Chapter 26The Twenty-Fifth Hymn to Agni

A HYMN TO THE LORD OF LIGHT AND CREATOR OF GODHEAD [The Rishi hymns Agni as the Seer-Will whose whole being is the light and the truth and the lavishing of the substance of divinity. He is the son born to the thought of the seers and he gives himself as the godhead born in man who is the son of our works opulent with the divine Truth and the divine Power and as the conquering steed of the journey and the battle. The whole movement of the Seer-Will is upward to the light and vastness of the superconscient; his voice is as if the thunder-chant of those heavens. He shall carry us by his perfect working beyond the siege of darkness and limitation.] aQCA vo aEnmvs

d v

gAEs s no vs

rAst

p

!q

ZAm

tAvA pq 'Et Eq

1. Raise thy song towards the Will, towards the divine for thy increasing, for he is our lord of substance and he lavishes; he is the son of the seekers of knowledge; he is the keeper of the Truth who ferries us beyond the surge of our destroyers. s Eh syo y

p

v

' Ecd

d vAsEc%mFEDr

hotAr

m d

Ejh

vEmt

s

dFEtEBEv 'BAvs

m

2. This is the true in his being whom the seers of old kindled, yea, the gods too kindled him with perfect outshinings into his wide substance of the light, the priest of the oblation with his tongue of ecstasy.

Hymns to Agni s no DFtF vErWyA ) WyA c s

myA

an

rAyo EddFEh n s

v

E/tEBv 'r

y

3. O Flame supremely desirable, so by our supreme thinking, by our brightest perfected mentality, by its utter cleaving away of all evil let thy light give unto us the bliss. aEnd

' v q

rAjyEnm 't

' vAEvfn

aEnno ' h4yvAhnoEn

DFEB spy 't

4. The Will is that which shines out in the gods, the Will is that which enters with its light into mortals, the Will is the carrier of our oblation; the Will seek and serve in all your thoughts. aEnt

Ev)vtm

t

Evb LAZm

mm

at

t : )AvypEt

p

ddAEt dAf

q

5. The Will gives to the giver of sacrifice the Son1 born of his works who teems with the many inspirations and the many voices of the soul, the highest, the unassailable, the Master of things who opens our ears to the knowledge. aEnd 'dAEt spEt

sAsAh yo y

DA n

EB

aEnry

rG

yd

j tArmprAEjtm

6. Yea, ’tis the Will gives to us the Lord of existences who conquers in the battle by his souls of power; Will gives to us our swift-galloping steed of battle ever conquering, never conquered. yd

vAEhW

tdny

b

hdc ' EvBAvso

mEhqFv vd

rEyvd

vAjA udFrt

1 The Son of the sacrifice is a constant image in the Veda. Here it is the godhead himself, Agni who gives himself as a son to man, a Son who delivers his father. Agni is also the War-Horse and the steed of the journey, the White Horse, the mystic galloping Dadhikravan who carries us through the battle to the goal of our voyaging.

Hymns of the Atris 7. That which is strongest in us to upbear, we give it to the Will. Sing out the Vast, O thou whose wide substance is its light. Thy opulence is as if the largeness of the Goddess2 herself; upward is the rush of thy plenitudes. tv %

m to ac 'yo g Av voQyt

b

ht

uto t

t yt

y 'TA vAno at ' mnA Edv

8. Luminous are thy flaming radiances; there rises from thee a vast utterance like the voice of the pressing-stone of delight; yea, thy cry of itself rises up like a thunder-chant from the heavens. evA & aEn

vs

yv shsAn

vvE dm

s no EvvA aEt Eq pq 'Av v s

+t

9. Thus, desiring substance, we adore the Will who is forceful to conquer. May he who has the perfect power of his work- ings, carry us beyond all the forces that seek to destroy us, like a ship over the waters. 2 Aditi, the vast Mother.