
\nis not justified by the history of religion or of the Vedic religion,
\nthat it was a refinement impossible to an ancient and barbaric
\nmind. None of these objections can really stand. The Mysteries
\nin Egypt and Greece and elsewhere were of a very ancient standing and they proceeded precisely on this symbolic principle, by
\nwhich outward myth and ceremony and cult-objects stood for
\nsecrets of an inward life or knowledge. It cannot therefore be
\nargued that this mentality was non-existent, impossible in
\nantique times or any more impossible or improbable in India,
\nthe country of the Upanishads, than in Egypt and Greece. The
\nhistory of ancient religion does show a transmutation of physical
\nNature-gods into representatives of psychical powers or rather
\nan addition of psychical to physical functions; but the latter in
\nsome instances gave place to the less external significance. I
\nhave given the example of Helios replaced in later times by
\nApollo; just so in the Vedic religion Surya undoubtedly becomes
\na god of inner light, the famous Gayatri verse and its esoteric
\ninterpretation are there to prove it as well as the constant appeal
\nof the Upanishads to Vedic Riks or Vedic symbols taken in a
\npsychological and spiritual sense, e.g. the four closing verses of
\nthe Isha Upanishad. Hermes, Athena represent in classical
\nmythology psychical functions, but were originally Nature-gods,
\nAthena probably a dawn-goddess. I contend that Usha in the <\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\nVeda shows us this transmutation in its commencement. Dionysus the wine-god was intimately connected with the
\nMysteries ; he was given a similar role to Soma, the wine-god of the
\nVedas.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut the question is whether there is anything to show that
\nthere was actually such a doubling of functions in the Veda.
\nNow, in the first place, how was the transition effected from the
\nalleged purely materialistic Nature-worship of the Vedas to the
\nextraordinary psychological and spiritual knowledge of the
\nUpanishads unsurpassed in their subtlety and sublimity in ancient times? There are three possible explanations. First, this
\nsudden spirituality may have been brought in from outside; it is
\nhastily suggested by some scholars that it was taken from an
\nalleged highly spiritual non-Aryan southern culture; but this is
\nan assumption, a baseless hypothesis for which no proof has
\nbeen advanced; it rests as a surmise in the air without foundation. Secondly, it may have developed from within by some
\nsuch transmutation as I have suggested, but subsequent to the
\ncomposition of all but the latest Vedic hymns. Still, even then, it
\nwas effected on the basis of the Vedic hymns; the  Upanishads
\nclaim to be a development from the Vedic knowledge, Vedanta,
\nrepeatedly appeal to Vedic texts, regard Veda as a book of
\nknowledge. The men who gave the Vedantic knowledge are
\neverywhere represented as teachers of the Veda. Why then
\nshould we rigidly assume that this development took place subsequent to the composition of the bulk of the Vedic mantras ?
\nFor the third possibility is that the whole ground had already
\nbeen prepared consciently by the Vedic mystics. I do not say that the inner
\nVedic knowledge was identical with the Brahmavada. Its terms were different, its substance was greatly developed, much lost or rejected, much added, old ideas shed, new
\ninterpretation made, the symbolic element reduced to a minimum and replaced by clear and open philosophic phrases and
\nconceptions. Certainly, the Vedic mantras had already become
\nobscure and ill-understood at the time of the Brahmanas. And
\nstill the ground work may have been there from the beginning. It is, of course,
\nin the end a question of fact; but my present contention is only that there is no
\na priori <\/i>impossibility, but rather a <\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\nconsiderable probability or at least strong possibility in favour
\nof my suggestion. I will put my argument in this way. The later
\nhymns undoubtedly contain a beginning of the Brahmavada;<\/font> 
\nhow did it begin, had it no root origins in the earlier mantras ?
\nIt is certain that some of the gods, Varuna, Saraswati, had a
\npsychological as well as a physical function. I go further and say
\nthat this double function can everywhere be traced in the Veda
\nwith regard  to other gods, as for instance, Agni and even the
\nMaruts. Why not then pursue the inquiry on these lines and see how far it will
\ngo? There is at least a prima facie <\/i>ground for consideration, and to begin with, I demand no more. An examination of the actual text of the hymns can alone show how far the
\ninquiry will be justified or produce results of a high importance.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnother a<\/i> priori <\/i>objection comes from the side of orthodox
\ntradition. What it amounts to is an objection to go behind the
\nauthority of Sayana, who belongs to an age at least two or three
\nthousand years later than the Veda, and of Yaska, the ancient lexicographer. Besides, the Veda is currently regarded as
\nKarmakānda<\/i>, a book of ritual works, the Vedanta only as j\u00f1ānakānda<\/i>, a book of knowledge. In an extreme orthodox
\nstandpoint it is objected that reason, the critical faculty, the
\nhistorical argument have nothing to do with the question; the
\nVedas are beyond such tests, in form and substance eternal, in
\ninterpretation only to be explained by traditional authority. That attitude is
\none with which I am not concerned; I am seeking for the truth of this matter and I cannot be stopped by a
\ndenial of my right to seek for any truth contrary to tradition.
\nBut if in a more moderate form the argument be that when there
\nis an unbroken and consistent ancient tradition, there is no
\njustification in going behind it, then the obvious reply is that
\nthere is no such thing. Sayana moves amidst a constant uncertainty, gives various possibilities, fluctuates in his interpretations.
\nNot only so, but though usually faithful to the ritualistic and
\nexternal sense he distinguishes and quotes occasionally various
\nancient schools of interpretation, one of which is spiritual and
\nphilosophic and finds the sense of the Upanishads in the Veda.
\nEven he feels himself obliged sometimes, though very rarely, to
\nfollow its suggestions. And if we go back to the earliest times we<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\nsee that the Brahmanas give a mystically ritualistic interpretation
\nof the Veda, the Upanishads treat the Riks as a book not of
\nritual, but of spiritual knowledge. There is therefore nothing
\nfantastically new or revolutionary in an attempt to fix the psychological and spiritual purport of the Rig-veda.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nA last objection remains that the interpretation of the Veda
\nhas been a field for the exercise of the most extraordinary ingenuity, each attempt arriving at widely different results, and
\nmine is only one ingenuity the more. If it were so, then I stand in
\ngood company. The interpretations of Sayana are packed with
\nthe most strained and far-fetched ingenuities, which not unoften
\nlight-heartedly do violence to grammar, syntax, order, connection, on the idea that the Rishis were in no way restrained by
\nthese things. Yaska is full of etymological and other ingenuities, some of them of a most astonishing kind. The scholarship
\nof Europe has built up by a system of ingenious guesses and deductions a new version and evolved the history, true or imaginative, of an Aryan invasion and a struggle between Aryan and
\nDravidian which was never before suspected in the long history
\nof Vedic interpretation. The same charge has been brought
\nagainst Swami Dayananda’s commentary. Nevertheless, the universality of the method does not make it valid, nor have I any
\nneed to take refuge in this excuse, which is not a justification. If
\nmy or any interpretation is got by a straining of the text, a licentious or fantastic rendering or a foreign importation, then it can
\nhave no real value. The present volume, which I hope to make
\nthe first of a series, is intended to show my method actually at
\nwork and dispel this objection by showing the grounds and
\njustification.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI hold that three processes are necessary for a valid interpretation of the Veda. First, there must be a straightforward rendering word by word of the text which shall stick to a plain and
\nsimple sense at once suggested by the actual words, no matter
\nwhat the result may be. Then, this result has to be taken and it
\nhas to be seen what is its actual purport and significance. That
\nmeaning must be consistent, coherent with itself; it must show
\neach hymn as a whole in itself proceeding from idea to idea,
\nlinked together in sequence, as any literary creation of the human<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\n

