Canto 18Mandala One

Book 2. cover for HMF=16.pdf

[1]

[RV I.1]

The Rigveda

Translated into English with an etymological reconstruction of

5the Old Sanscrit or Aryan tongue in which it was rendered in

the Dwapara Yuga and an explanation of the Yogic phenomena

and philosophy with which it is mainly concerned.

Hymns of the First Cycle

10A hymn of praise, welcome and prayer to Agni, Lord of Tejas,

composed when the mind of the Yogin Madhuchchhanda was

full of sattwic energy and illumination.

1. Agni the brilliant I adore who standeth before the Lord,

the god that has the ecstasy of the truth, the fighter that fulfilleth

15utter bliss.

2. Agni adorable to the sages of old, adorable to the new,

holds up the gods with force & might.

3. By Agni one enjoyeth strength, one enjoyeth increase day

by day and a mastery full of force.

204. O Agni, the Lord below about whom thou art on every

side a flame encompassing, came by the gods into this world.

5. Agni the fighter, the strong in wisdom, the true, the man-

ifold, the high of fame, has come to us, a god meeting with

gods.

25Commentaries and Annotated Translations

6. O beloved, that to the foe who would destroy thee thou,

O Agni, doest good, this is the Truth of thee, O Lord of Love.

7. O Agni, to thee yearning if day by day we embrace thee

with our mind and bear the law, then thou growest in mastery

30and might: —

8. To thee the shining one of the gods below who guardest

the energy of the nectar and increasest in thy home.

9. Do thou therefore, O Agni, become lavish of thy ap-

proach to us as a father to his child; cleave to us for our heavenly

35bliss.

Linguistic.

aEnm

. The word Agnis is composed of the root

40 , the

suffix

En and the case-ending

. The root

45ag

occurs in two other

words of this hymn,

g and

50a

Egr. Its most common meaning

is love, force or excellence. The original root

a of which it is a

primary derivative meant existence. The addition of

55g

adds the

sense of force or power. To exist in force or power is

in its

60initial sense and all other meanings are derivative or deductive

from the initial sense. The sound

is added to roots with an

adjectival force as in

65r& from

y. from

70 . It may have

adherent to it either

i or

u, and may be pure or preceded

75by the enclitics

u or their prolonged forms

aA,

80I,

U. Thus

krZ,

fyAn,

bEln

85 ,

rAjn

vzZ,

90 ,

EvZ

etc.

aEn means one

who exists in force or power. Cf the Greek

95ga

n, exceedingly,

gajc, good, originally meaning strong, powerful, brave. From

the same sense of power, force, excellence come various senses

100g

w, the Latin ago, lead, drive, act, etc. On the other hand the

insertion of the nasal sound between

a and

105 gives the sense of

love, sweetness, softness, beauty, as the particular kind of force

or excellence implied in the root.

. The root

110Il

, dialectically

, also takes by a slight

modification of sound the form

115IX

. It is a primary derivative

of the original root

i, implying motion towards. The addition

120l

gives the sense of approaching with love and gives rise to

the signification, adore, worship. It has a strong sense of bhakti,

Mandala One

emotional worship.

125p

Ehtm

. Two separate words, adverb and participle, “set

before”. The participle is generally treated as belonging to

130DA,

but it is originally the past verbal adjective of

Eh. The sound

conveys contact, motion or emission with force. Thus the root

135h is to throw, strike, kill and in its derivatives to leap, dance etc.

The root

is similarly to attack, fight, throw from one, drag

away etc. The root

140Eh means to pierce, penetrate, adhere, be

set in and actively to strike away, wear away, impair with other

meanings. From the sense of adherence, we get a deductive sense

of fondness, clinging, love, friendliness, the classic significance

of the adjective

145Eht.

y.y. This word is of the utmost importance in the Veda.

Its subsequent meaning of sacrifice has overclouded the sense of

the Scriptures ever since the later half of the Dwapara Yuga; but

originally and in the age of Madhuchchhanda it had no shade

150of this meaning. It is the root

with the suffix

n adjectival,

as explained under

155aEn.

is a primary derivative from the

initial root

y which had a sense of control, restraint, persistence,

160preservation. This we find in its derivatives

to order, control,

regulate;

165 to use force upon, strive, practise;

the habitua-

tive, to keep carefully from which

y the guardians of wealth,

170the ganas, hosts of Kuvera;

to importune, entreat, supplicate;

to control, to regulate, distribute, give.

175yj

means to regulate,

rule, order, govern.

y. is He who does these things, the Lord,

Governor, Master, Provider, Giver, and in the Veda it is applied

180to the Supreme Being, Parameshwara, who governs the universe

as the Master of Nature, the Disposer of its Laws, the Almighty

Providence, the Master of the Dharma. It has a similar sense to

the word

ym applied to the single god of Dharma, Yama. There

185is an echo of this use in the Vishnu Purana when it is said that

Vishnu is born in the Satya Yuga as Yajna, in the Treta as the

Chakravarti Raja, in the Dwapara as Vyasa. In the Satya Yuga

mankind is governed by its own pure, perfect and inborn nature

spontaneously fulfilling the dharma under the direct inspiration

190of God within as Yajna, the Lord of the Dharma. In the Treta the

Dharma is maintained by the sceptre and the sword guarding

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

the unwritten law. In the Dwapara the Dharma is supported by

codes, Shastras, a regulated and written system.

195d

. From the root

Edv

conveying the idea of active, rapid

200or brilliant energy. It means to shine, to play, (cf

dFv

to gamble),

to be bright, clear, strong, swift or luminous. The Devas are

strictly speaking the sattwic and rajasic powers of the sukshma

205worlds, Swar and Bhuvar, who govern or assist the operations

of intelligence and energy in man; but it came to be applied to

all beings of the other worlds without distinction, even to the

tamasic forces, beings and powers who hurt and oppose these

very operations. It is in this latter sense that the Persians used

210it after the teachings of Jarad-drashta (Zaruthrusta, Jaratkaru)

had accustomed them to apply other terms to the beneficent and

helpful powers.

-Evjm

. The word

215-Evk

like the word

roEhtm

only lat-

220terly came to mean a sacrificial priest. It is composed of two

words

-t

and

Evj

225 . In Old Sanscrit

- and

Er were used inter-

changeably like

0 and

230X. The root

- conveyed the idea of fixity,

constancy,

-t

235Ert

is the old verbal noun forming the roots

-t

and

Ert

240 and conveys the ideas [of] fixity, persistence, constancy,

truth, steadfastness, wisdom,

245sy

. From the same root is

formed

-Eq, the root

-q

250 being a habituative form of

- and

meaning to be constant, wise, true, steadfast, calm and still. It

was the old word answering to the

DFr of the Upanishads. Simi-

255larly

-tm

means truth, law etc,

-t

is the fixed period or season,

260the habitual menstruation etc. The word

Evj

is a derivative of

the initial root

Ev to open, manifest, from which are formed

265Evd

to see, the root

Evl

conveying the idea of publicity, light, etc

common in Tamil and Latin, and

270Evj

meaning also to see. The

-Evj

is the drashta, seer or rishi, the one who has vision of

spiritual truth.

275Mandala One

[2]

[RV I.1.1–3]

aom

280QCdA

vAEm

aEn

285gAyF

aEnmF0

Eht

290y.y

Evj

hotAr

295r&DAtm

aEn

300EB-

EqEBrFX

305tn

#zt

310;

vEt

aEnnA

rEym`vpoqm

315v

Edv

yfs

vFrv1m

320an

y.mvr

325pErB

rEs

330d

gQCEt

aEnho

335tA

kEv5t

syE

c2vtm

340vo

EBrA

gmt

345yd

dAf

vmn

350Bd

kEryEs

sym

355Egr

vAn

Edv

360doqAvtED

nmo

Brt

365emEs

rAjtmvrAZA

gopAm

dFEdEv

370vD

mAn

375n

Ept

380nv

pAyno

385Bv

scvA

vty

Analysis.

390aEnm

Agni is a devata, one of the most brilliant and powerful of

the masters of the intelligent mind. Man, according to Vedic

psychology, consists of seven principles, in which the Atman

cases itself, — annam, gross matter; prana, vital energy; manas,

395intelligent mind; vijnanam, ideal mind; ananda, pure or essential

bliss; chit, pure or essential awareness; sat, pure or essential

being. In the present stage of our evolution ordinary humanity

has developed annam, prana and manas for habitual use; and

well-developed men are able to use with power the vijnanam

400acting not in its own habitation,

, nor in its own rupa,

vijnanam, but in the mind and as reasoning faculty, buddhi;

405extraordinary men are able to aid the action of manas and

buddhi proper by the vijnanam acting in the intelligent mind

indeed and so out of its proper sphere, but in its own form as

ideal consciousness — the combination of manasic and vijnani

action making what is called genius, pratibhanam, a reflection

410or luminous response in the mind to higher ideation; the Yogin

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

goes beyond to the vijnanam itself or, if he is one of the greatest

Rishis, like Yajnavalkya, to the ananda. None in ordinary times

go beyond the ananda in the waking state, for the chit and sat are

415only attainable in sushupti, because only the first five sheaths or

panchakosha are yet sufficiently developed to be visible except

to the men of the Satya Yuga and even by them the two others

are not perfectly seen. From the vijnanam to the annam is the

aparardha or lower part of existence where Vidya is dominated

420by Avidya; from the ananda to the sat is the parardha or higher

half in which Avidya is dominated by Vidya and there is no

ignorance, pain or limitation.

In man as he is at present developed, the intelligent mind is

the most important psychological faculty and it is with a view

425to the development of the intelligent mind to its highest purity

and capacity that the hymns of the Veda are written. In this

mind there are successively the following principles: sukshma

annam, the refinement of the gross annam out of which the

physical part of the manahkosha or sukshma deha is made;

430sukshma prana, the vital energy in the mind which acts in the

nadis or nervous system of the sukshma deha and which is the

agent of desire; chitta or receptive consciousness, which receives

all impressions from without and within by tamasic reaction,

but, being tamasic, does not make them evident to the sattwic

435consciousness or intelligent awareness which we call knowledge,

so that we remember with the chitta everything noticed or unno-

ticed, but that knowledge is useless for our life owing to its lying

enveloped in tamas; hrit or the rajasic reaction to impressions

which we call feeling or emotion, or, when it is habitual, charac-

440ter; manas or active definite sensational consciousness rendering

impressions of all kinds into percept or concept by a sattwic

reaction called intelligence or thought which men share with

the animals; buddhi or rational, imaginative and intellectually

mnemonic faculty, observing, retaining, comparing, reasoning,

445comprehending, combining and creating, the amalgam of which

functions we call intellect; manasa ananda or the pure bliss

of existence manifesting through the impure mind, body and

prana impurely, ie mixed with pain of various kinds, but in

Mandala One

450itself pure, because disinterested, ahaituka; manasa tapas or the

pure will-power acting towards knowledge, feeling and deed, im-

purely through the impure mind, body and prana, ie mixed with

weakness, dull inertia and ignorance or error; but in itself pure

because ahaituka, disinterested, without any ulterior purpose

455or preference that can interfere with truth of thought, act and

emotion; ahaituka sat or pure realisation of existence, operating

through the impure organs as ahankara and bheda, egoism and

limitation, but in itself pure and aware of unity in difference, be-

cause disinterested, not attached to any particular form or name

460in manifestation; and, finally, Atman or Self seated in mind. This

Atman is Sat and Asat, positive and negative, Sad Brahma and

Sunyam Brahma; both positive and negative are contained in

the Sa or Vasudeva and Tat or Parabrahman, and Sa and Tat are

both the same. The Buddhi again is divided into understanding

465(medha), which merely uses the knowledge given by sensation

and like manas, chitta, hrit and prana is adhina, anisha, subject

to sensation; reason or buddhi proper, (smriti or dhi, also called

prajna), which is superior to sensation and contradicts it in the

derived light of a higher knowledge; and direct jnanam, satyam

470or sattwam which is itself that light of higher knowledge. All

these faculties have their own devatas, one or many, each with

his ganas or subordinate ministers. The jiva or spirit using these

faculties is called the hansa, he who flies or evolves upward;

when he leaves the lower and rises to the sacchidananda in the

475mind, using Sat, chit and ananda only, and reposing in the Sad

Atma or in Vasudeva, then he is called the Paramhansa, one who

has gone or evolved to the highest in that stage of evolution. This

is the fundamental knowledge underlying the Veda, the loss of

which, aided by the corruption of nirukta, has led to the present

480confusion and degradation of its meaning.

Chandra is the devata of the smriti or prajna; Surya of the

satyam; Indra of the understanding and manas; Vayu of the

sukshma prana; Mitra, Varuna, Aryama and Bhaga are the four

masters of the emotional mind or character; Brihaspati of the

485sahaituka chit or tapas of knowledge; Brahma of the sahaituka

sat; Agni of the sahaituka tapas etc. This is only an indication.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

The various characteristics and energies of the gods are best

developed by an examination of the Veda itself. The gods strive

490to function perfectly for the Lord or Yajna, the Isha, Master

of the adhara or sevenfold medium of manifestation; the Titans

or Daityas, equally divine, try to upset this perfect functioning.

Their office is to disturb that which is established in order to push

man below or give him an opportunity of rising higher by break-

495ing that which was good and harmonious in itself but imperfect,

and in any case to render him dissatisfied with anything short

of perfection and drive him continually to the Infinite, either by

the uttama gati to Vasudeva or, if he will not have that, by the

adhama gati to Prakriti. The Vedic Aryans sought to overcome

500the Daityas or Dasyus by the aid of the gods; afterwards the

gods had themselves to be overcome in order that man might

reach his goal.

Agni in the sphere of material energies is the master of tejas,

the third and central material principle in the five known to

505Vedic science. Tejas itself is of seven kinds, chhaya or negative

luminosity which is the principle of the annakosha; twilight

or dosha, the basis of the pranakosha being tejas modified by

chhaya; tejas proper or simple clarity and effulgence, dry light,

which is the basis of the manahkosha; jyoti or solar light, bril-

510liance which is the basis of the vijnanakosha; agni or fiery light,

which is the basis of the chitkosha; vidyut or electrical illumi-

nation, which is the basis of the anandakosha; and prakasha

which is the basis of the satkosha. Each of the seven has its own

appropriate energy; for the energy is the essential reality and the

515light only a characteristic accompaniment of the energy. Of all

these Agni is the greatest in this world, greater even than Vidyut

— although the God of the vaidyuta energy is Vishnu himself

who is the Lord of the ananda, the vaidyuto manavah, electrical

Man, of the Upanishads. In the vijnana, Surya as well as Vishnu

520is greater than Agni, but here he and Vishnu both work under

the dominant energy of Agni and for the satisfaction of Indra,

— Vishnu in the Upanishads being younger than Indra, — Up-

endra. Translated into the language of physics, this means that

Agni, commanding as he does heat and cold, is the fundamental

525Mandala One

active energy behind all phenomena of light and heat; the Sun

is merely a reservoir of light and heat, the peculiar luminous

blaze of the sun being only one form of tejas and what we call

sunlight is composed of the static energy of prakasha or essential

530light which is the basis of the satkosha, the electrical energy or

vaidyutam, and the tejas of agni modified by the nature of Surya

and determining all other forms of light. The prakasha and

vaidyutam can only become active when they enter into Agni

and work under the conditions of his being and Agni himself

535is the supplier of Surya; he creates jyoti, he creates tejas, he

creates, negatively, chhaya. Right or wrong, this is the physics

of the Veda. Translated into the language of psychology, it means

that in the intelligent mind, which now predominates, neither

jnanam nor ananda can be fully developed, though essentially

540superior to mind; not even Soma, the rational buddhi, can really

govern; but it is Indra full of Soma, the understanding based on

the senses and strengthened by the buddhi, who is supreme and

for whose satisfaction Soma, Surya, Agni and even the supreme

Vishnu work. The reason on which man prides himself, is merely

545a link in the evolution from the manas to the vijnanam and

must serve either the senses or the ideal cognition; if it tries to

work for itself it only leads to universal agnosticism, philosophic

doubt and the arrest of all knowledge. It must not be thought

that the Veda uses these names merely as personifications of

550psychological and physical forces; it regards these gods as reali-

ties standing behind the psychological and physical operations,

since no energy can conduct itself, but all need some conscious

centre or centres from or through which they proceed. A doubt

will naturally arise, how Vishnu, the supreme Lord, can be the

555Upendra of the Vedas. The answer is that, whatever energy is

of supreme importance at a particular stage of the evolution, is

taken up by Vishnu-Virat as his especial care. We have seen that

the Ananda is now highest in the developed evolution. Vishnu is

therefore now preeminently the Lord of the Ananda and when

560he comes down into the material world he stands in the Sun as

the supreme electrical force involved in Agni and evolving out of

him, which is the physical counterpart of Ananda and without

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

which no action in the world can proceed. He is not inferior,

565he only subordinates himself, pretending to serve, while really

by service he commands. But Upendratwa is not the highest

plane of Vishnu’s manifestation, the param dhama; rather it is

a special function here in the lowest dhama. Upendratwa is not

Vishnutwa, but only one of its workings.

570Agni, therefore, is master of tejas, especially fiery tejas, and

the agent of the sahaituka tapas in the mind. In the language

of modern psychology, this sahaituka tapas is Will in action,

— not desire, but Will embracing desire and exceeding it. It is

not even choice, wish or intention. Will, in the Vedic idea, is

575essentially knowledge taking the form of force. Agni, therefore,

is purely mental force, necessary to all concentration. Once we

perceive this Vedic conception, we realise the immense impor-

tance of Agni and are in a position to understand the hymn we

are studying.

580The word Agni is formed from the root

with the nominal

addition

En. The root

585ag

is itself a derivative root from the

primitive

a meaning “to be”, of which traces are found in many

languages. The

590g gives an idea of force and

therefore means

to exist in force, preeminently — to be splendid, strong, excellent

and Agni means mighty, supreme, splendid, forceful, bright. We

595find the same root in the Greek

gajc, agathos, good, meaning

originally, strong, noble, brave;

n, agan, excessively;

600g

ago, I lead; Latin, ago;

ac, aglaos, bright; the names

605A

gic,

gamm

nwn, Agis, Agamemnon, and in the Sanscrit

610ag

agEt.

It is interchangeable with its brother root

615 from which some

of the meanings of

ware derived. It seems also to have meant

to love, from the idea of embracing, cf Greek

620gph, agape, but

in this sense the old Sanscrit preferred

. For the connection

625between the two roots, cf

gEt, in the sense of fire,

Egr as a

630name of Agni,

gAr, a live coal.

The root like all simple Sanscrit roots has two forms

635i0

and

. The original root was

640 to love, embrace, flatter, praise,

adore; the cerebral

0 is a later form, — a dialectical peculiarity

Mandala One

belonging to some of the dominant races of the Dwapara Yuga,

645which established itself for a time but could not hold its own

and either resolved itself back into

l or was farther transformed

into the soft cerebral

X with which it was interchangeable. So we

650have the form

in precisely the same sense. There is no idea

necessarily involved of adoration to a superior, the dominant

ideas being love, praise and desire. The meaning here is not

655“praise” or “worship”, but “desire”, “yearn for”.

Ehtm

The words are two and not one. The sense of “priest,

660purohit”, put on the compound word in the later ceremonial

interpretation of the Veda, is entirely absent in this hymn. The

word

r was originally the genitive of

665p

used adverbially.

670meant door, gate, front, wall; afterwards, house or city; cf the

Greek

h, pule, a gate,

675oc, pulos, a walled city or fort,

ic, a city; so in front.

Ehtm

is the participial adjective from

680the root

Eh in the sense of to cast down, throw down, plant,

place, which appears in Greek as

qw, cheo, I pour (hyA).

685ro

Ehtm

means therefore set or planted before.

y.y

The word

690y. is of supreme importance in the Veda. In

the ceremonial interpretation

y. is always understood as sac-

rifice and no other conception admitted. The Veda cannot be

understood as the source of all Indian spirituality and divine

695knowledge, if this materialistic interpretation is accepted. In

reality

y. is the name of the Supreme Lord Vishnu himself;

it also means

700 or

yog, and by a later preference of meaning it

came to signify sacrifice, because sacrifice in the later Dwapara

Yuga became the one dharma and yoga which dominated and

more and more tended to replace all others. It is necessary to

705recover the proper meaning of this important word by Nirukta,

and, in order to [do] so, to lay down briefly the principle of

Nirukta.

The Sanscrit language is the devabhasha or original lan-

guage spoken by men in Uttara Meru at the beginning of the

710Manwantara; but in its purity it is not the Sanscrit of the

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

Dwapara or the Kali, it is the language of the Satyayuga based

on the true and perfect relation of vak and artha. Every one of

its vowels and consonants has a particular and inalienable force

715which exists by the nature of things and not by development or

human choice; these are the fundamental sounds which lie at the

basis of the Tantric bijamantras and constitute the efficacy of the

mantra itself. Every vowel and every consonant in the original

language had certain primary meanings which arose out of this

720essential shakti or force and were the basis of other derivative

meanings. By combination with the vowels, the consonants,

and, without any combination, the vowels themselves formed

a number of primary roots, out of which secondary roots were

developed by the addition of other consonants. All words were

725formed from these roots, simple words by the addition again of

pure or mixed vowel and consonant terminations with or with-

out modification of the root and more complex words by the

principle of composition. This language increasingly corrupted

in sense and sound becomes the later Sanscrit of the Treta, Dwa-

730para and Kali Yuga, being sometimes partly purified and again

corrupted and again partly purified so that it never loses all

apparent relation to its original form and structure. Every other

language, however remote, is a corruption formed by detrition

and perversion of the original language into a Prakrit or the

735Prakrit of a Prakrit and so on to increasing stages of impurity.

The superior purity of the Indian language is the reason of its

being called the Sanscrit and not given any local name, its basis

being universal and eternal; and it is always a rediscovery of the

Sanscrit tongue as the primary language that prepares first for a

740true understanding of human language and, secondly, for a fresh

purification of Sanscrit itself.

This particular root

from which

745y. is formed, is a

secondary root on the base of the consonant

, the gunas of

which are strength and tenderness applied to action, motion,

750formation and contact. The primary roots are

Ey and

, with

755their lengthened forms

yA,

yF and

$ , — the original devabhasha

760recognising only three pure vowels, the rest being either modified

or mixed vowels. The primary root of

y, which means

765Mandala One

essentially to go quietly and persistently, to act or apply oneself

quietly and with force and persistence, to master (knowledge or

any thing or person) by steady application, to come or bring into

contact with gently or lovingly and effectively, to form or express

770clearly etc. The first sense appears, with its colour rubbed out, in

the lengthened form

yA, in

, in one of the meanings of

775ym

etc;

the second in

780ys

; the third in

785 and

; the fourth

790 and

yAc

which is originally a causal of

to give, now

795lost except in certain conjugational forms of

; the fifth in one

of the meanings of

800 (to show), etc. Besides

there are other

lost roots

805 to seek after, love, desire (Greek

llw),

with a

similar meaning, from which we have

810yf which was originally

an adjective meaning lovely, charming, and a noun meaning

sometimes an object of love or pursuit, sometimes beauty, am-

bition, fame etc, or love itself, favour, partiality. This is a brief

example of the method followed by the original tongue as it can

815now be observed with its distinctions and shades confused and

the colours of the words expunged.

In the root

the force of the consonant

820j

determines

the meaning. Its essential nature is swiftness, decisiveness, rapid

brilliance and restlessness. It has therefore a frequentative and

intensitive force. It means to love habitually and fervently, so

825to worship, to adore. It means to give freely, wholly or continu-

ously; from these shades comes the meaning of sacrifice. It means

to master thoroughly, habitually, with a continual repetition of

the act of mastery; the word

830 means endeavour, but

can

never have meant endeavour, it is too decisive and triumphant

and must imply possession of mastery, action sure of its result.

835It means therefore to rule, govern, order, possess. That is why

y. is Vishnu, in the sense of the Almighty Ruler, the Master of

man’s action, body, thought, the supreme Lord ruling from the

higher faculty in man, the parardha or Sacchidananda.

y. is formed by the addition of

840n, a nominal suffix which

has the sense of action. It may be adjectival or nominal. It may

convey the actor, the instrument, the manner or the sufferer of

the action.

y. therefore came to mean, he who rules, the gover-

845nor or master; loving, adoring, also he who is loved; the means

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

of mastery and so Yoga, in its processes, not in its realisations;

the manner of mastery and so dharma, a rule of action or self-

government; adoration or an act of worship, though this sense

850was usually kept for

, giving, offering, sacrifice. As the name

of Vishnu it meant, predominantly, the Master who directs,

compels and governs; but the idea of the Lover and Beloved,

855the Giver and the object of all action, ritual and worship, of all

karma also entered into it in the associations of the worshipper

and sometimes became prominent.

The Vishnu Purana tells us that Vishnu in the Satya Yuga

incarnates as Yajna, in the Treta as the conqueror and king, in the

860Dwapara as Vyasa, the compiler, codifier and lawgiver. It is not

meant that He incarnates as sacrifice. The Satya Yuga is the age

of human perfection when a harmonious order is established,

the perfect or chatuspad dharma, whose maintenance depends

on the full and universal possession of Yoga or direct relation

865to God and that again on the continual presence of incarnate

Vishnu as the Adored, the Master and centre of dharma and

yoga. The chatuspad dharma is the perfect harmony of the four

dharmas, Brahmanyam, Kshatram, Vaishyam and Shaudram;

for this reason separate castes do not exist in the Satya Yuga.

870In the Treta the Brahmanyam begins to fail, but remains as

a subordinate force to help the Kshatram which then governs

humanity. Mankind is maintained no longer by viryam or tapas

easily sustained by inherent Brahmajnanam, but by viryam or

tapas sustaining the Brahmajnanam with some difficulty and

875preventing its collapse. Vishnu incarnates as the Kshatriya, the

incarnate centre of viryam and tapas. In the Dwapara, the

Brahmanyam farther fails and turns into mere knowledge or

intellectuality, the Kshatram becomes a subordinate force sup-

porting the Vaishyam which has its turn of supremacy. The main

880qualities of the Vaishya are kaushalam, order and method, and

therefore the Dwapara is the age of codification, ritual, Shastra,

external appliances to maintain the failing internal spirituality;

danam, and therefore hospitality, liberality, the sacrifice and the

dakshina begin to swallow up other dharmas — it is the yuga

885yajniya, — the age of sacrifice; bhoga, and therefore the Veda

Mandala One

is used for procuring enjoyment in this world and the next,

bhogaishwaryagatim prati. Vishnu incarnates as the lawgiver,

ritualist and Shastrakara to preserve the knowledge and practice

890of the dharma by the aid of the intellect and abhyasa, customary

practice based on intellectual knowledge. In the Kali all breaks

down except love and service, the dharma of the Shudra by

which humanity is maintained and from time to time purified;

for the jnanam breaks down and is replaced by worldly, practical

895reason, the viryam breaks down and is replaced by lazy mechan-

ical appliances for getting things done lifelessly with the least

trouble, dana, yajna and shastra break down and are replaced

by calculated liberality, empty ritual and tamasic social forms

and etiquette. Love is brought in by the Avataras to break down

900these dead forms in order that the world may be rejuvenated and

a new order and a new Satya Yuga emerge, when the Lord will

again incarnate as Yajna, the supreme Vishnu in the full manifes-

tation of the chatuspad dharma, knowledge, power, enjoyment

and love.

905It has been said that Vishnu in our present stage of evolu-

tion is preeminently the Lord of the Ananda, but he is also the

Sanmay Brahman and the Tapomay. It is as the Sanmay that He

is Yajna — the Sat containing in it the Chit or Tapas and the

Ananda. It must be remembered that while in the Aparardha

910we envisage Brahman through thought, feeling, action etc, in

the Parardha we envisage Him through essential realisation su-

perior to thought, feeling and action. In the Ananda we realise

essential delight; in the Chit, essential energy, intelligence and

will; in the Sat, essential truth or be-ness. The Sat is therefore

915called the Mahasatyam and Mahakaranam, the highest truth

in the manifestation, out of which everything proceeds. It is by

this Mahasatyam — distinguished from the ordinary satyam or

karanam called objectively mahat and subjectively vijnanam, the

fourth of the seven bhumis, — that Vishnu as Yajna supports the

920dharma and yoga in the Satya Yuga. He is the Sad Brahma in

manifestation. We shall see when we deal with the word

-Evjm

in what sense Agni stands before the Lord.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

925d

A god. From the secondary root

Edv

to flash, gleam, vibrate,

930play. On the basis of the consonant

of which the gunas are

force, heavy violence, density, dense penetration, dense move-

ment, we get

935dA to cut,

Ed to vibrate and

to trouble and from

Ed we get

940 and

Edv

dFv

meaning to vibrate shiningly, gleam,

945scintillate or play. The Devas are those who play in light. Their

proper home is in the vijnanam,

mhlo

k or karanajagat, where

matter is jyotirmay and all things luminous

950v

DA<A, by their

own inherent lustre and where life is an ordered lila or play.

Therefore when the Bhagawat speaks of the power of seeing

955the life of the gods in Swarga, it calls that particular siddhi

v5FXAn

960 , watching the sports of the gods, because all life

is to them a sport or lila. The Gods, however, dwell for us in

the lower Swarloka, ie, Chandraloka of which the summit is

Kailas and the basis Swarga with Pitriloka just above Swarga.

Nevertheless even there they keep their jyotirmay and lilamay

965nature, their luminous bodies and worlds of self-existent bliss

free from death and care.

-Evjm

This word is taken in the ceremonial interpretation of the

Veda in the later sense of Ritwik, a sacrificial priest, and it is

970explained by separating as

-t

one who sacrifices season-

975ably. In reality,

-Evj

is a very old word compounded in ancient

Sanscrit before the creation of the modern rules of Sandhi, and

is composed of

980-t

truth and

Evj

, ecstasy or ecstatic. It means

one who has the ecstasy of the truth or satyam.

985-t

is an abstract noun formed from the root

- whose

essential meaning was to vibrate, shake, dart, go straight; and

its derivate meanings to reach, acquire, or else attack, hurt,

990injure, or to be erect, rise or raise; to shine; to think, realise

truth etc. From the sense of going straight in the secondary

verb

-j

with its adjective

995-j

straight, cf Lat. rego, rectus;

-t straight, right, true;

-tm

, truth, right, established law or

1000custom, —

sym

applied to the Supreme Brahman as the satyam

or mahakaranam;

-t

1005 , rule, fixed order, fixed time or season;

Mandala One

-Eq, a thinker, direct seer of truth, cf Lat. reor, I think, ratio,

method, order, reason, proposition, etc. The obsolete word

-t

1010meant directness, truth, law, rule, thought,

sym

Evj

is noun or adjective from the verb

1015Evj

meaning to

shake, be troubled, excited, tremble, to be ecstatic, joyous, full

of rapture, felicity or ecstatic energy. Cf Latin vigeo and vigor,

from which comes the English vigour.

1020-Evj

is therefore one

who is ecstatic with the fullness of the truth or satyam. Agni,

it has been pointed out, is the god of the tapas or energy at

work disinterestedly on the intellectual plane, one of the higher

1025gods working on the lower level in the service of the lower deity

Indra. He proceeds straight from the chit, which, when active, is

known as mahatapas or chichchhakti, the energy of the essential

intelligence in the Sad Brahman, Yajna or Vishnu. The Shakti

begins creation by kshobha or ecstatic vibration in the calm Sad

1030Atma and this ecstatic vibration or

Evj

g goes out as speed,

1035force, heat,

tp or

aEn, the basis of life and existence. This tapas

born of the Chichchhakti (Shakti, Devi, Kali, Prakriti) is full of

the ecstatic movement of the Sat or Mahasatyam manifesting

1040itself. For this reason Agni is called

-Evj

, vibrating, ecstatic

with the

sym

1045 . For the same reason he is called

jAtv

dA, he

from whom the higher knowledge is born, because he holds in

himself the Veda or Satyam and manifests it; tapas is the basis

1050of all concentration of chit, awareness (the sanyama of Patan-

jali) and it is by sanyama or concentration of awareness either

on the object of awareness (rajayoga) or on itself (jnanayoga

and adhyatmayoga) that satyam and Veda become directly self-

manifest and luminous to the Yogin. Without this sanyama no

1055Yoga is possible, no effective action of any kind is possible.

