Study of Rig-veda II.24, Hymn to Brahmanaspati.

(For Sri Aurobindo’s detailed comments on verses 4 – 7 of this hymn see the Appendix
below.)
ṛṣi: gṛtsamada (āṅgirasa śaunahotra paścād) bhārgava śaunaka; devatā:
brahmaṇaspati, 1,10 bṛhaspati, 12 indrābrahmaṇaspatī; chanda: jagatī, 12,16
triṣṭup.

Metrically Restored Text.

sémā́m aviḍḍhi prábhr̥ tiṃ yá ī́śiṣe ayā́ vidhema návayā mahā́ girā́
yáthā no mīḍhvā́n stávate sákhā táva bŕ̥haspate sī́ṣadhaḥ sótá no matím |1|
yó nántuvāni ánaman ní ójasā utā́dardar manyúnā śámbarāṇi ví
prā́cyāvayad ácyutā bráhmaṇas pátir ā́ cā́viśad vásumantaṃ ví párvatam |2|
tád devā́nāṃ devátamāya kártuvam áśrathnan dr̥̄ḷhā́ ávradanta vīḷitā́
úd gā́ ājad ábhinad bráhmaṇā valám ágūhat támo ví acakṣayat súvaḥ |3|
áśmāsiyam avatám bráhmaṇas pátir mádhudhāram abhí yám ójasā́tr̥ṇat
tám evá víśve papire suvardŕ̥ śo bahú sākáṃ sisicur útsam udríṇam |4|
sánā tā́ kā́ cid bhúvanā bhávītuvā mādbhíḥ śarádbhir dúro varanta vaḥ
áyatantā carato anyád-anyad íd yā́ cakā́ra vayúnā bráhmaṇas pátiḥ |5|
abhinákṣanto abhí yé tám ānaśúr nidhím paṇīnā́m paramáṃ gúhā hitám
té vidvā́ṃsaḥ praticákṣyā́nr̥ tā púnar yáta u ā́yan tád úd īyur āvíśam |6|
r̥ tā́vānaḥ praticákṣyā́nr̥ tā púnar ā́ta ā́ tasthuḥ kaváyo mahás patháḥ
té bāhúbhyāṃ dhamitám agním áśmani nákiḥ ṣó asti áraṇo jahúr hí tám |7|
r̥ tájyena kṣipréṇa bráhmaṇas pátir yátra váṣṭi prá tád aśnoti dhánvanā
tásya sādhvī́r íṣavo yā́bhir ásyati nr̥ cákṣaso dr̥ śáye kárṇayonayaḥ |8|
sá saṃnayáḥ sá vinayáḥ puróhitaḥ sá súṣṭutaḥ sá yudhí bráhmaṇas pátiḥ
cākṣmó yád vā́ jam bhárate matī́ dhánā ā́d ít sū́ryas tapati tapyatúr vŕ̥ thā |9|
vibhú prabhú prathamám mehánāvato bŕ̥haspáteḥ suvidátrāṇi rā́dhiyā
imā́ sātā́ni veniyásya vājíno yéna jánā ubháye bhuñjaté víśaḥ |10|
yó ávare vr̥ jáne viśváthā vibhúr mahā́m u raṇváḥ śávasā vavákṣitha
sá devó devā́n práti paprathe pr̥ thú víśvéd u tā́ paribhū́r bráhmaṇas pátiḥ |11|
víśvaṃ satyám maghavānā yuvór íd ā́paś caná prá minanti vratáṃ vām
áchendrābrahmaṇaspatī havír no ánnaṃ yújeva vājínā jigātam |12|
utā́śiṣṭhā ánu śr̥ṇvanti váhnayaḥ sabhéyo vípro bharate matī́ dhánā
vīḷudvéṣā ánu váśa rṇám ādadíḥ sá ha vājī́ samithé bráhmaṇas pátiḥ |13|
bráhmaṇas páter abhavad yathāvaśáṃ
satyó manyúr máhi kármā kariṣyatáḥ
yó gā́ udā́jat sá divé ví cābhajan mahī́va rītíḥ śávasāsarat pŕ̥ thak |14|
bráhmaṇas pate suyámasya viśváhā rāyáḥ siyāma rathíyo váyasvataḥ
vīréṣu vīrā́m̐ úpa pr̥ndhi nas tuváṃ yád ī́śāno bráhmaṇā véṣi me hávam |15|
bráhmaṇas pate tuvám asyá yantā́ sūktásya bodhi tánayaṃ ca jinva
víśvaṃ tád bhadráṃ yád ávanti devā́ br̥hád vadema vidáthe suvī́rāḥ |16|

Text, Translations and Vocabulary.

sémā́m aviḍḍhi prábhr̥ tiṃ yá ī́śiṣe, ayā́ vidhema návayā mahā́ girā́
yáthā no mīḍhvā́n stávate sákhā táva, bŕ̥haspate sī́ṣadhaḥ sótá no matím |1|

Interpretation:
You who are (the) Lord (yá ī́śiṣe), unfold this, what is being brought forward (sémā́m
aviḍḍhi prábhr̥ tiṃ). With this new mighty word (of expression) (ayā́ návayā mahā́ girā́)
we want to consecrate ourselves (vidhema). As your bounteous friend affirms (you) for
us (yáthā no mīḍhvā́n stávate sákhā táva), O Brihaspati, accomplish then this thought
for us (bŕ̥haspate sī́ṣadhaḥ sótá no matím). (1)

Comment:
That, what is being brought forward, prabhṛti, may relate to the emergence of the light
and force of the soul when, with the help of Brihaspati, it is piercing the veil of the
subconscient. The bounteous friend of Brihaspati could therefore as well be our own
soul when it expresses its creative word. But there is also another possibility, as was
confirmed in the last session (30.3.2010) at IPI Puducherry; and that is that mīḍhvas
could relate as well to Indra, who in most hymns to Brihaspati-Brahmanaspati is at some
point invoked. I fact in this hymn itself it is said in verse 12 to both great godheads
together “yours (or, in you both) indeed is the universal (or, whole) Truth”. And if, like
the old German translator we take stavate in a passive sense, we would then get the
sense “that your friend, the bountiful, is affirmed by us, O Brihaspati, therefore
accomplish this thought for us”. Already in our past sessions we have seen how the
powers of the word (versus heart and soul) and of the mind support each other.

Vocabulary:
av, cl. I .P. avati, Imper. aviṣṭu, 2. sg. aviḍḍhi; to drive, impel, animate (as a car or horse) RV.;
Ved. to promote, favour, (chiefly Ved.) to satisfy, refresh;
prabhṛti, f. bringing forward, offering (of sacrifice or praise) RV. AV.;
īś, 1 cl. 2. A. īṣṭe, or Ved. īśe (2. sg. īśiṣe and īkṣe RV.) to own, possess RV. MBh. Bhatt.; to
belong to RV.; to dispose of, be valid or powerful to; be master of (with gen., or Ved. with gen.
of an inf., or with a common inf., or the loc. of an abstract noun) RV. AV. TS. SBr. MBh. Ragh.
&c.; to rule, reign RV. AV. SBr. &c.;
vidh, 1 cl. 6. P. -vidhati (in RV. also -te), to worship, honour a god (dat. loc., or acc.) with (instr.)
RV. AV. TBr. BhP.; to present reverentially, offer, dedicate RV. AV.;
nava, 1 mf(ā)n. (prob. fr. 1. nu) new, fresh, recent, young, modern (opp. to sana, purāṇa) RV.
&c.;
gir, 1 mfn. (1. gṝ) addressing, invoking, praising RV.; (gīr) f. invocation, addressing with praise,
praise, verse , song RV. (the Maruts are called “sons of praise”‘) AV.;
yathā, ind. (in Veda also unaccented ; fr. 3. ya, correlative of tathā) in which manner or way,
according as, as, like, (Ved. also eva) RV. &c.;
that, so that, in order that (with Pot. or Subj., later also with fut. pres., imperf. and aor.; in
earlier language yathā is often placed after the first word of a sentence; sometimes with ellipsis
of syāt and bhavet) RV. &c.;
mīḍhvas, mf(uṣi)n. (declined like a pf. p.; nom, mīḍhvan voc. mīḍhvas dat. mīḍhuṣe- or mīḷhuṣe,
bestowing richly, bountiful, liberal R.V. &c.;
stu, 1 cl. 2. P. A. stauti or stavīti, stute or stuvīte (in RV. also stavate, to praise, laud, eulogize,
extol, celebrate in song or hymns (in ritual, “to chant”, with loc. of the text from which the
Saman comes) RV. &c.;
sadh, 1 (connected with 2. sidh) cl. 1. P. A. sādati, -te, to go straight to any goal or aim, attain
an object, to be successful, succeed, RV.; to being straight to an object or end, further, promote,
advance, accomplish, complete, finish ib.; aor. asīṣadhat;Ved. also sīṣadhati;
uta, 2 ind. and, also, even, or RV. AV. SBr. ChUp. &c.;
mati, f. devotion, prayer, worship, hymn, sacred utterance RV. VS.; thought, design, intention,
resolution, determination, inclination, wish, desire (with loc. dat. or inf.) RV. &c.;

Old Translators:
1. BE pleased with this our offering, thou who art the Lord; we will adore thee with this new and
mighty song.
As this thy friend, our liberal patron, praises thee, do thou, Brhaspati, fulfil our hearts’ desire.
1. Gib dieser Darbringung den Vorzug, der du Herr darüber bist. Mit dieser neuen großen
Lobrede wollen wir dir huldigen und laß unsere Absicht in Erfüllung gehen, daß unser Belohner,
dein Freund, gepriesen werden soll, o Brihaspati.

yó nántuvāni ánaman ní ójasā utā́dardar manyúnā śámbarāṇi ví
prā́cyāvayad ácyutā bráhmaṇas pátir ā́ cā́viśad vásumantaṃ ví párvatam |2|

Interpretation:
He who with his luminous force (yó ójasā) bent down all that should be bent (nántuvāni
ánaman ní) and made to burst apart with his mental power (utā́dardar manyúnā ví) the
formations of Shambara (śámbarāṇi), – Brahmanaspati made to fall the things that were
unshakeable (prā́cyāvayad ácyutā) and entered entirely (ā́ cā́viśad ví) the mountain full
of the shining treasure (vásumantaṃ párvatam). (2)

Comments:
The two terms “ojas” and “manyu” could perhaps be seen as the necessary conditions
for overcoming the powers of ignorance and falsehood. The former became in the later
Yoga-tradition the term for the transmuted physical-vital energy. And the latter word,
although in the previous hymn it was used in the negative as a kind of wrong mental
power or action, which needs to be diminished or arrested, relates here to the right and
necessary measure of mental growth and capacity.
(Sri Aurobindo translated here manyu “by force of heart” and śambarāṇi as “the illusions
that destroy”.)