\nmind must be linked which has not been written by lunatics or is
\nnot merely a string of disconnected cries. It is impossible to suppose that these Rishis, competent metrists, possessed of a style of
\ngreat power and mobility, composed without the sequence of
\nideas which is the mark of all adequate literary creation. And if
\nwe suppose them to be divinely inspired, mouthpieces of Brahman or the Eternal, there is no ground for supposing that the
\ndivine wisdom is more incoherent in its word than the human
\nmind, it should rather be more luminous and satisfying in its
\ntotality. Finally, if a symbolic interpretation is put on any part
\nof the text, it must arise directly and clearly from suggestions
\nand language of the Veda itself and must not be brought in
\nfrom outside.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nA few words may be useful on each of these points. The first
\nrule I follow is to try to get at the simplest and straightforward
\nsense to which the Rik is open, not to strain, twist and involve.
\nThe Vedic style is terse, but natural, it has its strong brevities
\nand some ellipses, but all the same it is essentially simple and
\ngoes straight to its object. Where it seems obscure, it is because
\nwe do not know the meaning of the words or miss the clue to the
\nidea. Even if at one or two places, it seems to be tortured, that is
\nno reason why we should put the whole Veda on the rack or even
\nin these places torture it still worse in the effort to get at a sense.
\nWhere the meaning of a word has to be fixed, this difficulty comes
\neither because we have no clue to the true meaning or because it is capable in the language of several meanings. In the latter case
\nI follow certain fixed canons. First, if the word is one of the
\nstanding terms of the Veda intimately bound up with its religious
\nsystem, then I must first find one single meaning which attaches
\nto it wherever it occurs; I am not at liberty to vary its sense from
\nthe beginning according to my pleasure or fancy or sense of
\nimmediate fitness. If I interpret a book of obscure Christian
\ntheology, I am not at liberty to interpret freely the constantly
\nrecurring word grace <\/i>sometimes as the influx of the divine favour,
\nsometimes as one of the three Graces, sometimes as charm of
\nbeauty, sometimes as grace marks in an examination, sometimes
\nas the name of a girl. If in one it evidently bears this or that
\nsense and can have no other, if it has no reference to the ordinary <\/font><\/p>\n

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\n

\nmeaning, then indeed it is different; but I must not put in one of
\nthese other meanings where the normal sense fits the context.
\nIn other cases I may have greater freedom, but this freedom must
\nnot degenerate into licence. Thus the word ṛtam <\/i>may signify, we
\nare told, truth, sacrifice, water, motion and a number of other
\nthings. Sayana .interprets freely without obvious rule or reason
\naccording to any of them and sometimes gives us no alternative;<\/font> 
\nnot only does he interpret it variously in  different hymns, but in
\nthree different senses in the same hymn or even in the same line.
\nI hold this to be quite illegitimate. Ritam is a standing term of
\nthe Veda and I must take it consistently. If I find truth to be its
\nsense in that standing significance, I must so interpret it always,
\nunless in any given passage it evidently means water or sacrifice
\nor the man who has gone and cannot mean truth. To translate so
\nstriking a phrase as ṛtasya panthāḥ <\/i>in one passage as the "path of
\ntruth", in another "the path of sacrifice", in another "the path
\nof water", in another "the path of the one who has gone" is a
\nsheer licence, and if we follow such a method, there can be no
\nsense for the Veda except the sense of our own individual caprice.
\nThen again we have the word Deva, which undoubtedly means in
\nninety-nine places out of a hundred, one of the shining ones, a
\ngod. Even though this is not so vital a term as ṛtam<\/i>, still I must
\nnot take it in the sense of a priest or intelligent man or any
\nother significance, where the word ‘god’ gives a good and sufficient meaning unless it can be shown that it is undoubtedly capable of another sense in the mouth of the Rishis. On the other
\nhand, a word like ari <\/i>means sometimes a fighter, one’s own champion, sometimes a hostile fighter, assailant, enemy, sometimes it
\nis an adjective and seems almost equivalent to arya <\/i>or even ārya<\/i>.
\nBut mark that these are all well-connected senses. Dayananda
\ninsists on a greater freedom of interpretation to suit the context.
\nSaindhava<\/i>, he says, means a horse or rock-salt; where it is a
\nquestion of eating we must interpret as salt, where it is a question
\nof riding, as horse. That is quite obvious; but the whole question
\nin the Veda is, what is the bearing of the context, what are its
\nconnections ? If we interpret according to our individual sense
\nof what the context ought to mean, we are building on quick-sands. The only safe rule is to fix the sense usually current in the<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\nVeda and admit variations only where they are evident from the
\ncontext. Where the ordinary sense makes a good meaning, I
\nought to accept it; it does not at all matter that that is not the
\nmeaning I should like it to have or the one suitable to my theory
\nof the Veda. But how to fix the meaning? We can evidently do it
\nonly on the totality or balance of the evidence of all the passages
\nin which the word occurs and, after that, on its suitability to the
\ngeneral sense of the Veda. If I show that ṛtam <\/i>in all passages can
\nmean truth, in a great number of passages, but not by any means
\nall, sacrifice, in only a few water, and in hardly any, motion, and
\nthis sense, truth, fits in with the general sense of the Veda then I
\nconsider I have made out an unanswerable case for taking it in
\nthat significance. In the cases of many words this can be done;<\/font> 
\nin others we have to strike a balance. There remain the words of
\nwhich frankly we do not know the meaning. Here we have to
\nuse the clue of etymology and then to test the meaning or possible
\nmeanings we arrive at by application to the passages in which the
\nword occurs, taking into consideration where necessary not only
\nthe isolated Riks, but the context around, and even the general
\nsense of Veda. In a few cases the word is so rare and obscure that
\nonly a quite conjectural meaning can be attached to it.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen we have got the rendering of the text,
\nwe have to see to what it amounts. Here what we have to do is to see the
\nconnections of the ideas in the verse itself, next its connection if any, with
\nthe ideas in the verses that precede and follow and with the general sense of
\nthe hymn; next parallel passages and ideas and hymns and finally the place of
\nthe whole in the scheme of ideas of the Veda. Thus in IV.7 we have the line <\/font>
\nअग्ने कदा त आनुषग् भुवद् देवस्य चेतनम् <\/font>
\nand I render it, "O Flame, when shall there be in uninterrupted
\nsequence the awakening (to knowledge or consciousness) of thee the god (the shining or luminous One) ?" But
\nthe question I have to put is this, "Does this mean the constant
\nburning of the physical fire on the altar and the ordered sequence
\nof the physical sacrifice, or does it mean the awakening to
\nconstant developing knowledge or ordered conscious action of
\nknowledge of the divine Flame in man ?" I note that in the next Rik (3) Agni is described as the possessor of truth (or of
\nsacrifice?), the entirely wise, <\/font>
\nऋतावानं विचेतसम्, <\/font>
\n(in 4) as the vision or<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