When Brahma turned his mind to creation, it was the cry of

“tapas, tapas” that was heard on the waters of the karan samu-

dra (Mahakaranam or Sad Brahma). The immense importance

of Agni as the Ritwij to the Yogin, therefore, becomes manifest;

1060and it is also clear why he is

roEht

y.y for it is the tapas

which stands before the Satyam, which we reach before we can

1065get the Sat. It is the Chichchhakti which takes us to the Sat, —

the Devi, Shakti or Kali who brings us to Brahman, to Vasudeva,

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

and Agni, her especial agent for tapas in the mind, is therefore

a special intermediary between us and Yajna, who, as has been

1070seen, is Vishnu, Vasudeva or Brahman, in the Sacchidananda

or Parardha on the intellectual plane, which is all man in the

average has yet reached. This is the reason why Agni was so

great a god to the Rishis. To mere sacrificers and ritualists he

was great only as the god of fire indispensable in all their ritual,

1075but to the Yogin he has a much greater importance, as great as

that of Surya, the lord of illumination, and Soma, the lord of

Amrita. He was one of the most indispensable helpers in the

processes which the Veda illumines and assists.

hotArm

1080Hota is another word of great importance in the Veda. In

all existing interpretations of the Veda hota is interpreted as the

priest who offers the libation,

hEv as the libation and

1085 in the

sense of pouring the offering. So fixed is this notion born of the

predomination through several millenniums of the ceremonial

meanings attached to all the important words of the Veda, that

any other rendering would be deemed impossible. But in the

1090original Veda

hotA did not mean a sacrificial priest, nor

hEv an

offering. Agni may by a metaphorical figure be called a purohit

of the sacrifice, though the figure will not have any very great

1095Sanscritic exactness, but he can in no sense be the one who pours

the libation. He devours the libation, he does not offer or pour

it. Hota, therefore, must have some other signification which,

without outraging fact and common sense, can be applied to

Agni.

1100The root

, like the roots

hA and

Eh, is based on the consonant

1105h

, the essential gunas of which are aggression, violent action,

impetuosity, loud breathing, and so challenge, summons etc.

The verb

1110 originally like

hA and

Eh meant to strike or throw

down, attack, slay, the vowel

1115u adding a sense of pervasiveness

which easily brought the idea of battle. We find, therefore, that

this root meant to attack, fight, as in

aAhv battle; to call, shout,

summons, as in

1120 (originally

) etc; to throw, overthrow, de-

stroy; to throw, pour, offer. From the last sense it came to have

Mandala One

1125its more modern meaning. The transference from the sense of

battle to the sense of sacrifice is paralleled by the Greek word

mqh, battle, which is certainly the same as the Sanscrit

mK,

sacrifice. It must be remembered that the Yoga was to the old

1130Aryans a battle between the Devas and Daityas, the gods being

the warriors who fought the Daityas for man and were made

strong and victorious by the

E5yAs or effective practices of Yoga,

the Daityas being the Dasyus or enemies of Yajna and Yoga. This

1135will become clearer and clearer as we proceed. This view of life as

well as Yoga, which is only the sublimation of life, as a struggle

between the Devas & Daityas is one of the most fundamental

ideas of Veda, Purana, Tantra and every practical system in Hin-

duism. Agni is par excellence the warrior whom the Daityas most

1140dread, because he is full of the ahaituka tapas, against which,

if properly used and supported by the Yajamana, the Yogin, no

evil force can prevail. The Ahaituka Tapas destroys them all.

It is the mighty effective and fighting force which once called

in prepares perfect siddhi and an almost omnipotent control

1145over our nature and our surroundings. Even when ashuddha,

impure, tapas fights the enemy tamas; when shuddha, when the

very action of Agni, it brings viryam, it brings jnanam, it brings

Ananda, it brings mukti. Hotaram means therefore the warrior,

the destroyer of the Daityas, Agni jatavedas; havis and hava

1150mean battle or strength in violent action; hu to fight.

r&DAtmm

Superlative of

r&DA, joy-giving, the disposer of delight. We

have the root

1155rt

as a derivative from the primary root

r. The

three roots

1160Er,

z are themselves variations of the elemental

shabda

whose essential significance is tremulous continual

1165vibration.

r means essentially to vibrate, shake, quiver abroad,

the vowel

a conveying essentiality, absoluteness, wideness, want

of limitation as opposed to the vowel

1170i which gives a sense

of relation and direction to a given point. From this essential

sense come the derivative meanings, to play, to shine; as in

rtm

1175r& a jewel,

rEt,

r)j

1180 ,

rjtm

silver,

rj dust,

rjnF,

1185rAE,

night etc. From the former meaning there comes the sense, to

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

please, delight, love, adore, etc. as in

rAmA,

1190rAm,

rAD

1195rj,

(rajoguna) etc. The word

r& in ancient Sanscrit, from the root

, had two sets of senses, delight, ananda, pleasure, play, sexual

1200intercourse, a thing of delight, mistress, etc, and splendour, light,

lustre, brilliance, a brilliant, a jewel, — the modern sense. At first

sight it would seem that lustre, brilliance is more appropriate to

Agni, and it would apply well to the warrior who destroys the

darkness of the mind, but the central idea of the hymn is not

1205Agni as the master of light, — that is Surya, — but as the master

of force, tapas, which is the source out of which comes delight.

The three terms of the parardha are sat, chit and ananda. In

sat, chit abides and emerges from sat. As soon as it emerges, it

generates the energy of chichchhakti which plays throughout the

1210universe; this play,

r&, is ananda in chit and it emerges from chit.

All tapas therefore generates ananda, and the pure sahaituka

tapas generates pure sahaituka ananda which being universal,

self-existent and by its nature incapable of any admixture of

1215sorrow, is the most sure, wide, and intense. Therefore Agni is

most joy-giving, a great disposer of delight. The word

DA means

to set, create, give, arrange; here it is the old Aryan substantive

expressing the agent and often used adjectivally.

1220aEn

EB-

1225EqEBrFX

1230#zt

There is nothing in these words that needs special expla-

nation, since all the words and their senses are modern. The

Rishi indicates Agni, master of the ahaituka tapas, as adorable

in all ages by all seers ancient or modern, because to all seekers

1235and at all times, ahaituka tapas is the condition and agent of

suddhi, mukti, bhukti and siddhi, the fourfold aim of Yoga. The

word Rishi means a knower of truth, one who attains, from

to go straight, attain the goal, reach the object, know, think.

1240Originally it had something of the sense of

sADk, the

q giving a

habitual force; one who continually goes straight (by knowledge

or inspired thought) to the truth. The force of

1245ut is here, “much

more”, “as a matter of course”. The idea is that not only is Agni

the great object of desire and worship to the high sadhaks of

these days, but in all times he has occupied the same place in

Mandala One

1250the sadhan, even when man was in a different stage of evolution

and walked in other paths of Yoga. Whatever Yoga is adopted,

sahaituka tapas is of the first importance to full siddhi.

Sa is here used much in the sense of “who”, — it is the

1255Greek

c (originally

sc though by a common law in Greek the

s has been worn into an aspirate), and it gives the reason for

the adoration of Agni.

1260d

vAn

The gods of the lower functions in the body, prana, mind and

vijnana are all borne up by the impartial strength of Agni and

the delight,

1265r&, which it generates. Ananda is the condition of all

existence and persistence, —

vAyAt

1270k

A@yAt

aAkAf

1275aAndo

yAt

Tapas is the stay, the supporter of ananda.

Therefore Agni bears up the gods.

1280eh

From root

, an adverb meaning forcefully, with strength.

The root

1285ih

meant originally to put forth strength in a given

direction, so to will, wish, desire. Cf for this sense of derivatives

from the primary root

i, Greek

1290fi

fjimoc

na,

1295 ,

utter, force out, etc. The adverb used is especially appropriate to

the action of the god of tapas; it is in strength, by the force of

1300tapas that he supports all the gods.

vEt

The root is

1305q, and

q in old Sanscrit gave a habituative

or desiderative sense, the two being kin to each other, cf the

Greek

file, meaning both “loves” and “is wont to”. Cf also

1310the previous note about

-Eq. We shall meet this habituative

form frequently. Agni is wont to bear up, that is his perpetual

office.

aEnnA

1315rEym

The word

rEy (Latin res) means substance. It comes from

the root

r to vibrate +

1320i, an ordinary nominal termination

which, when feminine, usually gives the idea of quality or

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

abstract existence. In ancient Sanscrit the semivowels

y &

1325v

were used to bridge over the gap between two vowels, as in

1330jAy

, and this usage has been faithfully preserved in one of

1335its surviving daughters of an elder group, Tamil.

rEy therefore

means vibration, stir, play, motion, and, because all substance is

merely Prakriti or Shakti in motion, it comes to mean substance.

The word and the meaning are among the oldest in Sanscrit. By

1340Agni, by sahaituka tapas is got or enjoyed substance, body. Into

whatever that stream of force flows, however unsubstantial it

may be at the time, it grows in body, being and solidity; it tends

to establish itself, to become a res or established actual thing.

a`vt

1345The word

is a secondary root from

a to be, one of

the most important of all old Sanscrit roots. From this root we

1350have

to be, breathe, live, be strong;

to be (annam, sub-

1355stance, matter), to eat (a3

food);

to breathe (ahF,

Ah);

1360an

to breathe, live, be (aEnl,

AZ,

);

1365ar

to be, be strong, excel,

fight, rule (aEr,

aAy

1370ay

mA, Gr.

ret

Arhc) and a number of

others. Every Aryan primary root was capable of being used

1375either transitively or intransitively, and in its transitive sense

meant “to have”, whence we get

to have, possess, enjoy, eat,

1380get, acquire.

becomes in Greek

qw. Here both the senses of

“get”, and “enjoy”, must be taken together. The root is one of

1385those which still preserves the old verbal enclitics

nA,

. The

1390verbal termination

is here used impersonally; one gets, there

is got.

poqm

1395v

The sense of

poqm

is “increase”. The word completes the

sense of

1400rEym`vt

which, without the addition of

poqm

, might

only imply a single and immediate accretion of substance, but

1405the Rishi refers to the steady action of sahaituka tapas in the

Yoga, by which once the stream of Agni is set flowing on the

guna, vritti or jnanam to be obtained, it inevitably proceeds to

get actuality and to increase in substance and power from day

to day until it acquires

1410yfs

vFrv1mm

, the utmost manifestation

of splendour.

Mandala One

1415The root

is important in Vedic etymology. The letter

has

1420the signification of sharp, swift and decisive movement, contact,

formation etc. The roots based upon it give us variations of the

ideas, “to rush, fall, dart, strike, leap, soar; to seize, master, own,

be lord of; to enjoy, take, take in, devour, drain, drink, fill one-

self, fill; to strike out, forge, do, make, effect; to produce, bring

1425to being or fulfilment; increase, advance” and others developing

from the elementary idea of the vocable. We get from the root

1430 one produced, cf Latin pullus, a son;

$ to perfect,

1435t,

tA (Vedic),

1440@y

perfection, virtue, merit;

pvn the wind, (the

rushing one);

1445$

qA the Sun, he who fosters, develops and perfects;

poq increase;

1450j

to foster, cherish, adore, worship;

increase,

1455advance, forwardness, front (

1460v

rA, before, O.S.

1465rA (Gr.

h) door, gate,

1470 ,

rF front, wall, fortified town, Gr.

1475Pl

ic) etc.

ev in later Sanscrit means “indeed”, giving emphasis, or has

1480a limiting and restricting sense, eg Isha Upanishad

kmA

1485EZ,

“Thou shalt verily do actions (and not refrain from them).” But

in old Sanscrit its original force was that of

evm

, so, this, thus;

1490and then “and, also”. In the latter sense

evm

is still used in

literary Bengali, for the spoken Sanscrit of the provinces often

preserved forms and meanings the literary language lost and

1495these, more or less corrupted, have passed into our modern

vernaculars.

Edv

From day to day. By the mere lapse of time, without effort

1500on our part, the mere action of Agni being sufficient. This is an

important principle of Yogic psychology which will be explained

in the Commentary. The word

Edv is from

Edv

1505 to shine and may

mean either “day”,

Edv

kAl the bright period, or “heaven”,

Edvo

1510lok, the bright world. It has both senses in the Veda.

yfsm

The word

yfs

is from the root

1515yf

, a secondary root from

the primary

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

1520[3]

[RV I.1]

First Mandala.

aEnmF0

1525p

Eht

y.y

1530vm

Evj

hotAr

r&DAtm

aEnm

1535The stem is

aEn, the root

, with the addition of

1540combined with

The suffix

is nominal, adjectival and verbal, and as an

1545adjectival or nominal suffix denotes substance or actuality; it

uses, like all other such suffixes, the enclitics

u to connect

1550it with the root or with the termination or additional suffix or

with both or neither.

The root

is a secondary formation from the primary old

1555Aryan root

a which means essentially to be or, transitively, to

have.

a expresses being in its widest and barest sense without

any idea of substance or attribute. The sound

1560g

suggests appli-

cation, contact or a gentle force or insistence. Combining with

it gives the sense of being or having with an application of force

1565to action, to men, to things and easily acquires significations

on the one hand of strength, force, excellence, preeminence,

brilliance, on the other of gentle contact, love, possession. Illus-

trative derivates are Latin and Greek ago,

1570w, to lead, drive,

act; stir; move;

gajc, excellent, good; S.

, foremost, in

1575front, Gr.

kroc, top,

km, extreme height,

kt, extreme limit,

border, coast;

1580ga

n, excessively (O.A.

agAm

);

1585nc, brilliant,

graceful, gentle;

ac, brilliant;

1590gic,

gamm

nwn;

gapw, I

1595love, prefer; ager, a possession, field;

agEt, and with the nasal,

, making the root

1600a

, to stir, move, walk;

g, beloved,

1605distinguished; afterwards used only, from the two senses, as a

respectful, yet affectionate mode of address;

gEt, fire (also a

conveyance, cf ago,

1610a

gAr, a live coal,

1615a

Egr, from the

sense of brilliant, forceful, distinguished, preeminent, foremost.

The word Agni therefore means the strong, brilliant, mighty,

Mandala One

1620and may always suggest along with this, its proper signification

as determined by usage, an allusion to its other possible sense of

“loving” or “loveable”. Afterwards, it was confined to the sense

of fire, Latin ignis.

1625Dialectical form of

, also

. Root

1630i0

with the addition

of the verbal suffix

e (composed of the connective enclitic

a and

1635the personal termination

i).

The root

is a secondary formation from the primary

1640root

I which means essentially to be in relation to some thing,

person, time or direction, so to go, drive, press towards, master,

study, approach, etc and also means to produce, arise, come

1645into being, as opposed to the idea in

a of static existence. The

sound

is the shabda of love, desire, entreaty, gentle and wooing

1650touch; it expresses softness, sweetness, desire, and by a devel-

opment passion, intensity, force of the heart. Combining with

it gives the sense of close adherence, to embrace, cling to, love,

adore, approach with love or adoration; of pressure, to crowd,

1655press, pack, press together, make compact or strong; of maternal

production, motherhood, to bear, produce, give birth to. It has

also the primary senses of motion, to go, move, cast, strike; and

by a development from the sense of clinging or persistence in a

given place, the opposite idea of motionlessness, rest, — to rest

1660still, lie, sleep. Its derivates are

ilA meaning mother and applied

to the earth, a cow, Speech;

iElkA, earth;

ilF, a short sword or

1665stick; and from the almost identical root

, the nouns

1670iX

and

iXA having the same meanings, and also the meaning

“libation, offering, that which is cast or thrown on the altar or

earth”, “a draught, ie what is taken down at a cast into the

1675throat”, “heaven”, the place of bliss, love and delight; (iX

also

means people or subjects, from another sense, to control, master,

rule, cf

1680 );

iX as an epithet of Agni;

IXA, love, desire, prayer

or praise;

IXnm

1685 , adoration;

y or

y, adorable, desirable.

1690Greek derivatives are

n, in a close throng, pressed together,

1695l

h, a crowd, troop;

e lw, press together, gather, assemble, hem

in;

1700ar, a stronghold, fortification.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

The word here means not to praise or hymn as taken by the

commentators and Europeans, but to love, desire, adore, as is

evident from the use of

1705IX

y in a later verse.

iX as applied to

Agni means the adored, loved or loving, from the other meaning

of the root

1710ag

noted under the word

aEn above.

1715Ehtm

Two words, not one.

ro in front, originally fifth case (geni-

tive) of

1720p

, meaning door, gate, wall, front; then city or house —

cf Greek

1725h, gate;

oc, walled fort;

ic, town. Rt

1730p

with

the nominal suffix

, in the sense of “cover, protect”, common to

1735primary

roots, as in

pV,

1740pA,

pAl,

pEt,

1745 (originally husband,

protector, then male),

mAn

1750p

(cup, sheath, covering),

1755 , to

protect, nourish;

EpV (roof, house, basket),

EpWr

, etc. Lat. pudor,

1760shame.

Ehtm

fixed, stationed, put. Rt

Eh with adjectival suffix

t, in

1765the sense of to cast, throw down, strike in, fix, plant, common

to the primary

roots; afterwards the sense of striking predom-

inated, the other being preferably expressed by

1770DA and other

roots. Gr.

qw (O.S.

hyA), I pour,

1775mi (O.S.

EhyAEm), I throw,

cast, send.

1780Ehtm

means him who stands before or in front of and

was afterwards applied to the purohita or chief priest at the

sacrifice.

y.y

1785Root

with the nominal suffix

1790 is a derivative from the primary root

y which has the

essential significances of motion to or from, yearning, contact

and union. The sound

1795 adds to it the idea of sharply applied and

decisive or effective force in the motion, desire or contact. Hence

it gets the meaning of effort, seeking after, wooing, application

to, adhesion, or strongly maintained union or contact. The sense

of successful effort gives that of mastery. Cf

1800ym

1805 (aAyAs,

yAs,

ym,

Enym,

y&,

1810yEt). It means in its nominals labour,

action, control, mastery, Yoga, and when used transitively, ruler,

master, Yogin. The word

ym had the same significance. In an-

other sense, to cast before, hand over to, cf

1815yQC

, it means to give,

Mandala One

offer, sacrifice. A third sense is to woo, court, worship, adore, cf

Gr.

1820 llw, to desire.

y. may therefore mean either, the Master,

the Almighty, the Lord, Vishnu, Ishwara; or, action, or yoga; or,

sacrifice. All three senses have to be taken into consideration in

the Veda. Here and ordinarily it means Ishwara, the Lord.

1825d

Root

Edv

compounded after modification with the nominal

1830and adjectival suffix

a, which gives simply and vaguely the sense

of being.

The root

Edv

1835 or

dFv

has two common senses, to play or

sport and to shine, besides some of the significances common to

1840 roots, viz, to strike, throw; hurt, cause to suffer, vex, torment,

harass; destroy; squander, give (

dA,

dAn). The sense of to play,

1845gamble, to sport, gambol, rejoice, etc is its most characteristic

significance. The sense of shining comes from the sense of cor-

uscation, brilliance caused by light playing brilliantly, vibrating

powerfully. The Gods are therefore primarily those who rejoice,

to whom life is play, lila or ananda — their occupations being

1850described in the Smriti by the significant expression

vAn

5FXnm

1855Deva subsequently came to have the sense, luminous or flash-

ingly brilliant, jyotirmaya, attached to it; also, heavenly, from

Edv

the shining or blissful regions, and was used in the ancient

language in all these senses, the associations of which have come

1860down to us in the modern sense of

v. The gods are the jyotir-

maya beings of the tejomaya, luminous Chandraloka or Swar

and jyotirmaya, brilliant Suryaloka or Mahar, the two heavens

1865attainable by mortals.

-Evjm

An ancient compound word

-t

and

1870Evj

formed in the early

childhood of the language before the modern laws of Sandhi

were applied.

-t

1875 is the root

- with the verbal and nominal suffix

ex-

pressing either action or quality.

1880- signifies essentially to move

or go vibratingly straight or swift to a mark. It means to go, to go

straight; to attempt, attack; reach, acquire; master, know; think.

Hence various meanings for its derivatives, eg

-8T

1885 acquisitions,

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

wealth;

-D

to flourish, prosper;

1890-E=;

-E a weapon, sword;

-8Z wounded, etc; but the common meaning is based on the

idea of straightness, fixity, directness, truth, knowledge, as in

-j

1895 ,

-tm

(truth, law, rule),

-t

(fixed time, season; order, rule);

1900-Eq, knower, thinker, Latin reor, I think, ratio, reason, etc;

-B

wise, adept, expert. The word

-t

1905 here means truth or law.

Evj

is a derivative root from the important primary root

Ev,

which has essentially the significance of coming into existence, so

1910to appear, open, separate, be discerned. These meanings can be

traced through a host of derivatives in Sanscrit, Latin and Tamil.

From the sense of appearing, being open, we get transitively the

meaning to see, know, Latin video, Greek

edo

1915n,

oda,

sji, etc;

(cf Tamil

1920 to give light, shine;

rz eye); Sanscrit

Evd

. The

form

1925Evj

implies successful, decisive, complete or spontaneous

sight or knowledge.

-Evj

is therefore the knower of truth, the

1930drashta of the Veda, Agni jatavedas, or the adept in law and rule.

In the latter sense it came to mean a sacrificial priest versed in

the rules of the sacrifice. The later Nirukta, fixing on the sense of

priesthood, the only one then known, very naturally derived it

from

1935-t

and

, sacrificing in season, which is the only possible

combination by modern rules and arrives at the right meaning

1940by another road.

hotArm

Root

after modification with the verbal termination

1945t

The essential significance of

roots,

1950hA,

Eh and

, is violent

contact, movement, application of force. Their primary mean-

1955ings are to strike, dash, hit, destroy, slay; then, to cast, throw,

hurl, fling; then, to hurl forth the voice, shout, call. The sense of

abandonment, the sense of casting a libation on the altar, and

other derivate senses are of later origin.

hotA in the old Aryan

1960tongue meant a slayer, striker, destroyer, warrior;

hv and

aAhv

meant slaughter, battle, war;

hEv slaying, strife;

1965h

to hurl, fight,

shout, call, invoke assistance (cf Grk

bo,

bohjw). The sacrificial

1970application is of later origin and belongs to the Dwapara Yuga,

the age of sacrifice and ceremonial.

Mandala One

r&DAtmm

r& and

1975DA with the superlative termination

tm.

The word

r& is the word

1980 with the adjectival & nominal

suffix

n expressing quality or substance. The root is

r which

has as its essential significance vibration, swift repeated action,

1985tremulous, eager or impetuous contact, shock or motion, and

its characteristic significance, to play, enjoy, sport, take delight;

to love, embrace etc; also, to shine, coruscate, shed lustre. It

and its derivatives also mean to rule, govern, protect; to fight,

attack; set to, begin; to move rapidly, shout loud, make a noise.

1990The word

had several of these meanings, but chiefly delight,

enjoyment, love, sexual pleasure, passion, lustre, brilliance, and

r& therefore means delightful, brilliant, and as a noun delight,

1995ananda, or lustre. It is in later Sanscrit that it took the sense of

jewel, from the adjectival sense, brilliant.

DA is the root

DA to arrange, place, dispose, used as an

adjective or noun.

2000r&DA therefore means disposer of delight,

r&DAtmm

, mightiest disposer of delight.

aEn

2005$

EBr

-EqEBr

2010yo

2015ut

;

2020eh

vEt

2025EB

Root

2030p

previously explained under the first sloka and

the suffix

2035v which indicates substance, possession or being. Orig-

inally the word meant protecting, covering, in front, anterior,

and by transference from place to time former, ancient,

rAtn.

2040It had also the sense of first, foremost, best, leading, chief. Here

the sense is ancient, those that were before.

-EqEB

Root

- to think, reach, know forming the intensitive deriva-

2045tive

-q

, to know, reach or acquire thoroughly or finally, with

the nominal suffix

i expressing action or possession. The rishi is

2050one who knows, possesses, has reached or acquired knowledge,

an adept,

aAP, master. (Cf the German word reich, English rich,

O.S.

-f

2055 ). See under

-Evjm

in the first sloka.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

2060yo

Root

to love, desire, with the possessive or qualitative

suffix

2065y used either actively or passively; here passively = desir-

able, adorable. See under

in the first sloka.

2070$

Root

2075 or

$ with the suffix

tn from root

2080 meaning to

hold, possess, contain (tenere, terra,

) and therefore express-

ing a quality.

2085The root

means to come forward, appear, come into being,

come in, enter, penetrate, push in or forward, move forward,

sail, walk etc. It belongs to the

2090n

family of roots, whose essential

signification is birth, manifestation, presence, appearance, entry,

motion forward, progress (cf

n, nos, nascere, nare, natare,

2095nO,

nauta,

meaning in Tamil to walk,

En,

2100n

nd) and from the

sense of birth or new appearance or arrival acquires the sense

2105of newness, in

nv, Latin novus, Gr.

noc. The adverb

2110n

$ , meaning now, (cf the particle

, Grk

nu, Latin nunc, which

2115properly means now, now then, then) takes the adjectival suffix

tn to signify the quality of newness; — like

rA of old,

2120rAtn

old,

Ecr

long,

Ecrtn lasting, eternal.

2125ut

Also. This is a particle which has survived from the ancient

Aryan tongue. It belongs to the class represented [by] the Latin

et, ut, at, Sanscrit

2130 ,

ut,

aEt, Greek

i at the end of a word for

2135emphasis,

otos, Bengali

tuim

tuim. They are all based

on the original particles

2140a,

i and

u, meaning, “this here”, “this

there”, “that”, and used for distinction, emphasis, addition,

connection; with the addition of the definitive sound

2145t

, they

formed

2150it

, which again by the addition of the emphatic

2155i, formed

aEt,

iEt,

uEt,

at,

2160it,

ut. From these words a

number of pronouns, adverbs, suffixes, affixes, conjunctions and

prepositions are descended in the Aryan languages.

ut has the force as an adverb of also, in addition, verily,

2165much more, quite as much, indeed, or of course, according to

the context and spirit of the passage or phrase in which it occurs.

Mandala One

The static root

2170s, signifying existence in rest, used as a

pronoun, expresses a fixed object resting before the eyes. It is

the original of the Greek article,

t the Greek relative

2175 (O.S.

sA,

s), cf

ti because, and in the old Aryan and

2180Vedic languages had not only the demonstrative force, but also

when connecting two clauses, the relative or copulative. Here it

is the causal relative who, because, and connects

yo and

2185vEt.

vEt gives the reason for

yo. Adorable or desirable because

he habitually bears.

2190d

;

The nasal at the end of a word in old Aryan tended always

to be a pure nasal, anuswara, as in French, just as s final tended

2195to become a pure aspiration, visarga. This is the reason for the

metrical peculiarity by which final s in old Latin and final m both

in old and classical Latin become silent and are elided before a

vowel or do not affect the quantity of the syllable in the prosody

of a verse. The later tendency was to materialise the sound.

2200eh

The spirit of the sound

i is a certain narrowness and inten-

sity. The root accordingly easily acquires an association of force

and strength in action; it easily forms derivatives like

2205Ir

to force

out, utter,

iryEt to be angry, hostile, Latin ira, anger, Gr.

2210mi, I

throw,

sqw, to control, rule, and in certain forms compounded

with strong sounds like

2215p,

B or even with soft sounds like

and

l it has the pure idea of strength, cf S.

2220id

iEd

, Gr.

2225fioc

fjimoc

sqc

nc G.),

2230iq

vr. From this sense

of the root

2235ih

is formed

2240 , substantives meaning strength,

force, with an old form of the dwitiya or accusative case

used adverbially to mean strongly, forcibly, with strength. (The

derivation of

2245ih, here, is different and it was by an error that

this sense was extended to the archaic word

eh by the later

grammarians on the analogy of

iv,

2250ev etc.)

vEt

Root

in the derivative

2255v

(vh

), to bear habitually.

2260Commentaries and Annotated Translations

The suffix

s or

added to a root gave three senses, intention

or futurity, desire, or frequency and habit. It is in the last sense

2265that it occurs here and forms words like

to dwell (be or

occupy habitually),

v breast,

2270l

to notice, observe;

- star,

constellation, etc,

iryEt. In the former sense

2275s

forms the future

in Greek and Sanscrit.

The root

2280 is derivative from the primary root

v in its sense

of “be in space & substance, hold matter, contain, bear”. It also

means to bring, carry, sweep, lead.

aEnnA

2285rEym

poqm

2290Edv

Edv

yfsm

vFrv1mm

rEym

2295From the sense of vibration and motion in the root

r, the

word being the root

r + the nominal suffix

2300y a merely connec-

tive semivowel between two vowels as in

jAy

2305y

2310).

Sanscrit has lost, Tamil has preserved this connective use of the

semivowels

y and

v as a constant rule of its system of euphony.

2315rEy is that which vibrates, moves, is in constant play; it comes

therefore to signify substance, matter, force, energy, strength,

prosperity, play, delight, laughter, with other kindred or deriva-

tive senses. It is the Latin res, “thing, affair, object, matter, fact”.

In the sense of substance or matter it is constantly used in the

2320Veda. In this passage it means substance or force of substance.

Root

2325 to have or enjoy, with the connective verbal affix

and the impersonal adjectival or participial termination

2330We find this general use of

v in Tamil with the verbal stem to

indicate a verbal adjective, “one who enjoys”. The root

is a

2335secondary root from

a in its transitive sense “to have”. It is the

same word as the Greek

qw, I have (afA), and from the sense of

possession develops other significances, to eat, enjoy, etc.

2340a`

is in this passage “one enjoys.”

poqm

Stem

2345p

modified with the nominal suffix

2350q

is a habit-

ual, frequentative or desiderative form from

, to produce, beget,

2355Mandala One

possess, protect (see under

ro in the first sloka) and develops

the sense “to nourish, rear, increase”. It also means “to perfect,

2360develop”, and “to cherish, foster, love”. Cf

, Latin, pullus;

2365qA the Sun;

to worship, adore, developed from the sense

2370of cherishing or loving. The substantive

poq means, therefore,

“increase, development, increasing, perfection”.

The pronominal and adverbial particle

2375v (still used for the

second personal pronoun plural as

n is used for the first) meant

originally “a substantial object, a thing before the eyes”. It came

to mean, especially when compounded with

2380a,

u, thus, this

way, in that direction; cf

iv, originally meaning, “so”, then,

2385“as”;

av in that direction, in the direction of, then, down to,

down;

#, so indeed, verily,

2390vA “or”, originally meaning “so”,

“and”, “or”.

ev is merely a variant of

iv giving a vaguer and

more comprehensive sense. It was used formerly with its other

2395form

evm

to mean, “so, and”, the latter significance surviving

in the Bengali

bM, and only afterwards came to mean “indeed,

2400verily, that and no other, so and not otherwise”. In this passage

it has the significance of “and, also”.

Edv

Root

Edv

2405 to shine, be bright, with the nominal suffix

a, “the

bright period, day”, or “the bright world”, “heaven”. Here

Edv

2410 means “from day to day”.

yfsm

Root

with the nominal suffix

2415as

“enjoyment, satisfied

possession”.

is an intensitive derivative from

2420y, to reach, join or

embrace entirely, (see under

y. in the first sloka) and meant

“success, fame, glory, possession, mastery”. It also meant “en-

joyment, a thing enjoyed or enjoyable, love, beauty, charm,

2425splendour,” (cf

yoqA,

yoEqt

, from

2430q

) which it subsequently lost,

and “seat of enjoyment, the vital organs, heart, liver etc,” Latin,

jecur.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

2435vFrv1mm

vFr

, manifestation from Root

vF, with the adjectival suf-

fix

2440vt

and the superlative suffix

tm, from

t in the sense of

to stretch, extend; cf

2445tn

tt,

tAl etc.

tm means extensive,

2450extreme, very, so “most”.

The roots

Ev and

vF mean to open, expand, manifest, a sense

chiefly found in the roots

2455Evd

Evl

(Tamil, Sanscrit, Latin), cf also

aAEv,

2460Evyt

, the open sky, B.

ibjil, lightning, Lat. verus, true

etc, etc. From this sense it developed the idea of full and forceful

manifestation, strength, energy, courage, heroism, Lat. vis, vir,

2465virtus, Sanscrit

vFr,

vFy

. The word

vFr is here plainly used as a

2470substantive since it needs

to give it the adjectival sense.

vFr

means either “strength, force”, or “manifestation, splendour,

2475openness, fullness”. With

yf in the sense of enjoyment goes

most suitably the latter signification, “fullest, most expanded,

unstinted”; but “forceful” would also not be inappropriate to

the character and function of Agni.