Vocabulary:
nantva, mfn. to be bent RV. ii,24,2.
nam, cl. 1. P. namati, -te, to bend or bow (either trans. or oftener intr.) to bow to, subject or
submit one’s self (with gen. dat. or acc.) RV. &c.;
ojas, n. (vaj, or uj; cf. ugra), bodily strength, vigour, energy, ability, power RV. AV. TS. AitBr.
MBh. &c.;
dṝ, to burst, break asunder, split open RV. impf. 2. 3. sg. adardar, 3. pl. adardirur = Caus. RV.;
śambara, m. N. of a demon (in RV. often mentioned with Sushna, Arbuda, Pipru &c.; he is the
chief enemy of Divo-dasa Atithigva, for whose deliverance he was thrown down a mountain and
slain by Indra; in epic and later poetry he is also a foe of the god of love) RV. &c.; n. water
Naigh. i,12 (but Sah. censures the use of sambara in this sense)
(pl.) the fastnesses of Sambara RV.;
śamba, m. (derivation doubtful) a weapon used by Indra (accord. to some
“Indra’s thunderbolt”, but cf. zambin) RV. x,42,7 (= vajra Naigh. iv,2) the iron head of a pestle
L.; an iron chain worn round the loins W.;
śamb, cl. 1. P. śambati, to go (Vop.), cl. 10. P. śambayati, to collect ib.;
(This root might in a negative context perhaps mean “to attack” or “to block, prevent”;)
cyu, 2 cl. i. cyavate (ep. also –ti); to move to and fro, shake about RV.;
pra-cyu, Caus. -cyāvayati, to move, shake RV.;
acyuta, mfn. not fallen, firm, solid, imperishable, permanent;
viś, 1 cl. 6. P. visati, to enter, enter in or settle down on, go into (acc. loc., or antar with gen.),
pervade RV. &c.;
vi-ā-viś, P. viśati, to enter, penetrate, pervade (acc. or loc.) RV. S3Br.
vasumat, mfn. having or possessing or containing treasures, wealthy, rich, RV. SankhGr. MBh.
&c.; attended by the Vasus TS. Kath. AitBr. &c.;

Old Translators:
2 He who with might bowed down the things that should be bowed, and in his fury rent the holds
of Sambara:
Who overthrew what shook not, Brahmapaspati,-he made his way within the mountain stored
with wealth.
2. Der das Biegsame mit Kraft niederbog und er zersprengte im Grimm die Sambarafesten. Das
unbewegliche brachte Brahmanaspati ins Wanken, da er in den schätzereichen Berg ein und
hindurch drang.

tád devā́nāṃ devátamāya kártuvam, áśrathnan dr̥̄ḷhā́ ávradanta vīḷitā́
úd gā́ ājad ábhinad bráhmaṇā valám, ágūhat támo ví acakṣayat súvaḥ |3|

Interpretation:
That was the work (to be accomplished) (tád kártuvam) for the most divine of the divine
powers (devā́nāṃ devátamāya): the fixed things loosened (áśrathnan dr̥̄ḷhā́) and all that
was hard became soft (ávradanta vīḷitā́). With the Word of the Soul (bráhmaṇā) he
broke the concealing power (of the subconscient) (ábhinad valám) and drove upwards
the Herds of the Light (úd gā́ ājad). He hid the darkness and made visible (or, clearly
perceptible) the Sun-world (ágūhat támo ví acakṣayat súvaḥ). (3)

Comment:
In our exploration of IV.50 we have seen, that to the symbol of the “Herds of the Light”
(also seen as the lights of the Dawn or rays of the Sun) relate psychologically the
intuitions that arise from the heart (through the cry of Brihaspati). And by holding them
in their mind the ancient seers became illumined, which in turn allowed Brihaspati to
come in front of their consciousness and taste the bliss of existence.

Vocabulary:
kartva, mfn. to be done or accomplished RV. (am) n. obligation, duty, task ib.;
śrath, śranth (cf. ślath) cl. 9. P. śrathnāti, to be loosened or untied or unbent, become loose or
slack, yield, give way RV.; to make slack, disable, disarm RV. i,171, 3 (A.) to loosen one’s own
(bonds &c.) AV.;
dṛḷha, mfn. fixed, firm, hard, strong, solid, massive RV. AV. SBr. MBh. &c.;
vrad, (or vrand) A. -vradate (only impf. avradanta), to soften, become soft RV. ii,24,3 (cf. Nir.
v,16).
vīḷita, mfn. made strong, strengthened, firm, hard RV.;
ud-aj, P. A. -ajati, -te (impf. -ājat RV. ii,12,3 &c., and ud-ājat RV. ii,24,3) to drive out, expel RV.
BrArUp.;
bhid, 1 cl. 7, P. bhinatti, A. bhintte, (impf. 2. sg. abhinat RV.); to split, cleave, break, cut or rend
asunder, pierce, destroy RV. &c.;
vala, 1 m. “enclosure”, a cave, cavern RV. AV. Br.; N. of a demon (brother of Vritra, and
conquered by Indra; in later language called bala q.v.);
guh, 1 cl. 1. P. A. gūhati, -te; to cover, conceal, hide, keep secret RV. &c.;
vi-cakṣ, A. –caṣṭe (Ved. inf. –cakṣe), to appear, shine RV.; to see distinctly, view, look at,
perceive, regard RV. AV. BhP.; to make manifest, show RV.

Old Translators:
3 That was a great deed for the Godliest of the Gods: strong things were loosened and the firmly
fixed gave way.
He drave the kine forth and cleft Vala through by prayer, dispelled the darkness and displayed
the light of heaven.
3. Das war die Aufgabe für den Göttlichsten der Götter: Das feste lockerte sich, das Harte gab
nach. Er trieb die Kühe heraus, spaltete mit dem Zauberwort den Vala, er beseitigte das Dunkel,
ließ die Sonne scheinen.

sánā tā́ kā́ cid bhúvanā bhávītuvā mādbhíḥ śarádbhir dúro varanta vaḥ
áyatantā carato anyád-anyad íd, yā́ cakā́ra vayúnā bráhmaṇas pátiḥ |5|

Sri Aurobindo’s Translation:
(That the making visible of Swar to the eyes of the Swarseers, suvardŕ̥śaḥ, their drinking
of the honeyed well and their outpouring of the divine waters amounts to the revelation
to man of new worlds or new states of existence is clearly told us in the next verse,
II.24.5.)
“Certain eternal worlds (states of existence) are these which have to come into being
(sánā tā́ kā́ cid bhúvanā bhávītuvā), their doors are shut to you (or, opened) (dúro
varanta vaḥ) by the months and the years (mādbhíḥ śarádbhir); without effort one
(world) moves in the other (áyatantā carato anyád-anyad), and it is these two forms
that Brahmanaspati has made manifest to knowledge (yā́ cakā́ra vayúnā).” (5)
From Sri Aurobindo’s Commentary:
… vayúnā means knowledge, and the two forms are divinised earth and heaven which
Brahmanaspati created. These are the four eternal worlds hidden in the guhā, the
secret, unmanifest or superconscient parts of being which although in themselves
eternally present states of existence (sánā … bhúvanā) are for us non-existent and in
the future; for us they have to be brought into being, bhávītvā, they are yet to be
created. Therefore the Veda sometimes speaks of Swar being made visible, as here (ví
acakṣayat súvaḥ), or discovered and taken possession of, vidat, sanat, sometimes of its
being created or made (bhū, kṛ). These secret eternal worlds have been closed to us,
says the Rishi, by the movement of Time, by the months and years; therefore naturally
they have to be discovered, revealed, conquered, created in us by the movement of
Time, yet in a sense against it. This development in an inner or psychological Time is, it
seems to me, that which is symbolised by the sacrificial year and by the ten months that
have to be spent before the revealing hymn of the soul (brahma) is able to discover the
seven-headed, heaven conquering thought which finally carries us beyond the harms of
Vritra and the Panis.
In regard to the doors here another verse (taken out of Sri Aurobindo’s detailed analysis
of hymn III.31, which forms part of the Appendix):
“… The Vritra-slayer [Indra], the Master of the Cows, showed (to men) the cows; he has
entered with his shining laws (or lustres) within those who are black (void of light, like
the Panis); showing the truths (the cows of truth) by the Truth he has opened all his
own doors;” that is to say, he opens the doors of his own world, Swar, after breaking
open by his entry into our darkness the “human doors” kept closed by the Panis.