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\n

\nknowledge, the perception shining for each creature, <\/font>
\nकेतुं… भृगवाणं विशेविशे  <\/font>
\n(in 5) as the Priest who knows, <\/font>
\nहोतारं… चिकित्वांसम्<\/font> (in 6) as
\nthe bright one in the secrecy who has perfect knowledge, <\/font>
\nचित्रं… गुहा हितम् सुवेदम्<\/font>, (in 7 and 8) as coming possessed of the truth for the
\nsacrifice when the gods rejoice in the seat of the Truth, as the messenger, <\/font>
\nॠतस्य धमन् रणयन्त देवा:… वेरध्वराय
\nसदमिदृतवा… दूत ईयसे. <\/font> All this is<\/font> 
\nample warrant for taking Agni not merely as the physical flame on
\nthe altar, but as a flame of divine knowledge guiding the sacrifice
\nand mediating between man and the gods. The balance is also,
\nthough not indisputably, in favour of taking it as a reference to
\nthe inner sacrifice under the cover of the outer symbols; for why
\nshould there be so much stress on divine knowledge if the question were only of a physical sacrifice for physical fruits ? I know
\nthat he is the priest, sage, messenger, eater, swift traveller and
\nwarrior. How are these ideas, both successive and interwoven
\nin the Veda, connected together ? Is it the physical sacred flame
\nthat is all these things or the inner sacred flame ? There is sufficient warrant even in provisionally taking it for the inner flame;<\/font> 
\nbut to be sure I cannot rely on this one Rik. I have to note the
\nevolution of the same ideas in other hymns, to study all the
\nhymns dedicated to Agni or in which he is mentioned, to see
\nwhether there are passages in which he is undoubtedly the inner
\nflame and what light they shed on his whole physiognomy. Only
\nthen shall I be in a position to judge certainly the significance of
\nthe Vedic Fire.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis example will show the method I follow
\nin regard to the third question, the interpretation of the Vedic symbols. That
\nthere are a mass of figures and symbols in the hymns, there can be no doubt. The
\ninstances in this 7th hymn of the Fourth Mandala are sufficient by themselves to
\nshow how large a part they play. In the absence of any contemporary evidence of
\nthe sense which the Rishis attached to them, we have to seek for their meaning
\nin the Veda itself. Obviously, where we do not know we cannot do without a
\nhypothesis, and my hypothesis is that of the outer material form as a
\nsignificant symbol of an inner spiritual meaning. But this or any hypothesis can
\nhave no real value if it is brought in from outside, if it is not suggested by
\nthe words and indications of the Veda itself. The Brahmanas are<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 475<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ntoo full of ingenuities; they read too much
\nand too much at random into the text. The Upanishads give a better light and we may
\nget hints from later work and even from Sayana and Yaska, but
\nit would be dangerous at once to read back literally the ideas of
\na later mentality into this exceedingly ancient scripture. We
\nmust start from and rely on the Veda to interpret the Veda. We
\nhave to see, first, whether there are any plain and evident psychological and spiritual conceptions, what they are, what clue
\nthey give us, secondly, whether there are any indications of psychological meanings for physical symbols and how the outer physical is related to the inner psychological side. Why, for instance,
\nis the Flame Agni called the seer and knower? Why are the
\nrivers called the waters that have knowledge ? Why are they said
\nto ascend or get on the mind ? And a host of other similar questions. The answer again must be found by a minute comparative
\nstudy of the Vedic hymns themselves. In this volume I proceed
\nby development. I take each hymn, get at its first meaning; I see
\nwhether there are any psychological indications and what is their
\nforce and what their interweaving and relation to the other surrounding ideas. I proceed thus from hymn to hymn linking them
\ntogether by their identical or similar ideas, figures, expressions.
\nIn this way it may be possible to arrive at a clear and connected
\ninterpretation of the Veda.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nThis method supposes that the hymns of the Rig-veda are
\none whole composed by different Rishis, but on the basis of a
\nsubstantially identical and always similar knowledge and one system of figures and symbols. This, I think, is evident on the very
\nsurface of the Veda. The only apparent exceptions are certain
\nhymns, mostly in the tenth Mandala, which seem to belong to
\na later development, some almost purely ritualistic, others more
\ncomplex and developed in symbol than the body of the Riks,
\nothers clearly announcing philosophical ideas with a modicum
\nof symbol, the first voices which announce the coming of the
\nUpanishads. Some hymns are highly archaic, others of a
\nmore clear and relatively modern type. But for the most part
\nthroughout we find the same substance, the same images,
\nideas, standing terms, the same phrases and expressions. Otherwise the problem would be insoluble; as it is, the Veda itself<\/font> <\/p>\n