2480an

y.m

avrm

2485vt

pErB

aEs

2490id

gQCEt

2495ym

The demonstrative relative in the old Aryan tongue,

y, im-

plies motion or direction from one point to another as opposed

to the static force of

2500s.

y means the one who is yonder,

s the

one who is here.

y.m

2505Yajna (the Lord, Isha) here refers to the Jivatman; the dis-

tinction from the universal Yajna is indicated in the epithet

avrm

2510This word is an adjective formed by the addition of the

common adjectival suffix

r to

av (zEcr from

zEc,

2515as

r from

2520r from

av itself is a substantive formed by the

root

2525aD

by the direct addition of the nominal suffix

v. Kin-

dred vocables are

aDs

2530 , below,

avn

, path, distance, sky, attack,

time, place,

aDm, lowest,

2535aDr, lower,

aED, originally meaning

Mandala One

towards, down to, so from above, above, concerning (Gr.

kat),

2540aEDk, more,

aAED, pain,

aED, pain, misfortune.

avr itself is

used in later Sanscrit to mean, “lasting, uninterrupted, attentive,

2545the sky or air, and a sacrificial ceremony”. All these significations

are recognisable as developments from the original Aryan root

, a secondary formation from

a, to be. The sound

2550D

signifies

dull contact, downward motion or pressure from above, rest,

finality with an idea of tamasic condition, establishment, etc.

2555 therefore means to oppress, cover, rest, descend and rest,

reach and end, attack, etc. The air or atmosphere covering or

pressing on the earth, place, Time and distance, as continents,

grief as a dull tamasic condition, are early derivative meanings.

The same relation viewed from two different standpoints creates

2560the opposite senses of “down, lower”,

aD and “above, towards,

more”,

aED,

aEDk.

2565avr means lower, relative, individual, from the lost word

av which signified philosophically the lower planes of the

universe, the aparardha,

nerje

2570n. In relation to the word

y., adhwara signifies the Purusha, Lord or Ishwara manifest-

ing in the aparardha and attached to an individual adhara; the

Jivatman, not bound but relative in his manifestation.

2575vt

v, root

v to lie, remain, be spread out, with the prefix

Ev meaning open, outspread, diverse, manifold, and the suffix

2580t

which expresses possession, relation or origin, commonly used

to form adverbial expressions. On all sides.

pErB

2585pr,

pEr or

, all signifying in front, beyond, above, from in

front, and afterwards variously for, to, towards, around, about,

are kindred words from the root

2590p to cover, protect. In the old

language

pEr as preposition governs the second case even when

it is part of a compound verb, adjective or noun; it had not

at that time either become otiose or lost its separate existence

2595in the compound, but was easily detachable and always bore its

especial significance and power.

means “existent or in being”,

2600pEr “round about or in relation to”.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

aEs

Thou art. Root

a with the personal termination

2605Es. In the

old language there were two forms

aEs and

aEs from the

secondary

2610as

(aEm,

aEt) and the primary

a; but the latter

alone has survived.

2615id

The old enclitic

, kindred to

2620 (Latin et) and

(Latin

ut) and signifying that (Latin id), also, and, indeed, verily, the

same (Lat. idem). Cf the use of

2625iEt answering to English “that”.

“He, the same Yajna whom you surround as the individual soul,

is also beyond that relation and universal.”

2630q

The gods, as masters of the forces and functions, physical,

mental and spiritual which surround with their activities and

minister to the individual knowledge and action of the Jiva.

gQCEt

2635The secondary root

gQC

from

g is used to form certain

tenses of the verb

2640gm

which has replaced both

g and

gQC

. Cf

2645yQC

and

from the primary root

2650g means originally to

move softly or steadily, or continuously. It is the characteristic

root for general motion as opposed to the more specific senses

2655-,

yA, and conveys here the same sense of primary cosmic

motion as in

jgt

2660jgtF,

gA (the world or earth).

aEn

hotA

kEv5t

2665syE

c2vtm

2670v

EBrAgmt

kEv5t

kEv. Root

2675 modified before a vowel with the nominal suf-

fix

i. This root is only found in later Sanscrit in the modified

form

2680 , to praise or describe, to compose a poem, to paint

a picture. The

roots are among those of the widest scope in

the Aryan language. Primarily, they convey the idea of any kind

2685of violent, strong or masterful contact, action or relation to any

thing, person or action. The root

was used in the more ancient

language in the sense of do, act, form, make, design, create.

2690ko in

koEvd is the substantive, meaning “art, practice”. It also meant

Mandala One

to desire, enjoy (Lat. cupio, and from the idea of any strong

passion connected with love

2695k

to be angry, cf

2700kAm,

kunw,

to kiss,

mAr etc), to master, seize, hold, contain, shut, confine,

2705protect, imprison (

kvc,

kvs,

kvq, armour, a shield;

kvk,

2710kvl,

kvX, a mouthful;

kvrkF, a prisoner;

k y

, a handful,

2715then the oblation to the Manes;

2720VF,

VFr; cf

kof,

kol,

2725kork,

kof,

koV,

koVr,

2730$

2735p,

, earth). Various

2740ideas of calling, crying, crying on or at, praising, reviling (

$ ,

2745k

2750$

2755 etc). The idea of curve or crookedness derived

from the sense of the circle (Gr

kkl

kulndw,

2760k

, the circle,

society, herd, race, family,

2765EVl,

, to deceive,

2770c

VF,

ko in

2775kod@X etc) is fairly common. On the other hand, the root very

rarely accepts the more strong and violent senses common to the

forms

Ek and

2780k

, but it has them sometimes as in

z a master,

ruler or priest,

2785k

to cut, pound, burn etc. In the word

kEv the

sense of perfect creative action is dominant.

2790kEv meant a poet,

artist, scientist, craftsman, sage, anyone who was

koEvd, who

could deal perfectly with his material physical or intellectual.

It also meant the art or science itself and so, wisdom, skill,

2795mastery, proficiency. It is in this latter sense that it is used in

the compound

kEv5t

, “whose strength is in the mastery of

knowledge”.

28005t

is the Root

, a tertiary formation from

2805 by modi-

fication of the vowel to

r. The root

expresses action, work,

2810mastery, strength, rule or any strong, violent or mastering ac-

tivity, to cut, pierce, slaughter, hurt etc.

meant strength,

action, force, power of any kind mental or physical. It often

2815meant the Will or any activity of the will. Cf Greek

krtoc

karterc. The word

ft5t

2820 as a name of Indra meant

not “he of the hundred sacrifices”, but he whose force was that

of a hundred.

sym

True; free from the dwandwa of truth and falsehood. The

2825root

s to be in a fixed state or state of rest, to lie, rest, remain,

be fixed, gives to

and

2830sy the idea of that which is or is true,

fact, reality, abidingness.

sy is formed by the adjectival

y from

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

2835the old substantive

existence, truth, reality.

Ec2vtm

Ec, Rt

2840Ec with the verbal suffix

Ec indicates fundamen-

tally any action that cuts, splits, divides, separates or distin-

guishes. Its characteristic significance is to discern, distinguish,

2845analyse, group, arrange and collect. Its verbal adjective

means that which discerns, groups, arranges in a collection or

that which is so discerned, grouped and arranged. It has the sense

of various, variegated, decorative or decorated, well-arranged

2850and assorted.

2v, from the Root

, to hear, modified, before the nominal

suffix

2855 . The word is the same as the Greek

kloc

klw,

yA, I hear) and had in early times the sense of “fame, repute,

renown”, but the sense “to move vibrating, react with a strong

2860harmonious contact”, developing the sense, “to resort to, take

refuge with, join” in

E2 and “to be heard, to hear” in

are a

yet more essential and original association.

28652v means the thing

heard, the thing received by revelation, knowledge, learning,

belief, faith (cf

2=A).

Ec2vs

2870 means “analysed and grouped knowledge of great

variety” or one who possesses such knowledge. Agni is he among

the gods who possesses most such knowledge, proper to the

vijnanam, ideal or purely ideative consciousness. He is

jAtv

2875dA,

the one who has the revealed knowledge, in whom and by whom

it is born.

aAgmt

Root

2880gm

to go, move, properly with a sense of direction,

finality or intended or accomplished arrival. The preposition

originally conveyed the idea of general relation; in this com-

2885pound the sense of approach and arrival predominates. The

preposition has no relation to the instrumental

EB, which by

2890itself implies union or accompaniment; divus cum divis, a god

with the gods. The form

aAgmt

does not convey the idea of past

time, but of general action, the time being vague, “arriveth”,

2895whether now or habitually or as a past experience we have

of him. It was from this vagueness that the form afterwards

Mandala One

acquired an imperfect or habitual significance with regard to

the past.

2900yd

dAs

2905vm

kEryEs

2910it

sym

Egr

2915yd

That. The demonstrative

s was originally used either

2920as a demonstrative pronoun or a relative and in the neuter as a

conjunction; the transition from the relative to the conjunctional

use is seen in this construction, where

is really the relative to

2925the correlative

is a hanging introductory relative vaguely

2930referring to the idea of the sentence

kEryEs and not a relative

pronoun qualifying

2935m

See under

2940aEnm

in the first sloka.

dAs

Root

2945dAs

with the verbal suffix

preceded by enclitic

u, in

2950a desiderative sense, the one who wishes to hurt, the enemy. The

root

d with its congeners

dA,

Ed,

2955dF,

$ ,

2960d

^ , expressed always

effective, rapid and aggressive movement, contact, action etc.

2965It had predominatingly an aggressive sense, in the beginning to

cut, slay, tear, bite, divide; to destroy, ruin, waste, squander; to

burn, pillage, havoc. Its most important derivatives as well as

its less important,

2970f

to bite,

dfn

2975 ,

dt tooth;

to act

quickly, hurt, kill (also to act or think ably);

2980dG

to kill, hurt;

to abandon (also, protect, cherish);

2985d

to chastise;

2990 to

injure, hurt, deceive, drive;

to conquer, crush, tame;

2995 to

hurt, divide, as well as to love or pity;

to burst open, split,

divide;

3000dv fire, heat, pain;

to toss up, destroy, perish;

dhr

wasted, thin; small and so young;

3005dh

to burn, destroy, torment;

dA to cut, divide, then, to give, its later though still ancient use;

dAm

a sickle,

3010dAf

to hurt, kill, give, grant, are all instances of

the predominating frequency of this use. The same tendency

may be found in the roots

3015^ ,

$ , etc, but other significances were

developed in them more frequently, and by a not infrequent irony

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

3020of transmutation, the sense of loving, cherishing, protecting was

developed from the sense of hurting, crushing, taming, and we

find such words of tender import as

dm, house, Gr.

3025moc,

dAn

the Persian

Edl

3030 (cf the name

EdlFp),

dEytA,

dyA,

dArA, etc as

3035descendants of this root of violent or baleful significance. The

word

in the Veda, meaning enemy, afterwards robber,

dAs,

3040a captured enemy, slave, (Gr.

dol

oc from

l) are from the

3045roots

dAs

, meaning to hurt, afflict.

3050dAs

bears the same

sense. There is no reason to take it in the later sense of “giver”.

3055Thou.

, Lat. tu, Gr.

s, with the old definitive particle

3060 .

ahm

idm

3065 , Lat. idem,

vym

from

3070$

from

etc. The word

3075t

is demonstrative, that there, like the plural

(cf

y, the one

3080who yonder) and was used by itself or with the suffix

v (v) to

indicate the second person.

3085The word

from the root

B compounded with the noun

3090 . It originally meant household wealth, from

B (Bvn

vnm

3095 )

being, a house, place, world, sky, etc, and

y) spoil, plun-

3100der, substance, possessions, wealth. From this sense it came to

mean ease, happiness, good condition etc. Here it means simply

“good”, its latest sense.

kEryEs

Thou intendest or desirest to do. The future sense was orig-

3105inally one conveying the significance of intention, purpose, will,

all conveyed by the sibilant suffixes

q. Cf “I will do” in

English.

3110tv

Originally possessive adjective from

, thou.

sym

3115Here in the sense of “nature”, “essential quality”, from

being with the adjectival

y, belonging to the being, essential,

real. It may also be taken in the sense of truth, which will have

3120the same significance. The sense “oath, vow, promise”, would be

Mandala One

out of place in the early language, though it would make good

verbal sense, if the line stood by itself in some other context.

3125Egr

Root

to love with the adjectival suffix

3130ir

, makes

Egr

the lover, loving, and from the adjectival sense loving, is formed

3135a secondary substantive

Egrs

, again meaning lover or one who

loves. Agni as Angiras is the lord of love.

3140up

vAn

Edv

doqAvs

3145tr

EDyA

vym

Brt

3150emEs

u with the sense to cover, pervade,

up, over, above, through,

under, and from the sense of over, in the direction of, towards;

3155from the sense of under, in subjection to, up to.

up has here the

sense of approach by an inferior to a superior.

doqAvs

doqA darkness, tamas, from

3160d

, to assail, attack, overcome,

oppress, cover, darken, eclipse.

doqA or

3165do also means the striking

part of the arm, the forearm.

avs

Root

3170 with the nominal suffix

, a secondary

3175formation from

a, to be in substance, (v

conveying the idea of

substance, solidity, patent or objective existence), to be strong,

strengthen, maintain, keep, cherish, protect, confirm, desire,

3180love; to rise, soar, fly, be exalted.

doqAvs

he who strengthens, maintains or protects in the

darkness.

3185An old adverbial form still preserved in

tEh

and the Mahratti

, “so”; it meant there, then, thus,

3190iEt. Here it is used almost

as a vocative “O!”

EDyA

The essential meaning of the roots

3195DA,

ED, is to set down,

fix, place, settle, keep, hold.

ED is that operation of the intellect

which fixes, arranges and retains, the buddhi or discerning and

3200judging intellect.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

vym

v with the definitive particle

3205 connected by the semivowel

y; cf

3210$

(see under

in the sixth sloka).

3215v was used

for the plural of the pronoun both in the first and the second

persons with a distinguishing prefix which was afterwards lost

or replaced the

3220n

v or

v, we, Latin, nos;

3225v or

v, you.

When

3230$

replaced the second form,

vym

came to be restricted

3235to the first pronoun.

nmo

The root

means originally go or bring to an end or

3240conclusion. To lead, guide, control, dispose, distribute, mark off,

arrange, shape, bend, are its more common later meanings. The

Greek

moc, law,

3245nmw, to distribute, give, arrange, regulate,

occupy or to pasture, graze;

nmoc, an apportioned ground or

enclosure, so grove or pasturage;

nmesic (O.A.

3250nmEt) the god-

dess who arranges, controls, rewards, punishes, avenges;

3255designation, name, (S.

nAm), Lat. nemus, are survivals of these

significations. In later Sanscrit only the intransitive sense of sub-

mission, being governed, ruled, subject, to bend, submit, bow,

salute has left traces except in the sense, “to give”, attached to

3260nm

, in the particle

nAm, “granted”, “allowed”, “certainly”, and

the substantive

nAm, name.

3265nmo means submission, self-surrender,

nEt; the later sense of salutation, obeisance does not apply to

this passage.

Brt

The participle used in place of the finite verb; the use is

3270almost that of a loose nominative absolute or an anacoluthon.

(Gr.

frw, Lat. fero) with the verbal adjective or participial

3275form of

a, to be.

means to occupy, fill, hold, uphold, bear,

carry, contain, convey, bestow, be full of, feel within. It is used

3280in this passage in the latter sense, to be full of.

emEs

There are two words, the locative of

ems

(Rt

3285i modified

with the nominal suffix

signifying, “way, path”) and the

second person of the verb

3290Im

, a final derivative from

Mandala One

3295i, to reach, to culminate, to grow to full strength. From this

root comes

, the intensive particle, meaning, utterly, actually,

indeed, at once, now, and

3300imTA, as things actually are, now,

under present circumstances, Lat. imus, uttermost, last, lowest.

emEs means, “thou culminatest, risest to thy full force”.

rAjtm

avrAZAm

3305gop

dFEdEvm

3310mAnm

rAjtm

3315rAj

intensive form of

rA, as

3320r in the participial

form. Like

rA has chiefly the cognate senses of play, enjoyment,

satisfaction, bounty, love, (rAg,

3325rAD

rAE,

rAm,

rAs, etc) and,

3330to shine, glitter, colour etc. A third set of significations depend on

the idea of darting on, seizing, pouncing on, — to seize, ravish,

plunder, hold and keep, squeeze, subdue, rule, regulate, conquer,

oppress, strike, rend etc (r

3335rd

rs,

3340r,

rAvZ etc, Lat.

rapio, rego). We find

rAj

itself used in two senses, to shine or

3345to rule, (cf

rAjF, a shining streak, line etc,

rAjFv, coloured blue

lotus). He who rules, controls.

avrAZAm

3350tn

nertrwn. Of things or beings in the lower planes or

aparardha.

gop

Not a vocative, but the old accusative of

3355gop

, root

3360 mod-

ified and forming a noun, both substantive and adjective. Cf

Grk.

gpa. The secondary root

3365g

is a strongly active,

sometimes causal form of

3370g

$ , to seize, swallow up, hold, contain,

screen, hide, protect, embrace. The Grk.

gy, vulture, is literally

the seizer, the bird of prey. It also means, to hide from, fear, shun,

3375loathe (j

JsA). In this passage, as in most, it means “protector”.

3380a, negative, with

t mortal, liable to death, Greek

brotc.

The word is not

3385am

but

t, used like

3390ar, to connote the

Divine Personality, the imperishable being who is not subject to

life or death, who as eternal, unchangeable Sat is the source of

the principle of Immortality in the world.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

3395dFEdEvm

Reduplication from

Edv

to shine, with the nominal termina-

tion

3400i. The reduplication gives the idea of intensity, frequency

or variety. “A shining force, brilliance, fiery energy.”

mAnm

3405v

, secondary root from

to be, extend, cover, be in

3410force, excel, be in activity, act, operate etc. The sound

always

adds the idea of solid or heavy strength and persistence, — to

spread, increase, be exalted.

3415v

Own.

s with the suffix

v conveying the idea possession,

makes either

3420v (Lat. suus) or

sv (Greek

c) as in

tv.

3425dm

to conquer entirely, crush, tame, possess as entirely one’s

own, with the nominal suffix

a. Possession, personal property,

home. (Lat. domus, Grk.

3430d

moc.) His own home, ie, the parardha

planes as opposed to the Aparardha which he protects.

3435EptA

3440an

pAyno

3445scv

vty

3450Again the causal relative sense used loosely to mean there-

fore.

The demonstrative

n, used generally to indicate the person

3455here, I, we.

EptA

The

p roots mean principally to reach, obtain, make, do,

produce, protect, cherish, strike, strike out. From the sense “to

3460produce” in

Ep and

, come

EptA, the begetter, and

3465p

, the

begotten.

So, as.

3470i, this and

v. See under

ev in the third sloka.

Mandala One

3475$

The roots

3480s

$ are found chiefly in three senses, to press out,

distil, pour out, create, beget, from which we have

3485n

, son or

daughter,

$ with the nominal

3490n

(n,

En); to besiege, strike, attack,

wound, (s

3495d

3500 ,

nA,

3505$

to pierce); and to be at rest, ease, firm,

to confirm, ascertain, teach etc,

3510 ,

3515 ,

3520s

3525Er etc. The

last is the primary meaning of the roots in

s, but the addition

u, gives as often an idea of violence, pressure etc, from which

3530comes originally the sense, to press, squeeze, besiege, encroach

on, insist, confirm and afterwards all the derivative meanings,

even to the most remote from the original idea of rest, eg Greek

sew, I shake (sAyA from

Es,

3535sF), and the sense of siege and battle

common in the Veda. See the next hymn.

pAyno

3540The adverb

, well or very and

upAyno, Rt

i with

3545aA (making

the verb

e to go, come, approach) and

up towards, with the

idea of submission or inferiority, prefixed and followed by the

3550nominal suffix

n preceded by the enclitic

a. One who can easily

be approached, accessible, open.

3555Root

$ , Grk.

fw, Lat. fui, to be, become, from the sense

of substantial containing existence essential in the sound

3560B

. Cf

vn,

Bvn,

3565B,

etc.

scv

Imperative of Root

3570sc

s means to be in a state of rest, to lie,

lie with, adhere to, be with, embrace.

3575 and

are intensitive

and decisive, to be entirely with, cling, adhere utterly. It means

to resort to, follow, love, serve, aid, also to enjoy physically.

3580scv means “Be with us, adhere to, abide with us.”

Expressing relation, emphasises the idea of adherence in

3585vty

and

aEt, substantive from

3590 to be, with the common

nominal suffix

Et, “happiness, welfare, prosperity, increase”.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

Translation.

3595Agni I desire who standeth before the Lord, the god who

knoweth all the law, the warrior who disposeth utterly delight.

Agni whom the ancient seers desired, the modern too adore;

for in his strength he beareth all the Gods.

By Agni one getteth substance, yes, and increase day by day,

3600and glorious success.

O Agni, that Lord here below whom thou encompassest on

every side, is he that moveth in the Gods.

Agni, the warrior whose strength is wisdom, he of the Truth

who has the knowledge rich, cometh, a God attended by the

3605Gods.

O beloved, O Agni, that thou desirest to do good to him

who seeks to hurt thee, this is utterly thy nature, O Lord of

Love.

To thee, O Agni who protectest us in darkness day by day,

3610if with hearts full of self-surrender we come, then thou towerest

to thy height,

To thee, controller and protector of all things below, of the

Immortal brilliant force, ever increasing in thy home.

So be thou easy to our approach as a father to his child,

3615abide with us for our bliss.

Rishi — Madhuchchhanda Vaisvamitra.

Metre — Gayatri.

Mandala One

[4]

3620[RV I.1.1]

First Mandala

First Hymn

aEnmF0

3625roEht

y.y

Evjm

3630hotAr

r&DAtmm

“Agni I adore who stands before the Lord, the god who

seeth Truth, the warrior, strong disposer of delight.”

So the Rigveda begins with a song to Agni, with the adora-

3635tion of the pure, mighty and brilliant God. “Agni, he who excels

and is mighty,” cries the Seer, “him I adore.” Why Agni before

all the other gods? Because it is he that stands before Yajna, the

Master of things; because he is the god whose burning eyes can

gaze straight at Truth, at the satyam, the vijnanam, that which

3640is the Seer’s aim and desire and the thing on which all Veda is

based; because he is the warrior who wars down and removes

all the crooked attractions of ignorance and desire, juhuranam

enas, which stand in the way of the Yogin, because as the vehicle

of Tapas, the pure divine energy which flows from the higher

3645concealed hemisphere of existence, he more than any develops

and disposes Ananda, the divine delight.

In order to look into the words of the inspired writing and

comprehend, so far as mere intellectual exposition can help us

to comprehend, their profound meaning, we must begin with

3650the Vedanta, the great fundamental body of truth which all Veda

assumes; for it is by the passing into oblivion of this fundamental

knowledge that we have lost the key to the meaning of the Vedas,

and it is only by a return to the knowledge that we can recover

it. There are two states of being in consciousness, the divine

3655Brahmi sthiti of blissful unity, from which we descend, and the

divided state of the Jivatman into which we have descended.

Parabrahman reveals himself first as Yajna, the Supreme Soul

and Master of Things, Atman and Iswara; He is utterly one

as Atman, He is both One and Many as Iswara, but always

3660Commentaries and Annotated Translations

without losing His unity, always one without a second, ekam

evadwitiyam, because the Many, both in their individuality and

totality, are nothing but the One. Nothing is but God; we too

are God, each one of us is He, and that which we dwell in

3665is God. The fundamental sayings, So Aham; Tattwamasi, Swe-

taketo; sarvam khalu idam Brahma, are the sum of all Veda and

Vedanta. All is merely the manifestation of Him for the sake

of various delight; for Ananda the worlds are, from Ananda

they proceeded, by Ananda they abide, to Ananda they return.

3670Anandaddhyeva khalvimani bhutani jayante, anandena jatani

jivanti, anandam prayantyabhisanvishantiti. In this manifesta-

tion He as the Universal God pervades, governs, surpasses all.

He is the master of the play, —

yjEt, He controls, rules and

3675arranges it. This is Yajna. He again as the manifold individual

God, ourselves, attaches Himself to every created thing (sarva-

bhuteshu) and limits not Himself but His manifestation in each

adhara, arranging and perpetually developing in each a partic-

ular nature or law of life, a swabhava, a dharma. So ’rthan

3680yathatathyato vyadadhaccha´swatibhyah samabhyah. When we

identify ourselves with the play of this various Nature reflected

upon our consciousness and lose sight of our godhead, then we

resort too utterly to the principle of Avidya, God’s power of

not knowing Himself, we become its servants, we are subject to

3685Apara Maya, we stumble about buffeted by grief and error and

all sorts of vikaras and viparita vrittis, we know ourselves as

the Jivatman and other than the Paramatman, we make division

where there is no division; we turn play into bitter earnest and

love and joy into hatred and weeping and gnashing of teeth.

3690Nevertheless, this forgetfulness is allowed in order that our se-

cret souls in the Parardha and Brahman in them may enjoy the

viparita ananda, the contrary or perverse delight, of the dualities.

When we forget the play of Nature on our consciousness, shut

our consciousness to it, refuse to reflect it, then we resort too

3695utterly to the principle of Vidya, God’s power of knowing His

essential unity, we become subject to the Maya of Knowledge,

we seem to baffle and bring to nought for ourselves the joy of

the Lila, and disappear into some principle of Oneness, Prakriti,

Mandala One

3700Asad Brahman, Sad Brahman, Nirvana or Sacchidananda. It is,

or seems, an unnecessary movement; for the world remains just

as before so long as God chooses that it shall remain and we

cannot end it by our precipitation, and for ourselves we always

were Brahman, we always will be Brahman and we are not any

3705the more Brahman by our flight into the Absolute. Neverthe-

less, this withdrawal too is allowed in order that certain select

spirits may help the joy of the manifest world from behind the

veil by their immanent blessedness. For we have no need of

laya and no need of lila, no need of freedom and no need of

3710bondage, but all things are for delight and not from necessity.

But when we remember always and continually our oneness with

the Supreme, our eternal and indefeasible Godhead, and at the

same time allow Nature to reflect its movements on our souls

as on a magical canvas according to His eternal purpose, then

3715we have inalienable joy, then we bring heaven upon earth, then

we fulfil the highest purpose of existence. We are then free even

when we seem to be bound, and even if we are born again, we

are janmasiddha and janmashuddha, nityamukta, and wear the

temporary limitations of Nature as children allow themselves to

3720be bound in a game with bonds which the Yajna, Master of the

Revels looses Himself when we have given Him and ourselves

the intended and perfect satisfaction.

It is in the spirit of this knowledge that the hymns of the

Rigveda have been written. The Isha Upanishad is the Upanishad

3725of the Rigveda and it is there that its spiritual foundations are

revealed. To make of Avidya a bridge to immortality and of

Vidya the means of keeping our grasp on immortality, is the

common aim of the Rigvedic Rishis. This is the keynote, this

is the one great tone swelling through its thousand undertones.

3730And as our fingers fall on string after string of this mighty and

many-stringed harp of God, they return always one cry, the cry

of joyous battle, of war between Deva and Daitya, between mor-

tality and immortality, between man’s temporary imperfection

and his eternal perfectibility.

3735In this holy war the Gods are our chief helpers. There are

seven planes of cosmic consciousness on which the soul of man

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

plays with the love and wisdom and power of God. When first

the unknowable Parabrahman turns towards knowableness in

3740this partial manifestation, — for utterly That allows itself not to

be known, — the Absolute first becomes — to the possibility of

knowledge, not to its actuality — the Eternal Being or Paratpara

Purusha, paro ’vyaktad avyaktah sanatanah, who beyond the

uttermost darkness of the Asat, Sunyam Brahma or eternal noth-

3745ingness which is the ultimate negation of this manifest existence

shines ever with the light unknown of which seven rays are suffi-

cient to illuminate all these universal systems. He is that perceiv-

able but unknowable glory seated for ever beyond the darkness

that swallows up the worlds, tamasah parastat. Out of Him the

3750Asad Brahma appears, the general negation, through which this

mighty manifestation in the seven universes passes back into the

unknowableness of Parabrahman; and out of the Asad, the Sat,

the general affirmation which we know as pure Atman, Self of

itself, not yet of things, where nothing is yet differentiated and

3755even Chit and Ananda are involved in mere featureless existence.

Asad va idam agra asit, tatah sad ajayata. Atman is featureless,

unconnected, inactive, alakshanam avyavaharyam akriyam. It

must be featureless in order to contain all possible feature; it

must be unconnected with the play of the worlds in order that

3760Chit may play upon Sat with perfect freedom and put forth into

the worlds without limitation whatever name, form or being the

Lord commands Her to put forth; it must be inactive in order

that there may be illimitable possibilities for Her action. For

Atman is the foundation and continent of our worlds and if

3765Atman had any definite feature or any bondage of connection

or any law of activity, the world play which it supports and

contains would be limited by that feature, by that connection or

by that activity and God in His manifestation would be bound

and not free. Therefore it is that as the featureless, free, inactive

3770Sad Atman the Eternal first manifests Himself on this side of

the darkness of Asat. Next, in Atman, He appears to His self-

knowledge as the Nirgun Brahma, the Being without quality of

the Parabrahman, manifesting an impersonal self-existence, an

impersonal self-awareness and an impersonal self-delight, Sat,

3775Mandala One

Chit, Ananda. This too is Tat or That, but being unlike Parabrah-

man Tat in manifestation can be described, defined, cognised,

not as anything else but as Atman and as Sacchidanandam. Tat

in manifestation can be aware or unaware of the worlds and

3780It can be both aware and unaware, but its cognition is without

relation. It has no connection with the worlds in which it cog-

nises and perceives activity merely as the play of a dream on the

surface of its imperturbable quiet. On the calm of the Nirgunam

God next imposes Himself (adhyaropayati) as the Personality of

3785the Eternal, the Paratpara Purusha manifest in relation to the

world. Here first we get relation, quality, activity. At first, the

Personality merely contains and informs the activity which plays

in it not as unrealised dream, but as realised though not binding

actuality and truth, as an infinite active blissfulness of the Chit in

3790the Sacchidananda in place of an infinite passive blissfulness. The

indifference of the Impersonal to the play of the Personal does

not make the play an unreality or an immense cosmic falsehood

with which Brahman amuses Himself or distresses Himself for

a season, any more than the featurelessness of the Sad Atman

3795makes feature a lie and an impossibility. On the contrary just

as that featurelessness is the necessary condition for features to

manifest truly, infinitely, divinely — for Truth, infinity and Deity

are one, — so the detachment of the Impersonal is simply the

condition for the security of the soul when it plunges into the

3800myriad-billowed ocean of manifest existence. The Impersonal

is detachment from guna and it is as detached from guna that

God possesses and enjoys guna, otherwise He would be bound

by and could not rightly enjoy it. It is because the tranquillity

and indifference of the Nirguna is concealed within us that our

3805souls can with impunity play at being bound, at being ignorant

and at being sorrowful without being really bound by our bonds

or darkened by our ignorance or destroyed by our sorrow. For

being omnipotent God within us can always go back to the

tranquillity within Him and look upon these things as a dream

3810that falls away from Him the moment He cares to wake. It

was a dream, but not a dream, just as when we are aware of

sights and sounds without attending to them or remember the

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

past and it is to us dreamlike, swapnamaya. The world has a

3815reality, but the Impersonal does not interest Itself in that reality,

not attending to it; it does not properly recognise it except as a

thing that is and yet is not, the Maya of Shankara. This also is

not a lie but truth, not a foolish, blissful dream, but a perfect

reality. Because it was avyakta in the Nirguna, it is not therefore

3820false when it becomes vyakta any more than an apple hidden

is an apple non-existent. The world is not utter reality because

it is thing in manifestation, not thing in itself. Yet it is real

because it is a manifestation of God in Himself and God who

is satyam conceives nothing that is not satyam, nothing that is

3825not Himself. He is not a seer of falsehoods. Anritam is merely a

vikara or perversion of satyam. All ignorance is really partial or

misplaced knowledge, all bondage a concealment of freedom,

all evil good in the making, all sorrow a veiled delight. This

the Saguna Brahman perceives and knows and as Vasudeva, or

3830tranquil Personality, He utterly enjoys without any distinction

of pleasure and grief, good and evil, the infinite play of the

world within Himself. The Saguna is Sacchidananda envisaging

cosmic activity. On the tranquillity [of] Vasudeva God by a new

adhyaropa manifests Himself to Himself as the Sarvam Brahman

3835in all things; He becomes the Lilamaya, the eternal Child frol-

icking in the Universe, the Playmate, Lover, Master, Teacher and

Friend of all His creations; He is Hari, He is Srikrishna, He is the

Personal God whom we love and adore and whom we pursue

and seize through the Ages. Then, descending a step farther,

3840avataran, He is known to Himself not only as the universal

Lord of the Lila, but as the individual, Narayana concealed in

Nara, playing through him, different from him, one with him.