Vocabulary:
sana, 2 mf(A)n. (derivation doubtful) old, ancient (am, ind. “of old, formerly”) RV. AV.; lasting
long BhP.;
mās, 2 in , (3. mā; pl. instr. mādbhis RV.) the moon RV. (cf. candra and sūrya-mās) a month ib.
&c;
śarad, f. (prob. fr. śrā, śṝ) autumn (as the time of ripening) a year (or pl. poetically for “years” cf.
varṣa) ib.;
dur, 1 f. (only duras acc. nom., and duras. pl.) = dvār, a door (cf. 2. dura).
vṛ, 1 cl. 5. 9. 1. P. A. varati, varate (mostly cl. 5 and with the prep. apa or vi) to cover, screen,
veil, conceal, hide, surround, obstruct RV. &c.; to close (a door) AitBr.;
ayat, mfn. (yam), not making efforts Bhatt.;
yat, 2 cl. 1. 1. (prob. connected with yam and orig. meaning “to stretch”) yatate (Ved. and ep.
also P. -ti; (P.) to place in order, marshal, join, connect RV.; to exert one’s self, take pains,
endeavour, make effort, persevere, be cautious or watchful ib.;
car, cl. 1. carati, to move one’s self, go, walk, move, stir, roam about, wander RV. AV. &c.;
vayuna, mfn. (rather fr. vī than fr. ve) moving, active, alive SBr.; a path, way (= mArga also fig.
either – “means expedient”, or “rule, order, custom”) RV. AV. VS. (instr., according to rule RV.
i,162,18) distinctness, clearness, brightness RV. ii,19,3; knowledge, wisdom BhP.;

Old Translators:
5 Ancient will be those creatures, whatsoe’er they be; with moons, with autumns, doors unclose
themselves to you.
Effortless they pass on to perfect this and that, appointed works which Brahmanaspati ordained.
5. “Diese Geschöpfe müssen teilweise alt sein; durch Monate und Jahre waren euch die Tore
verschlossen”. Ohne Eifersucht gehen beide je eine andere Richtung nach den Richtungen, die
Brahmanaspati bestimmt hat.

abhinákṣanto abhí yé tám ānaśúr nidhím paṇīnā́m paramáṃ gúhā hitám
té vidvā́ṃsaḥ praticákṣyā́nr̥ tā púnar yáta u ā́yan tád úd īyur āvíśam |6|

Sri Aurobindo’s Translation:
“They who travel towards the goal (yé abhinákṣanto) and attain that treasure of the
Panis (abhí tám ānaśúr nidhím paṇīnā́m), the supreme treasure hidden in the secret
cave (paramáṃ gúhā hitám), they, having the knowledge and perceiving the falsehoods
(té vidvā́ṃsaḥ praticákṣyā́nr̥ tā), rise up again thither whence they came (púnar yáta u
ā́yan tád úd īyur) and enter into that world (tád āvíśam).” (6)
From Sri Aurobindo’s Commentary:
In Gritsamada’s hymn … the Angirases attain to Swar,—the Truth from which they
originally came, the “own home” of all divine Purushas,—by the attainment of the truth
and by the detection of the falsehood.
In addition here another relevant verse from SV:
“The cows who were in the strong place (of the Panis) the thinkers clove out; by the
mind the seven seers set them moving forward (or upwards towards the supreme), they
found the entire path (goal or field of travel) of the Truth; knowing those (supreme
seats of the Truth) Indra by the obeisance entered into them.” This is, as usual, the
great birth, the great light, the great divine movement of the Truth knowledge with the
finding of the goal and the entry of the gods and the seers into the supreme planes
above.” (III.31.5)

Vocabulary:
abhi-nakṣ, to approach, come to, arrive at RV. AV.;
abhi-naś, 1. to attain, reach RV.;
nidhi, a place for deposits or storing up, a receptacle MBh. Kav. &c.; a store, hoard, treasure RV.
&c.;
paṇi, m. a bargainer, miser, niggard (esp. one who is sparing of sacrificial oblations) RV. AV.; N.
of a class of envious demons watching over treasures RV. (esp. x,108) AV. SBr.;
parama, mf(ā)n. (superl. of para) most distant, remotest, extreme, last RV. &c.; chief, highest,
primary, most prominent or conspicuous;
guha, (2. guhā) f. a hiding-place, cave, cavern VS. xxx ,16; TBr. I; MBh. &c.; (fig.) the heart
SvetUp. iii,20; MBh. xii; BhP. ii,9,24;
(3. guhā), Ved. instr. ind., in a hiding-place, in secret, secretly (opposed to āvis, and especially
with dhā, ni-dhā, kṛ, “to conceal, remove”) RV. AV. SBr. xi, xiii.;
hita, 2 mf(ā)n. (p.p. of 1. dhā cf. dhita) put, placed, set, laid, laid upon, imposed, lying or
situated or contained in (loc.) RV. AV. Up.; set up, established, fixed (as a prize) RV.;
prati-cakṣ, to see, perceive RV. BhP.;
anṛta, mf(ā)n. not true, false;(am) n. falsehood, lying, cheating;
ā-viś, P. A. -viśati, -te (inf. ā-viśam RV. ii,24,6) to go or drive in or towards; to approach, enter;
to take possession of RV. AV. VS. SBr. MBh. BhP. R. Mn. &c.;

Old Translators:
6 They who with much endeavour searching round obtained the Panis’ noblest treasure hidden in
the cave,-
Those sages, having marked the falsehoods, turned them back whence they had come, and
sought again to enter in.
6. Sie, die bei ihrer Ankunft den im Versteck verborgenen fernsten Schatz der Pani´s antrafen,
die kundig die Täuschungen entdeckt hatten, sind wieder dahin ausgezogen, von woher sie
gekommen waren, um in den Berg einzudringen.

r̥ tā́vānaḥ praticákṣyā́nr̥ tā púnar, ā́ta ā́ tasthuḥ kaváyo mahás patháḥ
té bāhúbhyāṃ dhamitám agním áśmani, nákiḥ ṣó asti áraṇo jahúr hí tám |7|
Interpretation:
Possessed of the Truth, having perceived the untruths (r̥ tā́vānaḥ praticákṣyā́nr̥ tā), from
here the seers have again ascended the great path (púnar ā́ta ā́ tasthuḥ kaváyo mahás
patháḥ). They with both arms (placed) the kindled Fire in the Rock (té bāhúbhyāṃ
dhamitám agním áśmani) … (7)
From Sri Aurobindo’s comment on the first half of this verse:
“Possessed of the truth, beholding the falsehoods they, seers, rise up again into the
great path …” mahas pathaḥ, the path of the Truth, or the great and wide realm, Mahas
of the Upanishads.

Comments:
The meaning of the last quarter of this verse is not yet clear. One way to translate it
could be, “he is the fighter (ṣó asti áraṇo), therefore none have abandoned him (nákiḥ
jahúr hí tám)” and another, perhaps more fitting to the context, “none (but) he is the
fighter (nákiḥ ṣó asti áraṇo), therefore they have left (or, discharged) him (there) (jahúr
hí tám)”.

Vocabulary:
atas, ind. (ablative of the pronom. base a, equivalent to asmāt;) from this, than this, hence;
ā-sthā, 1 P. A. –tiṣṭhati, -te, to stand or remain on or by; to ascend, mount; to stay near, go
towards, resort to RV. AV. SBr. AsvGr. MBh. R. BhP. Kum. &c.;
dhamita, mfn. blown, kindled RV.;
SA: blown up to greatness;
aśman, 2 (ā) m. a stone, rock RV. &c.; a precious stone RV. v,47,3; SBr.; any instrument made
of stone (as a hammer &c.) RV. &c.; thunderbolt RV. &c.; a cloud Naigh.; the firmament RV.
v,30,8;
nakis, (na-) ind. no one, nobody RV.;
kis, ind, (fr. 1. ki cf. nakis, mākis), a particle of interrogation, “whether” [= kartṛ, "a doer" Nir.
vi,34] RV. x,52,3.
araṇa, 1 mf(ī) n. (ṛ), foreign, distant RV. AV. SBr.; (am) n. (only for the etym. of araṇi) being
fitted (as a piece of wood) Nir.;
SA: also fighter, warrior, labourer;
araṇi, 1 f. “being fitted into” or “turning round”; the piece of wood (taken from the Ficus
Religiosa or Premna Spinosa) used for kindling fire by attrition RV. &c.;
hi, 2 ind. (used as a particle [cf. ha and gha] and usually denoting) for, because, on account of
RV. &c.; just, pray, do (with an Impv. or Pot. emphatically) ib.; indeed, assuredly, surely, of
course, certainly ;
hā, 3 cl. 3. P. jahāti (rarely cl. 1. jahati) pf. jahau, jahuḥ RV. &c.; to leave, abandon, desert, quit,
forsake, relinquish; to discharge, emit ib.;

Old Translators:
7 The pious ones when they had seen the falsehoods turned them back, the sages stood again
upon the lofty ways.
Cast down with both their arms upon the rock they left the kindled fire, and said, no enemy is he.
7. Die wahrhaften Seher, die die Täuschungen entdeckt hatten, machten sich wieder von da auf
die großen Wege. Sie fanden das mit den Armen angefachte Feuer im Fels: “Es ist ja kein
fremdes”, denn sie hatten es zurückgelassen.

r̥ tájyena kṣipréṇa bráhmaṇas pátir yátra váṣṭi prá tád aśnoti dhánvanā
tásya sādhvī́r íṣavo yā́bhir ásyati nr̥cákṣaso dr̥śáye kárṇayonayaḥ |8|

Interpretation:
With his quick-shooting bow (kṣipréṇa dhánvanā), that has the dynamic truth as its
string (r̥ tájyena), Brahmanaspati reaches there (prá tád aśnoti) where he wants (yátra
váṣṭi). Effective are the arrows with which he shoots (sādhvī́r íṣavo yā́bhir ásyati); they
originate from the ear (of inspired hearing) (kárṇayonayaḥ), with the eye of the heroic
soul for sight (nr̥cákṣaso dr̥śáye). (8)
Comments:
What could be the connection of the thought from the previous verse to this one? The
suggestion could be that Brahmanaspati, whose action from here onward is again
described, is a manifestation of this divine Flame in the rock. And, in fact, in the next
verse Brahmanaspati is even called Purohita, the one who is being placed in front, which
is usually a name of Agni.

