Canto 19Vasushruta · Suktas 3–6
Book 2. Part Two: Other Hymns to Agni
oppose, grows and comes driving from the foe the riches of
knowledge. So have the immortals spoken to this Fire that
he may work out peace for man when he prepares the sacred
seat, work out peace for man when he brings the offering.
5VASUSHRUTA
SUKTA 3
1. Thou art Varuna, O Fire, when thou art born, thou becomest
Mitra when thou blazest high; in thee are all the gods, O
son of force, thou art Indra for the mortal giver.
102. O holder of the self-law, thou becomest Aryaman when thou
bearest the secret name of the Virgins; they reveal thee with
the Rays as Mitra firmly founded when thou makest of one
mind the Lord of the house and the Spouse.
3. For the glory of thee, O Rudra, the life-powers make bright
15thy birth into a richly manifold beauty. When that highest
step3 of Vishnu is founded within, thou guardest by it the
secret name of the Ray-Cows.
3 The supreme plane of the three.
Mandala Five
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4. By the glory of thee who hast the true seeing, O godhead, the
gods hold a multiple completeness and taste4 immortality;
men take up their session with Fire, the priest of the call,
aspiring, making a gift of the self-expression of the human
50being.
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5. There is none who precedes thee as priest of the call, O
Fire, none mightier for sacrifice, there is none supreme over
thee in the seer-wisdoms, O master of the self-law, and of
80whatsoever man thou becomest the guest, he conquers by
sacrifice, O godhead, those who are mortals.
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6. May we who seek the Riches win them by the offering, we
guarded by thee and awakened, O Fire, — we in the clash
of the battle, in our discoveries of knowledge through days,
we by the Treasure overcome mortal men, O son of force.
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7. He who brings sin and transgression upon us, on him who
gives expression to evil, on himself may there be put that
125evil; O thou who art conscious, slay this hostile assault, O
Fire, even him who oppresses us with the duality.5
4 Or, touch
5 The division, or the twofoldness of the nature divided between good and evil.
Other Hymns to Agni
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8. Thee in the dawning of this night, O godhead, the ancients
made their messenger and gave sacrifice with their oblations;
160for thou art the godhead kindled by mortals who have the
light6 and thou travellest to the House of the Treasures.
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1859. Rescue thy father, in thy knowledge keep him safe, thy fa-
ther who becomes thy son and bears thee, O son of force. O
conscious knower, when wilt thou look upon us? When with
thy Truth-Consciousness wilt thou set us to our journey?
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10. The father adores and establishes the mighty name because
thou, O shining one, bringest him to accept and take plea-
sure in it; once and again, the Fire increases and desiring the
bliss of the godhead he conquers it by force.
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23511. O youthful god, thou, indeed, carriest safe thy adorer be-
yond all stumblings, O Fire; for the hostile beings are seen,
the thieves, even they who know not the light of intuitive
knowledge and turn to crookedness.
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12. These journeys have turned towards thee, that evil in us has
6 Or, the riches
Mandala Five
been declared to the Shining One, O this Fire as he grows
260will not deliver us to the assailant and the hurter.
SUKTA 4
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1. O Fire, O king, towards thee the Wealth-master of the riches
I turn and delight in thee in the pilgrim-sacrifice; replenish-
285ing thee may we conquer the plenitude, may we overcome
the battle-hosts of mortals.
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2. The ageless Fire that carries the offering is the father of us,
he in us is pervasive in his being, extended in light, perfect
in vision. Accomplished in the works of the master of the
house blaze out thy forces, form and turn towards us thy
310inspirations.
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3353. The seer, the master of men, lord of the human peoples, Fire,
pure and purifying with its back of light set within you as
the omniscient priest of the call; he shall win our desirable
things in the godheads.
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4. Of one mind with the goddess of revelation take pleasure in
us, O Fire, labouring with the rays of the sun; accept with
pleasure our fuel, O knower of all things born, and bring
365the gods to us to partake of our sacrifice.
Other Hymns to Agni
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5. A cherished guest domiciled in our gated house come to this
sacrifice of ours as the knower; O Fire, slaying all who assail
us bring to us the enjoyments of those who make themselves
the enemy.