Many Adwaitins of the Kaliyuga insist that God is a myth and

only the Sad Atman is a reality, just as many Buddhists deny the

3845Sad Atman as well and say that only the Asad is a reality, but

if we know only the Sad Atman or only the Asad, if we follow

after only the Nirguna or only the Saguna, if we only embrace

Vasudeva-Krishna-Narayan, then we know not the Eternal ex-

cept in an aspect and we fall under the censure of the Upanishad,

3850dabhram evapi twam vettha Brahmano rupam. We must shut

Mandala One

our eyes upon nothing, renounce nothing as absolutely false or

illusive if we would know the All and be perfectly liberated. Only

when we gaze we must gaze aright and see God in all things,

3855not things as aught but God. Our fathers did not commit the

error of sectarianism or a partial philosophy. They were mighty

as Gods or Titans, not like the men of the Kali Yuga who shout

and quarrel over their imperfect philosophies and little bounded

religions; their souls were spacious enough to take in all truth

3860for their portion.

In this Brahman then, on the sure foundation of this free

and disinterested Atman, in the joy and infinity of this Lila

consciousness manifests its sevenfold nature and its sevenfold

regions. We are already aware in our human progress of the three

3865lower levels of consciousness; the vyahritis of the Veda, Bhur,

Bhuvar and Swar, planes in which we wander in the shadow of

the Ajnanam lighted by a broken sunlight from above, erring

under the control of Avidya who separated from her eternal

companion and playmate Vidya and at strife with that glorious

3870friend and helper stumbles about among the appearances of the

world, ourselves always dissatisfied, always struggling, always

seeking a good that we cannot grasp and crying out at the end,

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity & vexation of spirit.” But in that

too we cannot rest; for God condemns us to our own good and

3875spurs us on ever to seek until we find the missing element [that]

can complete the incompleteness of our existence. Meanwhile

the soul imagining itself irrevocably bound, contents itself with

the things of its prisonhouse and wears its chains as ornaments

or else, touched by God and uplifted, delights to struggle upward

3880to freedom. For above the three Vyahritis is the fourth, Mahas,

where the soul is one with God, yet separate, free, yet consciously

plays with bondage, — Mahas, the link between the Parardha

and Aparardha, pouring the glory of the higher hemisphere into

the lower, — Mahas which we enjoy and possess in the golden

3885ages of our humanity, love and seek for in the iron. For to

Mahas we rise, through Mahas we aspire to the perfect oneness

of Sacchidananda.

Brahman at first becomes involved in gross matter, — he

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

3890becomes or seems to become Annam, the conscious principle of

Bhu. In pure Annam consciousness is involved, implicit, latent;

from annam it has to develop or manifest the other six principles

and this development or manifestation is the evolution of the

modern Jadavadins. It develops them here, under the law of

3895the universal harmony, in annam and the Jadavadins perceiving

this principle of evolution, imagine not unnaturally that it is

annam which is evolving and suppose the other six, even Mind,

to be mere changes and movements of annam. At first prana

or vitality which is latent in the metal, manifests in the tree;

3900then mind which is latent in the tree manifests in the animal,

first as chitta or mere receptive consciousness, then as manas or

sensational consciousness without any self-conscious centre of

individuality, then as the discriminatory faculty or buddhi with

its companion Ahankara, egoism, the self-conscious principle.

3905In the animals reason is awake, but elementary and has to be

largely replaced by vijnanam, intuitive faculty manifesting not in

intellect but in sensational & vital consciousness. Then in man

discriminative reason takes the lead, for discriminative reason is

the shadow of the vijnanam, the link between the animal and the

3910god and it is not till a fit body is formed for the works of reason

that the spiritual evolution begins and the development of the

higher states of consciousness is possible. Man is that fit body,

sukritam eva, well indeed and beautifully made as a habitation

for the gods. His business is to raise the animal in him and

3915develop beyond manomaya being, transcending & subordinat-

ing even its crown and glory which he considers his peculiar

privilege, the discriminative and imaginative reason. For he has

to develop vijnanam or ideal thought on which all Veda is based,

he has to develop Ananda, Chit and Sat, the higher hemisphere

3920of cosmic consciousness. In the present stage of his evolution he

can only develop consciously as far as Ananda with Sat & Chit

implicit in Ananda; to Chit & Sat proper he cannot arrive in his

waking state, but only in the deep trance of Sushupta Samadhi,

concentration of consciousness in a state of illuminated Sleep. He

3925began his task as the supreme animal, Pashu, Vanara, Nrisingha,

developing all these potentialities purely in the annamaya kosha

Mandala One

or physical sheath of his being in Annam & Prana; he went

on as the mixed animal, first the Pishacha or scientific, curious

3930animal, then the Pramatha or aesthetic, curious animal; and from

these levels climbed to the condition of the Rakshasa or animal-

god who satisfies egoism through his sensational and emotional

impulses; he is now the Asura, Titan or demi-god satisfying

in the heart & buddhi his emotional and intellectual egoism.

3935He has eventually to become the whole god; he must learn to

satisfy himself without egoism through ideal knowledge and

blissful spirituality. But always being in the annamaya world,

in Bhu, resting always on the Anna Atma, he is compelled to

base himself on the body even when rising above the body. The

3940individual may leave the body, but the race has to keep it; it

has not to leave the animal in humanity behind in its progress

but to raise the animal until it is divine. It is his first business

therefore to be conscious not only in the physical sheaths of the

Annakosha and Pranakosha, — this he normally is, — but in the

3945mental sheath or manahkosha, and there in his normal condition

he is only partially active. Once awake in the mental body, he

has to extend his waking consciousness, — whoever can so far

develop, — into the Vijnana and Anandakoshas.

What are these bodies and these Atmas? The Vedantins of

3950old recognised that divine consciousness on whatever level al-

ways creates for itself through Prakriti or Chit, its active creative

knowledge, a world to live in & a body for its habitation in

the world, and in that world and in that body manifests as a

part of the Atman reflecting their conditions. If therefore there

3955are seven distinct states of consciousness, there must equally

be seven conditions of the Atman, seven distinct worlds with

their denizens and seven kinds of bodies. These seven states are

Annam, Prana, Manas, Vijnanam, Ananda, Chit and Sat; these

seven worlds are Bhuloka, Bhuvarloka, Swarloka, Maharloka,

3960Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka; these seven conditions of the

Atman are the Visva Atma, Prana Atma, Buddha Atma, Mahan

Atma, Mahajana Atma, Chaitanya Atma and Satya Atma; these

seven bodies are the Annakosha, Pranakosha, Manahkosha, Vi-

jnanakosha, Anandakosha, Chitkosha and Satkosha. In each

3965Commentaries and Annotated Translations

world the denizens, although living predominatingly in the body

proper to their own element of conscious existence, also live la-

tently or consciously in the other six, and all have therefore seven

bodies, each in communication with its proper plane or world

3970& containing its proper principle of consciousness. Man, living

here in the Bhu, has, he too, his seven bodies. He has for instance

the Manahkosha containing his pure mental consciousness and,

although mind can & does play in the other sheaths, it can only

be by becoming awake & living in his mental body as well as

3975his physical that he can realise the utmost potentialities of pure

mental activity. It is because he has these other bodies, that he

can, if he will, communicate with the other worlds and have

relations with the Gods.

This then is the arrangement of the created universe, and the

3980world we live in is its base, not only earth but all these sidereal

systems, Bhuloka, the material universe, our present inheritance.

Being the lowest of the Aparardha worlds, it is according to a

common action of God’s love and wisdom, at once the least

and the most privileged, the least privileged because here alone

3985grief and pain are utterly felt, here alone is the whole pain and

struggle of evolution, — the most privileged because here alone

is the evolution eventually complete in all the potentiality of

its parts and heaven perfectly realised in a sevenfold blissful-

ness. Above us are the six other worlds, homes of the gods who

3990change not ever, except by entering human bodies. First, there

is Bhuvar, the Pranamaya world, where Prana is at its height,

vitality is stupendous, grief and pain are felt but enjoyed, sen-

suous enjoyment is perfect and prolonged. Then there is Swar,

lower & higher, Swarga and Chandraloka, where Indra and the

3995greater gods reside, manas is at its height, sensation, emotion,

aesthetic pleasure and intellectual joy are of a mighty intensity,

grief and pain are not felt except as another kind of pleasure

and rapture, mental enjoyment is perfect and prolonged. Above

there is Mahas or Suryaloka where vijnanam is at its height,

4000intuitive ideal perception, inspiration & revelation are the nor-

mal processes of knowledge and the joys of ideal and direct

knowledge unmixed with falsehood and error are perfect and

Mandala One

prolonged. It is this state of consciousness which is so often

4005called in the Veda, satyam, ritam, brihat and technically termed

Bhuma, Mahas or Mahat, the abundant, full or mighty. These

are the worlds of the lower hemisphere and of these states of

consciousness we can have some conception, we can imagine

and even realise or almost realise the condition of the beings

4010who reside in these worlds, to the very highest. But what of the

three supreme states of consciousness? what of the three worlds

of the higher hemisphere? It is more difficult to conceive of them

or to realise what man himself will be or is when he develops

them — is, for even now by Yoga he can develop the Ananda.

4015Still, because, debarred though we are from the actual tread of

these infinite heavens, we can experience them indirectly and

as conditioned by our existence on these lower levels, therefore

some idea of them, not altogether inadequate, may be formed

by those of us who have a touch of the ideal faculty.

4020[5]

[RV I.1.1]

First Mandala

First Hymn

Madhuchchhanda Vaisvamitra’s Hymn to Agni written in the

4025Gayatri metre in which the first verse runs in the devabhasha,

“Agnim ˆıle puro hitam Yajnasya devam ritvijam,

hotaram ratnadhatamam”

and in English,

“Agni I adore, who stands before the Lord, the god who

4030seeth Truth, the warrior, strong disposer of delight.”

So the Rigveda begins with an invocation to Agni, with

the adoration of the pure, mighty and brilliant God. “Agni (he

who excels and is mighty),” cries the Seer, “him I adore.” Why

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

4035Agni before all the other gods? Because it is he that stands be-

fore Yajna, the Divine Master of things; because he is the god

whose burning eyes can gaze straight at Truth, at the satyam,

the vijnanam, which is the Seer’s own aim and desire and on

which all Veda is based; because he is the warrior who wars

4040down and removes all the crooked attractions of ignorance and

limitation (asmajjuhuranam eno) that stand persistently in the

way of the Yogin; because as the vehicle of Tapas, the pure

divine superconscious energy which flows from the concealed

higher hemisphere of existence, (avyaktam, parardha), he more

4045than any develops and arranges Ananda, the divine delight. This

is the signification of the verse.

Who is this Yajna and what is this Agni? Yajna, the Master

of the Universe, is the universal living Intelligence who possesses

and controls His world; Yajna is God. Agni also is a living intel-

4050ligence that has gone forth, is srishta, from that Personality to do

His work and represent His power; Agni is a god. The material

sense sees neither God nor gods, neither Yajna nor Agni; it sees

only the elements and the formations of the elements, material

appearances and the movements in or of those appearances. It

4055does not see Agni, it sees a fire; it does not see God, it sees the

earth green and the sun flaming in heaven and is aware of the

wind that blows and the waters that roll. So too it sees the body

or appearance of a man, not the man himself; it sees the look or

the gesture, but of the thought behind look or gesture it is not

4060aware. Yet the man exists in the body and thought exists in the

look or the gesture. So too Agni exists in the fire and God exists

in the world. They also live outside of as well as in the fire and

outside of as well as in the world.

How do they live in the fire or in the world? As the man

4065lives in his body and as thought lives in the look or the ges-

ture. The body is not the man in himself and the gesture is not

the thought in itself; it is only the man in manifestation or the

thought in manifestation. So too the fire is not Agni in himself

but Agni in manifestation and the world is not God in Himself

4070but God in manifestation. The man is not manifested only by

his body, but also and much more perfectly by his work and

Mandala One

action, thought is not manifested only by look and gesture, but

also and much more perfectly by action and speech. So too,

4075Agni is not manifested only by fire, but also and much more

perfectly by all workings in the world, — subtle as well as gross

material, — of the principle of heat and brilliance and force; God

is not manifested only by this material world, but also and much

more perfectly by all movements and harmonies of the action of

4080consciousness supporting and informing material appearances.

What then is Yajna in Himself and what is Agni in himself?

Yajna is Being, Awareness and Bliss; He is Sat, with Chit and

Ananda, because Chit & Ananda are inevitable in Sat. When in

His Being, Awareness and Bliss He conceals guna or quality, He

4085is nirguna Sat, impersonal being with Awareness and Bliss either

gathered up in Himself & passive, they nivritta, He also nivritta

or working as a detached activity in His impersonal existence,

they pravritta, He nivritta. Then He should not be called Yajna,

because He is then aware of himself as the Watcher and not as

4090the Lord of activity. But when in His being, He manifests guna or

quality He is saguna Sat, personal being. Even then He may be

nivritta, not related to His active awareness and bliss except as a

Watcher of their detached activity; but He may also by His Shakti

enter into their activity and possess and inform His universe

4095(pravishya, adhisthita), He pravritta, they pravritta. It is then

that He knows Himself as the Lord and is properly called Yajna.

Not only is He called Yajna, but all action is called Yajna and

Yoga, by which alone the process of any action is possible, is also

called Yajna. The material sacrifice of action is only one form

4100of Yajna, which, when man began to grow again material, took

first a primary and then a unique importance and for the mass of

men stood for all action and all Yajna. But the Lord is the master

of all our actions; for Him they are, to Him they are devoted,

with or without knowledge (avidhipurvakam) we are always

4105offering our works to their Creator. Every action is therefore an

offering to Him and the world is the altar of our lifelong session

of sacrifice. In this worldwide karmakanda the mantras of the

Veda are the teachers of right action (ritam) and it is therefore

that the Veda speaks of Him as Yajna and not by another name.

4110Commentaries and Annotated Translations

This Yajna, who is the Saguna Sat, does not do works Him-

self, (that is by Sat), but He works in Himself, in Sat, by His

power of Chit, — by His Awareness. It is because He becomes

aware of things in Himself by some process of Chit that things

4115are created, brought out, that is to say, srishta from His all-

containing non-manifest Being into His manifest Self. Power

& awareness, Chit and Shakti are one, and though we speak

for convenience’ sake of the Power of Chit, & call it Chich-

chhakti, yet the expression should really be understood not as

4120the Power of Chit, but as Chit that is Power. All awareness is

power and all power conceals awareness. When Chit that is

Power begins to work, then She manifests Herself as kinetic

force, Tapas, and makes it the basis of all activity. For because

all power is Chit subjectively, therefore all power is objectively

4125attended with light; but there are different kinds of light, because

there are different manifestations of Chit. Seven rays have cast

out this apparent world from the Eternal Luminousness which

dwells like a Sun of ultimate being beyond its final annihila-

tion, adityavat tamasah parastat, and by these seven rays in

4130their subjectivity the subjective world and by these seven rays

in their objectivity the phenomenal world is manifested. Sat,

chit, ananda, vijnanam, manas, prana, annam are the sevenfold

subjectivity of the Jyotirmaya Brahman. Prakasha, agni, vidyut,

jyoti, tejas, dosha and chhaya are His sevenfold objectivity. Agni

4135is the Master of the vehicle of Tapas. What is this vehicle of Tapas

of which Agni is the master? It is fiery light. Its Master is known

by the name of his kingdom. Strength, heat, brilliance, purity,

mastery of knowledge and impartiality are his attributes. He

is Yajna manifest as the Master of the light of Tapas, through

4140whom all kinetic energy of consciousness, thought, feeling or

action is manifested in this world which Yajna has made out

of His own being. It is for this reason that he is said to stand

before Yajna. He or vidyut or Surya full of him is the blaze of

light in which the Yogins see God with the divine vision. He is

4145the instrument of that universal activity in which Yajna at once

reveals and conceals His being.

Agni is a god — He is of the devas, the shining ones, the

Mandala One

Masters of light — the great cosmic gamesters, the lesser lords

4150of the Lila, of which Yajna is Maheswara, the one Almighty

Lord. He is free and unbound or binds himself only in play.

He is inherently pure and he is not touched nor soiled by the

impurities on which he feeds. He enjoys the play of good &

evil and leads, raises or forces the evil towards goodness. He

4155burns in order to purify. He destroys in order to save. When the

body of the sadhak is burned up with the heat of the tapas, it is

Agni that is roaring and devouring and burning up in him the

impurity and the obstructions. He is a dreadful, mighty, blissful,

merciless and loving God, the kind and fierce helper of all who

4160take refuge in his friendship.

Knowledge was born to Agni with his birth — therefore he

is called jatavedas.

[6]

[RV I.1]

41651.

aEnmF0

roEht

y.y

4170d

Evjm

hotAr

r&DAtmm

4175aEnm

The primitive root

a, to be, when combined with

certain consonants

4180 ,

4185r

, contracted a sense of existence in

the superlative,

giving more the sense of height & intensity,

4190g

of strength, solidity or quantity,

4195 , of rapidity, vigour, ac-

tivity, command. All strong action or quality could be denoted

, as in

4200ag

, Gr.

kroc, topmost, first, foremost;

4205ago, I lead, act;

gajc, good, brave;

n, excessive; names

like Agis, Agamemnon, Agamedes (cf Sanscrit

4210aj,

ajmFY);

ac, brilliant; etc. In Sanscrit the root

4215 is much preferred

to the guttural combination. There can be no doubt, however,

that

4220aEn meant strong, brilliant, forceful. Nasalised,

we have it in

gEt fire (also a conveyance, cf

4225w & S.

4230gAr a live coal,

to stir, move; and in

4235Egr and

agEt,

— the former term often applied to Agni. There was another

signification, to cling, embrace, love, which we find in the Greek

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

4240gph, love,

nc, tender, gentle, charming, which seems to

have been another meaning of

4245Egr, loving, and appears in the

mode of address

g, in

4250k,

etc, & in

4255g the god of

love. Agni is the bright and strong, the bright god of fire, the

strong, burning god of Tapas, heat and force.

The root is

4260il

being a modification which now

4265survives only in the Southern Aryan tongues, Marathi, Tamil etc.

is itself a secondary root from

i to go, move, go after, wish

for, desire, go to, reach, embrace, possess, control (cf

4270Ih

iQC

4275 ). The liquid increases the closeness of contact, steadiness of

action, or soft intensity of feeling.

is to love, woo, desire,

adore, embrace, press upon physically or mentally urge, crowd.

4280The meaning, praise, is of later development from the sense

of wooing or adoration. In words like

ilA, the earth,

has

4285the original sense of motion. I adore or desire, or I praise will

equally fit the first line, but in view of the second, where the

coincident root

means obviously desirable or adorable, not

4290praiseworthy, the more primitive meaning must be preferred.

roEht

Not Purohit, but placed in front. Unless we take

Yajna in the sense of sacrifice, there is no need to take

4295p

roEhtm

any but its original and primitive sense. Agni may be described as

the Purohita or representative of the gods in the sacrifice, he is in

4300no sense a sacrificer at the ceremony, in no sense either Purohit or

Ritwik. He is the eater of the sacrifice not its priest. Even if Yajna

is taken to mean sacrifice, Agni cannot rightly be called its priest,

and

4305roEhtm

will still have to mean standing in front, but with

the idea of the Gods supplied and the genitive

y.y understood

of general relation without any idea of possession, “who stands

4310forth for the gods at the sacrifice”. But the language of the Vedas

is always precise and sufficient and no such omission of a word

need be supplied.

y.y

y. is acknowledged to be a name for Vishnu, for

4315the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme is not a sacrifice. We must

find some other meaning for

y. in the etymology of the word.

We find the kindred

ym which means he who controls, governs,

4320Mandala One

as in

EnytA and other members of the

y family of roots. The

sense of force put forth to reach, obtain or control is a common

4325significance in this group. “Restraint” is a sense of the word

y, “obtaining” of

yA; “effort, control, mastery” is found in

4330yt,

yEt,

y&,

ytA,

4335 ,

ym (Enym,

4340ym),

yAm;

yyF is

a name of Shiva;

y. itself is a name of Agni, the master of

4345tp or force in action and exertion;

yf is fame, glory, beauty,

wealth, — in Bengali, success, attainment, probably a survival

of its original sense; in

yEvS youngest, from a lost

4350yv, not lost

to the Veda,

youth etc, & in

4355yv barley,

yvs grass, the

root sense is “strong, flourishing, vigorous”;

4360yAs (aAyAs,

yAs) bring us back to the idea of effort and labour. These

significations arise [as] developments from the sense of “going”,

(combined with effort or an original impetus), with its common,

almost invariable development of going after, seeking, striving,

4365desiring, (yA,

yAc

), also reaching, meeting, mixing, acquiring,

joining, embracing, enjoying (y

4370y

yog,

yAmF,

4375yoqA,

yoEn)

4380and the sense of reaching to, joining to or handing, from which

we have the idea of giving,

yQC

4385 in the sense of sacrifice,

yAjyEt. The sense of strong one, master, controller, lord is

established for

y. by the application to Vishnu and Agni, con-

4390tinued at a time when the etymological justification had been

lost; the sense of sacrifice is established by the universal later

use. But it is also capable of the same senses as

yog,

y& or the

4395lost

from which we have

yEt,

yt etc; it could mean effort,

4400action, tapasya, Yoga; this sense is the basis of the idea attached

to the word

y. in the Gita and of the meaning of adhiyajna

there as the One in whom all action, tapasya and Yoga rest

and to whom they are consciously or unconsciously devoted.

4405The modern form of the Gita is there trying to assimilate an

older form in which

y. had its natural meaning, — Yoga, action,

tapasya.

4410vm

The root

Edv

dFv

4415 commonly means either “to shine”

or “to play”. It is the former sense that gives us

v, the shining

ones, referring to the luminous tejomaya bodies proper to the

4420inhabitants of the Swarloka where tejah is the primary element

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

in all forms.

v by detrition of the

4425v gives Latin deus and Greek

jec; from the long root

dFv

we have divus and diva.

-Evjm

4430 For a reason already alleged, this word need not

& should not be taken in the modern sense. The modern deriva-

tion

-t

4435ij

, sacrificing in season, is a forced etymology,

imposed after the word had contracted its modern meaning. The

Ritwik was not a sacrificer in season any more than the Purohit,

Hota, Brahma or Adhwaryu. The word meant originally “seer

4440or knower of the truth, the right, the law, the Ritam”, and in this

sense it was applied to the priest whose duty it was to see that

everything was done according to the fixed rule and rationale of

the sacrifice. But originally it had no such narrow significance. It

meant “the seer of the ritam” and as applied to Agni it had the

4445same sense as “jatavedah”, he to whom the Veda or direct vision

of truth has appeared, — for jata in this word has nothing to do

with birth. Even if we take the etymology to be

-t

4450ij

, this

sense is perfectly possible,

-t

will then be used in its original

4455sense of established truth, ascertained thought, fixed law (from

which the sense of “proper time, season” arose) and

in the

sense “obtain, acquire, know”, common to the groups of roots

4460which have the sense of motion towards. I suggest, however,

that the combination is

-t

truth, and

Evj

4465 to see perfectly or

decisively. The combination is not contrary to the old laws of

sandhi, eg

4470m =

4475nF =

p&F etc. The liquid and nasal

consonants did not originally call for the modification of the

preceding hard consonant in composition.

The root

4480-t

contracts the sense of truth from the original

force of

- to go, move, go to, to reach, find, know, think, fix. We

find in Sanscrit

4485-j

, fixed, straight, honest;

-t, right, proper,

true;

-tm

4490 , rule, law, truth, right;

-t

, a fixed time, season, pe-

riod, a fixed order or rule;

-B

4495 ,

- v, wise, skilful;

-Eq, thinker,

knower, sage;

-q

4500 , wise. In Latin we have reor, I think, judge;

ratus, thought, fixed, settled, valid; ratio, rule, method, reason,

view, principle; also calculation, account etc; rectus, straight,

right; regula, a rule.

The root

4505Evj

usually means an intense state of existence,

Mandala One

as in Latin vigor, strength, vigour; vigere, to flourish; cf vireo,

to flourish, be green, vir, a hero, S.

4510vFr from a brother root;

Evj

to be excited (u7

g),

4515v

g speed, intensity; but it has

other meanings, eg to discriminate, decide, judge. The primary

means to appear, burst out, be divulged, to split open, separate,

4520and, transitively, to see, know, discriminate, separate, divulge,

expose, etc. A great regiment of words in Tamil & a few in Latin

bear evidence to this sense, especially the Tamil for eye

rz and

the root

4525r

with its numerous derivatives; a number of words

meaning open, public, sale, auction, publication etc; Latin vile,

common, cheap; villa, open place, country place, county seat;

vendo, I sell; venalis, to be sold; but especially video, I see. In

4530Sanscrit we have

Evd

to know;

Evj

to separate, discriminate;

4535Evc

in the same sense;

Ev itself always implying in some form division

or separation;

EvnA, except, without, from the same sense;

4540Evp

and

Ev a wise man, seer;

aAEvr

manifest;

4545Evl

to divide, break,

& in the causal form to send forth, throw out (originally, to

divulge, manifest);

Eblm

4550 (Evlm

) a hole, fissure;

Evf

to enter in,

penetrate;

4555Evq

to separate, disjoin;

vF to be born or produced,

appear; shine, produce;

vFpA lightning;

4560Evyt

the open sky; and

others.

Evj

may therefore mean either to see, or to separate and

4565discriminate.

hotArm

The word

hotA again means a sacrificial priest, and

it is curious, if these senses are to be taken, that three different

4570words meaning different kinds of sacrificial priests, should be

applied to Agni in the course of a short line composed of eight

words and not one with any definite appropriateness either to

Agni himself or to the context. We must seek a more appropriate

meaning.

4575The root

like all

roots must have had originally the

4580sense of “to use force violently or aggressively, to come into

aggressive contact, to throw, throw out, strike, kill”. This sense

we find in

hA to throw away, abandon;

ht from

4585h, slain, killed;

to strike, injure, kill;

4590 ;

sA injury, slaughter;

Et a weapon;

4595h

s a swan (one who flies flapping the wings);

hW violence,

force, rapine;

4600 to discharge (excrement), (cf Bengali

hAgA);

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

weapon, disease, death, (Greek

4605j

natoc, death,

jnhtc, mortal);

hT a blow, killing, death;

4610 to be weary;

hy horse (galloper);

} to seize, ravish;

hEr anything strong, swift, brilliant, bright

coloured (cf

4615hErZ,

hErt

);

to plough, move strongly (we find

4620traces of the idea of moving strongly in the vernaculars, cf

Ehl

Ehol,

4625 );

to ridicule, originally to insult, slight, humiliate;

Eh@X

4630 to disregard, slight;

Eh to cast, shoot;

to hurt, injure,

kill;

4635h

@X a tiger;

to injure, kill;

4640h

X a ram (butter, fighter);

4645h

to slight;

4650 to vex, hurt;

hoX

a robber;

hoX

4655hOX

to slight;

to rob, take away;

4660 to waste, diminish;

xAd

4665 to sound

loudly, roar, neigh;

xF to be put to shame. So insistent are these

senses of this violent root that it is impossible to believe that

4670 alone, unlike its secondary roots,

4675X

, should not

4680have shared in them. As a matter of fact we find that the sense of

sacrifice comes from the idea of throwing; to throw in the fire,

hence to sacrifice. We have also the sense of calling,

hv a cry,

call;

4685 to call, where the idea is of the violent throwing out of

the sound from the throat (cf

xAd

4690q

etc) and finally

4695aAhv,

battle. It is in this word

aAhv that we get the key to the ancient

sense of

4700 to slay, strike, fight. If it had this sense in the time of

the Veda we may take

hotA as slayer, fighter,

hv as meaning both

battle & cry, call,

4705ho

as war, battle. On this supposition Agni

hota is the slayer, the warrior, the smiter of the foe.

r&DAtmm

Again we have a word we cannot take in its

4710modern sense.

r& in the sense of jewel comes from the idea

of glittering, coruscating which is an original sense of the root

r & its derivatives. This root

r & its brother root

4715rA, meant

originally to vibrate, to be intense in movement, contact, feel-

ing, so to coruscate, glitter, break up, play, rush, shout, rejoice,

feel ecstasy. We have

r in the sense of fire, heat, love, desire,

4720speed;

rA gold;

brightness, lustre;

4725h

to go swiftly;

hEt,

4730hs

speed, impetuosity;

rk the sunstone, crystal or a hard shower;

to taste, (take delight of);

4735r8t painted, brilliantly coloured,

impassioned, playful;

swift;

4740g colour, amusement, passion;

rjt

silver;

rjs

originally strength, swiftness, passion, force;

4745the dancing of broken dust, etc, cf

;

4750r

to colour, be

Mandala One

enamoured, delighted;

4755rV

to shout, call out;

rZ (literally a

charge), war, combat, ringing sound;

rT a chariot, a hero or

4760fighter (

mhArT,

aEtrT,

aEDrT where the sense is evidently a

fighter and has nothing to do with chariot); ecstasy, delight;

4765rB

clasp, embrace; start off, begin;

rBs

impetuosity, vehemence, in

4770Bengali, violent delight or ecstasy; cf S.

rABy

delight, violence;

to play, rejoice, delight;

4775r

to bellow;

to stream, go;

4780rE

m ray, beam;

to cry out, scream; taste, relish;

rs delight,

4785taste, liquid, (from “to flow”). Cf also

rAg,

rADA,

rAm,

rAmA,

4790rAv,

rv etc. The root

from which

r& may come (unless

4795we compound

r +

&, but this is contrary to the evidence of

y&,

p&F etc) is not found except in

4800rAE and

rAEt where it

is significant that

rAEt means a friend, a gift, ready or gener-

ous, which may all have come from the sense of delight, play

4805etc;

rAE &

rjnF may also mean the time of enjoyment. We

have too

rEt, delight, which is usually derived from

4810rm

. In any

case the evidence of the other roots gives as the most probable

meanings of a root

4815 , delight, light or vehemence of feeling,

motion or action. In this passage the two first alone will enter

naturally into the sense of the verse. Agni is addressed either

as the giver of light, ritwij and jatavedas — for physically Agni

is the disposer of light only through Surya — or as the giver

4820of delight, because tapas is the basis of all ananda. But this

metaphorical sense of “light” is a doubtful use and for other

reasons as well, foreign to the etymological considerations, I

prefer the sense of “delight” to the other and more obvious

significance.

4825Translation.

Agni I desire, who stands before the Lord, the god who seeth

truth, — the warrior, who disposeth utterly delight.

aEn

4830p

-EqEBrFX

4835yo

#zt

4840s

;

4845vEt

X and

l are often interchangeable in Sanscrit; cf

4850h

4855 ,

and

4860l

. There is no difference of force or use between

4865 .

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

4870#r

$ is evidently an old Aryan word for “now” used

4875both of time & logical sequence and in asking questions; this is

evident from the adverbs formed from it — Sanscrit

, Greek

nu,

4880Latin num, nunc. Hence

nv in the sense of new, lit. “belonging

to now”,

nvFn =

tkAlFn.

4885n,

En,

seem to have pointed out an

immediate object; whence the Sanscrit

4890En of close relation, Lat.

in, Gr.

n (from

i-En,

a-En, the

4895i and

a being expletive for the

sake of more exact demonstration); also the use of

n to mean

us, and of

4900aP

in Tamil to mean I, us.

ut ..

4905id

1 In the old Aryan language

u were evidently

4910used as demonstrative pronouns,

i being this here near me,

this a little farther off,

u that. We have precisely this use in

4915Tamil;

4920p

, the demonstrative pronouns where

is euphonic &

honorific; so too

4925,

. The three

are liberally used to define other pronouns and adverbs, eg

Ha,

4930 H

Ha, etc. We have similarly in Sanscrit

aym

iym

4935 , where

is euphonic and

definitive (as in

4940vy

4945);

av,

iv,

aEt,

iEt,

4950at,

it etc. We have in Latin the two forms

ille and olle, to say nothing of the suggestions in aliquis etc;

we have is, ea, id, for the ordinary demonstrative pronoun.

