Chapter 4Mandala Seven
Book 3. Part Three: Commentaries and Annotated Translations
[16]
[RV VII.41–50]
Seventh Mandala.
Hymn 41. 2.
. P.P. [Padapatha]
Sayana separates. Cf other pas-sages.
..
..
—
. But there are three. “One who holds .. one who makes the passage .. one who is king” or “the grave .. the swift .. even the King”.
..
.
. Rather “enjoy”. 3.
“raise up” (to the higher Truth), “give us our desire”
— with 4.
— 5. — 6. ..
—
bend downward to the place of sacrifice 7.
.
. But cf
.
. The gods.
Hymn 42. 1.
.
.
May the brilliant (or mighty) lords of the soul move forward, forward may he come who cries aloud in the region of ether, may the Fosterers of being move forward pouring out its waters, may the two Stones (mind & body) be yoked to their work, that are the mould of the material of sacrifice.
. The Brahmanaspatis as priests of the inner sacrifice.
either Indra or Parjanya.
distinguished form — from
to separate, distinguish .. or
to crush, mould, shape.
2.
. This establishes the sense of
in
- etc.
Easy of going & securely known to thee is the path, O Agni; yoke in the Soma-offering thy bright steeds & thy fierce-red or those who in their seat are ruddy-active & bearers of energy. I sit & I invoke the births of the gods.
(?)
indicative passage for the double sense of
.
3.
S. takes “they worship”
S. “is better than all others”!
S.
. Rather =
activity Greatening for you the sacrifice with obeisances of adoration the Offerer in your presence overaboundeth in his rapture. Sacrifice perfectly to the gods, O multitudinous in force; set in movement the energy of the sacrificial activities.
— life, force (cf
army) .. appearance; object; face.
4. —
.
When in the house of the strong & the joyous the Guest resting at his ease awakens to knowledge, Agni well-pleased, rightly established in his home, gives so to the creature for his journey to the supreme bliss (or gives so the bliss that he may travel to it).
5.
Sit on the seat at dawn & in the night!
Cleave in love, O Agni, to this our sacrifice; in Indra, in the Maruts make us victorious; let the Night & the Dawn sit on the seat of fullness; sacrifice here to Mitra & Varuna & let them have joy of their desire.
Sing. plur.
6. Thus has Vasistha desiring bliss in all its forms (or masteries, energies) affirmed in praise Agni of the Strength; may he extend in us impulsive force & felicity & plenty & do ye protect us always with glad states of our being.
Hymn 43 1. . See Padapatha wh. [whether]
or
. Sayana’s “hymns of the wise ones” is impossible.
For you the seekers of the godhead in the sacrifices have realised in the word Earth & Heaven (the bodily & mental states) by submission & adoration that they may impel us (upward), — even they whose soul-thoughts yet unequal, O ye illumined ones, spread out on all sides like the branches of a forest tree (as branchings of the growth of lower delight).
2.
.
. See Padapatha.
. S.
— rather
. S. takes with
. Probably with
.
Let the sacrifice move forward (or let him, Agni, move forward in the sacrifice) like a horse swift-galloping (as the nervous force impelled forward towards the attainment); with one mind strain upwards the thoughts enriched with brightness (the sacrificial image is of ladles dripping with clarified butter); spread the seat of fullness effective for the sacrifice; high rise the flames of light seeking the godhead (or the flames of light effective for the sacrifice of the lower being).
3. Like sons sustaining wholly their mother let the gods sit on the high level of the seat of fullness; may the universal power of thee set in action the force of knowledge; create not for us enemies to smite us in the extension of the God.
4. The Lords of sacrifice have attained the enjoyment of Love, for they pressed out, skilful milkers, the streams of the Truth. Today attain to the eldest vastness of the riches of being and with one mind stand in the divine endeavour.
P.P. Either with
or P.P.
5. Thus do thou for us, O Agni, be bountiful in the peoples; by thee, O master of force, we [
] by thy felicity & thy fellowship have the joy of fulfilment (or a common joy) & are free from all hurt. Do ye protect us always with glad states of our being.
?
S.
Hymn 44 1. Dadhikra first of you (or for you) I call, the Aswins, Dawn & Agni kindled high & Bhaga for my increase; Indra & Vishnu & Pushan, Brahmanaspati & the sons of Aditi, Earth & Heaven & the waters & Swar.
waters or the Antariksha?
2. Let us awaken by adoration Dadhikra & impel him upward; let us approach the sacrifice & seating Ila the goddess on the seat of fullness, let us invoke the Aswins illumined & swift to the call.
3. I awaken Agni Dadhikravan & express by speech Dawn & the Sun & the Light and the red wideness of Varuna when he hews the foe; let these remove from us every kind of evil.
. Probably “broad, wide” =
.
contrasted in IX[.97.54] with cleaving & clinging.
4. Dadhikra, first & full of strength & action, appeareth in front of the chariots (the movements of Delight) consciously perceiving, one in knowledge with Surya & the sons of Aditi & the Vasus & the Angiras (with the divine illumination & the gods of the infinite Being & the lords of Substance & the lords of Puissance).
here evidently a class of gods.
5. May Dadhikra in us work out a way of going that he may follow the path of the Truth. May the Divine Might (or host) hear us, even Agni, — may all They hear, the vast Gods illimitable.