Vocabulary:
ṛtajya, (ṛta-) mfn. one whose string is truth, truth-strung (said of Brahmanas-pati’s bow) RV.
ii,24,8.
kṣipra, mf(ā)n. springing, flying back with a spring, elastic (as a bow) RV. ii,24,8; quick, speedy,
swift SBr.vi; (am) ind. (Naigh ii,15) quickly, immediately, directly AV. SBr. iv;
vaś, cl. 2. P. vaṣṭi, to will, command RV. AV.; to desire, wish, long for, be fond of, like (also with
inf.) RV. &c.;
aś, 1 (in classical Sanskrit only) A. aśnute; Vedic forms are: aśnoti &c.; to reach, come to, reach,
come to, arrive at, get, gain, obtain RV. &c.;
dhanvan, n. a bow RV. &c.;
sādhu, mf(vī)n. straight, right RV. AV. BhP.; leading straight to a goal, hitting the mark, unerring
(as an arrow or thunderbolt) RV. SBr.; successful, effective efficient (as a hymn or prayer) RV.
Kam., (u) ind. straight, aright, regularly RV. AV.;
iṣu, mf. an arrow RV. AV. VS. MBh. Ragh. Sak. &c.; N. of a particular constellation VarBr. xii,7.
[According to Dayananda iṣu may mean "ray of light";
as, 2 cl.4. P. asyati, to throw , cast, shoot at (loc. dat., or gen) RV. &c.;
nṛcaksa, mfn. beholding or watching men (said of gods) RV. AV. VS. TS. looking after men i.e.
leading or guiding them (as a Rishi) RV. iii.53,9;
Sri Aurobindo takes this term never in the above sense but instead as “divine vision” or “strong
vision” and “eye of the soul”; since the term nṛ (and its derative nara) are applied to gods and
men SA says it means the power of the Purusha, the conscious Soul;
karṇayoni, (karṇa-) mfn. having the ear as a source or starting-point, going forth from the ear
(said of arrows, because in shooting the bow-string is drawn back to the ear) RV. ii,24,8.

Old Translators:
8 With his swift bow, strung truly, Brahmanaspati reaches the mark whate'er it be that he
desires.
Excellent are the arrows wherewithal he shoots, keen-eyed to look on men and springing from
his ear.
8. Mit seinem schnellschießenden Bogen, dessen Sehne die Wahrheit ist, trifft Brahmanaspati
dahin, wohin er will. Vortrefflich sind seine Pfeile, mit denen er, der das Herrenauge hat, schießt;
sie sind anzuschauen, als ob sie aus dem Ohre entsprungen seien.

sá saṃnayáḥ sá vinayáḥ puróhitaḥ sá súṣṭutaḥ sá yudhí bráhmaṇas pátiḥ
cākṣmó yád vā́jam bhárate matī́ dhánā, ā́d ít sū́ryas tapati tapyatúr vŕ̥ thā |9|

Interpretation:
Established in front and perfectly affirmed in the battle (puróhitaḥ súṣṭutaḥ yudhí),
Brahmanaspati leads (all) together and leads (each one) separate (sá saṃnayáḥ sá
vinayáḥ). When manifested in the vision he brings the plenitude (cākṣmó yád vā́jam
bhárate) and by the thought the riches (matī́ dhánā), then indeed the heat-yielding Sun
burns at will (ā́d ít sū́ryas tapati tapyatúr vŕ̥ thā). (9)

Comment:
The following selection from V.45 (taken from SV) refers also to the context of the
earlier verses and gives us perhaps a hint what by the Sun now burning at will, could be
meant:
“With a mind that sought the Light (the cows) they entered their seats by the illumining
words, making the path towards Immortality. This is that large seat of theirs, the Truth
by which they took possession of the months (the ten months of the Dashagwas).
Harmonised in vision (or, perfectly seeing) they rejoiced in their own (abode, Swar)
milking out the milk of the ancient seed (of things). Their cry (of the Word) heated all
the earth and heaven (created, that is to say, the burning clarity, gharma, taptaṃ
ghṛtam, which is the yield of the solar cows); they established in that which was born a
firm abiding and in the cows the heroes” (that is, the battling force was established in
the light of the knowledge).

Vocabulary:
saṃnaya, mfn. leading or bringing together RV.;
vinaya, 2 mfn. leading away or asunder, separating RV. ii,24,9; leading, guidance, training (esp.
moral training), education, discipline, control MBh. Kav. &c.;
cākṣma, mfn. (kṣam) forbearing, gracious (Brahmanaspati) RV. ii,24,9.
SA: manifested in the vision;
tapyatur, mfn. hot RV. ii,24,9.
vṛthā, ind. (prob. connected with 2. vṛ, at will, at pleasure, at random, easily RV. Br. Gobh. Mn.
Yajn. MBh.;

Old Translators:
9 He brings together and he parts, the great High Priest; extolled is he, in battle Brahmapaspati.
When, gracious, for the hymn he brings forth food and wealth, the glowing Sun untroubled sends
forth fervent heat.
9. Er ist der Bevollmächtigte, der die Kämpfer zusammenbringt und auseinanderbringt, der
vielgepriesene, der Herr des Gebets im Kampfe. Wenn der ..... durch Einsicht den Sieg, die
Gewinne davonträgt, dann brennt nach Lust die brennende Sonne.

vibhú prabhú prathamám mehánāvato, bŕ̥haspáteḥ suvidátrāṇi rā́dhiyā
imā́ sātā́ni veniyásya vājíno, yéna jánā ubháye bhuñjaté víśaḥ |10|
Interpretation:
Foremost (prathamám) manifesting in front and pervading (the consciousness) (prabhú
vibhú) are the fulfilling perfect knowings of Brihaspati (rā́dhiyā suvidátrāṇi), who
possesses the abundance (mehánāvato). These are the gains of the Lord of delight and
rich energy (imā́ sātā́ni veniyásya vājíno), by which the creatures (yéna víśaḥ) enjoy
both the births (human and divine) (jánā ubháye bhuñjaté). (10)

Comment:
Both the births relates most likely to the three human and the four divine principles,
whose union Brihaspati as the sevenfold Angirasa represents.

Vocabulary:
prabhu, mfn. (Ved. also ū f. vī) excelling, mighty, powerful, rich, abundant RV. &c.;
vibhū, mf(ū or vī)n. being everywhere, far-extending, all-pervading, omnipresent, eternal RV. VS.
Up. MBh. &c.;
Sri Aurobindo explains in SV these two terms as manfesting in front of – and pervading the
consciousness;
mehanāvat, mfn. bestowing abundantly;
suvidatra, mfn. very mindful, benevolent, propitious RV. AV.; n. grace, favour ib.; wealth,
property Nir. vii,9;
SA: perfections of knowledge;
rādhya, mfn. to be accomplished or performed RV.; to be obtained or won ib.; to be appeased or
propitiated ib.;
sāta, 1 mfn. gained, obtained RV. Br.; granted, given, bestowed RV.; n. a gift, wealth, riches ib.;
venya, mfn. to be loved or adored, lovable, desirable RV.;
SA takes vena always in the sense of delight.
vājin, mfn. swift, spirited, impetuous, heroic, warlike RV. &c.; m. a warrior, hero, man RV. (often
applied to gods, esp. to Agni, Indra, the Maruts &c.)
SA: lord of substance;
bhuj, 3 cl. 7 P. A. bhunakti, bhuṅkte, 3. pl. A. bhuñjate RV.; to enjoy, use, possess, (esp.) enjoy
a meal, eat;

Old Translators:
10 First and preeminent, excelling all besides are the kind gifts of liberal Brhaspati.
These are the boons of him the Strong who should be loved, whereby both classes and the
people have delight.
10. Ausreichend, reichlich, an erster Stelle ist die Gabe des gern schenkenden; des Brihaspati
Gewinne sind leicht zu erlangen, dankenswert, diese Gewinne des schauwürdigen Siegers, von
dem beiderlei Geschlechter, alle Stämme nutzen haben.

yó ávare vr̥ jáne viśváthā vibhúr mahā́m u raṇváḥ śávasā vavákṣitha
sá devó devā́n práti paprathe pr̥ thú víśvéd u tā́ paribhū́r bráhmaṇas pátiḥ |11|

Interpretation:
You, who pervade everywhere (yó vibhúr viśváthā) in the lower enclosure (or, place of
crookedness) (ávare vr̥ jáne), have grown by your bright force (vavákṣitha śávasā),
rejoicing now among the great ones (mahā́m u raṇváḥ). This god has spread out wide
towards the gods (sá devó devā́n práti paprathe pr̥ thú); all these (worlds?) indeed now
Brahmanaspati encompasses with his being (víśvéd u tā́ paribhū́r). (11)
(Or: … rejoicing, you have grown by the bright force of the great ones.)
Comment:
The expression “the great ones” could here already relate to the rivers in their
unrestricted flow. For in the next verse it is said they do not diminish the working of
Indra and Brihaspati. Therefore the other expression “all these” could relate to the full
manifestation of the worlds, of all planes of existence (as suggested in brackets in the
interpretation above). In the following verses of V.45 we can see how Sri Aurobindo
relates the “great ones” to the rivers. And their supreme birth there might also relate to
the enjoyment of the double birth of our previous verse:
“… The rivers became rushing floods, floods that cleft (their channel), heaven was made
firm like a well-shaped pillar. To this word the contents of the pregnant hill (came forth)
for the supreme birth of the Great Ones (the rivers or, less probably, the dawns); the hill
parted asunder, heaven was perfected (or, accomplished itself); they lodged (upon
earth) and distributed the largeness.”