4955i,

u appear to have been the masculine forms,

4960 ,

4965id

the neuter. These neuter forms were used latterly

only as emphatic adverbs, prepositions or conjunctions. We find

4970similarly

u used by themselves as emphatic particles, or

compounded with the adverbial neuters as in

4975iEt,

aEt. We have

in Sanscrit

4980ut,

aEt &

iEt; in Latin at, et, ad, ut, uti; in

Greek

ti which is evidently the Sanscrit

4985aEt, in the sense of

still, besides, “encore”.

ut here is emphatic with something of

the sense “of course”.

4990 corresponds to the later

ev.

4995s

ev.

is also found in

iTA,

5000idA,

idAnFm

iEt is

5005 farther

emphasised and used to mark off reported speech or to fill the

place taken in English by inverted commas.

1 When Sri Aurobindo wrote out the second verse above (evidently from memory), he

initially substituted sa id deves.u gacchati from the fourth verse for sa dev¯an eha vaks.ati.

5010This paragraph on uta and id was written before the mistake was corrected. — Ed.

Mandala One

eh The word is undoubtedly an adverb, but it is a question

whether it is a mere variation of

ih, as

5015ev or

evm

undoubtedly

were variations of

iv. There is another possible signification. I

5020suggest that the root

was used in the ancient tongue to signify

“strength, force”. That this sense of strength was inherent in the

i roots is evident from the Sanscrit

5025id

to invigorate, force,

compel,

5030in able, mighty, lord, master,

i y wealthy, opulent,

rich, a king,

iq full of sap or strength,

5035 to rule, master, Greek

fi,

fjimoc.

eh would be an adverb formed from

5040 by gunation

and the addition of

a either adverbially or as an accusative

5045termination and would mean strongly, forcibly, with strength.

vEt I take

as a habituative or intensive form tertiary

from

5050vh

5055 , like

from

5060d

from

5065 from

& a lost

(jhk,

5070jht

from

5075 . Agni ever bears up the

gods with strength.

Translation.

Agni desirable to the seers of old no less than to those of

today, mightily he beareth up the gods.

50803.

aEnnA

rEym`vt

poqm

5085Edv

Edv

yfs

vFrv1mm

rEym

5090 We have seen that the

r roots have a strong sense of

swift motion. To the instances already alleged may be added

going, motion;

5095z to go, move;

to hasten;

5100 a way, road, river

(cf

rtA);

to go, move;

5105ry a current, river; speed, vehemence;

rhs

swiftness; Gr.

w, I flow;

oc, stream;

5110em

a, flow; Lat.

rivus, a river. We have seen also that it bears the frequent sense of

light and of delight.

rEy from

5115ry

may mean either light, delight,

motion or anything that moves, or from the old identification of

substance with motion, it may mean matter, substance, wealth,

force, substantial object. Compare the Latin res, thing, matter,

5120affair.

rEy certainly has the sense of Matter in the Upanishad.

a`vt

5125 to have, get, enjoy. Greek

qw. I have, hold.

ev Literally “so”; here evidently used to mean, “so also,

also, as well”.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

5130vFrv1mm

The word

vFr here is a noun adjectivised by the

addition of

5135 . There must therefore have been a noun

vFr

meaning not only hero, strong man, but strength, like vis, viris,

in Latin. See under

-Evj

5140 in the first shloka. Another possible

meaning of

vFr would be manifest, intense, splendid, shining. See

the same. In either case

yf means not fame but either mastery or

5145strength. See under

y. ibid. We may translate it either strength

most glorious or strongest, most vigorous mastery. The latter

seems more probable.

Translation.

5150By Agni one getteth substance and increase too day by day,

yea, mightiest mastery.

5155y.mvr

pErB

5160rEs

5165q

gQCEt

avrm

Not sacrifice, but an adjective from

5170 a secondary

root of

a to be. The sounds

D &

v appear to have given an idea

5175of weight, solidity and dullness, with which the ideas of dense

matter or downward motion were easily associated. We have

of descent. We have

aD, a formation from

5180aD

by the addition

of the nominal

used in the neuter adverbially; we have

5185aDr

aDm, lower & lowest from some lost adjective

aD low;

we have

5190avn

a path, originally perhaps a way of descent, a

path down, but this is not certain as we have

to wander and

5195there are other proofs of a sense of motion in

a roots. Given

a word

av descent, as we have

ivn

5200 &

ivr formed from a

lost

iv, so we shall have

avn

5205 &

avr formed from this lost

av, & meaning descending or descended, lower.

av must also

have been capable of the sense substantial or material being,

5210like

a3m

a kindred root, but

avr in the Veda evidently refers

to more than the annamaya existence. It embraces the whole

5215aparardha or lower hemisphere of existence believed in by the

Vaidic thinkers. It is the opposite of

u1r.

gQCEt In the original sense of moving, not of going to-

wards a particular direction. Cf

5220gA the moving earth,

jgtF

etc.

Mandala One

Translation.

5225O Agni, the Lord below whom thou encompassest with thy

being on every side, is the same that moveth in the gods.

aEnho

5230kEv5t

syE

c2vtm

5235d

EBrAgmt

kEv5t

5240 again has nothing to do with a sacrifice. It

meant activity, mastery, strength, doing, action, or the adjec-

tives of these significations. It also meant like

5245 a word of

the same root family Will or Force. Cf Greek

krtoc,

kraterc,

krataic,

5250kresswn (5tFyAn

krtistoc. The Vedic

ft5t

does

5255not mean Indra of a hundred sacrifices, but Indra of destroying

strength. It is notable in how many cases the obsession of the

idea of sacrifice has perverted the original sense of words. The

perversion is beyond doubt. The only question is whether it was

done before or after the composition of the Vedic hymns.

5260kEv. The root

from the initial sense of curve, hollow, took

the derivative idea of containing, holding, knowing, or forming,

constructing, writing, drawing etc (cf the similar association of

5265ideas in the

roots). We have, therefore, the double idea of a

sage and a poet or artist, familiar throughout Sanscrit literature.

But for

5270kEv in this passage we must suppose the sense not of

the knower, but of knowledge. The addition of the nominal

had always this double utility of indicating the agent or the state

or action.

5275kEv means the comprehensive knowledge, the art or

science of a subject. Cf

koEvd.

Ec2v

2v from

5280 to hear may indicate either fame, Gr.

klw

kloc or knowledge gained by

Et. We must take it in

the latter significance when it is applied in a poem where all

5285the words and circumstances are designed to show the principal

qualities and activities of the god Agni, the jataveda. Sruti is

one of the three processes of ideal knowledge by which Veda is

conveyed.

5290v

EB The third case used not to indicate the instrument,

but the accompaniment.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

Translation.

5295Agni, the warrior, the strong in knowledge, the true, the rich

in revelation, has come a god with the gods.

5300dAf

vmn

kEryEs

5305tv

1sym

Egr

5310 . From

to cling, embrace, love, nasalised. Originally

“dear”, answering to the Greek

5315oc or

ppwn, it became a fa-

miliar style of address, “

fle”, “

ppo

5320n”, and lost its original

shade.

dAf

This is a word of considerable importance. In the

5325sacrificial interpretation of the Vedas it must mean a giver, sac-

rificer; in the religious interpretation it means an enemy, one

who hurts or kills or desires to hurt or kill. Both significances

are possible etymologically, both give a good sense in this verse.

The ceremonial interpretation will run, “That thou wilt do good

5330to the sacrificer, this is that truth of thee, O Agni Angiras”; the

religious, “O beloved, that thou, O strong Agni, meanest to do

good to him that would hurt thee, this is that truth in thee, O

lord of might & love.” Satyam refers us back to the “satya”

in the last shloka and indicates like every other epithet there

5335used the truth to the right nature of things, the ritam, in the

vijnana, the ideal or spiritual plane of existence, where hatred

ceases and evil ceases, because these are asatyam, perversions

and misunderstandings of the play of God in the universe.

5340Egr When applied to Agni, this epithet means etymo-

logically the brilliant or mighty, like

aEn itself, but there is an

unmistakable allusion here to the other significance of “loving,

tender, attached”, deduced from

5345a

to love. In

g, the other

5350notable Sanscrit word denoting this sense of

, the

5355 is obvi-

ously intensive or reduplicative, not privative. Cf

anc

from

5360etc for reduplication;

dFEdEv etc for its intensive force. When the

idea of the true Nirukta was lost, the false idea of “bodiless”

was conveyed into this name of Kamadeva and the story of the

Kumarasambhava brought in to explain so inapt an epithet.

5365Mandala One

Translation.

That thou, O beloved, O strong Agni, meanest to do good

to him that would hurt thee, this is that truth of thee, O lord of

might and love.

53707.

vAn

Edv

5375doqAvtED

vym

nmo

Brt

5380emEs

up The preposition expresses relation or subjection.

doqAvs

doqA is twilight or darkness;

av, protector.

5385tr

An old adverb still preserved in the compound form

tEh

and the Mahratti

5390 . It seems here to have the force of “if”.

EDyA Used throughout the Veda of the Buddhi, the discern-

ing reason. The reference in this line is to the buddhiyoga and

yogic atmasamarpanam enjoined afterwards in the Gita.

nmo Rt

5395nm

to bend, submit.

nmo means submission or obei-

sance (cf Grk.

5400moc, rule, law, custom, that to which one is

subject). But

Brt from the root

does not mean here to fill,

5405but is used in the older sense of to bear (cf

BAr, Greek

frw,

Lat. fero). We may therefore more appropriately take

nmo in

5410the active sense of that which bends, controls; as in the Greek

moc, — law, rule, mastery. The participle here used as a verbal

adjective dispenses with the necessity of a finite verb.

emEs We have seen that the

5415i roots develop the idea of

strength; this sense is particularly appropriate to the combina-

tion with

which means limit, extreme; cf Latin imus, origi-

5420nally extreme, farthest, afterwards lowest.

emEs means, on this

supposition, thou growest to thy full or extreme strength.

Translation.

O Agni who protectest us in the darkness day by day, if

5425under thee we bear by the discerning mind the law of thy full

control, then growest thou to thy perfect strength.

rAjtmvrAZA

gopAm

5430ty

dFEdEvm

mAn

5435dm

rAjtm

Either shining, brilliant or ruling, governing. In

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

connection with

5440avrAZAm

we must take it in the latter sense,

which is, besides, especially appropriate after the

nmo

Brt of

5445the last line.

avrAZAm

of all things here below.

gop Protector, from

5450p

to embrace, shelter, protect. There

can be no doubt that this is the significance. The introduction

of a vocative, however, is out of place in a series of accusatives.

I suggest that

5455gop is an old form of the accusative preserved by

tradition. That there was such an accusative form appears from

the Greek

gpa etc, where there is no trace of a terminal

5460m. The nominative then would be not

gop but

gop

dFEdEvm

5465 A strong reduplicated form from

Edv

to shine,

meaning tejas, force, energy, brilliance, splendour. There is a

doubt here as to the relation of

5470am

ty. If it is with

gop, it must be

taken to mean nectar or immortality and Agni is the protector of

the amrita in the body or of the immortality of the body; if with

5475dFEdEvm

, it must mean the Immortal, God, and Agni is a splendid

energy of the Immortal. The general sense of the verse will be the

same, since

5480ty

dFEdEvm

in the latter interpretation explains

how Agni has the force to be the protector of all creatures here

below.

5485dm

house, home, territory. Greek

moc house; cf also

5490moc people or deme. The root is

to master, conquer, own,

from which we have the Greek

dmec (dmAyA), servants,

5495dm

(dms

), body,

5500ar

artoc, wife (dm

5505d!

moc, territory or

people conquered or owned, the Latin domus, house, dominus,

master. In all probability

dm,

5510d

moc, domus, originally meant

the people of the household, the slaves etc, or the whole family

as subject to the master, and was afterwards transferred to the

house itself.

5515Translation.

Thee, the ruler and protector of all creatures here below, a

splendour of the Immortal increasing in its home.

Mandala One

5520s

Ept

5525$

5530pAyno

scvA

vty

5535s has the force of therefore and sums up the hymn, but with

special reference to the last line.

pAyno Rt

5540i to go and

up to, with the idea of subjection

or inferiority; easy to approach.

scv Cleave, in the ordinary sense of the root.

Translation.

5545Therefore be thou easy of approach to us as a father to his

child, cleave to us for our bliss.

[7]

[RV I.1]

Rigveda.

5550Mandala I,

Hymns of Madhuchchhand´a Vaisv´amitra.

Hymn to Agni

1. Agni I adore, the priest who stands forward for the sac-

5555rifice, the god who acts in the truth of things, the giver of the

oblation who disposes utterly delight.

2. Agni adored by the ancient seers is adorable still to the

new, for he brings here the gods.

3. By Agni one gets day by day energy & increase victorious

5560and full of force.

4. O Agni, whatsoever material sacrifice thou encompassest

with thy being on every side, that goes to the gods.

5. Agni, he that offers the oblation, whose strength is in

wisdom, the true, the rich in various inspiration, comes a god

5565with the gods.

6. That thou, O Agni, wilt surely bring about good for the

giver, that is the truth of thee, O lord of love.

7. To thee, O Agni, day by day, in darkness and in light we

come in our minds bearing our submission, —

5570Commentaries and Annotated Translations

8. To thee, who rulest over all below, guardian of immor-

tality, a brilliance increasing in its home.

9. Therefore do thou be easy of approach to us as a father

to his child, cleave to us for our weal.

5575-Evj

-t

= law, truth, fixed arrangement, season.

rEy

motion; so energy, matter, wealth. Cf Prasna

5580Upanishad.

poq

more probably noun than adjective.

vFr

in the Veda means 1. a hero. 2. force, strength.

55853. manifest, vigorous, in full force, v´ı to open.

y.mvr

a passage conclusive showing that adhwara

does not mean sacrifice except by transition

from an earlier meaning.

5590kEv

one of the passages which show that

kEv like

-Eq,

5595$

r etc, is used of knowledge as well as of

the knower. Another possible meaning would

be “who is the strength of the seer or the

strength of Wisdom”.

5600Ec2vtm

2v = inspired knowledge, the result of the vi-

jnanamaya process of sruti; coming with

kEv

5605sy it cannot mean fame.

gopAm

rAjAno

5610am

ty in a hymn of Kakshivan

Dairghatamasa.

scv

5615 means 1. to cling. 2. to be strong.

[8]

[RV I.1.1–5]

Rig Veda, First Mandala

Notes.

56201.

aEn

roEht

5625y.y

-Evj

hotAr

5630r&DAtm

. To praise, in the ritualistic sense; but

is a secondary

5635Mandala One

root of

I and means to seek, go towards, attain, desire, adore,

pray to, ask for (cf

mAtrm3m

5640#). The former senses have been

lost and only “to desire”, “pray” or “ask for” are left in later

Sanskrit; but the other senses must have existed, as the idea of

desiring, asking is never a primary sense of any root, but derived

figuratively from the physical sense “to go, seek, approach”. We

5645may therefore render

either “seek”, “desire”, “adore” or

“pray to”.

5650roEht

. Sayana, “Purohit”, or else “placed in the front of

the sacrifice as the Ahavaniya fire”. The Purohita of the Veda is

the representative power in the sacrifice who stands in front of

the consciousness and the action and conducts it. This is always

5655the force of the “placing in front” which is so common an idea

in the hymns. Normally this place belongs to Agni who leads

the sacrifice.

5660. Sy.

dAnAEdg

. Sayana’s dealing with the word

5665d

v is

peculiar; sometimes he renders it simply “god”, sometimes he

gives it some root value,

dAn,

5670d

vn, sometimes he makes it mean

the priest. There is not a single passage in the Veda where the

ordinary sense “god”, “divine being” does not give a clear and

sufficient & the best sense. No doubt, the Vedic poets never left

5675out of sight its root meaning; the gods are the Shining Ones, the

Lords of Light as are the Dasyus the Dark or Black Ones, the

sons of Darkness.

-Evj

. “He who sacrifices at the right season” is the out-

5680ward or ritualistic sense; but

-t

in the Veda, as we shall see,

is the order of the truth, its arranged law, time, circumstance.

Agni is the representative priest who sacrifices according to the

5685law, order, season of the Ritam.

hotAr

. Sy. “because he utters the Mantra” and he quotes

hotA

5690tOEm; but he renders it sometimes

aA4AtA, sometimes

homEnpAdk, sometimes gives us the choice. Undoubtedly

hotA

is the priest of the oblation, who gives the offering,

5695h

to offer,

and not

$ to call. The hymn was an attendant circumstance of

5700the offering, therefore the invocation or praise might also fall to

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

the part of the

hotA; but in the system of the Rigveda the proper

name for the reciter of the Mantra is

5705b

A. Agni is the Hotri,

Brihaspati the Brahma.

r&. Sy.

yAgPl!pAZA

5710r&AnAmEtfy

DArEytAr

poqEytAr

vA.

5715DA to hold and

DA to nourish (cf

DAF nurse). But in other passages

he takes

r& =

5720rmZFy

which shows that he took it to mean

literally “that which is delightful” and made it = wealth, as he

makes

5725< = “that which is shining” and renders it “wealth”.

We need not follow him.

means “delight” or Ananda (cf

5730 ,

rEt,

r@v,

5735rAD

etc) just as

5740<

means “light”.

DA is to

hold or else to place.

Ritualistic sense

5745I praise Agni the Purohit (or, who is set in front) of the

sacrifice, the god (or, bountiful), the Ritwik, the Hota who holds

very much wealth.

Psychological

I seek the God-Will, the priest set in front of our sacrifice,

5750the divine offerer who sacrifices in the order of the truth, who

disposes utterly the delight.

aEn

5755$

-EqEB

5760y

5765ut

;

5770ih

vEt

-Eq Lit. “seeker, attainer” so “knower” from

-q

to go.

5775ih

; — the divine powers into the mortal life and mortal

being.

5780vEt.

5785Et. This

s seems to have been either frequen-

tative in force, “he constantly or habitually bears”, or intensive,

“he entirely bears”, or desiderative, “he wills or intends to bear”.

From the latter sense we have the use of

5790s for the future, cf S.

nF,

yAEm, Greek luo, I loose, luso, I shall loose, and English, I

will go, where the desiderative will = wish, intend, has acquired

5795the sense of a simple future.

“The God-Will is desirable as to the ancient sages, so to the

new, for ’tis he that bringeth here the gods.”

Mandala One

5800aEnnA

rEy

a`vt

poq

5805Edv

Edv

yfs

vFrv1m

a`vt

5810 . Sy.

AJnoEt — but the form gives a certain semi-

imperative sense or the idea of a rule of action or law of oc-

currence. “He shall attain.”

5815 , to possess, have, obtain, enjoy

— Gr. echo, I have.

yfs

. Sy.

dAnAEdnA

5820yfoy

— so famous; but “a famous and

man-fullest wealth” seems an absurd way of talking.

5825 is lit-

erally to go, strive towards, attain; here it means success, fame;

also from another sense “to shine” = splendour. It is connected

in sense with

yA,

5830yt

. We have in the Veda

rEy, wealth or

5835felicity, often described as expansive, pervading, breaking down

obstacles on the way. There is therefore no inappropriateness or

violence in rendering it “enjoyment that attains” or “a victorious

riches”.

vFrv1m

5840. Sy.

aEtfy

5845yAEdvFrp

zqop

. It is absurd to

take

5850vFr =

as Sayana does; it means “men, heroes, strengths”

and is often the equivalent of

5855 which is never used for servants

in the Rigveda.

rEy

. There are two words

rEy, from

5860Er to go and from

to attain, enjoy. The latter means “enjoyment” or the things

enjoyed, “felicity, prosperity, riches”. The former sense is found

in the Upanishad where

5865rEy movement or matter is opposed to

AZ life.

Ritualistic

By Agni one attains a wealth daily increasing, famous and

most full of men.

5870Psychological

By the God-Will one shall enjoy a felicity that shall increase

day by day, victorious, fullest of hero-powers.

5875y

avr

5880pErB

aEs

5885d

gQCEt

avr

5890. Sy.

sArEht

because it is not destroyed by the Rak-

shasas, from

5895a privative +

vr (v

to hurt). But

avr is used

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

5900by itself to mean sacrifice and it is quite impossible that the

word “unhurt” used by itself can have come to mean sacrifice.

It must express some essential quality of the sacrifice or it could

not thus have been singled out. It is a notable fact that

avr

5905is continually used for the sacrifice when there is a question of

the sacrifice travelling or moving on the path towards the gods,

as here. I therefore take

avr from an original Rt

5910 to move,

& connect it with

avn

path; it means the moving or travelling

sacrifice, the sacrifice regarded as a pilgrimage of the soul or its

5915gifts towards the gods.

Ritualistic

O Agni, the unhurt sacrifice that thou encompassest on all

sides, that goes to the gods.

Psychological

5920O God-Will, whatsoever sacrifice on the path thou encom-

passest with thy being on every side, that indeed arrives to the

gods.

aEn

5925hotA

kEv5t

Ec2vtm

5930vo

aAgmt

5935kEv5t

. Sayana takes

kEv here =

t and

59405t

= either

knowledge or work. It means then “the priest whose work or

whose knowledge moves”. But there is absolutely no reason to

take

5945kEv in any other than its natural & invariable sense.

kEv is

the seer, the one who has the divine or supramental knowledge.

from

5950k

or rather old root

5 to divide, to do, make, shape,

work. From the sense “divide” comes that of the discerning

mind, Sy’s

5955.An; cf Grk. krites, judge etc; and this is the sense of

karuttu in Tamil which means mind. But from the sense “to do”,

means (1) work, (2) power of work, strength, cf Grk. kratos,

strength, (3) will or working force of the mind. For this last

5960sense, cf Isha Upanishad

5to

mr where the collocation

59655to

shows that that power of the mind is meant which conducts

or dictates the work or action. Agni is the divine Seer-Will that

5970works with the perfect supramental knowledge.

sy. Sayana explains “true in its fruits”; but the collocation

Mandala One

of “seer will” and

2v inspired knowledge indicates rather the

5975sense “true in his being” & therefore true in knowledge

2v and

in will

59802v is the supramental knowledge called the Truth,

-t

, the vijnana of the Upanishads;

kEv5t

means having the

5985will that is full of that knowledge, the vijnanamaya will, the

divine ˆAjnana;

sy means “vijnanamaya in his substance”.

Ec2vtm. Sy. having most varied kinds of fame, — an

insipid & meaningless epithet for a god.

59902v is used like

to indicate the inspired hymn; it must therefore be capable of

meaning inspired knowledge. There are two kinds of supra-

mental knowledge,

5995d

E &

Et, sight & hearing, revelation and

inspiration, but

2v is usually used to indicate the knowledge

6000gained by the supramental faculties.

Ritualistic

Agni, the priest, who sets in motion the knowledge (or

work), true in his fruit, very varied in his fame, may he come a

god with the gods.

6005Psychological

The God-Will, priest of our offering, true in his being, with

the will of the seer, with richest variety of inspired knowledge,

may he come to us divine with the powers divine.

[9]

6010[RV I.1.8, 5–7]

I will cite first a passage in the first hymn of the first Mandala,

the invocation to Agni with which the Rig Veda opens. Agni

the god of the sacred flame, ruler of the sacrifice, is described

there as the “shining guardian of the Truth increasing in his

6015own home”, gopˆam ritasya dˆıdivim. If we wish to render this

verse ritualistically and take Agni as nothing but the physical

fire we must interpret rita otherwise, “king of the sacrifices, the

shining guardian of the rite”, and if he increases in his own

home, it must be in the house of sacrifice or on his own place on

6020Commentaries and Annotated Translations

the altar. Or if “rita” is the cosmic Law Agni is the god of fire

who is the guardian of the Law — in what sense? — and who

is manifested in the sacrificial flame on the altar. Now, if we

take the rik by itself, there is no means by which we can decide

6025among these and other possible interpretations. But in the first

place the idea of the guardian of the rita is a common thought

of the Vedic Rishis and it occurs in passages where rita cannot

well mean the sacrifice; even the phrase gopˆam ritasya occurs

elsewhere with this clear significance. The gods generally are said

6030to be born in the Rita, ritejah, ritajˆatah; they are increasing the

rita, ritˆavridh, protecting the rita, ritapˆa, ritasya gopˆa, touching

the rita, ritaspri¸c, sending down streams of the rita, knowing the

rita, ritam id chikiddhi, rita-conscious, ritachid. It is evident even

at a first glance, and we shall be able to establish it conclusively

6035enough, that rita must mean in these phrases some kind of truth

and not the ritual of the sacrifice. Moreover this rik is preceded

by three others in which there is repeated mention of the ideas of

truth and thought and knowledge. Therefore in the absence of

convincing reasons to the contrary we are justified in supposing

6040that Agni is described as the shining guardian of the Truth and

it must then immediately occur to us that if he is spoken of

here in a psychological function and the Truth is a psychological

not a physical conception, then he is described as its “shining”

guardian because his light is necessary to that guardianship. The

6045light of the god must therefore be an image for a psychological

and not a physical illumination. Equally, the own home of such

a deity increasing in the exercise of such a function should be

rather a psychological region than the house of ritual sacrifice

or a place on a sacrificial altar.

6050Let us examine the three Riks more minutely. The fifth verse

runs: “Agni, the priest of the oblation (or, of the summoning), the

seer-will (or he whose work, whose sacrifice or whose power-of-

works is a seer’s), the true, who has most richly-varied (inspired)

knowledge, may he come, a god with the gods.” In this verse we

6055have two words of doubtful meaning, ¸cravas and kratu. Sayana

wherever he can, renders ¸cravas food, elsewhere fame, or where

neither of these will do, ¸cravas (also ¸crushti) is for him wealth

Mandala One

or rarely hymn. But there is the word satya, true! That he forces

6060to mean “giving true or right results of the sacrifice”, evidently a

meaning which the text itself does not suggest and read into the

word from the commentator’s mind. Again there is the phrase

kEv5t

and we cannot fit this into the ritualistic interpretation

6065unless we destroy the Vedic significance of the word Kavi. Well

then, we have two words satya and kavikratu which suggest a

profound psychological character for the god Agni, the shining

guardian of the Truth. It does not matter how we take kratu.

Kavi is the seer, one who has vision of the revealed Truth and

6070receives the inspired word, the drashtˆa of the Vedic mantra with

the inspired mind of knowledge. If kratu is sacrifice — Sayana

often prefers “work” — then Agni is the priest whose sacrifice

is that of the seer, therefore the sacrifice over which he presides

is that over which the divine knowledge presides; if work, then

6075he is the god of the inspired workings; if power of workings,

then the god whose power for works is guided by divine knowl-

edge. I suggest that kratu which Sayana sometimes interprets

[as] knowledge and which has for one of its senses “mind”, is

in a psychological sense the mental power that presides over

6080all action, that is to say the will or the volitional mind. The

two words kavikratuh satyah, coming together in this intimate

way, cannot be disconnected; the phrase must mean therefore

that Agni is guided in his will or his works by the seer’s vision

of the Truth because he is himself true in his being, free from

6085the cosmic falsehood. What then of chitra¸cravastamah? Has it

no connection at all with the two preceding words or does it

mean that because Agni is true in being and has the seer-will,

therefore he gives man all sorts of food or all sorts of wealth? I

suggest that ¸cravas means hearing or that which is heard (this is

6090the root of its other sense fame) and is used by the mystics for

the inspired knowledge which is contained in the Vedic mantra

or else simply the inspirations that come from the divine Truth

of which Agni is the seer. We have then a clear connection and

interdependence of sense in the three epithets of Agni, he is the

6095Truth in his being, therefore his will or works are those of the

seer of the Truth and he receives all the varied inspirations of the

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

knowledge that comes from the Truth; for that reason he is the

hotˆa in the sacrifice which the soul of man offers to the Lords of

6100the Truth. We see at once in these three illuminative epithets all

that is meant by the description of Agni as the shining guardian

of the Truth.

The next verse runs, “O Agni, the good which thou wilt

create for the giver, thine verily is that truth, O Angiras.” This

6105is interpreted ritualistically, “The good that thou wilt do to

the giver, that (good) is thine, (this statement is) true (and not

false).” But it is hardly possible on any rational law of poetic

composition that satyam here should have no relation to satya

immediately preceding it in the last verse. At any rate, the phrase

6110tat satyam is used elsewhere in the Veda to mean “that truth”

and is applied to the hidden sun or imprisoned light which the

Angirases find as the result of their sacrifice & seeking in the

cave of the Panis. Here too in connection with the same phrase

tat satyam, Agni is described as the Angiras. The coincidence

6115can hardly be fortuitous. Now the Angiras of the Veda, we shall

find, is precisely the seer-puissance or seer-will, kavikratuh. So

the good which Agni, the Angiras or seer-will, is to create for

the human soul, giver of the sacrifice, is that divine Truth now

withheld from man, the hidden light, the lost Sun which the

6120powers of the seer-will find for man. We see in another hymn

that Bhaga, a Sun God, creates this good or bhadram for man by

getting rid of the evil dream to which the darkness or falsehood

of existence belongs. We shall find too that in the Vedic idea the

divine bliss or immortality of beatitude was held to be a result

6125of the winning of the supramental Truth and this is evidently the

idea which the verse indicates. It is indeed the central conception

of the Vedic doctrine.

The next verse introduces and is connected in syntax with

the rik which speaks of Agni as the guardian of the Truth; the

6130two have to be taken together. “To thee, O Agni, we come day by

day, in the night and the light, bringing with (or, by) the thought

the obeisance; to thee ruling over the sacrifices, shining etc.” This

in the ritualistic sense must mean that the priests offer sacrifice

daily both during the day and during the night by means of the

6135Mandala One

hymn or the work (Sayana interprets dhˆı sometimes in one sense,

sometimes in the other according to his pleasure, but some-

times admits the significance “thought” or “understanding”),

bringing, that is to say, doing obeisance or perhaps bringing the

6140food or portion to the god.2 But if Agni is the god of an inner

Flame, then we must interpret the verse differently. We see that

the obeisance is brought, carried (bharantah, Latin ferentes, Gr.

fro

ntec) by the thought; therefore, the obeisance must be an

6145inner bowing down or submission to an inner flame. Namas, the

obeisance, implies also obedience; the verb is used in the Veda

in the sense of subduing. Now Agni kavikratuh is the luminous

force or will-power of the Divine Existence, ekam sat; the force

is the flame, the light of the flame is the knowledge; therefore he

6150is the shining guardian of the Truth, for his unified power and

knowledge protect all the workings of the divine Truth in the

universe. The sacrifice offered by Man is a sacrifice offered for

the conquest and conscious possession of this Truth at present

concealed from him by ignorance and darkness. Therefore he

6155is the ruler of the sacrifice; therefore the seekers come to him

from day to day bringing to him submission in their thought

so that the divine Will may govern their mentality and their

action and lead it to the Truth. Day and night are, we shall see,

symbols of the dark and illumined states of the human mind; the

6160former is our ordinary consciousness, the latter that on which

there comes the dawn, the light and power from the supramental

Truth. Moreover this Agni increases in his own home. We shall

see hereafter whether the own home of Agni is not the plane of

the supramental Truth itself on which the divine powers dwell

6165and from which they descend to the aid of the seeker. We must

also understand the weal or “good state of being” [in] the clos-

ing verse, “Be easy of approach to us as a father to his child;

cleave to us for our happy being”, as the state of bliss, the good,

bhadram, which comes by the possession of the Truth. The Rishi

6170is obviously not asking physical fire to allow him to approach

2 Sayana interprets “namas” sometimes as food, a sense which he gives to a host of

Vedic words, even to brahma, dyumna etc. I do not see why he should avoid it here,

where it goes so well with

6175t.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

and embrace it as a son with his father or pleading to fire to

cleave to him for his welfare; the fulfilment of such a prayer

would be slightly inconvenient and hardly lead to welfare. It

6180is to the godhead, the Divine, that he prays, not the sacrificial

flame on the altar, and what can be meant by the cleaving of

a godhead to man, — not, be it noted, merely its succour or

nearness — if Agni does not represent some divine power which

must embrace the human being as a father his child and whose

6185constant presence leads, not to the possession of herds and slaves

and gold, but to a spiritually perfect state, svastaye? It is because

the words of the Veda are not given their proper force, because

we shirk their precise and evident meaning, preferring to think

that the Rishis wrote loosely, clumsily and foolishly rather than

6190to admit that they had other and profounder & subtler thoughts

than ours — it is for this reason that we miss constantly the true

sense of the Veda.