Hymn 45. mid-world, borne by his steeds (the nervous forces), holding in his hand many human fulfilments, bringing forth & establishing here the fullness of being (or, that which becometh).
the Sun, see l. 2, or not the Sun in his light-giving aspect, but the creator, the bringer out, from the divine being, of its human manifestations,
.
or mightinesses.
hardly here the earth. Lit. “becoming”, so “abundant [or] full becoming”.
2. Loose & wide his arms of the bright-golden Light reached up to the ends of Heaven (the mind); now may that might of him labour & the Sun also give to him according to that labour his own activity (ie the divine Truth manifest in the creative illumined consciousness of man here).
of substance, his many possessions; when he goeth abroad in a wide energy, then he abounds for us in the enjoyment of this mortality.
expressing rather rich enjoyment or having than the limited sense of giving.
who has the tongue of perfect enjoyment, the arms of light that are full, the effective hands of action. May he establish for us a vast manifestation of being rich in content. And do ye always protect us with states of happy being.
recalling
of the first verse.
Hymn 46. 1. Bring ye these Words (as offerings) to Rudra; firm is his bow (of acquired possession) & swift are his arrows (of impulsion), the god who possesses the self-state of his nature (ie who firmly holding the acquired state of being shoots from it like a bow the fresh impulsions that lead to farther progress); unconquerable & conquering, sharp are his weapons. May he hearken to us.
—
double meaning.
2. For he awakens to knowledge by secure dwelling in the earthly birth and utter empire of the heavenly; fixed in his presence let him move to our doors that keep us; O Rudra, be free from unfriendly powers in the forms that we create.
or protecting to our doors that protect.
? D. [Dutt] translates “do not give us disease”.
3. That brilliant force of thine which is loosed downwards from thy heavens and ranges on the earth, may it encompass us around; easily dawning upon us thou hast a thousand powers of healing; do not harm to the things of our creation & the things of our extending.
—
D.
simply reproduced in the translation.
4. Slay us not, O Rudra, nor deliver us over; let us not be in the path of thy onset when thou art wroth. Enjoy in us in that seat of fullness which is the expression of the living creature. And do ye protect us always by states of happy being.
Hymn 47 1. O ye Waters of being, that supreme flood of yours, a flood of revealed knowledge, which the seekers of godhead made as a drink for Indra, may we enjoy today pure and free from all rejection & raining the mind’s brightness and full of the sweetness.
D. has 2. That flowing abundance of yours, utter sweet, O ye Waters, may he of the swift-movement keep in manifestation who is the child of the waters, — that in which Indra with the Masters of substance groweth drunk with rapture, may we taste in you today growing to the godhead. 3. Full of a hundredfold purification, rejoicing in the self-state of the nature the divine waters move to the ranging-field of the gods & they measure not nor limit the activities of Indra. Do ye to the Rivers offering — an offering full of the mind’s richness.
or move into the path.
4. They whom the Lord of Illumination by his rays extended and for whom Indra clove out their abundant movement, — may those Rivers establish for us that which has the supreme good. And do ye protect us always with states of happy being.
Hymn 48 1. Ye of the plenty who hold the shaping knowledge, take joy in us of the Soma distilled, O Purushas great in your fullnesses; may your downward powers come as force of action to us & set in motion the human car. 2. Informed by your powers of knowledge, wide-pervading by your powers of pervasion may we overcome by your force all opposing forces; may he of the plenty keep us in the possession of the plenty, with Indra for our yokefellow may we pass through the coverer. 3. They also master the many states that have been expressed, yea, in the upward struggle they conquer all & pass beyond. Indra & the Pervader & the Possessor of the shaping knowledge & he of the plenty, fighting our battle, scatter the strength of the foe in confusion.
see P.P.
4. Now, O ye gods, create for us that which has the supreme good, be all together in us for our continued being & may the masters of substance utterly give force to us. And do ye protect us always by states of happy being.
Hymn 49. 1. Eldest of the ocean they go amidst this water purifying all, not resting in any, they whom Indra with the lightning, the Male, [clove out] — may those divine waters keep me here in my being. 2. The waters divine, — whether they that flow in the chan-nels we dig for them or they that are self-born, they who are substance of the Ocean pure & purifying — may those divine waters keep me here in [my] being. 3. They in whose midst moveth Varuna the King looking down on the truth & falsehood in creatures, they who stream sweetness & are pure & are purifying, may those divine waters keep me here in my being. 4. They in whom Varuna the King, in whom Soma, in whom all the gods have ecstasy of the fullness of force, in whom Agni, the universal Power, has entered in, may those divine waters keep me here in my being.
Hymn 50. 1. Mitra & Varuna, protect me here; may neither that reach me which houses itself in the body nor that which universalises itself; vanished has the evil that resides in the activities & that of imperfect vision; let not the Serpent find me with the attack.
. Apte a disease of the eye .. a venomous vermin.
2. That which becomes a pleasant evil in the various parts of the solid being and enters the knees & the ankles, may Agni burning purely repel it hence; let not the serpent find me with the attack. 3. The poison that is born in the shalmali tree & in the rivers & from the herbs, may all the gods press it out of me. Let not the serpent etc. 4. [Not translated.]