Vocabulary:
avara, mf(ā)n. (fr. 2. ava), below, inferior RV. AV. VS.;
vṛjana, (once vṛj-) n. an enclosure, cleared or fenced or fortified place (esp. "sacrificial
enclosure"; but also "pasture or camping ground, settlement, town or village and its inhabitants")
RV.; crookedness, wickedness, deceit, wile, intrigue ib.;
SA: crookedness
viśvatha, ind. in every way, at all times.
mah, 2 mf(ī or = m.)n. great, strong, powerful; mighty, abundant RV. VS.;
ranva, 1 mf(ā)n. pleasant, delightful, agreeable, lovely RV.; joyous, gay ib.;
śavas, n. (orig. "swelling, increase") strength, power, might, superiority, prowess, valour,
heroism; (-sā ind. mightily, with might) RV. AV.;
vakṣ, (cf. 1. ukṣ) cl. 1. P. vakṣati, (pf. vavakṣitha), to grow, increase, be strong or powerful RV.;
Goth. wahsja; Germ. wahsan, wachsen; Angl. Sax. weaxan, Eng. wax;
prath, 1 cl. 1. A. prathate, mostly A. pf. paprathe; to spread, extend (intrans. P. trans. and
intrans.); become larger or wider, increase RV. &c.;
pṛthu, mf(vī or u)n. broad, wide, expansive, extensive, spacious, large ample, abundant; copious,
numerous, manifold RV. &c.; (pṛthu ind.)
pari-bhū, mfn. surrounding, enclosing, containing, pervading, guiding, governing RV. AV. TS. TBr.
IsUp.;
Old Translators:
11 Thou who in every way supreme in earthly power, rejoicing, by thy mighty strength hast
waxen great,-
He is the God spread forth in breadth against the Gods: he, Brahmanaspati, encompasseth this
All.
11. Der du dem diesseitigen Opferbund zu allen Dingen tüchtig, groß und erfreulich an Macht
gewesen bist - der Gott hat sich den anderen Göttern gleichkommend weit ausgedehnt: alle diese
Welten umspannt Brihaspati.

víśvaṃ satyám maghavānā yuvór íd, ā́paś caná prá minanti vratáṃ vām
áchendrābrahmaṇaspatī havír no, ánnaṃ yújeva vājínā jigātam |12|

Interpretation:
O you two Possessors of fullness (maghavānā), yours (or, in you both) indeed is the
universal (or, whole) Truth (yuvór íd víśvaṃ satyám). And the Waters do not diminish
the law (or, way) of working of you both (ā́paś caná prá minanti vratáṃ vām). O Indra
and Brahmanaspati, come to our offering (ácha havír no jigātam) like two allies rich in
energy to the food (ánnaṃ yújeva vājínā). (12)

Vocabulary:
maghavan, (magha-) mfn. possessing or distributing gifts, bountiful, liberal, munificent (esp. said
of Indra and other gods;) RV. AV. TS. SBr. Up.;
cana, ind., and not, also not, even not, not even;
pra-mi, P. –mināti, to frustrate, annul, destroy, annihilate RV. AV. BhP.; to change, alter RV.;
vrata, n. (ifc. f. ā; fr. 2. vṛ) will, command, law, ordinance, rule RV.;
havis, n. an oblation or burnt offering, anything offered as an oblation with fire (as clarifled
butter, milk, Soma, grain;) RV. &c.;
anna, mfn. (ad), eaten L.; n. food or victuals, especially boiled rice; food in a mystical sense (or
the lowest form in which the supreme soul is manifested, the coarsest envelope of the Supreme
Spirit)

Old Translators:
12 From you, twain Maghavans, all truth proceedeth: even the waters break not your
commandment.
Come to us, Brahmanaspati and Indra, to our oblation like yoked steeds to fodder.
12. Euch beiden geht alles in Erfüllung, ihr Gabenreiche. Auch die Gewässer übertreten nicht euer
Gebot. Kommt, Indra und Brahmanaspati, zu unserem Opfer wie zwei siegreiche Verbündete zum
Mahle!

utā́śiṣṭhā ánu śr̥ṇvanti váhnayaḥ sabhéyo vípro bharate matī́ dhánā
vīḷudvéṣā ánu váśa rṇám ādadíḥ sá ha vājī́ samithé bráhmaṇas pátiḥ |13|
Interpretation:
After the most swift carriers (utā́śiṣṭhā váhnayaḥ) hear and follow (ánu śr̥ṇvanti), the
illumined seer, who belongs to the assembly (of the wise) (sabhéyo vípro) brings by the
(soulful) thought the riches (bharate matī́ dhánā). Averse to hardness (vīḷudvéṣā), at will
he takes upon himself the rectification (ánu váśa rṇám ādadíḥ); indeed this
Brahmanaspati is full of energy in the encounter (sá ha vājī́ samithé). (13)

Comments:
With the “swiftest carriers” all the different capacities of our physical, vital and mental
being could be meant. When they are open to the inspiration and at the same time are
able to hold it and to fully carry it out, then Brahmanaspati himself as the illumined seer
brings by the psychic thought (mati) the higher “holdings” or riches into life. The
hardness which he rejects and nullifies or rather sets right, relates (as in verse 2) to the
unconsciousness. The last phrase could perhaps also mean: “Indeed this Brahmanaspati
is the Lord of fullness (or, Possessor of the highest plenitude) in the collective
gathering”.

Vocabulary:
āśiṣṭha, mfn. (superl.) quickest, very quick RV.;
āśu, mfn. (1. āś Un. i,1), fast, quick, going quickly RV. AV. SBr. &c.;
anu-śru, cl. 5. P. śṛṇoti, to hear repeatedly (especially what is handed down in the Veda);
SA: have audience of knowledge;
vahni, m. any animal that draws or bears along, a draught animal, horse, team RV. AV. VS. TBr.;
any one who conveys or is borne along (applied to a charioteer or rider, or to various gods, esp.
to Agni, Indra, Savitri, the Maruts &c.) RV. AV.; the conveyer or bearer of oblations to the gods
(esp. said of Agni, "fire", or of the three sacrificial fires; see agni) RV.;
SA: pl. carriers (of the sacrifice); sg. carrier-flame;
sabheya, mfn. fit for an assembly or council, civilized, clever, well-behaved, decent RV. VS.
SankhSr.;
SA: in its hall of the wisdom; fit for the wisdom;
sabhā, f. (of unknown derivation, but probably to be connected with 7. sa; ifc. also sabha n.; cf.
Pan. 2-4.23 &c., and eka-sabha) an assembly, congregation, meeting, council, public audience
RV. &c.;
vīḍudveṣas, mfn. hating the strong or hating strongly ib.;
SA: a foe to strong fixities;
anu vaśa, 1 m. will, wish, desire RV. &c.; (also pl. vaśānanu or anuvaśa, "according to wish or
will, at pleasure"); authority, power, control, dominion (in AV. personified) ib.;
ṛṇa, mfn. going, flying, fugitive (as a thief) RV. vi,12,5; having gone against or transgressed,
guilty [cf. Lat. reus]; (am) n. anything wanted or missed; anything due, obligation, duty, debt;
SA: motion;
ādadi, mfn. procuring RV. viii,46,8; obtaining, recovering RV. i,127,6; ii,24,13.
samitha, sam-itha, m. hostile encounter, conflict, collision RV.;
mithas, ind. together, together with (instr.), mutually, reciprocally, alternately, to or from or with
each other RV. &c.; privately, in secret Mn. Kalid. Das.; by contest or dispute BhP.;

Old Translators:
13 The sacrificial flames most swiftly hear the call: the priest of the assembly gaineth wealth for
hymns.
Hating the stern, remitting at his will the debt, strong in the shock of fight is Brahmanaspati.
13. Auch die schnellsten Zugtiere gehorchen ihm. Als Wortführer in der Versammlung beliebt
trägt er durch Einsicht die Gewinne davon. In der Feindschaft zäh, nach Wunsch die Schuld
einziehend, ist Brahmanaspati im Kampfe Sieger.

bráhmaṇas páter abhavad yathāvaśáṃ
satyó manyúr máhi kármā kariṣyatáḥ
yó gā́ udā́jat sá divé ví cābhajan mahī́va rītíḥ śávasāsarat pŕ̥ thak |14|

Interpretation:
The true mental power (satyó manyúr) of Brahmanaspati, who desired to do a mighty
work (máhi kármā kariṣyatáḥ), turned out according to his will (abhavad yathāvaśáṃ).
He who drove upwards the Herds of the Light (yó gā́ udā́jat), also apportioned (them)
for Heaven (divé ví cābhajan), – like a great stream (that) by his force flowed forward,
widely spreading (mahī́va rītíḥ śávasāsarat pŕ̥ thak). (14)
Comment:
Here we have the double image of the stream and the rays of light as the description of
the dual aspect of power of existence and light of knowledge of the unified seven
principles. In verse two of this hymn we met the term “manyu” already as a power of
Brahmanaspati, and now we even hear of his “satya manyu”, his true mental action or
power. (Sri Aurobindo translated it as “the true heart’s motion”.)