[10]

[RV I.1.1]

61951. I adore Agni the god, the Purohit of the sacrifice, the Ritwik,

the Hota, most delight-placing.

I seek with adoration the God-Will, divine priest of the

sacrifice placed in front, sacrificer in the seasons, offerer of

the oblation, who most ordains the ecstasy.

6200Agni (ag

and

) is the brilliant, the strong, the preeminent,

he who moves, leads, drives, acts. He is the Flame, at once

6205Heat and Light, Force and self-possessing Consciousness in the

Force, Will with perfect revealing and intuitive knowledge in

the will and its acts, — the Seer-Will of the one & infinite Divine

Conscious-Existence at work in the universe.

The Rishi, seeker and finder of knowledge, adores and

6210seeks this divine Seer-Will as the priest of the inner sacrifice by

Mandala One

which man seeks the godhead. He is the priest in the three chief

functions of that divine priesthood. The divine Seer-Will is the

Purohit, that power which is placed in front of our consciousness

6215to act for the human being; replacing the fallible human will this

divine force as soon as it is kindled conducts the sacrifice; he

leads it in its journey through the stages by which the sacrificer

rises to the supramental divine consciousness; he is its vanguard

and front-fighter in the battle of the divine with the undivine

6220and the march of man to his goal,

retA,

tA. The Seer-Will is

6225the Ritwik, he sacrifices in the order, the right seasons, the right

periods, the twelve months, the hundred years of the sacrificial

session: he knows the time, place, order by which the Swadha,

the self-arranging self-movement of the divine Nature in man

that is developing itself, progresses till it turns itself into the

6230Swaha, the luminous self-force of the fulfilled divine Nature

of the gods. This order of the sacrificial seasons is called

-t

and represents the progressive movement of development of

the hidden truth of things in man. The Seer-Will is also the

6235Hota, the power that brings the divine powers into the physical

consciousness of man by his flaming force in the revealed Word,

manifests & forms them there and offers to them the whole

activity of the being as a sacrifice of the lower human to the

higher divine. The result of this progressive action is the divine

6240delight or ecstasy, the Ananda of the infinite & divine Conscious-

ness, brought into man, there established, held, expanding till

it possesses the whole being and occupies all the energies. The

Seer-Will is the godhead in us which is most powerful thus to

establish, hold, order the action of the Delight in us. This delight

6245is represented as the wealth of the divine existence, by the words

rEy,

rAD,

rA,

r&, each of which has a different connotation.

6250rEy is simply the accumulation of the riches, the mass of the

felicity;

rAD its riches as affecting the mental, emotional heart-

consciousness, its vital and sensible abundance;

rA is the bliss,

6255the higher joy of these riches, more than mental in its touch on

man;

r& is its pure ecstasy of the Ananda. This last aspect, as

it is the culmination of the Vedic

6260ds

, the finding, conscious

possession of the Divine, is rightly put here in front in the first

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

rik of the Veda. The Seer-Will is the first means, the Ananda of

6265the divine riches the ultimate aim and last achievement of the

Vedic Yoga.

[11]

[RV I.12.1]

[A]

6270Annotations

Hymns to Agni

Medhatithi Kanwa. I.12

aEn

6275d

ZFmh

6280hotAr

6285y.y

aEn

6290$

tmy

y.y

6295ds

(

Evd

)

6300s

hotArEmEt

ZFmh

6305Agnim, the Fire vrinˆımahe we choose dˆutam (as) the Mes-

senger,

asya yajnasya hotˆaram

the summoning priest of this

sacrifice, vi´svavedasam all-knowing, sukratum well-working

6310or well-willed.

aEn

tpod

vtA

6315ZFmh

BjAm

6320t

t!p

dOy

6325EnyojyAmh

iEt

BAv

y.y

6330Ev

Evd

6335s

kmA

6340yTAT

E=sm

6345vA

aEnEh

tpod

vtA

try

6350tpobly

tFk!po'ymEn

sAD -

6355kAnA

6360$

vAnA4yEt

ydA

6365Eh

vkAm

sADktpsA

6370vAn

KEc1o

BvEt

6375td

tps

so'En!

gAmF

6380B

tAn

6385vAn

tnAyAmAnFy

TApyEt

6390so'Ep

sADky

}dy

vAnAmA4AtA

6395[B]

Hymns to Agni

aEn

6400t

ZFmh

hotAr

6405vv

y.y

64105t

Mandala One

We choose (

ZFmh

6415s

BjAm) Fire (aEn

) the messenger (d

6420),

the summoning priest of this sacrifice (

y.y

hotAr

6425), all-

knowing (Ev

6430Evd

), well-working or well-willed (s

kmA

6435Z

vA).

6440We choose Fire as the messenger and summoning priest of this

sacrifice, all-knowing, right-willed.

6445. Sayana

Dnop

6450Evd

= to find, know, get.

d =

knowledge or the thing got or possessed. Hence it may mean

6455either knowledge or possession. The exoteric sense may be “hav-

ing all wealth”; the esoteric is omniscient.

See I.1 under

kEv5t

6460. Sayana

kmA

6465.

vA. Rather

6470.

The right-willed or rightly working omniscient Fire is evidently

the inner Flame of power and aspiration, the divine Will-Force

that takes up the sacrifice,

yogy.. It rises up to the heavens above

6475the mental consciousness and brings down the divine power into

the being. It is man’s messenger to the gods, the priest of the call.

It leads aright all the inner and outer actions because it is the

Divine Knowledge-Will, all-knowing, unlike the ignorant mind

and therefore unerring, unlike the stumbling mental will. For

6480that reason it is chosen,

ZFmh

[12]

6485[RV I.31.1, 2, 4, 5]

I.31

vmn

Tmo

6490aEHrA

-Eqd

vAnAmBv

6495Efv

sKA

6500kvyo

EvwnApso'jAy

mzto

6505Ajd

Say.

aEHrA because their father

jnkvAt

6510 , cf Brahmana

'HArA

aAs

6515'EHrso'Bvn

6520EZ Vrata (vt

n) must mean more = motion, habitual

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

action, law of works, act & motion.

EvwnApso. So compounded Say.

6525Evd

.An

Evwo

6530 —

Ev -

wnAypA

6535qA

EvwnAps

.An

6540 yAJn

vAnA

.AtkmA

vA. Rather,

6545whose works are governed by knowledge.

O Fire, thou becamest the first of the sages, a flame seer, a god

and benignant comrade of the gods; in thy act and motion the

Maruts with their blazing lances were born, seers whose works

are by knowledge.

65502.

vmn

Tmo

aEHrtm

kEvd

6555vAnA

pEr

qEs

6560v

EvB

6565#

vnAy

EDro

6570E7mAtA

kEtDA

EcdAyv

kEv. S.

6575m

DAvF

pEr

6580qEs S.

pErto'l

kroEq. Rather

6585qEs from

$ like

vEs

from

6590vh

EvB

6595EvD

E7mAtA.

7yorr@yozp3

y7A

7yolo

6600kyoEn

vnAy. Here S.

6605smtlokAn

hAT

O Fire, thou art the first seer, the most full of thy Angiras flame-

force and thou encompassest with thy being all the works of

6610the gods; pervading thinker of every world, builder (or child) of

earth and heaven, in how many ways thou liest ready for man!

vmn

mnv

6615AmvAfy

!rvs

6620t

6625Z

yEpom

Qys

pyA

6630p

mny3Apr

6635n

avAfy S.

fENdtvAn

@ykm

6640EB

sAyo

lok

iEt

kEVtvAn

6645p

!rvs

S. etym.

6650rOtFEt

zrvA

6655t

1r S.

6660pErcrZ

6665foBnPlkArF

EmTn

6670p

apr

6675eastern (Ahavaniya) .. western (Garhapatya)

O Fire, thou madest heaven voiceful to man the mind of many

cries (lit. to Manu Pururavas); good his works but thou a worker

of better things. When by pressure (?) thou art loosed abroad,

the gods brought thee here the pristine and again the later fire.

6680Mandala One

vmn

6685p

EvD

ut*

6690BvEs

2vA?y

aAh

6695pEr

vqV

6700Etm

kAy

Evf

aAEvvAsEs

6705v

kAmAnA

vEq

67102vA?y

2vZFy

vqV

6715k

vqV

kAry

8tAm

6720(

aAh

)

pEr

6725v

pErto

jAnAEt

smp

6730ytFEt

ekAy

HyA3

6735Evf

yjmAn

tdn

6740k

aAEvvAsEs

6745kAfyEs

O Fire, thou art the Bull of inspired knowledge that increasest

his growth to man when he lifts to thee the ladle of the libation,

when he wholly knows the way of the offering and the benedic-

tion, and thou standest in front, the one life, and illuminest the

6750peoples.

[13]

[RV I.74]

1. As we move forward to the path of the sacrifice let us speak

out the word of our thought to Agni who hears us from afar

6755and from within.

2. He who supreme (ancient, first) in the worlds of our action

that pour forth the clarity meeting together (or, when our

labours that drip their fruit combine together), protects for

the giver his attaining (or movement).

67603. Yea, let all creatures born (be able to) say, “Up Agni comes

into being, slayer of Vritras, conqueror of our wealth in

battle after battle.”

4. He whose messenger thou art to his home, thou takest his

offerings on their journey (or, takest his offerings on thy

6765journey to be eaten by the gods, or comest to the offerings);

thou makest effective his path of sacrifice.

5. Him men call the man complete in his offering, complete in

his gods, complete in his base of sacrifice, O Angiras, O Son

of Force.

6770Commentaries and Annotated Translations

6. Thou bringest both those gods here that we may express

them and bearest, O rich in delight, the offerings on their

journey (or, to be expressed & to eat the offerings).

7. No tramp is heard of the horses of thy chariot in its going

6775when thou goest on thy embassy, O Agni.

8. By thee fostered the horse of life goes undeviating, each

one after that which preceded it, and the giver of sacrifices

progresses, O Agni.

9. Yea, and thou lodgest throughout his being for the giver and

6780his gods, O God, Agni, a vast and luminous completeness

of energy.

The Hymn is a hymn of the Adhwara Yajna, the Sacrifice of the

Path. Agni, the Divine Will-Force or Power of Consciousness, is

the deity.

67851. The Gotamas, illumined minds, are to proceed to the

path of the sacrifice; let them then give voice to the thought in

them which is to be the governing word of their progress for

the Divine Will-Force to use; that Force hears the word and

responds whether as the deity realised within or as the deity of

6790the universe seated in the highest and most distant worlds.

2. The Divine Will-Force is the first and supreme among

divine powers; it protects our movement in the sacrifice from

plane to plane and all the planes of our being on which the Work

proceeds come together in a conscious harmony and stream forth

6795their riches in response to our giving.

3. Let this Divine Force manifest itself so that all shall say,

“It is born and rises on high, slaying all the hostile powers that

obstruct our progress and winning wealth on new wealth for the

soul in battle after battle.”

68004. These results are attained, because the Divine Will-Force

becomes a compelling envoy who carries our offerings on their

journey to the goal which is our home and the home of the gods,

the divine plane of the Truth, thus it makes the sacrifice of the

path effective; the worlds meet together and drip their riches

6805under the compulsion of the all-creative, all-manifesting Truth

of Surya Savitri.

Mandala One

5. The man then becomes perfect in his sacrifice; the offering

is effective, the godheads are completely manifested, the base of

6810sacrifice in the soul includes all the various planes of our being.

The Divine Force, the Angiras, the puissance of Seer Will and

the Son of Strength overpowering the Panis and Vritras, effects

this completeness.

6. He is the envoy & effects the great commerce between

6815earth & heaven, bringing the gods down from the higher planes

so that they may be manifested in man in the terrestrial and

taking our offerings, the fruits of our terrestrial life upwards to

be divinised, transformed into the divine essence, eaten, in the

Vedic image, by the gods. That transformation is effected in the

6820perfect bliss of the Divine Will-Force.

7–8. This great going & coming is effected in a silent

spiritual rapidity; there is no rumour or clamour at all of the

trampling hooves of the Vital Forces in their swiftness; but the

chariot of the movement gallops swiftly.

68259. Finally, the Divine Will-Force lodges in all our being for

the benefit of the soul itself and of the gods who work in him,

a complete and utter heroic energy, vast with the vastness of the

Truth & luminous with its light.

6830avr

. According to Sayana, the word is

a-vr

from

6835 to

hurt, and means unhurt by the Rakshasas etc. But the word

unhurt thus used could never have become by itself a synonym

for sacrifice, as

avr has done. Throughout the Veda

6840avr is

associated with the idea of movement on the path to the goal,

and it is therefore more reasonable to connect it with

avn

6845path; the adhvara is the sacrifice that travels on the paths of the

divine journey (avno

vyAnAn

) and reaches the heavens of the

6850gods. We have the words

avn

, sky, and

avr, sky; which show

that the two words are from the same root and of a similar

6855formation. That root is evidently an old root

, no longer

formed as a verb, which must have had the same sense as

6860 . We

have also a lost root

surviving in

aTy

6865Et, to move constantly

and

aTy

, moving. For the Adhwara Yajna see Appendix I.

upy

6870to

avr

. Coming to the sacrifice of the path with

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

the progressive movement which belongs to the sacrifice,

6875yEt

avr

aAr

6880c. Sayana takes

c rather unnaturally with the

whole phrase because he could not understand the distinction

“afar and in us”. There is always the distinction in the Veda

between the far and the near,

6885d

6890Et in the planes of our

being, the

or field of conscious existence, and the nearest,

EdS, is within ourselves,

6895a

@vt

. The hearing of the mantra by the gods always implies

6900a response, the divine accepting the human thought and replying

to it by its own vibrations. See I.10.4,

eEh

tomA

;

6905aEB

aEB

ZFVAzv

6910b

vso

scA

6915i

6920y which gives in a

few words the theory of the divine acceptance of the Mantra.

FEhtFq

. Sayana takes as “slaying”, “those who slay” and

6925he explains that Agni protects the sacrificer’s wealth

gy when

the peoples who hurt come together in the battle to destroy or

plunder. His note is

vDkAErZFq

6930 —

EZh

6935hytFEt

vDkm

pEWt

6940V

6945jA

aAEBErEt

Ehty The ordinary senses

6950Eh

are (1) to be moist, wet, fluid; (2) to be thick, dense; (3)

to be thickly fluid, so viscous, oily, greasy, fat; (4) by figure, to be

full of love, affection, kindness; (5) to flow or make flow thickly,

or continuously, anoint etc. We may compare

6955

to ooze, trickle,

flow, stream &

to go, where the sense of motion comes out

6960more clearly.

h in the Veda seems to be used for the thick-

flowing ghrita.

6965 here may mean then to drip the richness of

the ghrita, cf the

of Indra’s horses etc, — or to move in a

6970dense mass or to adhere together; the

y come together and

become cohesive or come together and move in a mass.

6975Eq

. This latter sense of

FEhtFq

6980vs

would apply if

E means either people or the powers that labour in us; the

sense of cohesion, if

6985k

E means the worlds which are the field of

the working. For the sense of

E see Appendix II.

6990p

. Literally first or pristine. But in the Veda

6995$

often mean first also in the sense of supreme. Agni is the original

7000power of the world and therefore the supreme power.

. S. takes the word sometimes as wealth, sometimes as

house.

gy must have meant originally movement, the mover or

7005Mandala One

the goal of movement. If it is the object of movement, it may

mean

y, the home to which we go; but it would more natu-

rally be either the thing attained by the movement, the spiritual

7010wealth, or that which comes to us, still meaning the wealth; or

else the movement itself.

[14]

[RV I.74–76]

Hymns of Gotama Rahugana

70151.

upyto

avr

voc

7020m

any

aAr

7025f

@vt

upy

t. S.

7030y

gQC

t which he considers equivalent

7035to beginning and carrying out perfectly. I take

avr in the sense

of the sacrifice that travels to the gods by the divine path, that of

the Truth; the offerings also so travel & the sacrificer. Therefore

upy

7040to

avr

means “entering upon (up) and proceeding

forward () with the sacrifice on its journey”. The right perfor-

7045mance of the sacrifice is a right progress to the godhead and the

Truth.

. S.

mnnFy

7050to

; rather

vcnFy

mnn

7055 expresses either the

action or the means. “Let us express (by the word) the thought

in our minds,” ie the thing we are meditating, the truth of the

godhead we are seeking to express (fAs,

u8T,

7060gF,

vc,

fEt)

and to fix in ourselves ( tom,

DF).

7065aAr

c. Far (from a distance) and in us. Sayana gets

rid of the idea by taking

c =

7070aEp and attaching it to

aAr

, who

hears us even from afar. I prefer to take the natural order and

the plain sense of the words. The distinction of far and near

7075or far and within is common enough in the Veda; Agni is also

constantly spoken of as in mortals,

7080q

; that this does

not mean simply among — or here “from far and from among

us” — is shown by I.60.2 where Agni is described as

7085pEtEv

DA and the

is explained by 3,

7090t

jAymAn

7095. Agni

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

created by the human Ritwiks and born from the heart cannot

be the sacrificial fire or lightning, but must be the inner flame,

the godhead within, who is also the cosmic godhead who hears

7100from without,

aAr

@vt

7105. What is meant by the god hearing the thought? Not

merely that he hears physically the Vedic hymn and comes to

the sacrifice. As we see from other Suktas, this hearing is a

response; it is the turning of the Godhead to the God-seeker; it

is the answer of the Truth,

7110sym

, to the thought and word in

the mind of man. The god hearing the mantra means that the

divine truth it seeks to express comes and illumines and dwells

7115in the mentality; the Word becomes a chariot of the godhead,

n, a robe that he wears,

vAs, a dwelling he inhabits,

aok. So

7120long as the Word is not heard by the god, does not call him into

itself to manifest his status and working in the mental realisation

it produces, it is not effective, nor is the realisation a true seeing.

Sayana’s rendering.

Approaching and carrying on the sacrifice let us speak the

7125hymn to Agni who hears us even from a distance.

Psychological rendering.

Advancing on the journey of the sacrifice let us express the

thought to the Flame who heareth us from afar and heareth from

within.

71302.

FEhtFq

7135 y

jmAnAs

7140ard

dAf

This rik is full of difficulties; we are in doubt about the

7145meaning of three important words,

FEhEt,

E &

gy. Sayana

7150renders “when the killing peoples come together (to attack), he

guards the wealth for the sacrificer.” The one strong objection

to this version is that it has absolutely nothing to do with what

comes before or what goes after and this is contrary to the rule

of Vedic construction.

7155k

. This is rendered “people”, but it is doubtful whether

it has fundamentally or always that sense.

7160q

is originally a

derivative of

, like

7165v

from

7170f

from

etc and only

Mandala One

7175intensifies its sense.

is, originally, do, make, hurt, cut, di-

vide (k

7180 ,

^ );

7185 is to do any strong or forceful labour, eg to

drag, draw (kq

Z), plough (k

Eq) — senses which survive, and to

hurt, waste with the various results of being hurt, killed, wasted

7190still preserved in various significances of words like

Z. If

7195means people, it must be from the original sense of cultivator

or labourer. In the Veda it seems to me that it meant (like

EZ,

intensive of

7200cr

), one who does the works of sacrifice; but also it

means in certain passages, earths, worlds, places where work (of

cultivation or other) is done, — just as

EEt means sometimes an

7205earth or world inhabited or the people dwelling in it or those

possessing it. It is this sense of earths or worlds which obtains

here;

y means the worlds in which the five human peoples,

7210p

F, labour at the work of the Aryan. These worlds are

described as coming together, meeting so as to become one. The

idea of the seven rivers, various earths, different planes coming

7215together is common enough in the Veda; eg

kTA

oZF

smArt,

7220“How should not the earths come together (at the command

of Indra)?” They unite their various movements or workings,

welding their distinct laws and types into a harmony.

FEhtFq

. S.

7225vDkAErZFq

EZh

7230 —

hytFEt

vDkm

7235pEWt.

But is it so? That sense is very doubtful.

7240 means to

love, but that sense cannot be certainly proved in the Veda;

means to go, move (cf

7245 to flow) and

h means in the Veda a

thick, fat or oily dropping or flowing; finally

7250 means to stick,

cleave, be thick, compact etc. It is possible that

FEhty means

(the worlds) that move compactly together or adhere to each

other and it will then describe the result of the coming together

7255and moving together

jmAnAs

7260.

gy may mean either “movement, march” or “that

which is attained” =

or “that which is reached” =

7265aA2y,

7270, in which case it will be equivalent in sense to the Vedic

It is easy to see that any of these might be threatened whether by

a banded attack of hostile people or in the psychological sense by

the disturbance of a new combined movement of the “earths”.

7275If the latter is the sense of the first two padas, then

gy must

mean either movement or abiding-place: in the former case, the

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

Seer-Will, Agni, guards the movement of the sacrificer travelling

7280to the Truth-plane and harmonises it with the new-combined

general movement; in the latter he keeps for him his abiding-

place or his goal, which has practically the same sense. If it is

“the peoples assembling to slay”, then the psychological sense is

that the powers (people) of the regions which the divine traveller

7285seeks to overpass unite to oppose and destroy him and the Seer-

Will protects his march or his goal or his spiritual gains and

possessions from their attack. We have then in this phrase the

basis of the image of ten nations combined against the Tritsus,

“those who seek to pass beyond”.

72903.

7295j

udEn

hAjEn

7300Dn

jyo

7305tv. Sayana

jAtA

-Evj. “Agni has risen, let people

(priests) speak (hymn him).” Sayana’s glosses are always those

7310of the pedant;

tv, “creatures, those born”, is a most general

term and obviously intended to be quite wide in its connotation,

not confined to a particular class of men. No one says “let men

7315say”, when he means “let the priests chant”. The sense is “let

all men born see and declare that Agni the Vritra-slayer has

risen up into birth”. The manifestation of the Flame is to be so

great that the whole world will bear witness to it. There is no

idea of chanting the hymn in

7320b

. Cf I.4.5,

7325b

Endo

7330EnrytE

cdArt.

hA. Sayana, bound by his rendering of

7335Eq

as men, has

to take

7340aAvrkAZA

; but

7345v

hA applied thus formally

to the gods can mean only slayer of Vritra or at the most slayer

of Vritra and his hosts. That Agni is, like Indra, Saraswati and

others, a slayer of Vritra and releaser of the waters, there are sev-

7350eral passages of the Veda to show, eg I.59.6,

rvo

7355v

7360#

vAnro

mEnj

GvA

7365;

nokASA

7370f

. If, therefore, the

7375k

y of the last verse are the assailing peoples who attack on the

path & the same battles are referred to here, they cannot be men,

but must be Vritra-powers. The Dasyus are called

dAsFEv

7380f, but

not thus vaguely

ut probably brings in a new idea; not

7385only is the sacrificer to be guarded in his march to the goal of the

Mandala One

Truth, but Vritra the Coverer and his hosts who withhold the

wealth of the Truth must be slain so that wealth on new wealth

may be won in battle after battle.

7390Sayana’s rendering.

Let all the born (ritwiks) declare (praise) him, Agni has

been born, slayer of the enveloping enemies, conqueror of (the

enemy’s) wealth in all battles.

Psychological rendering.

7395Yea and let men say, “The Flame that slays the Coverer has

risen into birth, conqueror of our wealth in fight after fight.”

7400$

aEs

7405Eq

h yAEn

vFty

dmt

7410ZoEq

avr

. S. the house of sacrifice. It is rather the house generally,

not here the goal or habitation to which he is proceeding, but

7415that in which he is at present lodged, the adhara or dwelling-

place of the soul, — the body with life and mind. This is the

house of sacrifice, the triple

sDT. It is possible however that

7420$

may be “messenger to the home” of Agni and the gods,

the Truth-plane, which is also the goal of the pilgrim sacrifice.

7425v

Eq. S.

gmyEs, though elsewhere in a similar context, he

renders it

kAmys

7430.

vFty

he takes as

BZAy. “Thou carriest the

offerings to the gods for their eating.”

7435v

Eq often means to go or

come, but it cannot be here “thou comest to eat his offerings”,

h yAEn accusative after

vFty

7440, because that is not the office of the

messenger. It is to carry the offering to the gods and to bring

the gods to the sacrifice.

Eq ..

7445vFty

suggests that

vFty

may also

have here the sense of motion, “thou comest (or, goest) for the

7450taking thither of the offerings.” Either interpretation is possible

and it is difficult to choose.

dmt

. S.

7455df

nFy

, visible to all; but this has no sense and

no connection with the rest of the context. There must be some

connection between the taking of the offerings and the making

7460dmt

the sacrifice. I have taken

dm consistently = effective,

achiever, from

7465 to do, perform, cf

s action,

dAs a slave, and

dmt

7470 must be taken in the same sense; “thou makest effective

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

the journeying sacrifice”. It is evident that the carrying of the

offerings to the gods is the first necessary effectivity of the

avr;

7475the various offerings first, ie all human powers and activities

directed Godwards, are lifted to the Truth and return as enriched

being and power, — this is the first achievement and effectivity:

next, the whole sacrifice reaches the godhead, man’s entire being,

power, consciousness is accepted by the divine Truth, — this is

7480the second achievement and effectivity: last, the man himself at-

tains that plane and lives upon it, divine,

vrAV

7485AV

, immortal;

this is the

y, the third and last effectivity, completing the

avr

7490y.. The suffix

to a verbal stem is a peculiar and early form

unless indeed

7495 was originally a noun = action as well as a

verb.

tEmt

7500h ym

Egr

7505shso

yho

jnA

aAh

7510bEh

Egr. S.

7515gnAEdg

8tAn

; he treats it as equivalent in

meaning to the name

7520aEn itself. But Angiras has a special sense

in the Veda; Agni is the original Angiras and the seven seers are

the powers of the luminous Flame, his children. The Angiras is

the Seer who seeks the Light by the force of the will and finds

first the Word as the mouths of Brihaspati, then the Light itself

7525as the army of Indra. Agni Angiras is the Seer-Puissance; that

as the messenger makes the human activities acceptable to the

Truth and the sacrifice effective.

yho. S.

7530. Has this sense of

any other reality than the

idea of the commentators and grammarians that the phrase

shso

7535yho in which alone it occurs must be equivalent to

shs

no?

7540y4,

y4F in the Veda means mighty, puissant; should not

be kin in sense, the puissant, the master? On the other [hand]

the connection between the epithet Angiras, Seer-Puissance, and

7545the description “Son of Force” is very close, eg V.11.6,

vAmn

Egrso

7550hA

EhtmvEv

dE)CE2yAZ

7555s

jAys

mLymAn

sho

mhvAmAh

7560shsp

Egr

bEh

7565q

. S.

foBny.

. I cannot accept Sayana’s frequent ren-

dering of

7570bEh

y.. It means figuratively the seat of sacrifice

and literally, from

7575h

, the extension, the outspreading, the wide

Mandala One

fullness of the inner state upon which the work of the sacrifice

is founded and on which the gods take their seat. It is, in the

7580physical sacrifice, the thing outspread,

tFZ

bEh

, and, this being

the sacred doorva grass, it came to mean the doorva. It is con-

7585nected in sense with

7590ZA and often means a mass, stream,

crest of light or force etc, anything spread wide or streaming

out, thus the wide ether, the outstreaming peacock’s tail, water

flowing in a mass, a stream of flame, the

bhF

7595Eq of Agni, radiating

light. All its senses can be traced back to the one original sense

of extension or wide fullness. So also the verbal senses of

come from the idea of a heavy pervading pressure; it means to

7600cover, spread, crush, overtop and so be preeminent or excel; to

give in the sense of lavishing, cf

rA; to speak, from the sense of

outbreathing.

bEh

7605 as a seat comes, like all the rest, from this

sense of spreading widely and thickly or fully.

There are three elements given here for the sacrifice, the

perfect offering, the effective godhead, the entire purity and

fullness of the seat on which the godhead shall base himself and

7610his working — psychologically, a pure, wide state of the soul.

Sayana’s rendering.

He in whose house thou art a messenger, whose offerings

thou carriest to be eaten (by the gods) and whose sacrifice thou

makest to be seen by all, him indeed, O Angiras, son of Force,

7615all men speak of as having good offerings, a good godhead and

a good sacrifice.

Psychological rendering.

When in man’s dwelling-place thou art the envoy, thou tak-

est his offerings to be enjoyed by the gods (or thou comest to

7620carry his offerings) and thou makest effective the journey of his

sacrifice; him verily men speak of as perfect in his oblations,

perfect in his godheads present, perfect in the wide seat of his

sacrifice.

7625aA

vhAEs

;

7630ih

;

7635fty

h yA

7640vFty

. S.

7645foBnAAdn.

has two senses, “shining” and

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

7650“delightful”, both present in all the names of the Soma,

som,

7655i

; but it is the sense “delight” which it usually carries in

the Veda.

vhAEs. In the early Aryan tongue the long and short syl-

7660lable were entirely interchangeable and traces of this linger in

the Veda —

crT,

crAT;

BvEs,

7665BvAEs;

pT,

pAT. Sayana takes as

imperative, but it is obviously a continuation of the statements

7670Eq,

ZoEq, and now

aAvhAEs.

fty

7675. The

fEt is the expressing or manifesting of the

god by the word, not yet his birth or creation, but a tempo-

rary mental realisation by the thought. It is not merely praise;

there is no need for the gods to be carried to the sacrifice to

7680be praised; but certainly the word must be an assertion of the

powers, functions, characteristics of the godhead.

h yA ..

vFty

. Sayana takes

7685aAgt

h yAEn

BZAy

Apy; but

7690there is no

Apy and we cannot extract one from

aAvhAEs which

gives the quite different idea of bringing from heaven.

h yAEn is

7695an accusative governed by the verbal force in

vFty

, a common

Vedic construction, eg

cE5

7700Ev

vAEn

c5y

. I.9.2.

7705;. The gods there in heaven of whom you are the envoy.

vFty

. Here it seems necessary to take as “eating” or “en-

joying”, otherwise we shall have to translate the last pada sep-

arately, “Come, O perfect in delight, for the carrying of the

7710oblations”; but this gives an insufficient coherence.

There are always two aspects of Agni’s embassy which seem

to be inconsistent with each other, one the bringing of the gods

to eat of the oblations in the house of the sacrificer, the other

the taking of the oblations to be eaten by the gods in mid-air or

7715heaven. In the physical sacrifice it may be said that the fire first

carries the consumed offerings into the air to be eaten in their

subtle parts by the gods of heaven and mid-air, then the gods are

attracted by the voice and light of the flame and come to eat the

rest of the offerings at the sacrifice itself. But this is not satisfac-

7720tory. And what is meant by the fire carrying the gods from heaven

to the place of sacrifice, — vahasi, vehis? That corresponds to no

possible physical fact. Psychologically, the sense is clear enough.

The Seer-Will first bears man’s activities to the higher planes by

Mandala One

7725his purified consecration of them to the Godhead. This is the first

part of the embassy. Then comes the time for the descent of the

divine Powers into the human mind & body, at first temporary,

to enjoy there the activities offered to them, each activity to

its proper god, then permanent by the creation, birth, growth

7730(tAEt,

vFEt,

av) of the divinities in the human being, each

conducting his own proper activity first

7735vt

in the human

type, then in the human divine, as Usha is described

7740mAn

Eq, O

divine and human. In all these stages it is Will-with-Knowledge

that leads. That summons and brings, in a way carries the gods

in their descent, supports them in their workings.

7745Sayana’s rendering.

O thou of the good delighting, bring hither those gods for

the praise and give them the oblations for their eating.

Psychological rendering.

And thou bringest hither those gods for their expression by

7750the word, O perfect in delight, for the enjoying of the oblations.

yozpENdr

7755f

rTy

kQcn

ydn

7760yAEs

Sayana explains that this absence of sound is due to the

7765swiftness of the chariot. This cannot be the explanation: a swift

chariot is likely to make a greater noise than a slow one. Either

the phrase means simply that it is not a physical, but figurative or

immaterial horses & chariot that are meant; or else the emphasis

is on

7770a

y. A¸cwa, the horse, is the Pranic power and swiftness

of Pranic activity brings with it usually a disturbance and tumult

pleasant or unpleasant in the being, but Agni’s being the horses

of the purified Prana, there is no disturbing sound of their gallop.