 
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\n

\ngives a key to the Veda.<\/font> 
\nThe hymns I have chosen for a beginning are the fifteen
\nhymns of Vamadeva to Agni. I take them in the order that suits
\nme, for the first few are highly charged with symbol and therefore to us obscure and recondite. It is better to proceed from the
\nsimple to the difficult, for so we shall get better the preliminary
\nclue which may help us through the obscurity of the earlier
\nhymns.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nAgni, the Lord of Fire, is physically the god of the sacrificial
\nflame, the fire found in the tinders, in the plants, in the waters,
\nthe lightning, the fire of the sun, the fiery principle of heat and
\nlight, tapas<\/i>, tejas<\/i>, wherever it is found. The question is whether
\nhe is also the same principle in the psychical world. If he is, then
\nhe must be that psychological principle called Tapas in the later
\nterminology. The Vedic Agni has two characteristics, knowledge
\nand a blazing power, light and fiery force. This suggests that he
\nis the force of the universal Godhead, a conscious force or Will
\ninstinct with knowledge, \u2014 that is the nature of Tapas, \u2014 which
\npervades the world and is behind all its workings. Agni then in
\nthe psychical and spiritual sense of his functions would be the
\nfire of a Will doing the works of its own inherent and innate
\nknowledge. He is the seer, <\/font>
\nकवि: <\/font>
\n, the supreme mover of thought,
\n<\/font>
\nप्रथमो मनोता<\/font>, the mover too of speech and the Word, <\/font>
\nउपवक्ता जनानाम्<\/font>,<\/strike> the power in the heart that works, <\/font>
\nहृदिस्पृशं क्रतुम्<\/font>, the impeller of action and movement, the divine guide of man in the
\nact of sacrifice. He is the Priest of the sacrifice, Hotri, he who
\ncalls and brings the gods and gives to them the offering, the Ritwik, who sacrifices in right order and right season, the purifying
\npriest, Potri, the Purohita, he who stands in front as the representative of the sacrificer, the conductor of the sacrifice, Adhwaryu; he combines all the sacred offices. It is evident that these
\nfunctions all belong to the divine Will or conscient power in man
\nwhich awakes in the inner sacrifice. This Fire has built all the
\nworlds; this creative Power, Agni Jatavedas, knows all the
\nbirths, all that is in the worlds; he is the messenger who knows
\nearth, knows how to ascend the difficult slope of heaven, ārodhanam divaḥ<\/i>), <\/font>
\nआरोधनं दिव:<\/font>, knows the way to the home of the
\nTruth; he mediates between God and man. These things apply <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 477<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nonly with difficulty to the god of physical fire; they are of a striking appropriateness if we take a larger view of the divine nature
\nand functions of the god Agni. He is a god of the earth, a force
\nof material being, <\/font>
\nअवम:  <\/font>
\n; but he seems to be a vital (Pranic) force
\nof will in desire, devouring, burning through his own smoke;<\/font> 
\nand again he is a mental power. Men see him like heaven with
\nstars <\/font>
\nद्याइम्व स्तृभि:; <\/font>
\nheaven and the mid-world and earth are his
\nportion. But again he is a god of Swar, one of the solar deities;  he manifests himself as Surya; he is born in the Truth, a master
\nof Truth, a guardian of Truth and Immortality, a getter and
\nkeeper of the shining herds, the eternal Youth, and he renews
\nthe youth of these mystic cattle. He is triply extended in the
\nInfinite. All these functions cannot be predicated of the god of
\nphysical fire; but they are all just attributes of the conscient
\ndivine Will in man and the universe. He is the horse of battle and
\nthe horse of swiftness and again he gives the white horse; he is
\nthe son and he creates for man the son. He is the warrior and he
\nbrings to man the heroes of his battle. He destroys by his flame
\nthe Dasyu and the Rakshasa; he is a Vritra-slayer. Are we to see
\nhere the slayer only of mortal Dravidians or of the demons who
\noppose the sacrifice ? He is born in a hundred ways; from the
\nplants, from the tinder, from the waters. His parents are the
\ntwo Aranis, but again his parents are Earth and Heaven, and
\nthere is a word which seems to combine both meanings. Are not
\nthe two Aranis then a symbol of Earth and Heaven, Agni
\nborn for mortals from the action of the diviner mental on
\nthe material being? The ten sisters are his mothers, \u2014the ten
\nfingers, says the scholiast; yes, but the Veda describes them as
\nthe ten thoughts or thought-powers, <\/font>
\nदश धिय:<\/font> . The seven rivers,
\nthe mighty ones of heaven, the waters that have knowledge, the
\nwaters of Swar are also his mothers. What is the significance of
\nthis symbolism, and can we really interpret it as only and solely
\na figurative account of natural phenomena, of the physical principle or works of Fire ? There is at least here, to put the thing in
\nits lowest terms, a strong possibility of a deeper psychological
\nfunctioning of Agni. These are the main points for solution.
\nLet us see then how the physiognomy of Agni evolves in the Riks;<\/font> 
\nkeeping our minds open, let us examine whether the hypothesis <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 478<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof Agni as one of the Gods of the Vedic Mysteries is tenable or
\nuntenable. And that means, whether the Veda is a semi-barbaric
\nbook of ritual hymns, the book of a primitive Nature-worship or
\na scripture of the seers and mystics.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nMANDALA 
\n<\/span>IV    SUKTA 
\n<\/span>7    MANTRAS 
\n<\/span>1-3<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nअयं <\/font>
\nthis (before you) <\/font>
\nहोता <\/font>
\nHotri, <\/font>
\nप्रथम:<\/font>
\nfirst or supreme, <\/font>यजिष्ठ: (यष्ट्टतम:) <\/font>
\nmost strong for sacrifice, <\/font>
\nअध्वरेषु ईडय:<\/font> adorable in the (pilgrim) sacrifices <\/font>
\nइह धायि <\/font>
\nhas here been set <\/font>
\nधातृभि:<\/font> by the Ordainers
\n(of things), <\/font>यं <\/font>
\nhe whom <\/font>
\nअप्नवान: भृगव: <\/font>
\nApnavana and the Bhrigus <\/font>
\nविरुरुचु:<\/font> made to shine, <\/font>
\nवनेशु चित्रं <\/font>
\nluminous (or variegated) in the
\nwoods (or in the logs), <\/font>विभ्वं <\/font>
\npervading, <\/font>
\nविशे-विशे <\/font>
\nfor creature and
\ncreature or for each (human) being.<\/font><\/p>\n