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6. Drive away from us the Destroyer with thy stroke making
free space for thy own body; when thou carriest the gods
over safe, O son of force, us, O Fire, strongest godhead,
guard in the plenitude.
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7. O Fire, may we worship thee with our words, thee with
445our offerings, O purifier, O happy light; into us bring the
treasure in which are all desirable things, in us establish
substance of every kind of riches.
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8. Accept our pilgrim-sacrifice, O Fire, accept, O son of force,
O holder of the triple world of thy session, our offering. May
we be doers of good deeds before the godheads, protect us
with a triple armour of peace.
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9. O knower of all things born, carry us through all difficult
passages, through all calamities as a ship over the ocean.
O Fire, voiced by us with our obeisance even as did Atri,
500awake and be the guardian of our bodies.
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10. I think of thee with a heart that is thy bard and mortal I call
520to thee immortal; O knower of all things born, establish the
glory in us, by the children of my works, O Fire, may I win
immortality.
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11. The doer of great deeds for whom thou shalt make that
happy other world, O knower of all things born, reaches
in peace a wealth in which are the Horses of swiftness, the
Ray-Cows, the Son, the Heroes.
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1. On the high-kindled flame pour as offering a poignant clar-
ity, to Fire, the knower of all things born.
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2. The spokesman of the godhead, the inviolable hastens the
575sacrifice on its way, for this is the seer who comes with the
wine of sweetness in his hands.
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3. O Fire, we have sought thee with our adoration, bring hither
590Indra the rich in light, the beloved with his happy chariots
to protect us.
Other Hymns to Agni
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4. Spread wide, O seat, soft as wool, the songs of illumination
sound high; O bright one, be with us for the conquest.
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6205. Swing wide, O divine doors; be easy of approach that you
may be our guard: lead further further and fill full our
sacrifice.
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6. Dawn and night we seek with desire the two mighty Mothers
of the Truth with their fair front to us who increase our
being’s space.
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7. O worshipped twain, O divine priests of man’s call, arrive
on the path of the wind to this our sacrifice.
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8. May Ila, Saraswati and Mahi,7 the three goddesses who
create the bliss sit on the sacred seat, they who never err.
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6709. O maker of forms, hither benignant arrive all-pervading in
7 Ila, goddess of revelation; Saraswati, goddess of inspiration; Mahi, goddess of the
Vast Truth, Mahas or r.ta ˙m br.hat.
Mandala Five
thy fostering to us and in thyself; in sacrifice on sacrifice us
675upward guard.
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10. O Tree,8 there where thou knowest the secret names of the
690gods make rich our offerings.
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11. Swaha to the Fire and to Varuna, Swaha to Indra and the
Life-powers, Swaha to the gods be our offering.
705SUKTA 6
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1. I meditate on the Fire who is the dweller in things,9 to whom
the milch-cows go as to their home, to their home the swift
war-horses, to their home the eternal steeds of swiftness.10
Bring to those who laud thee the force of thy impulse.
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7552. This is the Fire who is the dweller in things voiced by me, in
whom meet the milch-cows, and in him the swift galloping
war-horses and in him the illuminates who have come to the
perfect birth. Bring to those who laud thee the force of thy
impulse.
7608 Or, O master of delight,
9 Or, who is the Shining One,
10 Or, steeds of the plenitude.
Other Hymns to Agni
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3. The all-seeing Fire gives the steed of the plenitude to man,
785Fire the horse that comes swiftly to him for the riches; when
he is pleased he journeys to the desirable good. Bring to
those who laud thee the force of thy impulse.
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4. O Fire, we kindle thy luminous and ageless flame; when the
fuel of thee becomes more effective in its labour, it blazes
up in heaven. Bring to those who laud thee the force of thy
impulse.
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5. O Fire, O Master of the brilliant Light, the offering is cast to
835thee with the word of illumination, O bearer of the offering,
O master of the creature, achiever of works, O delightful
flame. Bring to those who laud thee the force of thy impulse.
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6. In thy fires those greater fires of thee nurse every desirable
good; they, they race, they run, they drive on in their impulse
860without a break. Bring to those who laud thee the force of
thy impulse.
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7. O Fire, those rays of thine, thy steeds of plenitude greaten
the Vast; they gallop with tramplings of their hooves to the