7775upENd is, I think, an ear-oppressing clamour, din. That this is the

sense is proved, I think, by the next verse where the image of

the horse is again taken up and the idea varied. The horse of

Agni is

vAjF

7780axy, the undeviating horse, that which does not

go crookedly, that is the Pranic energy not stumbling into sin,

error, false desire, but galloping on the straight path

-j

7785pTA

of the Truth.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

kQcn. Sayana

kdAcn; more probably “at all”, “in any way”.

7790yAEs

. S.

7795d

vAnA

7800AJnoEq, but I think this is a purely

Vedic construction meaning practically

yAEs

7805tyAA

, the

7810being loosely made the object of

yAEs as a sort of cognate ac-

cusative, not because it is strictly so, but from a general idea of

its sense, because the

7815$

y here is in its essence

yAn or

yAA, a

going.

7820Sayana’s rendering.

O Agni, no sound of thy moving car is ever heard made by

horses when thou becomest the (gods’) envoy.

Psychological rendering.

No sound of horses is heard at all from thy chariot in its

7825motion, when O Agni, thou goest on thy embassy.

voto

vAjF

axyo

7830aEB

mAdpr

7835dA

;

aTAt

7840In the metre of this verse

vot has to be taken as a trisyllable

and

axy separated from

vAjF.

7845vot — see Appendix for

= foster, increase. Even with

Sayana’s rendering of the rest of the verse “fostered” gives a

better sense than “protected from harm”.

7850axy. Sayana’s

l6jArEht is absurd.

} is used in the sense

of crookedness as well as

in the Veda, cf

7855j

rAZ crooked. If

not, we must take

} not in the sense of shame, but of a violent

7860emotion; it means joy and wrath as well as shame, or any dis-

turbance of the emotional being.

axy must then be taken with

vAn

7865 , the sacrificer becomes full of the divine plenitudes, free

from all violent emotions and so goes forward on his journey

aTAt

aEB

7870p

mAdpr. S.

7875p

7880mAt

vmAdEDkArAdpro

Enk

BvEt; he now becomes rich in food and free from shame. This is

7885one of those forced & ingenious interpretations which illustrate

the learning of the commentator, but not the text.

7890mAdpr can

only mean “a later after the former” or if

7895 means superior,

a lower after the higher, but never an inferior to the former,

because then the sense-correlation of

7900v

apr is entirely lost;

Mandala One

nor is there any hint of any

7905aEDkAr in the text. There must

be either a later

vAjF (or

vAn

7910 ) opposed to a former or an

inferior

vAn

opposed to a superior

7915dA

vAn

. In the latter case,

the sense may be “the sacrificer inferior to the supreme sacrificer

advances when fostered by thee and becomes

7920vAjF like the one

who was superior to him.” But this is very forced and clumsy.

More naturally it would mean, if we suppose only one clause,

“The later sacrificer after the former”, that is, “one sacrificer

after another goes forward (

7925) fostered by thee to the goal (aEB),

full of plenitude, straight in his course.” It is possible, however,

to take

vAjF in the sense of horse, the Pranic

7930v and

aEB will

stand for a verb; “fostered by thee, one steed of thine following

its leader, undeviating, reaches the goal; the sacrificer (as the

result of Agni’s journeying) passes forward on his journey.”

7935aTAt

. Sayana takes

aEB =

7940mEBAJy and

ATAt

EtEtSEt

svo

7945k

BvEt. Neither can stand. Too much is read

by him into

aEB and the second preposition is

7950 not

Et; the

verse speaks of

TAn not

EtSA. Sayana quite missed the Vedic

7955image of the sacrificial journey or ascent to Swar and is therefore

always at a loss when this idea becomes prominent.

Sayana’s rendering.

The man that has become lower than his former position,

now giving thee offerings and being protected by thee becomes

7960rich in food and free from shame and thus attaining is estab-

lished.

Psychological rendering.

Fostered by thee, steed following after steed undeviating

reaches the goal, (so), O Flame, the giver of the sacrifice goes

7965ever forward.

Fostered by thee, the later sacrificer following him who

went before (or simply sacrificer after sacrificer) goes forward

undeviating, rich in the plenitudes.

7970Commentaries and Annotated Translations

vFy

7975b

hdn

EvvAsEs

7980 yo

dAf

7985s

vFy

. Sayana takes

foBnvFyo

7990t

. I see no

anywhere

7995in the verse, and therefore take

vFy

as a noun,

8000 +

vFy

as in

ny,

8005s

yog,

etc. Even when

8010s

vFy

occurs entirely by itself

as in I.94.2, Sayana renders it as

foBnvFyo

8015p

; yet nothing is

commoner in the Veda than the idea of strength and the prayer

8020for strength. Here the vast and luminous energy is the pranic

force made a vastness by the vastness of the Truth-will,

-t

8025and full of the light of the supreme knowledge,

-t

6yoEt.

EvvAsEs. Sayana abandons his favourite

pErcrEs and in-

8030terprets

gmEyt

EmQCEs —

ApysFEt

yAvt

8035 basing himself on the

sense of

vA to go.

vAs

(vs

8040 ) means either to dwell or to shine.

EvvAsEs means either thou makest to dwell or thou makest to

shine widely in all the being. It is difficult to decide, for

favours “shine” and

8045b

favours “dwell”.

v. Sayana

8050otmAnAn

. Sayana feels that an importance is

attached to the appellation, but misses the equal importance of

the collocation

8055v

v. To him who gives to the godheads,

the Seer-Will representing the divine existence responds with the

8060gift of light, of power, of vastness.

Sayana’s rendering.

Also, O shining Agni, to him who gives to the gods, thou

bringest a shining wealth endowed with good energy.

Psychological rendering.

8065Yea, and for him who giveth to the divine Ones, thou, O

divine, O Flame, lodgest wide in all his being a perfect forceful-

ness vast and illumined.

8070qv

sTtm

vco

vJsrtm

8075h yA

4An

aAsEn

sTtm

8080. S.

aEtfy

EvtFZ

tolZmmdFy

8085vcn

. But

what is meant by a very wide or extended word? A long hymn?

but the hymn is one of the briefest. It is clear that

vc is some-

8090Mandala One

thing more than mere speech; it is the word and all its contents,

the thing expressed, an expression of a new state of wideness,

, in the being of the god-seeker. It is because it carries this

8095wideness. Therefore it is

vJsrtm

, a great enjoyment for the

gods, the children of the Infinite whose home is in the vastness.

8100It is the wideness of the seeker’s being growing towards this

vastness that is the cause of their enjoyment and not the hymn

itself as mere speech or praise.

Jsr. Sayana’s attribution of this noun to the root

8105 is bad

philology. There is no reason why the easier sound

p should cor-

rupt into the more difficult sound

Js. We should rather suppose

8110an old root

. The initial

Js sound must have been common

enough in the original Aryan tongue, since it figures so largely

8115in Greek, but it has left few traces in Sanscrit. We have besides

Jsr,

form,

8120r lovely, beautiful, having a form, which points

to a root

, and

JsA to eat with its derivatives. Possibly all these

8125three roots had a similar sense to encompass, contain (whence

form), embrace, enjoy and then

JsA to eat; cf

which means

8130to pervade, to enjoy and to eat.

aTA

8135Egrtm

Dtm

8140voc

sAnEs

8145Egrtm. S.

aEtfy

gnAEdg

81508t —

y7A

EgrsA

vErS. Ob-

8155viously “O most Angiras” cannot mean merely the best of the

Angirases, it must mean one who has most the qualities of the

Angiras. We know what those qualities are, among them is the

possession of the word of power and light,

8160sAnEs, the word

of the seven-mouthed Angiras Brihaspati which wins the Sun,

the Dawn, the Herds etc,

8165y

snt

, therefore

sAnEs.

8170v

Dtm. S.

iEt

8175m

DAEvnAm.

DA does not mean

8180DAvF but

EvDAtA and especially the disposer, right ordainer (EvD

8185 ) of the

sacrifice and its parts, prominently the hymn

tom. Cf I.7.7,

8190D

, I cannot succeed in arranging (composing, putting in

8195right order of speech and thought, cf in Bengali the use of

rcnA

for style) his perfect affirmation. The epithets are not chosen

at random; because Agni is the most Angiras, has most power

of seer-will for the word that conquers the desired luminous

8200Commentaries and Annotated Translations

wealth, because being the most Vedhˆa (also a characteristic of

the Angirases), that is most skilful by his right knowledge and

right force to order rightly the hymn in relation to the stages of

the sacrifice, therefore he can help the Rishis to speak the

8205b

sAnEs.

refers us back to the idea in

8210vJsrtm

; it means pleasing

FEtkr

, that which brings with it the satisfaction of the soul, —

here, because of its right expression of that which the soul ( b

8215)

seeks to express.

sAnEs. S.

BjnFy

8220 and he gives

B8tO; but

8225sn

also

means to win, possess and only secondarily to enjoy. As we have

sAnEs in conjunction with the epithet

8230a

Egrtm it can only

mean the brahma that conquers, wins and takes possession of

the wealth as did the hymn of the Angirases in connection with

whose achievement the word

8235sn

is continually used.

aTA

. S.

8240t

. I think it is here rather

tv, otherwise there

is no sense in

8245aT =

. In the first verse Agni is invited to

cleave with love,

8250j

qv =

sFyA

vv, to the word; and now the

8255Rishi says “then may we speak the satisfying, conquering soul-

word that is thine”. It is only after Agni has embraced the

and made it his that it becomes not only

sTtm

8260 & therefore

vJsrtm

but also

sAnEs; therefore

8265aT. The word is frequently

spoken as being the gods’, especially in connection with Agni

and Indra.

Sayana’s rendering.

O best of the Angirases, O very intelligent one, then may

8270we speak to thee a pleasing and enjoyable hymn.

Psychological rendering.

Then, O most puissant in the seer-will, O most skilful Or-

dainer, O Flame, may we speak a soul-thought that is thine, that

satisfies, that conquers.

82753.

jAEmj

nAnAm

8280ko

vvr

8285kEm3Es

E2t

jAEm. Who is thy companion? That is to say, thou art alone

and transcendent,

8290t; what creature born (jn) can boast of

Mandala One

being a necessary twin of thy being?

jAEm is more than

8295D

(S.),

it gives the idea of constant companion and closeness in kinship

or in being, eg

jAEm

8300Es

8305At

v*A

. I.65.4.

8310vvr. S.

d1o

y.o

n ..

8315km

@yy. I am sceptical of

this passive sense for

dAf

8320 . S. thinks the phrase means that there

is no one capable even of sacrifice to Agni, “Who is there that

has given thee sacrifice?”; but surely this is to read more sense

into the word than it will bear. Anyhow, the Rishis constantly

giving sacrifice to Agni would hardly say “Who is there that has

8325ever given thee sacrifice?”, they would use some phrase which

would at least hint the idea of unfitness.

dAf

means naturally

giver or fit to give, and we may take

8330dA

vvr as an inverted

compound =

avrdAf

, and the question asked is “Who is really

8335able to give sacrifice that will reach the gods, being thy

jAEm,

companion and equal in being? It is really thou that speakest the

word and doest the sacrifice, thou art the only

8340DA and

hotA and

without thee man’s hymn and offering have no force or power.”

Otherwise it is the

avr that is

8345dAf

, and the question is “Whose

sacrifice is able to reach the gods and give them the offering?

Only Agni is able to carry the offering to the gods and lead the

sacrifice to the goal.” None else is his

8350jAEm and therefore none

else has the same power.

h. S.

8355B

ie all cannot know what you are like. This

is both fanciful and feeble.

8360ko

hAEs means who thou art, ie what

wonderful and transcendent being,

t. Agni is not this nor

8365that person, not one of the

jnAnA

, but the Deva himself, eternal

and supreme.

kEmn

8370 . S.

kEmTAn

. No one knows thy abode; but if Agni

is the physical flame everyone knows his abode, the

vn,

8375arEZ,

aJs

etc.

kEmn

must mean either in what object or in what

8380person; there is nothing to indicate place. “In whom art thou

lodged?” None can contain and bind to him Agni, because he

is the transcendent and infinite in whom are all the gods and all

the worlds.

Sayana’s rendering.

8385Who among men is thy (fit) friend? Who is there that has

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

given the sacrifice? What art thou (in thy nature)? In what place

art thou lodged?

Psychological rendering.

8390Who of creatures born can companion thee? O Flame, who

can give sacrifice? Who art thou? In whom is thy abode?

jAEmj

8395nAnAm

Emo

aEs

8400sKA

sEK y

jAEm. Thou, being beyond all, unborn and transcendent,

8405yet makest thyself the companion of all these human creatures,

stooping to their humanity,

8410q

Emo ..

Ey. S.

FZEytA

8415yjmAnAnA

mFt

Ayko'Es. This ex-

planation of

Em is extravagant philology and poor sense.

8420Em is

to embrace, enjoy, love (also to contain, put together, form) and

here expresses the agent of the action; it means therefore friend

or else giver of delight; Agni is the divine Friend and Lover, God

as Mitra,

8425Eytmo

; therefore

Ey, dear especially because

8430of the satisfying principle of harmony he brings into thought,

feeling, act and state. He is not only

jAEm but

Em, a dearer

word of love, since the first only expresses closeness in being,

8435companionship in life and action, the other the embrace of love

and the companionship of the heart. The answer here is to

h &

8440dA

vvr. This Infinite is He who comes to man as his

friend and lover and sets and helps him on his path, for Mitra

jnAyAtyEt, sets them moving

pETEB

8445sAEDS

#, by the most effec-

tive paths of the Truth which accomplish perfectly the sacrifice,

avr, and carry it and the sacrificer to their divine goal.

sKA. Although not lodged in any as his abode, yet is this

8450infinite deity a comrade to be sought by adoration by men, his

comrades,

, humanly and in a human relation.

8455Sayana’s rendering.

O Agni thou art the friend of all men, thou art the deliverer

from harm and satisfier (of the sacrificers), and a friend to the

sacrificing priests who is worthy of praise.

Psychological rendering.

8460Thou art the companion of all beings; O Flame, thou art

Mandala One

the beloved Friend, a comrade to be sought with adoration by

comrades.

8465yjA

EmAvzZA

yjA

8470vA

;

-t

8475an

EmAvzZA. Varuna because he gives the

8480T, the wideness,

Mitra because he is the

Ey who by his harmonising principle of

light and love gives the

Jsr. The last line goes back in thought

8485to the first; it prays for the divine fulfilment through Agni of that

which has been expressed by the aspiring thought of humanity,

of the

sTtm

8490vJsrtm

vc.

;. All the gods, constituting the whole Divine Birth, the

8495-t

-t

8500b

. The vast Truth. This is either in a sort of apposition

8505vA

;, “sacrifice to (all) the gods, to the vast Truth” which

is the being of the infinite Godhead; or else there is a double

accusative of the person and the object: “win for us from the

gods by sacrifice the vast Truth”. Sayana takes

8510-t

= true, and

explains it as

yTAT

8515Pl

, which is unnatural enough, as

no one would say “sacrifice for us the true” when he means

“sacrifice for us a sacrifice”, — ritam may mean sacrifice, or

8520it may mean truth; but it cannot mean “true” in the sense of

“a sacrifice”, — but astonishingly enough he does not take

-t

8525 = “a great sacrifice”, as he does elsewhere, but separates the

neuter

from the neuter

8530-t

to which it belongs by grammar,

by verse-movement and by syntactical form & structure, — for

yj ..

8535yE each naturally introduces its own clause, — and

attaches it to the masculine

to which it has no conceivable

right to belong. This is one of those purposeless and awkwardly

8540floundering ingenuities hostile to grammar & syntax, to the

evidence of parallel passages, to all literary sense and to poetic

fitness, in which Sayana’s commentary abounds.

yE. S. makes

yE =

8545yj

gQCv. He thinks that it means

8550jy, “worship thy own big house”, but it is only when Agni

is within it that the sacrificial house becomes worshipable,

v?y

tEv

mAn

8555sEt

y.g

8560$

6yt

, therefore to ask Agni to

worship his own house amounts to asking him to get into it!

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

8565Comment on such an absurdity is hardly needed.

. The

-t

8570b

in the form of the world called

8575lok,

lok is the own home of Agni and all the gods.

Sayana’s rendering.

Worship for us Mitra and Varuna, worship the gods, sac-

8580rifice a true (fruitful sacrifice), worship (ie enter) thy own big

house.

Psychological rendering.

For us sacrifice to Varuna and Mitra, win for us by sacrifice

from the gods the vast Truth; O Flame, win for us by sacrifice

8585thine own home.

8590Etm

nso

vrAy

vdn

8595f

tmA

mnFqA

8600vA

pEr

8605t

aAp

8610t

mnsA

dAf

vrAy. S.

8615tv

mnso

EnvArZAyAmAvvTApnAy. This is a most

improbable sense for

vr. It is much better to take

8620vr (= that

which is

vrZFy) in its ordinary Vedic significance of good, boon,

thing desired, with a shade which makes it amount to “supreme

good”, and

8625mns with

Et, ie, How shall the mind approach

thee so that it may gain its desirable good? Or

mnso

8630vrAy may

be taken together, “for the supreme state or desirable good of

the mind”. In the one case the phrase anticipates & leads up to

8635vA

mnsA; in the second it anticipates and leads up to

yjA

8640sOmnsAy of v. 2.

mnso no more goes together here than

mnsA in the fourth pada of this verse.

8645mnFqA. S.

Et, “How shall our praise be most happiness-

giving to thee”, ie there is no praise even suitable to thee, and

he thinks the answer to

8650ko

vA is

ko'Ep. It certainly does not

mean that any more than

8655k

mnsA means that no one has the

right mentality in the sacrifice. The series of questions merely

8660express the seeking of the mind for the right way of approaching

Agni, the right thought,

mnFqA, the right mentality in the self-

giving,

mns

8665 , the power to embrace in the human mind the right

Mandala One

judgment and discernment of the divine seer-will.

mnFqA does

not mean

8670t

Et in the Veda, but either the intellectual mind as

distinguished from the wider

mns

which embraces the emotional

8675mentality and sense-mind also, or else the intellectual thought

that seeks for the Truth. Cf

tom

8680s

mnFqyA (I.94.1)

which certainly does not mean “we will form the hymn [of]

8685praise by the hymn of praise.” There is no reason for assign-

ing different meanings to

mnFqA here and in that passage. But

Sayana can seldom forego an opportunity of making a word

mean “hymn” or “food”.

8690f

tmA, not

KkrF, but full for us of the bliss.

8695d

. S.

8700vA. Neither, but the judgment, discerning

thought.

must go surely with

8705 not with

pEr ..

aAp.

8710pEr gives the idea of “all round”, ie an embracing

possession of the whole

Sayana’s rendering.

O Agni, what kind of approach should there be for stopping

8715thy mind (keeping it with us)? what kind of hymn most gives

thee happiness (there is probably none); who can get strength

(or increase) by sacrifices to thee? or with what mind should we

give to thee?

Psychological rendering.

8720How shall the mind of man approach thee for his supreme

good? what thought, O Flame, must that be which carries with

it the extreme bliss? who hath by sacrifices embraced all thy

discerning? or with what mind shall we give to thee the offerings?

8725eVn

hotA

qFd

8730adND

retA

BvA

8735n

avtA

rodsF

8740vEmv

yjA

sOmnsAy

8745vAn

eEh

hotA takes up the idea of

hvF

Eq implied in

8750dAf

m. The

answer to the questions of the first rik is that Agni, the Seer-

Will, must himself come as the

hotA, the

8755homEnpAdk (Sayana

takes it wrongly here as

vAnAmA4AtA) and bring about the right

mentality by his sacrifice,

8760mh

sOmnsAy.

retA, the leader in the march of the sacrifice towards the

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

8765gods and the vast Truth, a leader who at once guides on the right

path,

pETBF

rEjS

# and slays the besetters of the way,

8770Ev

vAn

(v. 3). The

y. of which Agni is the

8775hotA is the

avro

y..

avtA

. Not “protect”; Agni is

8780adND

retA who burns all

the Rakshasas; what need has he of protection who protects

all?

8785avtA

means “foster, increase” the Seer-Will. Let the earth

and heaven, the physical and mental being, attain their full, all-

embracing wideness,

8790vEmv

and by that wideness give full

scope to the increase of the Seer-Will.

sOmnsAy. Perfect or right mentality including

mnFqA, right

8795thought enlightened by the

d and not only the emotional part

of the

mn. The

sOmns is vast,

8800mh

, as a result of the wideness of

the Rodasi, the mental and physical being, which prepares the

manifestation of the vast Truth; this wideness of the Rodasi is

always a feature of the ascent of the gods, Agni or Indra, in that

8805upward progress to the plane of the Truth, Swar, of which Agni

here is the

retA, he who goes in front.

Sayana’s rendering.

8810Come, O Agni, sit here as the summoning priest; because

thou art beyond the injury (of the Rakshasas) be well he who

goes in front of us. May all-pervading earth and heaven protect

thee; worship with sacrifice the divine ones for great grace.

Psychological rendering.

8815Hither come, O Flame, and take thy seat within as the

priest of our oblation; be the unconquerable power that marches

(leading and defending us) aright in our front; may our heaven

and our earth, all-embracing, foster thee; sacrifice for a vast

right-mindedness to the gods.

88203.

vAn

8825DLyn

BvA

y.AnAmEBfEtpAvA

aTA

8830sompEt

hEr yAm

aAEtLymm

8835mA

Indra, the Divine Mind-Power, is to be brought, after the

path has been cleared of all Rakshasas, all wealth-detaining

8840and destroying agencies, who prevent the

sOmns and break

(aEBfEt) the uninterrupted progress of the

avr

y.. Indra

8845Mandala One

comes with his two bright powers to drink the purified wine

of the Ananda offered in the clear and happy state of the mind

(sOmns) and to give in return the wealth of his world,

v (s

8850dA

sompEt

. S.

8855qA

somAnA

pAlk

. Rather, lord of the Somas as

he is of the

8860Egr, not in the sense that Soma is of the wine or

Brihaspati is master of the

AEZ, because to him all speech and

all outpourings of the intoxicating wine go as rivers to their sea,

8865as herds to the bull, as women to their lord,

ajoqA

pEt

8870.

m. Possibly = we have prepared; ie the Soma is ready for

the divine guest.

Utterly burn before thee all the Rakshasas, O Flame; become

8875the protector of our sacrifices against the destroyer; then bring to

us the master of our Soma-pourings with his two shining steeds;

for him we have prepared guest-honour, for the perfect giver.

jAvtA

8880vcsA

vE>rAsA

8885v

ssFh

8890v

hom

8895t

boED

8900tj

Entv

8905jAvtA.

jA here seems not to be

apy in the techni-

cal Vedic sense, but to refer to all fruits of the sacrifice; S.

dAt yApyAEdPlop

8910t

vcsA. S.

8915sn

. I cannot accept such a clumsy construc-

tion; it means that Agni upbears the sacrifice (vE>) by means of

the word and by his flaming mouth. That is to say, if

vE> really

8920refers to Agni and

aAsA to his flame,

aAyTAnFyyA

6vAlyA as

S. suggests. In that case we have to understand

8925aEs with the

first pada. But the natural rendering would be to take

vE> as

referring to the Rishi. “I, upholder of the word by the breath of

my mouth, call thee by the fruitful word and do thou at once

8930take thy seat with the gods.”

vE>. “Upholder, maintainer” either of the word (cf

sKAy

tomvAhs,

EgvA

8935h etc) which is most appropriate here, — “as

the sustainer of the divine chant by his breath he calls him with

the fruitful word”, — or else of the whole sacrifice, the inspired

word of the hymn and therefore the breath of the mouth being

the means by which the

8940vE> upholds the course and strength of

the sacrifice. Cf I.3.11,

srvtF.

8945Commentaries and Annotated Translations

aAsA. 1. breath. 2. mouth. The first seems to me the appro-

priate sense; it is the Pranic force,

8950AZ, by which the

is uplifted from the heart where it has been shaped and held in

the mind,

}dA

8955t

c ..

8960c, gives importance to the prepositions; there

are two immediately successive actions, the motion of the Rishi

drawing the Seer-Will to him by the word, the motion of Agni

and the Gods entering and taking their settled station within

him,

8965En.

Eq. S.

kAmyv. I think it is

yAEs, the verb used in its pure

8970indicative sense, “’tis thou takest upon thee the office of

hotA

and the office of

potA, O master of sacrifice, (therefore) awake.”

yj. S.

8975yjnFy. Rather

here seems to express the agent as

Em. Agni is here the sacrificer ( hot ..

yjv v. 5) and not the

8980god to whom sacrifice is given.

t. S.

8985Eny

ymdAy1AEn

8990k

jEnt. S.

aAh

8995Et7ArA

jnEytrn

. I presume S. means

9000sv

Dny.

9005Ent.

jEnt he who brings the spiritual wealth into

being in man.

t he who brings it by his labour into right use

9010or possession by man.

boED. S.

amAboDy. There is no reason to take transitively a

verb usually intransitive.

Psychological rendering.

9015By the fruitful word I, bearer of the sacrifice by the force of

my breath, call thee to me and, thou, take thy seat here within

with the gods; ’tis thou takest on thee the oblation and the

purifying; wake, O bringer into being, O bringer into use of our

riches.

9020Sayana’s rendering.

(Hymned) by a fruitful word (he who is) the bearer of the

offerings to the gods, him I call; and, thou, — sit down here with

the gods, desire that which is done by the Hota and the Pota;

wake us, O thou who entirely controllest riches and producest

9025(all things).

Mandala One

yTA

Evy

9030mn

hEvEB

9035vA

;

ayj

kEvEB

kEv

9040sn

evA

hot

sytr

9045an

90504A

yjv

q. S.

mno —

9055mn

.An

q does indeed mean the thinker,

9060but the mental being generally, not Manu.

Evy. S.

DAEvn, from

Evp

9065 to be luminous — cf

Er which

9070s

means also luminous; men of knowledge are in the R.V.

frequently called

9075mt, luminous.

ayj

probably an aoristic past; “as thou hast always

sacrificed”.

kEvEB

9080kEv. S. renders

kEv =

tdfF

, &

9085kEvEB =

DAEvEB.

He makes a difference between the two senses in a note on I.79.5,

kEv

90905A

tdf

DAvF

9095vA. I presume that the former means a seer,

one whose vision is active, the other merely an intelligent man or

thinker. Perhaps S. is unwilling to attribute omniscient seerhood

to men. But why should there be a difference of meaning between

kEvEB

9100kEv? I cannot understand this remarkable principle of

composition attributed to the Rishis of putting the same word

together in different cases or with different governing words in

order to convey quite different ideas and with nothing to show

the difference! It is only in Bedlam or else in Pundit-land that

9105such a rule can stand. Mark that sometimes S. makes

kEv mean

simply

t! As a matter of fact there is no reason to suppose

9110that

kEv ever means anything in the Vedas but a seer. Who are

the

kEvs here? Not I think men, but the divine powers who assist

the Seer-Will.

9115hot. S.

homEnpAdk. This passage

hot ..

9120yjv and

others show clearly enough that

hotA meant originally the priest

who conducted or made the offering; the other sense

9125vAnAmA4AtA

is, in the R.V., extremely doubtful.

sytr. S.

aEtfy

9130ss

sADo! An extremely clumsy and

unnecessarily philological antic. Agni is frequently called

sy,

eg I.1.5,

9135hotA

kEv5t

syE

c2vtm. Here also Agni is the

hotA,

9140kEv &

sytr. In I.1.5 S. interprets

sy giver of true

results of the sacrifice, here in a precisely similar context, where

the same words and ideas are repeated, he gives quite another

9145and fantastic explanation.

sy means true, full in his being of

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

the truth of the

-t

9150b

of which the

kEv is the knower, and

therefore no doubt a giver of the riches of the truth to the sac-

9155rificer; but the latter idea cannot justly be read into

sy when

that word is divorced by Sayana from all idea of the

-t & the

kA y. The comparative means ever growing in truth.

9160m

4A. S.

9165hq

EyWyA

homsADnB

tyA

9170*

cA. The

$ is the flame

9175of Agni by which he gives the offering to the gods, as Sayana’s

explanation would lead us to believe; but perhaps he means the

fire-tongue by

9180 . It is the flame or uplifting movement of the

Will that lifts the Soma etc from the mind upward to the divine

Superconscient with a motion of rapture — the rapturous will-

movement, not, I think, the joy-giving will. The rapture comes

from the state of

9185sOmns, clear of the Rakshasas etc, which Agni’s

priesthood, the conduct of the Yoga by the divine Will, brings

to man.

[15]

[RV I.77.1–2]

9190Hymns of Gotama Rahugana

kTA

dAf

9195any

9200vj

uQyt

BAEmn

9205yo

9210-tAvA

hotA

yEjS

9215ZoEt

vAn

kTA. This ancient form follows the analogy of

9220TA,

ayTA

etc. Sayana thinks that

kTA

dAf

9225m is a confession of incompetence.

This is possible but not necessary. The question may simply

express the seeking, naturally with a sense of difficulty, for the

right manner of giving and the sufficient word.

BAEmn

9230.

BA is

6yoEt,

BAm is rather

9235j.

A. S.

9240#

9245Evt yA

vAk

. The gods have to be created

by Agni in the mortal, therefore a revealing word is needed to

which the cosmic deities will attach themselves, making it their

9250dwelling-place, so that through its instrumentality Agni may

create the corresponding godheads in the individual.

gF like

Mandala One

9255s is the word which expresses, which brings out, makes

what is unexpressed in the state of

afEt and therefore latent.

9260q

t. The usual description of Agni, the divine Will;

he is the precondition of man’s immortality, always present even

in his mortality, always shining though smoke-obscured even in

9265his state of night; it is this Will that wakened to greatness and

clarity by the Dawn rises up heavenward and calls the gods to

take their seat in the human soul that sacrifices to them.

-tAvA. It is the Seer-Will and possesses the Truth, therefore

it is the priest of the offering most powerful for sacrifice. In other

9270words it will know the right way to sacrifice and find the right

word for creating the Truth-powers.

ZoEt. S.

hEvEB

9275y

8tAn

kroy

v. Prodigious! By what alchemy

of the mind are we to find in the plain phrase “makes the gods”,

9280the meaning “makes them have the offering”? The mystic idea

of the creation of the godheads in man is necessarily beyond

the understanding of the ritualist; but what gymnastic feats are

needed to wriggle out of the plain sense of a plain phrase!

Sayana’s rendering.

9285How should we give to Agni, what praise that can be ac-

cepted by the gods is spoken to the shining one, who, Hotri

immortal and possessed of sacrifice, a great sacrificer, dwelling

in (among?) mortals makes the gods possessed of the offering?

Psychological rendering.

9290How shall we give unto the Flame? What word is spoken to

the lord of fiery light to which the gods shall cleave, the Flame

who immortal in mortals, possessed of the Truth, a priest of the

offering most mighty indeed for sacrifice, forms the gods?

9295yo

avr

9300-tAvA

hotA

nmoEBrA

9305k

aEny

9310tA

vAn

9315cA

boDAEt

mnsA

yjAEt

9320tm

-tAvA. Always in Veda there is the same connection,

the Truth is the way to the bliss, its cause, foundation, support;

through Vijnana we arrive at Ananda.

9325k

. S.

aEBm

9330KFk

zt.

$ &

9335aA

have a special sense

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

in Veda.

9340aA

$ is to become in, enter into another’s being, to

cast oneself into his, as the god manifests himself in the man,

the man lifts his being into the divine consciousness. Cf I.56.2–

93453 where the phrase

aAB

is applied to those who ascend upon

9350Indra,

mED

roh

9355t

jsA and range in that divine Mind as on an

ocean,

9360$

y ..

prFZs

9365d

crZ

9370aA

is the converse action

of man bringing the godhead into him and forming it there in

his human being.

9375nmoEB. Agni is first to be brought into man and formed

there, so that he may form the other godheads; it is true that he

is already there, but veiled; he has to be brought in in his own

divine form from the Truth, his own home. How is this to be

done? by what manner of sacrifice? by what word? Simply by

9380the sacrifice of submission, the word of adoration and surrender.

He will do the rest.

. S.

gQCEt. It may mean “goes”, “desires”, “manifests”.

9385gEtjnnkA

Etq

. This is the difficulty of fixing the sense of

vvFEt;

9390we have to choose between “going to the gods” and “manifest-

ing the gods” for the mortal.

boDAEt. S.

jAnAEt or “wakes to the knowledge”. This is the

answer to the question in the first rik. The Seer Will once awake

9395and formed in the man by submission and adoration of the

human to the divine Will itself knows the godheads aright and

sacrifices through the mind to them in the right manner of the

Truth which he possesses and with its right word.