Vocabulary:
ud-aj, P. A. -ajati, -te (impf. -ājat RV. ii,12,3 &c., and ud-ājat RV. ii,24,3 and 14) to drive out,
expel RV. BrArUp.;
kariṣyat, mfn. (fut. p. of 1. kṛ q.v.) about to do;
bhaj, cl. I. P. A. bhajati, -te; to divide, distribute, allot or apportion to (dat. or gen.), share with
(instr.) RV. &c.;
rīti, f. going, motion, course RV.; a stream, current ib.;
sṛ, (cf. sal) cl. 1. 3. P. sarati (ep. also –te), to run, flow, speed, glide, move, go RV. &c.;
pṛthak, ind. (pṛth or prath + añc) widely apart, separately, differently, singly, severally, one by
one (often repeated) RV. &c.;

Old Translators:
14 The wrath of Brahmanaspati according to his will had full effect when he would do a mighty
deed.
The kine he drave forth and distributed to heaven, even as a copious flood with strength flows
sundry ways.
14. Des Brahmanaspati Eifer ging ganz nach Wunsch in Erfüllung, wenn er ein großes Werk
vollbringen wollte, der die Kühe heraustrieb, und er teilte sie der Himmelswelt aus. Mächtig wie
ein großer Strom lief die Herde auseinander.

bráhmaṇas pate suyámasya viśváhā rāyáḥ siyāma rathíyo váyasvataḥ
vīréṣu vīrā́m̐ úpa pr̥ṅdhi nas tuváṃ yád ī́śāno bráhmaṇā véṣi me hávam |15|

Interpretation:
O Brahmanaspati, at all times may we be the charioteer(s) (viśváhā siyāma rathíyo) of a
well-controlled shining wealth, full of expansive growth (suyámasya rāyáḥ váyasvataḥ).
Pour (or, fill) your heroic energy into our heroic energies (vīréṣu vīrā́m̐ úpa pr̥ṅdhi nas),
when you, the Lord, (tuváṃ yád ī́śāno) through the Word of the Soul come to my call
(bráhmaṇā véṣi me hávam). (15)
Vocabulary:
suyama, mf(ā)n. easy to be guided, tractable (as a horse &c.) RV. TBr.; easy to be restrained or
controlled or kept in order, well regulated RV. AV. VS.;
rai, 3 m. rarely f. (fr. rā, rāyas sg. abl. & gen.; pl. nom. & acc.); property, possessions, goods,
wealth, riches RV. AV. Br. SrS. BhP.;
rathya, mfn. belonging or relating to a carriage or chariot, accustomed to it &c. RV. SBr.; m. a
carriage or chariot-horse RV. Sak.;
(also conveyer or charioteer;)
vayasvat, (vayas-) mfn. possessed of power or vigour, mighty, vigorous ib.;
SA: having the wideness;
upa pṛc, 1 P. A. (Impv. 2. sg. –pṛṅdhi RV. ii,24,15) to add RV.; to enlarge, increase RV. i,40,8;
to approach, come near AV. xviii,4,50;
īśāna, mfn. owning, possessing, wealthy; reigning RV. AV. VS. SBr. &c.; m. a ruler, master, one
of the older names of Siva-Rudra AV. VS. SBr. MBh. Kum. &c.;
vī, 1 cl. 2. P. veti (accord. to some in the conjug. tenses substituted for aj); 2. sg. veṣi also as
Impv. RV.; to go, approach, (either as a friend i.e. “seek or take eagerly, grasp, seize, accept,
enjoy”, or as an enemy i.e. “fall upon, attack, assail, visit, punish, avenge”) RV. AV. TS. Br.;
Old Translators:
15 O Brahmanaspati, may we be evermore masters of wealth well-guided, full of vital strength.
Heroes on heroes send abundantly to us, when thou omnipotent through prayer seekest my call.
15. O Brahmanaspati, wir wollen allezeit die Lenker eines leicht zu regierenden Besitzes sein.
Häufe du uns Söhne auf Söhne, wenn du, durch Zauberwort mächtig, meinem Rufe
nachkommst!

bráhmaṇas pate tuvám asyá yantā́ sūktásya bodhi tánayaṃ ca jinva
víśvaṃ tád bhadráṃ yád ávanti devā́ br̥hád vadema vidáthe suvī́rāḥ |16|
Interpretation:
O Brahmanaspati, you are the controller (or, conductor) of this perfectly uttered hymn
(tuvám asyá yantā́ sūktásya) awake (or, become conscious) and animate our selfextension
(bodhi tánayaṃ ca jinva). Universal is that highest Good (víśvaṃ tád
bhadráṃ), which the Gods unfold (yád ávanti devā́). Full of heroic power (suvī́rāḥ), may
we speak out the Vast in the finding of knowledge (br̥hád vadema vidáthe). (16)
(Or: … awake and enliven our embodiment.)
Vocabulary:
yantṛ, mfn. restraining, limiting, withholding from (loc.) Apast.; fixing, establishing RV. AV. VS.;
(f. yantrī) granting, bestowing RV.; m. (ifc. also –tṛka) a driver (of horses or elephants),
charioteer ib. &c.; a ruler, governor, manager, guide RV. Hariv.;
sūkta, mfn. (5. su + ukta) well or properly said or recited RV. &c.; (am) n. good recitation or
speech, wise saying, song of praise RV. &c.; a Vedic hymn (as distinguished from a Ric or single
verse of a hymn) Br. SrS Mn. BhP.
tanaya, mfn. propagating a family, belonging to one’s own family (often said of toka) RV. AitBr.
ii,7; m. a son Mn. iii,16; n. posterity, family, race, offspring, child (“grandchild”, opposed to toka,
“child” Nir. x,7; xii,6) RV. VarBrS. (ifc. f. ā, ciii,1 f.)
jinv, cl.1.P. jinvati, to move one’s self; be active or lively (Naigh.ii,14) RV. AV.; to urge on, cause
to move quickly, impel, incite RV. AV. SankhSr.; to refresh, animate RV. VS. AV. AitBr.; to
promote, help, favour RV. AV.;
bhadra, mf(ā)n. blessed, auspicious, fortunate, prosperous, happy RV. &c.; n. prosperity,
happiness, health, welfare, good fortune (also pl.) RV. &c.;
av, cl. I .P. avati, to drive, impel, animate (as a car or horse) RV.; Ved. to promote, favour,
(chiefly Ved.) to satisfy, refresh;
bṛhat, mf(atī)n. (in later language usually written vṛhat) lofty, high, tall, great, large, wide, vast,
abundant, compact, solid, massy, strong, mighty RV. &c.;
vidatha, n. knowledge, wisdom (esp.) “knowledge given to others” i.e. instruction, direction,
order, arrangement, disposition, rule, command (also pl.) RV. AV. VS.; (vidatham ā-vad, to
impart knowledge, give instruction, rule, govern); a meeting, assembly (either for deliberating or
for the observance of festive or religious rites i.e.) council, community, association, congregation
ib.;
Sri Aurobindo translates this important term always as finding (or, discovery) of knowledge, or
simply knowledge;
suvīra, mf(ā)n. very manly, heroic, warlike RV. AV. VS.; m. a hero, warrior RV.;
Old Translators:
16 O Brahmanaspati, be thou controller of this our hymn, and prosper thou our children.
All that the Gods regard with love is blessed. Loud may we speak, with heroes, in assembly.
16. O Brahmanaspati, sei du der Lenker dieses Liedes und erwecke Nachkommenschaft! Alles das
ist löblich, was die Götter begünstigen. – Wir möchten das große Wort führen als Meister in
weiser Rede.
Appendix:
Sri Aurobindo’s comments in “The Secret of the Veda” on
verses 3 – 7 of hymn II.24.

… But that this idea of Time, of the months and years is used as a symbol seems to be
clear from other passages of the Veda, notably from Gritsamada’s hymn to Brihaspati,
II.24.
In this hymn Brihaspati is described driving up the cows, breaking Vala by the divine
word, bráhmaṇā, concealing the darkness and making Swar visible [verse 3]. The first
result is the breaking open by force of the well which has the rock for its face and
whose streams are of the honey, madhu, the Soma sweetness, áśmāsiyam avatám …
mádhudhāram [verse 4].This well of honey covered by the rock must be the Ananda or
divine beatitude of the supreme threefold world of bliss, the Satya, Tapas and Jana
worlds of the Puranic system based upon the three supreme principles, Sat, Chit-Tapas
and Ananda; their base is Swar of the Veda, Mahar of the Upanishads and Puranas, the
world of Truth1. These four together make the fourfold fourth world and are described
in the Rig Veda as the four supreme and secret seats, the source of the “four upper
rivers”. Sometimes, however, this upper world seems to be divided into two, Swar the
base, Mayas or the divine beatitude the summit, so that there are five worlds or births
of the ascending soul. The three other rivers are the three lower powers of being and
supply the principles of the three lower worlds. This secret well of honey is drunk by all
those who are able to see Swar and they pour out its billowing fountain of sweetness in
manifold streams together, tám evá víśve papire suvardŕ̥śo bahú sākáṃ sisicur útsam
udríṇam.
These many streams poured out together are the seven rivers poured down the hill by
Indra after slaying Vritra, the rivers or streams of the Truth, ṛtasya dhārāḥ; and they
represent, according to our theory, the seven principles of conscious being in their
divine fulfillment in the Truth and Bliss. This is why the seven-headed thought,—that is
to say, the knowledge of the divine existence with its seven heads or powers, the sevenrayed
knowledge of Brihaspati, saptagum, has to be confirmed or held in thought in the
waters, the seven rivers, that is to say the seven forms of divine consciousness are to be
held in the seven forms or movements of divine being; dhiyaṃ vo apsu dadhiṣe
svarṣām, I hold the Swar-conquering thought in the waters [V.45.11].
That the making visible of Swar to the eyes of the Swarseers, suvardŕ̥śaḥ, their drinking
of the honeyed well and their outpouring of the divine waters amounts to the revelation
1In the Upanishads and Puranas there is no distinction between Swar and Dyaus; therefore a fourth
name had to be found for the world of Truth, and this is the Mahar discovered according to the
Taittiriya Upanishad by the Rishi Mahachamasya as the fourth Vyahriti, the other three being Swar,
Bhuvar and Bhur, i.e. Dyaus, Antariksha and Prithivi of the Veda.
to man of new worlds or new states of existence is clearly told us in the next verse,
II.24.5, sánā t ā́k ā́ cid bhúvanā bhávītuvā mādbhíḥ śarádbhir dúro varanta vaḥ, áyatantā
carato anyád-anyad íd y ā́cak ā́