 
\n <\/p>\n

\nCRITICAL
\n<\/span>NOTES<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nधातृभि:  <\/font>
\n Sayana explains <\/font>
\nधातृ <\/font>
\n as one who does action for the
\nsacrifice, therefore a priest. But <\/font>
\nधातार:<\/font> here would more naturally signify the gods, creators and ordainers of things, though it is
\npossible to take it as the arrangers of the sacrificial action. The
\nclose collocation <\/font>
\nधायि धातृभि:<\/font> can hardly be void of all significance. The gods are those who place or arrange the order of
\ncreation, set each thing in its place, to its law and its function;<\/font> 
\nthey have set Agni here, <\/font>
\nइह <\/font>
\n. ‘Here’ may mean in the sacrifice, but
\nmore generally it would mean here on earth.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nहोता:<\/font> Sayana takes sometimes as "the summoner of the
\ngods", sometimes "the performer of the Homa, the burned
\noffering". In fact it contains both significances. Agni as Hotri
\ncalls the gods to the sacrifice by the Mantra and, on their coming,
\ngives to them the offering.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nअध्वरेषु:<\/font> the word <\/font>
\nअध्वर <\/font>
\nis explained by the Nirukta as meaning
\nliterally <\/font>
\nअहिंस्र:<\/font>, "unhurting", <\/font>
\nअ + ध्वर <\/font>
\nfrom <\/font>
\nध्वृ<\/font>, and so, the unhurt
\nsacrifice, and so simply sacrifice. Certainly, it is used as an
\nadjective qualifying qir, <\/font>
\n यज्ञ अध्वरो यज्ञ: <\/font>
\nIt must therefore express some<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 479<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ncharacteristic so inherent in the sacrifice as to be able to convey
\nby itself that significance. But how can the "unhurting" come to
\nmean by itself the sacrifice ? I suggest that as in <\/font>
\nअसुर <\/font>
\nit is a mistake
\nto take the <\/font>
\nअ <\/font>
\nas preventive, <\/font>
\nअसुर <\/font>
\ncomes from <\/font>
\nअसु <\/font>
\n(not <\/font>
\nअस्<\/font>) and
\nmeans strong, forceful, mighty, <\/font>
\nअध्वर <\/font>
\n is similarly formed from <\/font>
\nअध्वन्<\/font>, path, journey. It means the pilgrim-sacrifice, the sacrifice
\nwhich travels from’ earth to heaven, led by Agni along the path
\nof the gods. If we must take the word from <\/font>
\nध्वृ<\/font>, it is better to take
\nthe ordinary sense of <\/font>
\nध्वृ<\/font>, not crooked, straight, and then it
\nwould still mean the sacrifice which goes straight undeviating by
\nthe straight path to the gods, <\/font>
\nॠजु, पन्था अनृक्षर: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nईडय:<\/font> Sayana: "who is praised or hymned" by the Ritwiks.
\nBut it must then mean "worthy to be hymned". <\/font>
\nईळ्, ईड् <\/font>
\nmust
\nhave meant originally to go, approach; it came to mean to pray
\nto, ask for, desire, <\/font>
\nयाचामहै. <\/font>
\nI take it in the sense of "desirable"
\nor "adorable".<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nवनेषु: वन <\/font>
\nmeans in the Veda tree, wood, but also log, timber. <\/font>
\nचित्रं<\/font> Sayana takes <\/font>
\nचित्र <\/font>
\nsometimes <\/font>
\nचायनीयं =
\nपूज्यं<\/font>, sometimes <\/font>
\nविचित्र<\/font>,
\nvaried or wonderful. Here "variedly beautiful". It is in this last
\nsense of varied light or beauty that I take it in all passages in the
\nVeda as in <\/font>
\nइन्द्र चित्र्भानो<\/font>. I can see no reason for taking it anywhere as <\/font>
\nपूजनीय<\/font>.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nविभ्वं<\/font>: Sayana: "lord". But <\/font>
\nविभु <\/font>
\nin Rig-veda means certainly
\n"widely becoming" or "wide in being" or "pervading, abundant,
\nopulent". I find no passage in which it must mean lord, the later
\nclassical sense, <\/font>
\nविभ्व <\/font>
\nmust bear the same sense as <\/font>
\nविभु<\/font>.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTranslation:<\/font><\/p>\n

\n"Lo, here has been set by the Ordainer, the
\nPriest of the offering, the supreme, the most mighty in sacrifice, one to be adored
\nin the pilgrim-sacrifices, whom Apnavana and the Bhrigus made
\nto shine out all-pervading, rich in hues, in the woods, for each
\nhuman creature."<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis is the first Rik; it contains nothing of an undoubtedly
\npsychological significance. In the external sense it is a statement
\nof the qualities of Agni as priest of the sacrifice. He is pointed to
\nin his body of the sacrificial fire kindled, put there in his place <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 480<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nor sent by the priests. It amounts to an obvious statement that
\nthis sacred flame is a great power for the sacrifice; that he is the
\nchief of the gods who has to be hymned or adored, that Apnavana and other Bhrigus first discovered the (sacrificial?) use of
\nthe fire and caused it to be used by all men. The description here
\nof the forest fire seems inappropriate unless it is meant that they
\ngot the idea by seeing Agni burning widely and beautifully as a
\nforest fire or that they discovered it by seeing the fire produced
\nby the clashing of boughs or that they first lit it in the shape of a
\nforest fire. Otherwise it is an ornamental and otiose description. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut if we assume for the moment that behind this image
\nAgni is hinted at as the Hotri of the inner sacrifice, then it is
\nworth seeing what these images mean. The first words tell us
\nthat this flame of conscient Will, this great thing within us, <\/font>
\nअयमिह <\/font>
\n  has been set here in man by the Gods, the creators of the
\norder of the world, to be the power by which he aspires and calls
\nthe other divine Forces into his being and consecrates his knowledge, will, joy, and all the wealth of his inner life as a sacrificial
\naction to the Lords of the Truth. These first words then amount
\nfor the initiate to a statement of the fundamental idea of the
\nVedic mysteries, the meaning of the sacrifice, the idea of a God-will in man, the Immortal in mortals,<\/font> अमर्त्य…
\nमर्त्येषु<\/font>. This flame is
\nspoken of as the supreme or first power. The godward will leads
\nall the other godward powers; its presence is the beginning of the
\nmovement to the Truth and Immortality and the head too of the
\nmarch. It is the greatest power in the conduct of the mystic
\ndiscipline, <\/font>
\nयजिष्ठ<\/font>,
\n<\/font> the most mighty for sacrifice. Man’s sacrifice
\nis a pilgrimage and the divine Will its leader; therefore it is that
\nwhich we must adore or pray to or ask for its presence in each
\nsacrificial action.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe second line of the Rik gives us a statement of the first
\ndiscovery or birth of this Flame among men. For the spirit is
\nthere concealed in man, guhā hita<\/i>, as it is said in Veda and
\nUpanishad, in the inner cave of our being; and his will is a spiritual will, hidden there in the spirit, present indeed in all our
\noutward being and action; for all being and action are of the
\nspirit, but still its real nature, its native action is concealed,
\naltered, not manifest in the material life in its true nature of a <\/font>  <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 481<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nspiritual force. This is a fundamental idea of Vedic thinking;<\/font> 
\nand if we keep it well in mind, we shall be able to understand the
\npeculiar imagery of the Veda. Earth is the image of the material
\nbeing; material being, delight, action, etc. are the growths of
\nEarth; therefore their image is the forests, the trees, plants, all
\nvegetation, <\/font><\/p>\n