Mandala One

9400[16]

[RV I.94.1–10]

Hymns of Kutsa Angirasa

I.94–98 .. 101–115

A Critical Edition, with Notes & Translation,

9405establishing the symbolic and Vedantic

meaning of the Rigveda.

Text.

9410tommh

jAtv

rTEmv

9415s

mnFqyA

9420A

mEtry

9425sEd

sHy

ErqAmA

9430vy

vmAyjs

9435s

sADEt

anvA

dDt

9440s

vFy

9445tAv

#nm`oEt

hEtrn

9450sHy

ErqAmA

9455fk

sEmD

sADyA

9460EDyv

hEvrdEt

aAh

9465t

vmAEdyAnAvh

tAEh

mEs

9470an

sHy

ErqAmA

9475tv

BrAm

ZvAmA

9480hvF

Ectyt

9485ZApv

jFvAtv

9490sADyA

EDyo

sHy

9495ErqAmA

[Half a page left blank for copying the rest of the text.]

9500tomm

. The hymn of praise is the central note of the Rigveda.

Praise and prayer are the two outward expressions (

gF) of the

soul founded on the heart, which awaken the consciousness

9505there (

tyEt) to the force or the presence of the god. They

establish the god in the heart and increase him there,

sAdyEt

9510bEh

Eq,

yEt. The word

tom is from the root

9515t

which means

to set or be set firmly, closely or solidly; from this original sense

there come the senses to pile, accumulate, erect, raise, of

9520$

with its noun

9525p which means a heap, pile, monument or pyre

and also strength, power; the significance, to stop or stupefy of

and

9530t

with the noun

toB obstruction, a stop, a pause.

From

9535t

we have

9540t

k a bunch of hair, braid or knot,

kA in the same sense, but also meaning the hip or thigh and

tok a drop or small quantity collected, hence little, short, few.

9545tom itself has the sense of mass, collection, group;

tom

means

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

the head, riches, wealth, grain;

9550tvk means a cluster of flowers

or bouquet, as well as praise. The root can mean also to push

B &

9555nk a goat,

to expel,

toB disrespect, spurning

9560contumely). The significance hymn, praise, eulogy belonging to

the verb and its nouns

Et,

tom,

9565to

tv as also to

9570 and

its noun

toB (cf

9575 to be pleased, propitious) must come by

transition from the same original force as all the other deriva-

tives. Stoma is, therefore, the praise which supports, the praise

which nourishes & increases or the praise which impels and

gives force. It was, in other words, to the Vedic Rishis that

9580which establishes & increases the god, supports him and gives

him force for effective action. But the literal meaning must have

been support and from this sense the idea of laudation, praise

must in the first instance have risen. That the etymological sense

must have been present to the mind of the singer is shown by

9585the verb

m and the simile

rTEmv. The hymn is to be strongly

compacted, a real erection, stoma or stupa, on which Agni is to

9590take his seat as in a chariot. Cf other families of this root. The

same meanings will be found to persist.

tn,

9595t

9600tm

EtEB,

9605Etm

EtEmt,

to spread, cover, strew,

9610TA,

TAn

9615ZA,

9620t

. The word

is generally taken to mean worthy or

9625deserving, from the later and derived sense of the root

, to

deserve, to owe, which replaced the earlier & simpler senses in

classical Sanscrit. “Let us forge strongly a hymn for Agni who

9630deserves it” will make a good grammatical sense, but very poor

poetry & no philosophical significance. The Buddhist Arhat cer-

tainly did not mean merely a deserving person; it meant one

extremely exalted, or one who had risen high above the world.

Agni, the high exalted, meaning ultimately one of those who

9635dwell in the Parardha, will be a more probable, as well as a

more forcible rendering. See Rt ar in the Aryan Word Book.

m. I am certain the word here must mean to make

9640great in the sense of “to compact, to construct laboriously or

solidly”, with something of the force of the Latin moliri. From

the idea to make strong or great, such a sense would naturally

Mandala One

arise; the idea of strong or laborious action, work or construc-

9645tion is characteristic of the M roots and no other sense will

go so well with

rTEmv. Otherwise we must translate “Let us

strengthen the hymn with or by the intellect,” ie let us put our

minds to it to give it greater force; but this is a good sense by

9650itself, but it leaves

rTEmv in the air. One does not strengthen a

chariot with the intellect or indeed by any other means [unless]

it is ramshackle or broken down, which cannot be the Rishi’s

meaning. For the construction of a chariot with the mind for the

9655tool of the worker, cf Rigveda I.20, Medhatithi’s hymn to the

Ribhus, the heavenly artificers,

9660vcoy

nsA

9665hrF

t3AsyA yA

pEr6mAn

9670K

, “who fashioned, by the mind,

yoked to speech, for Indra his yoke of steeds, and fashioned for

the Aswins a spacious car of ease.”

9675mEt. Throughout the Veda I take

mEt in its simple

and obvious etymological sense of

.A, mental knowledge. The

Greek & Latin sense of

9680, beforehand, need not be premised

of the Sanscrit particle. The force of

mEt and

.A comes

9685from the idea of the object of knowledge standing before the

mind & the mind moving out to embrace it in its scope.

Translation.

This hymn for the Exalted One to whom Knowledge ap-

peareth let us construct with the intellect as if it were a chariot

9690(for him); for auspicious is his mind of thought to us in the

assembly. O Agni, (secure) in thy friendship may we come not

to harm.

aAyjs

9695 etc. The Atmanepada expresses the vague and general

idea of inner action applied to any ends of the soul. The yajna

of the Veda is the yoga of the soul or of any of its faculties,

mental, spiritual, vital or bodily, its preparing and bringing into

action for growth towards peace, perfection, plenty (vajas), joy,

9700strength, immortal godhead. The Yajamana, for whom Agni is

the agent of the yajnic action, the hota, perfects himself in these

things, sadhati; he gets his habitation, firmly establishes himself

in the objects of the Yoga or in some state of the soul which is

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

9705the object of the Yoga, ksheti, holds & confirms for himself the

full Yogic force, suviryam, increases & prospers, tutava, and is

guarded by Agni from all evil, internal or external, anhati.

sADEt. We see the early use of the word which has played

so great a part in the spiritual thought and practice of India

9710ever since. Sadhaka, the yogic seeker of perfection, sadhana, his

spiritual effort & discipline, siddhi, his success and attainment

whether in particular faculty or general soul-condition, sadhu,

the man in his state of perfection, remain to this day current &

familiar words in our vernaculars and colour the thoughts of a

9715nation.

anvA

. The exact sense of

anvA

has, I think, been missed; it

9720is “not fighting” & hence sometimes “without an enemy”, not

9725 , an enemy. The root

expresses excellence, force or

preeminence of any kind, whether (1) in being, state & position,

(2) in action, (3) in movement, (4) in light & splendour. From (1)

9730we have the idea of excellence, virtue, nobility, lordship, honour,

lifting, leading, height in

aAy

9735,

9740ah

. The Tamil aran,

aram (virtue), the Greek

ristoc

9745rw

rqw

rqo

9750ret

roc a mountain; from (2) the sense fight, slay or hurt, oppress,

9755av

9760,

aEr, Ares,

arAEt, arma,

arr, and plough,

work, row, propel in

9765ar

, aro, arvum,

rotro

9770ro

ra,

aEr

9775ary

Et; from (3) the sense of swift motion in

ar,

9780The idea in anarv´a ksheti is that the sadhaka for whom

Agni, master of pure tapas, works out all the actions of the

Yoga, the inner sacrifice, gets firm establishment in the siddhi

(sadhati) and dwells established in it (ksheti) without any need

of fighting; Agni destroys all the inimical forces, the amivas, and

9785prevents by his protection (avas) farther attack.

Et.

y and

Et are technical words of the Vedic Yoga.

y is established dwelling or habitation in a fixed condition

9790of consciousness or that condition so fixed and inhabited.

describes such an established condition. Cf such phrases as

yAy

9795cE5r

, they make the Vast (mahat) their habitation. I.36.8.

vFy

. The word virya in the Veda, derived from

9800vF to open,

Mandala One

expand, display, open into full vigour, includes in the forms

9805vFr etc the idea of excellence, full or superior force etc. Hence the

later idea of strength, energy or heroism.

dDt

means here to hold

firmly.

9810s

vFy

, the thing held firmly by this sadhaka, is usually in

the Veda the fullness of force, knowledge & being-manifestation,

sat-tapas, on any plane of the being, although sometimes the

9815idea of knowledge is almost suppressed in the more general

and radical idea of manifestation, sometimes it predominates &

almost conceals the idea of force. Sometimes both are combined

equally. Ila, for instance, in I.40.4, is described as devi sunrita

& Ilam suviram, supraturtim anehasam, clear & strong (suvira)

9820going swiftly forward (supraturti) but not hurtful by excessive

force (anehasam). There is here no reference to knowledge. The

idea is that of a safe & seated fullness of forceful being.

9825tAv. Again the idea of strength, vigour, always contained in

the root t¯u where it keeps its radical force. So far as the context

of the single line goes, it is quite possible & appropriate to take

the word in the sense “he attains safety”, cf Lat. tutus, tueor etc,

but it is more likely to be “he attains vigour” or “is in full force,

9830prospers”.

a`oEt.

is the Greek

qw. It means to have, possess, &

9835so to enjoy, to eat. This instance of its use shows how these

meanings developed out of each other. “Evil cannot have him or

hold him, cannot possess him” with a strong trace of the idea of

enjoying & devouring.

9840hEt.

9845 means to put out force against, so to

attack, hurt, kill, wound.

hEt means defect, flaw, sin, evil,

calamity. It means here evil with the special idea of defect or

9850flaw in the siddhi.

Translation.

For whom thou, O Agni, workest at the Yoga, he attains

fulfilment, he sits established free from enemies, who finds the

full force of being; he flourishes and evil cannot enjoy possession

9855of him. O Agni, secure in thy friendship may we come not to

harm.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

9860m with the accusative means “May we be equal to, able

to bear”. It is the dharana-samarthya, the power to hold the

force, delight or vast expansion pouring into the system without

either suffering injury or letting the flood escape from the system

by exhaustion of or rejection from the latter, — it is this Yogic

9865fitness of the adhara or receptacle that is indicated in shakema

twa samidham.

sEmD

. From idh to attain fullness, increase, flourish & sam

expressing completeness.

9870sADyA

EDys

. Perfect the movements or faculties of the un-

derstanding. The plural is constantly used in this sense. Dhi is

the discerning mind which holds and places perceptions. They

9875are to be perfected so that they may hold & place rightly the

knowledge that streams in when Agni or pure tapas increases in

the system.

hEvrAh

9880. The offering cast. Havis in the Veda is anything

spiritual, mental, vital or material offered to the gods so as to

strengthen them each in their proper activity. The base of the

Vedic system is this idea of the interchange of offices between

god & man, man surrendering his inner & outer gains to the

9885gods so that they by their activity in him & his concerns may

repay him, as is their habit, a thousandfold.

adEt. The gods eat or enjoy the offering cast into Agni, into

the pure tapas. In other words, speaking psychologically, all the

faculties are strengthened by the surrender of actions, thoughts,

9890feelings into the hands of the pure energy which distributes them

to the proper centres.

aAEdyAn

tAn

9895Eh. Hi is here simply emphatic, not causal

& the tan refers back to

vA of the last line. The Adityas, sons

of Aditi, the infinite existence in the paravat, parardha or higher

9900being of man & the world.

mEs. The word is from the root

and must therefore

9905mean “desire, wish, yearning out, aspiration”. But these words

do not exactly express the Vedic idea. It is that state of the Yogin

Mandala One

when existence reaches out after an effect or a fulfilment (lipsa);

there is no corresponding word in English. The gods are often

9910represented as ushatas, when they are called to the sacrifice. It

is the movement towards a stronger existence or activity which

we are conscious of in the faculties when the system has been

brought into a fit state for the sacrificial action.

Translation.

9915May we have power to bear thee in the fullness of thy in-

crease; perfect the faculties of our understanding; in thee when

the offering is cast, it is enjoyed by the gods. Do thou bring hither

those sons of Infinite Being in the self-extending aspiration of

the soul. O Agni, secure in thy friendship may we come not to

9920harm.

BrAm

9925ZvAmA

hvF

. May we bring or may we load on

9930the altar the fuel of thy burning — idhma, that by which thou

increasest, may we make the offerings to thee. The idea of the

inner sacrifice in the Veda is that what we possess, mentally,

vitally, physically etc, our dhanani, have all to be offered to the

divine force, Agni, to grow in us by devouring it. This is the

9935idhma. To him who thus makes, havinshi, offerings to Agni,

he returns tenfold the strength & joy that is given him, for, as

Madhuchchhanda says in the first hymn of this Mandala, that

is his satyam, his truth or vow to do good to the giver. In other

words, whatever we surrender to the Divine Force, it returns to

9940us in an increased wealth, in viryam, sahas, posha etc. Te with

both

hvF

9945Eq.

Ectyt. The word may mean either to pile up (cf

EctA) or

become aware of, take into cognizance (cf

Ec1

9950).

ZApv

ZA. The word is from the root

9955 , to fill, by gunation

and the addition of the compound suffix

vZ.

9960pv

are

the brother forms. In the sense of holy day

9965n

must have

originally meant either the same as

9970EZ

mA or else a filling up

day, a connecting day; so it means also the connecting joint.

in the sense of chapter means a “completed” part. In I.9.1.

9975the expression

sompv

EB must mean with the fullnesses of the

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

nectar.

9980Ectyt must certainly mean heaping here, and

ZApv

describes the offerings that are heaped on the altar. Does it mean

9985then “Heaping up all our inner possessions alike, complete and

incomplete, perfected and imperfected”?

jFvAtv

. For increase of life, of vitality & perhaps length of

days — a frequent prayer of the Vedic Rishis who followed un-

9990hesitatingly the rule of the Isha Upanishad, jijivishech chhatam

samah.

swiftly, or else forcibly.

sADyA

9995EDyo. The same prayer as in the third verse. There is

no reason to interpret

EDyo otherwise than faculties of

DF, the

discerning mind. As every Yogin knows, length of life can be as-

10000sured by liberation of the mental movements from the sanskaras

of disease and death.

Translation.

May we heap the fuel of thee and make the offerings heaping

them up both complete and incomplete; forcefully for the life

10005perfect the faculties of our understanding; O Agni, secure in thy

friendship may we come not to harm.

5. He is the protector of the peoples, by his drivings all living

beings range whether the two-footed or the four-footed; thou art

the various perception of the Dawn, mighty art thou; O Agni,

10010secure in thy friendship may we come to no harm.

EvfA

ie the various kinds of creatures. From

Ev to come into

being, appear, be born.

10015a8t

EB. From

to act forcibly, work, drive. Gr.

10020w &

Latin ago. Aktu must therefore mean either workings, cf ago, I

act, or drivings, cf

w, I drive; and, since the verb is

10025crEt, the

latter must be accepted. Agni is the Master of Tapas or World-

force. It is by the drivings, the impulsions of that Force that all

creatures move.

Ec. The word has the sense of various, but with the idea

10030of curiousness or richness, from

Ec meaning to divide & to

Mandala One

accumulate. It is the Greek

poikl

10035oc.

t is perception,

10040k

t perception going forward to

the object that presents itself. In Usha, the Dawn of Knowledge,

Being or Joy objects of experience present themselves and Agni

as Force that is Awareness dwells on all of them & knows them

10045minutely & perfectly. He is not only Force of Action but also

Force of Knowledge, jatavedas.

mhAn

. There is an evident reference to

mhs

10050 , the ideal knowl-

edge. It is because Agni is great with the wideness of Mahas or

vijnana, ideal knowledge, that he is chitra, so rich & various in

his perception in the prajnana, mental knowledge.

6. Thou art the Adhwaryu and the Hota also from of old, the

10055controller & purifier of beings, the Purohita; thou knowest, O

wise one, all the functions of the Ritwik & (by that knowledge)

increasest; O Agni, secure in thy friendship, may we come not

to harm.

avy

10060. We find here the names of different priestly functions

in the sacrifice applied to Agni, the master of Tapas. He is usually

spoken of as the Hota, he who offers the sacrifice, and often as

the Purohita, he who stands in front as the personal representa-

tive of the sacrificer. In I.1.1. he is spoken of in addition as the

10065Ritwik —

Evj

10070-Evk

is usually derived from

-t

10075 and

supposed to mean one who sacrifices in season. But this would

apply equally to every priest in the sacrifice. The names Puro-

hita, Hota, Brahma, Udgata etc all apply to particular functions

& bear that function on their face. It must be the same with

10080Adhwaryu & Ritwik.

-Evk

is either from

-t

10085ij

in the sense

of one who knows the laws, rules or rituals of the sacrifice; or

from

-t

10090 +

Evj

in the sense of Knower of truth, Knower of the

law. Both the

i roots & the

10095Ev family bear the significance of

knowledge. In the former the sense is comparatively rare & has

been handed over to other verbs expressing motion,

in its

10100compounds &

yA; but we still have

10105 in the sense of see-

ing, & the goddess

i0A in the Vedas is the power of Revelation.

Similarly

avy

10110 from

avr was originally the priest especially

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

in charge of the materials of the oblation.

fAtA and

10115potA also

refer to sacrificial functions, the direction by controlling word

of the ritual and the purification of the offerings. We can see

how these functions are all combined in Agni. He is the hota,

for Tapas is the chief agent both of action and of surrender to

10120the divine power. He is adhwaryu, because he is dravinoda, it

is Tapas which supplies all forms in the Universe & all forces

and maintains them. He is prashasta; tapas controls & directs

the actions of all creatures. He is pota, is pavaka; tapas of Chit

supplies the knowledge & moral force which purify. He is puro-

10125hita; Tapas is the agent of all our activity, which stands in front

for the Purusha & does his works. He is ritwik; as jatavedas,

tapas of Chit knows & arranges all action in its proper place

and season.

10130qA. From

, as

10135 from

. All things born, all crea-

tures: the accusative after

fAtA and

10140potA. The word shows that

Kutsa is regarding all world-existence as one great sacrifice to

the divine powers.

aAEv

6yA. Accusative after

10145Ev7An

. The functions of knowl-

edge which are the basis of action.

DFr. From

DA to hold & arrange. Connected with

10150DF, the

mind as that which holds & arranges stuff of knowledge. Dhira

indicates a steady & discerning knowledge. By this steady &

discerning frame of mind tapas or pure force increases in the

soul (p

10155yEs).

7. Thou who art everywhere in thy beauty and hast vision,

discerning afar, shinest exceedingly like the lightning, thou seest,

O god, beyond the darkness of the night. O Agni, secure in thy

friendship may we come not to harm.

10160s

tFk. With a beautiful face.

. With the sight of the

10165higher vision, drishti.

tFk is that which faces or confronts —

so a face or figure. Agni as divine Tapas is everywhere, a thing

of beauty & delight behind all being in activity. Agni as force

of knowledge is like a flash of lightning brilliantly illuminating

10170Mandala One

everything, speeding to the utmost distance, flashing through &

beyond the thickness of the night.

10175 . The

a roots signify intrinsically general existence,

being.

10180 ,

, the dental combinations give the idea of

10185firm consistency, substantial existence & easily come to give such

meanings as density, gross existence, matter, food. We have from

10190 in the sense of gross matter, as well as

aEdEt, Existence;

from

a lost

10195aDs

matter, food, still found in Greek

joc

"joc, pasture (aDs

10200aADs

), hence the lower or material world,

avr, the material oblation, material, the material existence;

from

10205D

aD blind (originally thick, dark),

aDs

thickness,

10210thick darkness, food, matter.

8. May ours, O ye gods, be the pristine delight of him who

expresses (the nectar), may strong self-expression be with us;

that word do ye know & in that word increase. O Agni, secure

in thy friendship, may we come to no harm.

10215rT. It is evident that

rT here is not chariot, since there

can [be] no meaning in praying to the gods for an old chariot;

on the other hand ratha in v. 10, where the sense of a chariot

is evident, clearly recalls the

10220rT of this verse. This passage is,

therefore, an excellent indication of the symbolic nature of the

divine chariots in the Veda.

rT may mean etymologically either

swift motion, from which the sense, chariot, arises, or strong

10225emotion esp. delight, ecstasy, cf

rEt,

rAEt (pleasure, delight),

rAy,

rA (felicity),

10230r (love, desire),

(delightful);

10235j

r8t etc,

10240rAg,

rjs

(rajoguna);

rZ delight, joy;

10245 ,

rAm,

rt etc;

pleasure, taste, delight;

10250rAslFlA;

rBs which still keeps in Bengali

its original sense of ecstasy;

r& &

rADs

10255 in the Veda have the same

sense, as will be shown elsewhere.

rAs, the name

10260rAvZ

had originally the same sense & meant indulgence in violent

aggressive satisfaction of the impulses. Other common senses of

the

r root family are strong dazzling light, and loud thrilling or

10265piercing sound. The root is a violent root, expressive of strong

vibrations of all kinds in being but not of the most violent. The

sense of Ananda seldom leaves it, the sense of force & vibration

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

never.

10270rT has other meanings, eg reed, fighter & must have

meant also fighting, etc, but “ecstasy, delight” and “chariot”

are its common Vedic senses. This ratha or strong vibrating

ananda is the chariot of Agni, the vehicle of the divine Tapas.

For Tapas in the Vedic system descends through Ananda and it is

10275in Ananda that it pours itself through the world. Therefore there

is no action which has not as its basis some kind of pleasure,

the stronger the delight, the greater the force of action, provided

always that the system can bear the vibration. The Purva ratha

may mean either full, supreme delight or the pristine delight of

10280the soul before it is stained by imperfections, when it enjoys its

Brahma-state avranam, unwounded. In any case, the sense is full

or supreme delight.

vto. Throughout the Veda in connection with the word

10285som, the wine symbolic of the joy of immortality, the nectar or

ichor that flows in the bodies of the gods in place of blood, the

root

is used in a double sense of production, distilling and of

10290good, pleasure, happiness as in

soMy,

somn

10295 ,

vn etc. We find

both senses in

som,

10300s

, etc.

10305so. Another fundamental word of Vedic psychology. The

proper meaning of

is to cut, pierce; it is used of sharp,

swift & trenchant motion, action, pressure, feeling etc. We have

10310ff

to leap,

to hurt, injure, kill;

10315lF the orifice of the

ear;

fp loss of intellect;

to cut, kill, destroy,

10320fsn

fEt,

etc;

10325fAs

to punish, hence to rule, govern, tame, subdue, to

teach. From this fundamental sense came the idea of shooting

out, piercing one’s way into appearance, like a plant; eg

10330corn, grain; and so it came to mean expression, — expression

in speech, praise etc, expression in being, self-expression, &

from these last senses gave such meanings as

excellence,

10335happiness, best, right;

the body. The nasal form

10340 had the

same senses; to hurt, injure, revile; to praise, express, declare,

show; etc. These roots also indicate wish, desire. The tradition

of the old Vedic meaning “expression” of anything in the being,

has been lost to tradition, but it still remains stamped on the

10345Veda. It would be possible here to translate

so as praise and

Mandala One

10350f

; in the next verse as evil-speakers, especially in view of the

vc in the second line of this shloka. The Rishi must then be

10355supposed to say, “May I have the former or old delight, may our

energetic praise (of Agni?) attain it; know that word of praise &

increase by it. By blows, kill energetically the evil speakers and

opponents & the devourers”, — a comprehensive massacre! It is

not that these translations cannot be made, but that they make

10360no coherent sense, have no inherent plausibility to make up for

their random & rambling character & only succeed in making

a mass of barbarous nonsense out of the Veda. The real sense is,

“Give me the old perfect ecstasy; let there be with it an energetic

or forceful expression of the divine being in me; do you, the

10365gods, know that expression (that is to say, embrace it in your

consciousness) & by it increase. All who oppose destroy & so

make the path to the fulfilment of this inner yajna easy, swift &

safe.” This is a coherent sense & well in touch with what comes

before & what follows.

10370d

y is either a verbal adjective like

kAy

10375 from a root

or a nominal adjective from a noun

10380d

Y. Its use twice in this

passage is of a kind favourable to the nominal force. The root

10385$

has as its common and characteristic force the idea of a violent,

impetuous or troubling activity and taken in connection with

and

10390jEh in the next verse we may suppose it to mean “forcible,

impetuous, strong or overpowering”. It is a chanda and not

a saumya ecstasy & expansion of being that Kutsa demands

from Agni, one violently overcoming all Asuric opposition of

the spiritual enemies of the Yoga.

10395vco. The roots

and

as also

10400ud

and

mean prop-

erly, expression, expansion like

10405f

, for this is the fundamental

object of the U family of roots, wide or widening but unfin-

ished being. Hence the sense of high swelling in

10410ud

and

uQc,

of dawning in

10415QC

, the idea of wish, yearning in

and other

roots. If we suppose

10420vcs

here to preserve its original sense,

we shall get an appropriate & coherent meaning, “Know ye

this expression and increase.” Take cognisance of the shansa

referred to in the previous line and make it your own by this

10425Commentaries and Annotated Translations

mental reception, enter into it & be nourished by it, increase in

it.

9. Drive away with thy smitings impetuously those who are

opposed to expansion, or such as from afar (stand) against me

10430or all such as are devourers, then make an easy path for the

sacrifice to express itself. O Agni, secure in thy friendship, may

we come not to harm.

10435sAn

. This verse describes those Asuric forces which are

opposed to our divine growth & manifestation. The

10440sA are

those who are identified with self-division & self-limitation, the

sons of Diti who stand in the way of Aditi or infinite being &

oppose the

10445s referred to in the last verse.

jEh is, in the usage of later Sanscrit, the imperative of

but in origin it is evidently the imperative of

j to slay, strike.

10450ap

jEh means to strike away, to drive off by blows from the path.

Et. Greek

nt, against.

10455aEZ. From

to eat, devour — the devourers. The

10460sA

oppose self-expression by entering the system & limiting it; those

who oppose from far-off try to prevent the action of the

10465the

aEZ go farther and seek to devour & destroy the

s once

gained. All these are enemies of the yajna.

10470y.Ay

. This is an important passage for the sense of

these two words.

10475y. here is evidently the internal Yoga or tapas

which is seeking with the help of the Gods who [are] fostered by

its activities to express itself.

like many words used to mean

10480“speech”, like

10485 &

means properly expression. Hence

the easy confusion by which afterwards all these words were

taken in the sense of “praise, prayer, speech”. If we take

10490g

“speaking”, we shall have to separate it from

y.Ay with which

10495it evidently goes and translate “a good path for the sacrifice

for him who speaks”. Like all the ceremonialist interpretations

it is highly awkward in expression & almost criminally feeble

& disjointed. The idea is evidently of Yogic tapas in action

expanding & moving to its goal over a path beset by hostile

10500Mandala One

forces. Agni is to drive them from the path & make the

smooth & easy.

1050510. When thou hast yoked the rosy and scarlet-red to the car

driven by the Wind, thy cry is like a bull’s; thou ravagest the

forest-places of delight with thy flag of smoke, O Agni, secure

in thy friendship may we not come to harm.

azqA. The rose-red horses of Agni are physically the red

10510flames, psychically the movements of love. In the Yogic signs

rose is the colour indicative of love, scarlet, the colour of physical

passion, kama. When Tapas pours itself out in prema and kama,

yokes there its steeds of speed & strength to the car of delight,

then the cry of its force & joy is like a bull’s bellowing in the

10515ananda of its strength.

vEnn forest-places, understanding

fAn

in the image; de-

10520lightful things or persons in the fact imaged. The idea is that of

Ananda enjoying the delight of love & beauty of all beautiful

things & people with the full ecstatic force of the strong universal

love & delight,

aAEdvEs, there is the idea in

10525Ed of breaking up

to enjoy, ravaging with the soul’s kisses of love so as to enjoy

every detail of the enjoyable.

10530mk

nA. Ketu is perception or a means of perception, a

badge, signal or flag.

10535$

m from

$ to trouble, shake, agitate, be

agitated, vehement, move excitedly or with gusts, meant not

10540only smoke, incense, but also wind and passion (Gr.

jumc).

From the sense of wind it came to mean prana as the seat of

passion & desire. The Greek

jumc meant originally prana or

10545the emotional mind, then the movements of the prana & chitta,

passion, anger, feeling. For the same reason smoke is the sign in

Yoga of the prana in the human system. The horses of love &

kama are driven by Vata or Vayu, the force of prana,

vAtj

10550$

tA;

the signal of Agni’s enjoyment is the smoke or strong movement

of prana in physical delight.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

10555[17]

[RV I.140]

Dirghatamas’ Hymn to Agni I.140.

1. Offer like a secure seat that womb to Agni the utterly

bright who sits upon the altar and his abode is bliss; clothe with

10560thought as with a robe the slayer of the darkness who is pure

and charioted in light and pure-bright of hue.

5 = a white

brightness.)

105652. The twice-born Agni moves (intense) about his triple

food; it is eaten and with the year it has grown again; with the

tongue & mouth of the one (or with his tongue in the presence

of the one) he is the strong master & enjoyer, with the other he

engirdles & crushes in his embrace his delightful things.

10570(m

is used of the sexual contact;

vArZ from

10575 to cover, surround.)

3. He gives energy of movement to both his mothers on

their dark path, in their common dwelling, and both make their

way through to their child (or following their child), for his

tongue is lifted upward, he destroys and rushes swiftly through

10580and should be cloven to, increasing his father.

(Explanation. Heaven & earth, Mind & body dwelling

together in one frame or in one material world move in the

darkness of ignorance, they pass through it by following the

divine Force which is born to their activities.

10585k

is of doubtful

significance. The father is the Purusha or else Heaven in the

sense of the higher spiritual being.)

105904. For the thinker becoming man his swift-hastening im-

pulsions dark & bright desire freedom; unequal, active, rapid-

quivering, they are yoked to their works, swift steeds and driven

forward by the Breath of things.

5. They for him destroy & speed lightly on (or speed & per-

10595vade) creating his dark being of thickness and his mighty form

of light; when reaching forward he touches the Vast of Being,

he pants towards it and, thundering, cries aloud.

( mhFmvEn

might mean the vast earth, but

10600avEn & even

ETvF are not used

in the Veda invariably, the former not usually, to mean earth,

Mandala One

10605but stray or return to their original sense —

avny.)

6. He who when he would become in the tawny ones, bends

down and goes to them bellowing as the male to its mates, —

10610putting out his force he gives joy to their bodies (or he makes

blissful the forms of things) and like a fierce beast hard to seize

he tosses his horns.

(bB

10615q

, the cows,

azZy of a later verse

— knowledge in the mortal mind.)

7. He whether contracted in being or wide-extended seizes

10620on them utterly; he knowing, they knowing the eternal Agni lies

with them, then again they increase and go to the state divine;

uniting, another form they make for the Father & Mother.

8. Bright with their flowing tresses they take utter delight of

him, they who were about to perish, stand upon high once more

10625for his coming.

(mm

qF is uncertain. It may be dead or dying.

EBr

10630 = delight is here perfectly proved.)

For he loosens from

them their decay and goes to them shouting high, he creates

supreme force and unconquerable life.

9. Tearing about her the robe that conceals the Mother

10635he moves on utterly to the Delight with the creatures of pure

Being who manifest the Force; he establishes wideness, he breaks

through to the goal for this traveller, even though swiftly rushing,

he cleaves always to the paths.

(

10640Erhn

Erht

are uncertain.)

1064510. Burn bright for us, O Agni, in our fullnesses, be hence-

forth the strong master and inhabit in us with the sisters; cast-

ing away from thee those of them that are infant minds thou

shouldst burn bright encompassing us all about like a cuirass

in our battles.

10650(

vEs is the Greek

ksic and an old variant

10655 — wife or sister. Therefore it is coupled with

qA — like

p&F.)

11. This, O Agni, is that which is well-established upon the

10660ill-placed; even out of this blissful mentality may there be born

to thee that greater bliss. By that which shines bright & pure

from thy body, thou winnest for us the delight.

12. Thou givest us, O Agni, for chariot & for home a ship

travelling with eternal progress of motion that shall carry our

10665strong spirits and our spirits of fullness across the births and

across the peace.

Commentaries and Annotated Translations

13. Mayst thou, O Agni, about our Word for thy pivot

bring to light for us Heaven & Earth and the rivers that are self-

10670revealed; may the Red Ones reach to knowledge and strength &

long days of light, may they choose the force and the supreme

good.