ra vayúnā bráhmaṇas pátiḥ, “Certain eternal worlds
(states of existence) are these which have to come into being, their doors are shut2 to
you (or, opened) by the months and the years; without effort one (world) moves in the
other, and it is these that Brahmanaspati has made manifest to knowledge”; vayúnā
means knowledge, and the two forms are divinised earth and heaven which
Brahmanaspati created. These are the four eternal worlds hidden in the guhā, the
secret, unmanifest or superconscient parts of being which although in themselves
eternally present states of existence (sánā … bhúvanā) are for us non-existent and in
the future; for us they have to be brought into being, bhávītvā, they are yet to be
created. Therefore the Veda sometimes speaks of Swar being made visible, as here (ví
acakṣayat súvaḥ), or discovered and taken possession of, vidat, sanat, sometimes of its
being created or made (bhū, kṛ). These secret eternal worlds have been closed to us,
says the Rishi, by the movement of Time, by the months and years; therefore naturally
they have to be discovered, revealed, conquered, created in us by the movement of
Time, yet in a sense against it. This development in an inner or psychological Time is, it
seems to me, that which is symbolised by the sacrificial year and by the ten months that
have to be spent before the revealing hymn of the soul (brahma) is able to discover the
seven-headed, heavenconquering thought which finally carries us beyond the harms of
Vritra and the Panis.
We get the connection of the rivers and the worlds very clearly in I.62 where Indra is
described as breaking the hill by the aid of the Navagwas and breaking Vala by the aid
of the Dashagwas. Hymned by the Angiras Rishis Indra opens up the darkness by the
Dawn and the Sun and the Cows, he spreads out the high plateau of the earthly hill into
wideness and upholds the higher world of heaven. For the result of the opening up of
the higher planes of consciousness is to increase the wideness of the physical, to raise
the height of the mental. “This, indeed,” says the Rishi Nodha, “is his mightiest work,
the fairest achievement of the achiever,” dasmasya cārutamam asti daṃsaḥ , “that the
four upper rivers streaming honey nourish the two worlds of the crookedness,” upahvare
yad uparā apinvan madhvarṇaso nadyaś catasraḥ. This is again the honey-streaming
well pouring down its many streams together; the four higher rivers of the divine being,
divine conscious force, divine delight, divine truth nourishing the two worlds of the mind
and body into which they descend with their floods of sweetness. These two, the
Rodasi, are normally worlds of crookedness, that is to say of the falsehood,—the ṛtam or
Truth being the straight, the anṛtam or Falsehood the crooked,—because they are
exposed to the harms of the undivine powers, Vritras and Panis, sons of darkness and
division. They now become forms of the truth, the knowledge, vayunā, agreeing with
outer action and this is evidently Gritsamada’s carato anyad anyad and his yā cakāra
vayunā brahmaṇaspatiḥ. The Rishi then proceeds to define the result of the work of
Ayasya, which is to reveal the true eternal and unified form of earth and heaven. “In
their twofold (divine and human?) Ayasya uncovered by his hymns the two, eternal and
2 Sayana says varanta is here “opened”, which is quite possible, but vṛ means ordinarily to shut,
close up, cover, especially when applied to the doors of the hill whence flow the rivers and the cows
come forth; Vritra is the closer of the doors. Vi vṛ and apa vṛ mean to open. Nevertheless, if the
word means here to open, that only makes our case all the stronger.
in one nest; perfectly achieving he upheld earth and heaven3 in the highest ether (of
the revealed superconscient, paramaṃ guhyam) as the Enjoyer his two wives.” The
soul’s enjoyment of its divinised mental and bodily existence upheld in the eternal joy of
the spiritual being could not be more clearly and beautifully imaged.
These ideas and many of the expressions are the same as those of the hymn of
Gritsamada. Nodha says of the Night and Dawn, the dark physical and the illumined
mental consciousness that they new-born (punarbhuvā) about heaven and earth move
into each other with their own proper movements, svebhirevaiḥ . . . carato anyā anyā
(cf. Gritsamada’s áyatantā carato anyád-anyad, áyatantā bearing the same sense as
svebhir evaiḥ, i.e. spontaneously), in the eternal friendship that is worked out by the
high achievement of their son who thus upholds them, sánemi sakhyáṃ suapasyámānaḥ
sūnúr dādhāra śávasā sudáṃsāḥ. In Gritsamada’s hymn as in Nodha’s the Angirases
attain to Swar,—the Truth from which they originally came, the “own home” of all divine
Purushas,—by the attainment of the truth and by the detection of the falsehood. “They
who travel towards the goal and attain that treasure of the Panis, the supreme treasure
hidden in the secret cave, they, having the knowledge and perceiving the falsehoods,
rise up again thither whence they came and enter into that world. Possessed of the
truth, beholding the falsehoods they, seers, rise up again into the great path,” mahas
pathaḥ, the path of the Truth, or the great and wide realm, Mahas of the Upanishads.
We begin now to unravel the knot of this Vedic imagery. Brihaspati is the seven-rayed
Thinker, saptaguḥ, saptaraśmiḥ, he is the seven-faced or seven-mouthed Angiras, born
in many forms, saptāsyas tuvijātaḥ, nine-rayed, ten-rayed. The seven mouths are the
seven Angirases who repeat the divine word (brahma) which comes from the seat of the
Truth, Swar, and of which he is the lord (brahmaṇaspatiḥ). Each also corresponds to
one of the seven rays of Brihaspati; therefore they are the seven seers, sapta viprāḥ,
sapta ṛṣayaḥ, who severally personify these seven rays of the knowledge. These rays
are, again, the seven brilliant horses of the sun, sapta haritaḥ , and their full union
constitutes the seven-headed Thought of Ayasya by which the lost sun of Truth is
recovered. That thought again is established in the seven rivers, the seven principles of
being divine and human, the totality of which founds the perfect spiritual existence. The
winning of these seven rivers of our being withheld by Vritra and these seven
rays withheld by Vala, the possession of our complete divine consciousness
delivered from all falsehood by the free descent of the truth, gives us the
secure possession of the world of Swar and the enjoyment of mental and
physical being lifted into the godhead above darkness, falsehood and death
by the in-streaming of our divine elements. This victory is won in twelve periods of
the upward journey, represented by the revolution of the twelve months of the sacrificial
year, the periods corresponding to the successive dawns of a wider and wider truth,
until the tenth secures the victory. What may be the precise significance of the nine rays
and the ten, is a more difficult question which we are not yet in a position to solve; but
the light we already have is sufficient to illuminate all the main imagery of the Rig Veda.
3 This and many other passages show clearly, conclusively, as it seems to me,
that the anyad anyad, the two are always earth and heaven, the human based
on the physical consciousness and the divine based on the supraphysical,
heaven.
The life of man is represented as a sacrifice to the gods, a journey sometimes figured as
a crossing of dangerous waters, sometimes as an ascent from level to level of the hill of
being, and, thirdly, as a battle against hostile nations. But these three images are not
kept separate. The sacrifice is also a journey; indeed the sacrifice itself is described as
travelling, as journeying to a divine goal; and the journey and the sacrifice are both
continually spoken of as a battle against the dark powers. The legend of the Angirases
takes up and combines all these three essential features of the Vedic imagery. The
Angirases are pilgrims of the light. The phrase nákṣantaḥ or abhinákṣantaḥ is constantly
used to describe their characteristic action. They are those who travel towards the goal
and attain to the highest, abhinákṣantaḥ abhí yé tám ānaśúr nidhím paramáṃ, “they
who travel to and attain that supreme treasure” (II.24.6).
Additional material from the chapter “The Hound of Heaven”
(where Sri Aurobindo deals with a similar imagery and also the realisation of the
Angirases.)
“… V.45. The first three verses summarise the great achievement.
“Severing the hill of heaven by the words he found them, yea, the radiant ones of the
arriving Dawn went abroad; he uncovered those that were in the pen, Swar rose up; a
god opened the human doors. The Sun attained widely to strength and glory; the
Mother of the Cows (the Dawn), knowing, came from the wideness; the rivers became
rushing floods, floods that cleft (their channel), heaven was made firm like a wellshaped
pillar. To this word the contents of the pregnant hill (came forth) for the
supreme birth of the Great Ones (the rivers or, less probably, the dawns); the hill parted
asunder, heaven was perfected (or, accomplished itself); they lodged (upon earth) and
distributed the largeness.” It is of Indra and the Angirases that the Rishi is speaking, as
the rest of the hymn shows and as is indeed evident from the expressions used; for
these are the usual formulas of the Angiras mythus and repeat the exact expressions
that are constantly used in the hymns of the delivery of the Dawn, the Cows and the
Sun. We know already what they mean. The hill of our already formed triple existence
which rises into heaven at its summit is rent asunder by Indra and the hidden
illuminations go abroad; Swar, the higher heaven of the superconscient, is manifested
by the upward streaming of the brilliant herds. The sun of Truth diffuses all the strength
and glory of its light, the inner Dawn comes from the luminous wideness instinct with
knowledge …, the rivers of the Truth, representing the outflow of its being and its
movement (ṛtasya preṣā), descend in their rushing streams and make a channel here for
their waters; heaven, the mental being, is perfected and made firm like a well-shaped