वन वनस्पति ओशधि<\/font>. Agni is hidden in the trees and plants,
\nhe is the secret heat and fire in everything that grows on earth,
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

वनेषु.<\/font> All that we take pleasure in in the material life, could not be
\nor grow without the presence of the secret flame of the spirit. The
\nawakening of the fire by the friction of the Aranis, the rubbing
\ntogether of the two pieces of tinder-wood is one way of making
\nAgni to shine out in his own form, <\/font><\/p>\n

रूपे<\/font>, but this is said elsewhere
\nto have been the work of the Angiras Rishis. Here the making
\nof Agni so to shine is attributed to Apnavana and the Bhrigus
\nand there is no indication of the method. It is simply indicated
\nthat they made him to shine out so that he burned with a beauty
\nof varied light in the woodlands, a pervading presence, <\/font><\/p>\n

वनेषु चित्रं
\nविभ्वम्<\/font>. This must mean in the esoteric symbolism a rich and varied
\nmanifestation of the flame of divine will and knowledge in the
\nphysical life of man, seizing on its growths, all its being, action,
\npleasure, making it its food, <\/font><\/p>\n

अन्नम्<\/font>, and devouring and turning it
\ninto material for the spiritual existence. But this manifestation of
\nthe spirit in the physical life of man was made available by the
\nBhrigus to each human creature <\/font><\/p>\n

विशे-विशे <\/font>
\n \u2014 we must presume,
\nby the order of the sacrifice. This Agni, this general flame of the
\ndivine Will-force, was turned by them into the Hotri of the
\nsacrifice.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe question remains, who are the Bhrigus of whom we
\nmay suppose that Apnavana is in this action at least the head or
\nchief? Is it simply meant to preserve a historical tradition that
\nthe Bhrigus like the Angiras Rishis were founders of the esoteric
\nVedic knowledge and discipline? But this supposition, possible
\nin itself, is contradicted by the epithet <\/font><\/p>\n

भृगवाणम् <\/font>
\nin verse 4 which
\nevidently refers back to this first Rik. Sayana interprets there,
\n"acting like Bhrigu" and to act like Bhrigu is to shine. We find this
\nsignificant fact emerge, admitted even by the ritualistic commentator in spite of his attachment to a rational matter of fact,
\nthat some at least of the traditional Rishis and their families are<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 482<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsymbolic in their character. The Bhrigus in the Veda (<\/font>
\nभृज्<\/font>to burn)
\nare evidently burning powers of the Sun, the Lord of Knowledge, just as the Angiras Rishis are very evidently the seven
\nlustres of Agni, <\/font><\/p>\n

सप्त धामानि<\/font>, \u2014 Sayana says the live coals of the
\nfire, but that is a mere etymological ingenuity \u2014 the hints are
\neverywhere in the Veda, but it is made quite clear in the tenth
\nMandala. The whole idea, then, comes out with convincing
\nluminosity. It is the powers of the revelatory knowledge, the
\npowers of the seer-wisdom, represented by the Bhrigus who
\nmake this great discovery of the spiritual will-force and make it
\navailable to every human creature. Apnavana means he who
\nacts or he who attains and acquires. It is the seer-wisdom that
\nscales and attains in the light of the revelation which leads
\nthe Bhrigus to the discovery. This completes the sense of the
\nRik.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nIt will be at once said that this is an immense deal to read
\ninto this single Rik, and that there is here no actual clue to any
\nsuch meaning. No actual clue, indeed, only covert hints, which
\nit is easy to pass over and ignore, \u2014 that was what the Mystics
\nintended the profanum vulgus<\/i>, not excluding the uninitiated
\nPundit, should do. I bring in these meanings from the indications
\nof the rest of the Veda. But in the hymn itself so far as this first
\nRik goes, it might well be a purely ritualistic verse. But only if
\nit is taken by itself. The moment we pass on, we land full into
\na mass of clear psychological suggestions. This will begin to be
\napparent even as early as the second verse.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n

\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nअग्ने <\/font>
\nO Agni, <\/font>
\nकदा <\/font>
\nwhen<\/font>
\nते<\/font> <\/font>
\nदेवस्य चेतनं
\n<\/font>the awakening to knowledge (consciousness) of thee the god <\/font>
\nआनिषग् भुवत् <\/font>
\nmay it be
\ncontinuously (in uninterrupted sequence), arm <\/font>
\nअधा हि <\/font>
\nfor then (or,
\nnow indeed) <\/font>मर्तास:<\/font> mortals <\/font>
\nत्वा जगृभ्रिरे <\/font>
\nhave seized (taken and
\nheld) thee <\/font>विक्षु ईडयं <\/font>
\nadorable in (human) beings (or among the
\npeoples).<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 483<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nCRITICAL
\n<\/span>NOTES<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\nदेवस्य:  <\/font>
\nSayana takes <\/font>
\nदेव <\/font>
\nsometimes in the sense of "god", sometimes as equivalent simply to an epithet "shining". The Gods
\nare called <\/font>देवा:<\/font> because they are the Shining Ones, the Children
\nof Light; and the word may well have recalled always that idea
\nto the Rishis; but I do not think <\/font>देव <\/font>
\nis ever in the Veda merely a colourless epithet; in all passages the sense "god" or "divine"
\ngives excellent sense and I see no good reason for taking it
\notherwise.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nचेतनं: <\/font>
\nSayana takes = <\/font>
\nतेज:<\/font>, but <\/font>
\nचित् <\/font>
\ndoes not mean to shine,
\nit means always, "to be conscious, aware, know", <\/font>
\nचेतति, चेतयति <\/font>
\n=
\nknows, causes to know, <\/font>चेतस् <\/font>
\n= heart, mind, knowledge, <\/font>
\nचैतन्यं, चेतना <\/font>
\n= consciousness, <\/font>
\nचितं<\/font>
\n= heart, consciousness, mind. To take it
\nhere = light, except by figure, is deliberately to dodge without
\nany justification the plain psychological suggestion. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nअधा: अ-धा <\/font>
\n= in this or that way, thus, but also then or now. Sayana takes it = therefore with <\/font>
\nभुवत् <\/font>
\npreparing for <\/font>
\nहि <\/font>
\n = because,
\nfor this reason: why thy light should be continuous? because…
\n(a very forced structure absolutely unnatural and contrary to
\norder, movement and the plain sequence of sense).<\/font><\/p>\n