pillar to support the vast Truth of the higher or immortal life that is now made manifest
and the largeness of that Truth is lodged here in all the physical being. The delivery of
the pregnant contents of the hill, parvatasya garbhaḥ, the illuminations constituting the
seven-headed thought, ṛtasya dhītiḥ, which come forth in answer to the inspired word,
leads to the supreme birth of the seven great rivers who constitute the substance of the
Truth put into active movement, ṛtasya preṣā.
Then after the invocation of Indra and Agni by the “words of perfect speech that are
loved of the gods”, —for by those words the Maruts4 perform the sacrifices as seers
who by their seer-knowledge do well the sacrificial work, —the Rishi next puts into the
mouth of men an exhortation and mutual encouragement to do even as the Fathers and
attain the same divine results. “Come now, today let us become perfected in thought, let
us destroy suffering and unease, let us embrace the higher good, far from us let us put
always all hostile things (all the things that attack and divide, dveṣāṃsi); let us go
forward towards the Master of the sacrifice. Come, let us create the Thought, O friends,
(obviously, the seven-headed Angiras-thought), which is the Mother (Aditi or the Dawn)
and removes the screening pen of the Cow.” The significance is clear enough; it is in
such passages as these that the inner sense of the Veda half disengages itself from the
veil of the symbol. Then the Rishi speaks of the great and ancient example which men
are called upon to repeat, the example of the Angirases, the achievement of Sarama.
“Here the stone was set in motion whereby the Navagwas chanted the hymn for the ten
months, Sarama going to the Truth found the cows, the Angiras made all things true.
When in the dawning of this vast One (Usha representing the infinite Aditi) all the
Angirases came together with the cows (or rather, perhaps by the illuminations
represented in the symbol of the cows or Rays); there was the fountain of these
(illuminations) in the supreme world; by the path of the Truth Sarama found the cows.”
Here we see that it is through the movement of Sarama going straight to the Truth by
the path of the Truth, that the seven seers, representing the seven-headed or sevenrayed
thought of Ayasya and Brihaspati, find all the concealed illuminations and by force
of these illuminations they all come together, as we have been already told by
Vasishtha, in the level wideness, from which the Dawn has descended with the
knowledge or, as it is here expressed, in the dawning of this vast One, that is to say, in
the infinite consciousness. There, as Vasishtha has said, they, united, agree in
knowledge and do not strive together, that is to say, the seven become as one, as is
indicated in another hymn; they become the one seven mouthed Angiras, an image
corresponding to that of the seven-headed thought, and it is this single unified Angiras
who makes all things true as the result of Sarama’s discovery (verse 7). The
harmonised, united, perfected Seer-Will corrects all falsehood and crookedness and
turns all thought, life, action into terms of the Truth. In this hymn also the action of
Sarama is precisely that of the Intuition which goes straight to the Truth by the straight
path of the Truth and not through the crooked paths of doubt and error and which
delivers the Truth out of the veil of darkness and false appearances; it is through the
illuminations discovered by her that the Seer-mind can attain to the complete revelation
of the Truth. The rest of the hymn speaks of the rising of the sevenhorsed Sun towards
his “field which spreads wide for him at the, end of the long journey”, the attainment of
the swift Bird to the Soma and of the young Seer to that field of the luminous cows, the
Sun’s ascent to the “luminous Ocean”, its crossing over it “like a ship guided by the
thinkers” and the descent upon man of the waters of that ocean in response to their
call. In those waters the sevenfold thought of the Angiras is established by the human
seer. If we remember that the Sun represents the light of the superconscient or truthconscious
knowledge and the luminous ocean the realms of the superconscient with
4 The thought-attaining powers of the Life as will appear hereafter.
their thrice seven seats of the Mother Aditi, the sense of these symbolic expressions5
will not be difficult to understand. It is the highest attainment of the supreme goal which
follows upon the complete achievement of the Angirases, their united ascent to the
plane of the Truth, just as that achievement follows upon the discovery of the herds by
Sarama.
Another hymn of great importance in this connection is the thirty-first of the third
Mandala, by Vishwamitra. “Agni (the Divine Force) is born quivering with his flame of
the offering for sacrifice to the great Sons of the Shining One (the Deva, Rudra); great is
the child of them, a vast birth; there is a great movement of the Driver of the shining
steeds (Indra, the Divine Mind) by the sacrifices. The conquering (dawns) cleave to him
in his struggle, they deliver by knowledge a great light out of the darkness; knowing the
Dawns rise up to him, Indra has become the one lord of the luminous cows. The cows
who were in the strong place (of the Panis) the thinkers clove out; by the mind the
seven seers set them moving forward (or upwards towards the supreme), they found
the entire path (goal or field of travel) of the Truth; knowing those (supreme seats of
the Truth) Indra by the obeisance entered into them.” This is, as usual, the great birth,
the great light, the great divine movement of the Truth knowledge with the finding of
the goal and the entry of the gods and the seers into the supreme planes above. Next
we have the part of Sarama in this work. “When Sarama found the broken place of the
hill, he (or perhaps she, Sarama) made continuous the great and supreme goal. She, the
fair-footed, led him to the front of the imperishable ones (the unslayable cows of the
Dawn); first she went, knowing, towards their cry.” It is again the Intuition that leads;
knowing, she speeds at once and in front of all towards the voice of the concealed
illuminations, towards the place where the hill so firmly formed and impervious in
appearance is broken and can admit the seekers.
The rest of the hymn continues to describe the achievement of the Angirases and Indra.
“He went, the greatest seer of them all, doing them friendship; the pregnant hill sent
forth its contents for the doer of perfect works; in the strength of manhood he with the
young (Angirases) seeking plenitude of riches attained possession, then singing the
hymn of light he became at once the Angiras. Becoming in our front the form and
measure of each existing thing, he knows all the births, he slays Shushna”; that is to
say, the Divine Mind assumes a form answering to each existing thing in the world and
reveals its true divine image and meaning and slays the false force that distorts
knowledge and action. “Seeker of the cows, traveller to the seat of heaven, singing the
hymns, he, the Friend, delivers his friends out of all defect (of right self-expression).
With a mind that sought the Light (the cows) they entered their seats by the illumining
words, making the path towards Immortality. This is that large seat of theirs, the Truth
by which they took possession of the months (the ten months of the Dashagwas).
Harmonised in vision (or, perfectly seeing) they rejoiced in their own (abode, Swar)
milking out the milk of the ancient seed (of things). Their cry (of the Word) heated all
5 It is in this sense that we can easily understand many now obscure
expressions of the
Veda, e.g. VIII.68.9, “May we conquer by thy aid in our battles the great wealth
in the
waters and the Sun,” apsu sūrye mahad dhanam.
the earth and heaven (created, that is to say, the burning clarity, gharma, taptaṃ
ghṛtam, which is the yield of the solar cows); they established in that which was born a
firm abiding and in the cows the heroes (that is, the battling force was established in the
light of the knowledge). “Indra, the Vritra-slayer, by those who were born (the sons of
the sacrifice), by the offerings, by the hymns of illumination released upward the shining
ones; the wide and delightful Cow (the cow Aditi, the vast and blissful higher
consciousness) bringing for him the sweet food, the honey mixed with the ghṛta, yielded
it as her milk. For this Father also (for Heaven) they fashioned the vast and shining
abode; doers of perfect works, they had the entire vision of it. Wide-upholding by their
support the Parents (Heaven and Earth) they sat in that high world and embraced all its
ecstasy. When for the cleaving away (of evil and falsehood) the vast Thought holds him
immediately increasing in his pervasion of earth and heaven,—then for Indra in whom
are the equal and faultless words, there are all irresistible energies. He has found the
great, manifold and blissful Field (the wide field of the cows, Swar); and he has sent
forth together all the moving herd for his friends. Indra shining out by the human souls
(the Angirases) has brought into being, together, the Sun, the Dawn, the Path and the
Flame.”
And in the remaining verses the same figures continue, with an intervention of the
famous image of the rain which has been so much misunderstood. “The Ancient-born I
make new that I may conquer. Do thou remove our many undivine hurters and set Swar
for our possessing. The purifying rains are extended before us (in the shape of the
waters); take us over to the state of bliss that is the other shore of them. Warring in thy
chariot protect us from the foe; soon, soon make us conquerors of the Cows. The Vritraslayer,
the Master of the Cows, showed (to men) the
cows; he has entered with his shining laws (or lustres) within those who are black (void
of light, like the Panis); showing the truths (the cows of truth) by the Truth he has
opened all his own doors;” that is to say, he opens the doors of his own world, Swar,
after breaking open by his entry into our darkness the “human doors” kept closed by the
Panis.