\nजगृभ्रिरे: <\/font>
\na Vedic form, taken by the grammarians as derived
\nfrom <\/font>ग्रह् <\/font>
\nto seize, by change of <\/font>
\nह् <\/font>
\n to <\/font>
\nभ्<\/font>, more probably an old root
\n<\/font>गृभ् <\/font>
\nand a peculiar archaic formation. If the force is "for him they
\nseize", the perfect (tense) giving the sense of an already completed
\naction, in English one would (say) "will have seized", i.e. "when
\nthou knowest continuously". Or take <\/font>
\nअधा <\/font>
\n= now, "now indeed
\nthey have seized but have not yet the <\/font>
\nआनुषग् चेतनम्<\/font>". But this
\ndoes not make so good a sense and brings in besides an awkward
\ninversion and ellipse.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTranslation:<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n"O Flame, when shall thy awakening to
\nknowledge be a continuous sequence ? For then shall men have seized on thee as one
\nto be adored in creatures."<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHere we get the first plain psychological suggestion in the<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 484<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nword <\/font>
\nचेतनम्<\/font>. But what is the sense of this continuous knowing or
\nawakening to knowledge of Agni ? First, we may try to get rid of
\nthe psychological suggestion, take <\/font>चेतनं <\/font>
\n= consciousness, and the
\nconsciousness of the fire as simply a poetic figure for its burning.
\nBut against this we have the repetition of the phrase in the <\/font>
\nआनुषक् चेतनं
\n<\/font>in the <\/font>
\nअग्निर्देवस्य आनुषक् चिकित्वांसं <\/font>
\nof Rik 5 which certainly
\nmeans conscious knowledge and not merely burning; the next
\nverse (3) in which the idea of <\/font>चेतनं <\/font>
\nis taken up and the word itself
\nechoed in the two opening words <\/font>ॠतावानं विचेतसं<\/font>, possessed of
\ntruth, complete in knowledge (wisdom), applied to the god.
\nTo shut one’s eyes to this emphatic indication and take <\/font>
\nचेतनं <\/font>
\n= merely <\/font>
\nज्वलनं <\/font>
\nwould be
\na mere dodge. Does it then mean the continuous burning of the flame of the physical sacrifice, but with
\nthis idea that the flame is the body of the god and indicates the
\npresence of the conscious deity? But in what then does the
\nknowledge or wisdom of Agni consist ? It may be said that he is
\nwise only as the <\/font>होता<\/font>, a seer, <\/font>
\nकवि:<\/font>, who knows the way to heaven
\n(Verse 8). But what then of the <\/font>ॠतावानं
\nविचेतसम्<\/font>? That must surely
\nrefer to some greater knowledge, some great Truth which Agni
\npossesses. Does it at all refer to a god of physical Fire alone or to
\nthe knowledge and wisdom of an inner Fire, the flame of the
\nGod-Force or God-Will in man and the world, <\/font>
\nदेवस्य<\/font>, the shining
\nOne, the Guest, the Seer, <\/font>अतिथि: कवि:<\/font>?<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI take it in this sense. The Rishi cries to this inner Flame,
\n"When wilt thou shine in me continuously, on the altar of my
\nsacrifice; when wilt thou be a constant force of knowledge to
\ngive all the uninterrupted sequence, relation, order, completeness
\nof the revelations of wisdom, speaking always and wholly its
\nwords, <\/font>काव्यानि <\/font>
\n?" If it refers at all to the inner flame, this must
\nbe the sense. We must remember that in the Vedic symbolism
\nit was by the continuous sacrifice all round the symbolic year,
\nthe nine or the ten months of the sacrifice of the Angirasas,
\nthat the Sun, Master of the Truth, the Wisdom, was recovered
\nfrom the cave of darkness. The repeated single sacrifice is only
\na preparation for this continuity of the revealing Flame. It is
\nonly then that men not only awake Agni from time to time, by
\nrepeated pressure, but have and hold continuously the inner
\nflame of will and knowledge, a present godhead, the one whom<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 485<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

we then see and adore in all conscious
\nthinking beings. Or we
\nmay take the last two padas<\/i> in the sense "now indeed they seize"
\netc. and we will have to take it in the opposite sense, i.e., that for
\nthe present men do not have this continuous flame, but only lay
\nhold of him for the actual duration in the effort of sacrifice. This
\nis possible, but does not make so natural a sense; it arises less
\nsimply and directly, from the actual words. It is in the next two
\nRiks (3, 4) that the present action of Agni before his <\/font>
\nआनुषक् चेतनं <\/font>
\nis described, while in Rik 5 the Rishi returns to the idea of the
\ngreater continuous flame of knowledge, repeating the <\/font>
\nआनुषक् चेतनं <\/font>
\nstill more significantly in the <\/font>
\nआनुषक् चिकित्वांसं <\/font>
\nof that verse. This
\nseems to me the evident natural order of the thought in the
\nSukta.<\/font>  <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nपश्यन्त:<\/font> they see him <\/font>
\nॠतावानं
\n(ॠतवन्तम्) <\/font>
\nhaving the truth,
\n<\/font>विचेतसं <\/font>
\ncompletely wise <\/font>
\n द्यामिव स्तृभि: <\/font>
\nlike heaven with stars, <\/font>
\nहस्कर्तारं <\/font>
\nthe maker to shine <\/font>
\nविश्वेषामध्वराणां <\/font>
\nof all (pilgrim) sacrifice <\/font>
\nदमे-दमे (गृहे-गृहे) <\/font>
\nhouse and house.<\/font> <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nCRITICAL
\n<\/span>NOTES<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nॠतावानम्, ॠत + वन् = ॠतावान्  <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

The Vedic suffix <\/font>
\nवन् <\/font>
\nhas the same force
\nas the classical <\/font>
\nवत् ॠतावा = ॠतवान् ॠत <\/font>
\nfrom root <\/font>
\nॠ <\/font>
\nto go. Hence the sense ‘water’.
\nThe sense ‘truth’ may = what is learned, literally, what we go in
\nsearch of and attain or what we go over and so learn (of <\/font>
\nॠषि<\/font>),
\nbut it may also come from the idea of straightness, latin rectum,
\n<\/i><\/font>
\nॠजु<\/font>. How it comes to mean sacrifice is not so clear, perhaps from
\nthe idea of rite, observance, rule, <\/font>
\nविधि<\/font>, or a line followed, cf. Latin regula,<\/i> rule; or again action, <\/font>
\nकर्म<\/font>, and so the sacrificial action; verbs of motion often bear also the
\nsense of action, cf. <\/font>
\nचरितं वृत्तम्<\/font>. <\/font>
\nॠतावा<\/font>,<\/i><\/strike> says Sayana, often may
\nmean possessed of truth or possessed of sacrifice. But here he takes it == truthful, free from deceit,<\/font>
\n<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 486<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nअमायिनम्. <\/font>
\nElsewhere he takes <\/font>
\nसत्य <\/font>
\nused as an epithet of Agni,
\n<\/font>
\nसत्यफ़ल<\/font>, giving a true fruit of the sacrifice. Oftenest he takes
\n<\/font>
\nॠत = यज्ञ<\/font>. But it is perfectly evident here that <\/font>
\nॠतावानं <\/font>
\nmust mean
\ntruth-having, in whatever sense we may take the truth of Agni.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nविचेतसं <\/font>
\n: Sayana: <\/font>
\nविशिष्टज्ञानं<\/font>, having a special, a great knowledge ; in Veda <\/font>
\nप्रचेता<\/font>: and <\/font><\/p>\n

विचेता<\/font>: are distinguished very much as <\/font>
\nप्रज्ञान <\/font>
\nand <\/font>
\nविज्ञान <\/font>
\nin the Upanishads and later Sanskrit; <\/font>
\n चेत<\/font>: or <\/font>
\nचिति <\/font>
\nstands for <\/font>
\nज्ञान<\/font>, the latter word being classical and not
\nVedic. n gives the idea of knowledge directed towards an object,
\n<\/font>
\nप्रचेता:<\/font> = intelligent, wise in a general sense (thus Sayana takes <\/font>
\nप्रकृष्ट्ज्ञान:<\/font> and makes no distinction between the words), <\/font>
\nवि<\/font>
\nmeans widely, pervadingly or else in high degree; <\/font>
\nविचेता:<\/font> means
\nthen having a complete or great or perfect knowledge, knowledge
\nof the whole and the parts.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nहस्कर्तारं <\/font>
\n: from <\/font>
\nहस् <\/font>
\nto shine, shining (from which comes the
\nsense, to smile) and <\/font>
\nकृ <\/font>
\nto make. Sayana says <\/font>
\nप्रकाशकम्<\/font>; illuminer
\nof the sacrifices.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nदमे-दमे <\/font>
\n: the Vedic word (Greek domos<\/i>, Latin
\ndomus<\/i>) means
\nalways "house"; it is pot used in the later classical sense of
\n"subduing, control",, etc.<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\nTranslation:<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n"They see the master of truth, the complete in wisdom like
\na heaven with stars, the illuminer of all pilgrim-sacrifices in
\nhouse and house."<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nIn this Rik the word <\/font>
\nविचेतसं <\/font>
\nevidently takes up the <\/font>
\nचेतनं <\/font>
\nof the
\nlast Rik; it means complete in knowledge and is coupled with
\n<\/font>
\nॠतावानं<\/font>, truth-having, possessed of truth; it is the god Agni, not
\nthe physical fire who is described by these epithets. Therefore
\n<\/font>
\nते चेतनं <\/font>
\nin the last Rik must mean Agni "awakening to knowledge"
\nor Agni’s awakening of man to knowledge, \u2014 for <\/font>
\nचेतयति <\/font>
\nmeans letting to know or to
\ncause to know, and cannot mean the burning of the physical flame. But what is this truth and knowledge
\nof Agni ? It is associated again in the next verse with his function
\nof illumining the sacrifice, <\/font>
\nअध्वराणां हस्कर्तारम्<\/font>. What is the illumination he gives to the sacrifice ? And what is meant by saying that<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 487<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhe is seen "like a heaven with stars". Sayana with much scholastic ingenuity, but in characteristic disregard of all good taste and
\nliterary judgment, says that the scattering sparks of the fire are
\nlike stars, therefore Agni is like heaven, \u2014 though there is no
\nreason to suppose that the <\/font>
\nस्तृभि:<\/font> here are shooting stars; I cannot imagine any poet with eyes in his head and a judgment and
\nsense of proportion in his brain so describing a fire burning on an
\naltar. But if it does not mean that, then we have here a purely
\nornamental description and very bad, exaggerated and vicious
\nornament at that. All that the verse will then mean is that men
\nsee this wise and truthful Agni in the physical form of the sacrificial fire shedding light by its flames on the whole business of
\nthe sacrifice. The two epithets are also then otiose ornament;<\/font> 
\nthere is then absolutely no connection between the idea
\nof Agni’s
\nwisdom and the image of the heaven with stars or the illumination of the sacrifice which is the main idea of the verse. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI go on the hypothesis, not, I think, an unfair one, that the
\nVedic Rishi Vamadeva like other poets wrote with some closer
\nconnection than that between their ideas. We must remember that in the last
\nverse he has desired, what he has not got, the continuous knowledge of Agni and said that then indeed men hold
\nand possess him. But how do they see him before that continuously, though after the Bhrigus have found him for the utility
\nof each human being ? They see him as the master of truth, the
\ncomplete in knowledge, but as we must suppose, \u2014 they do not
\nyet possess him in all his truth or his complete knowledge; for he
\nis seen only as a heaven with stars and as an illuminer of their
\nsacrifices. A heaven with stars is heaven at night without the
\nlight of the sun. Agni in the Veda is described as shining even in
\nthe night, giving light in the night, burning through the nights
\ntill there comes the dawn, \u2014 which too is brought by him aiding
\nIndra and the Angirasas. If the meaning of Agni is the inner
\nflame, this gets a striking, appropriate and profound meaning. In the Veda
\ndarkness or night is the symbol of the ignorant mentality, as is the day and its sunlight of the illumined mentality.
\nBut before there is the day or the continuous knowledge, the
\nilluminations of Agni are like stars in the nocturnal heavens.
\nHeaven is the mental as Earth is the physical being; all the truth <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 488<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand knowledge of Agni is there, but hidden only by the darkness
\nof night. Men know that this Light is there pervading the skies
\nbut see only the stars which Agni has kindled as his fires of illumination in these heavens.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 489<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vamadeva Hymns to Agni   INTRODUCTION   THE interpretation of the Rig-veda is perhaps the most difficult and disputed question with which the scholarship…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-11-hymns-to-the-mystic-fire-volume-11","wpcat-7-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}