THE SECRET OF THE VEDA

 

SRI AUROBINDO

 

Contents

 

PRE CONTENT

PART ONE

I.

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION

 

XIII

DAWN AND THE TRUTH

II.

A RETROSPECT OF VEDIC     THEORY (1)

 

XIV

THE COW AND THE ANGIRASA LEGEND

iii.

— THE SCHOLARS (2)

 

XV

THE LOST SUN AND THE LOST COWS

III.

 MODERN THEORIES

 

XVI

THE ANGIRASA RISHIS

IV.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY

 

XVII

THE SEVEN-HEADED THOUGHT,    SWAR  ANDTHE DASHAGWAS

V

PHILOLOGICAL METHOD OF THE VEDA

 

XVIII

THE HUMAN FATHERS

VI

AGNI AND THE TRUTH

 

XIX

THE VICTORY OP THE FATHERS

VII

VARUNA-MITRA AND THE TRUTH

 

XX

THE HOUND OF HEAVEN

VIII

THE ASHWINS — INDRA — THE VISHWADEVAS

 

XXI

THE SONS OF DARKNESS

IX

SARASWATI AND HER CONSORTS

 

XXII

THE CONQUEST OVER THE DASYUS

X

THE IMAGE OF THE OCEANS AND THE RIVERS

 

XXIII

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

XI

THE SEVEN RIVERS

     

XII

THE HERDS OF THE DAWN

     

 

  PART TWO
SELECTED HYMNS

 

I

THE COLLOQUY OF INDRA AND AGASTYA : I. 170

 

VIII

VAYU, THE MASTER OF THE LIFE ENERGIES : IV. 48

II

INDRA, GIVER OF LIGHT : I. 4

 

IX

BRIHASPATI, POWER OF THE SOUL : IV. 50

III

INDRA AND THE THOUGHT-FORCES : L 171

 

X

THE ASHWINS, LORDS OF Buss: IV. 45 . . . 314

IV

AGNI, THE ILLUMINED WILL : I. 77

 

XI

THE RIBHUS, ARTISANS OF IMMORTALITY : 1.20 . 324

V

SURYA SAVITRI, CREATOR AND INCREASER: V. 81

 

XII

 VISHNU, THE ALL-PERVADING GODHEAD : 1.154 . 331

VI

THE DIVINE DAWN : III.

 

XIII

SOMA, LORD OF DELIGHT AND IMMORTALITY : IX. 83 339

VII

To BHAGA SAVITRI, THE ENJOYER: V. 82

 

 

 

   

PART THREE
HYMNS OF THE ATRIS

 

FOREWORD

 

HYMNS TO AGNI: V

 

Agni, the Divine Will-Force

 

The Fifteenth Hymn to Agni

The First Hymn to Agni

 

The Sixteenth Hymn to Agni

The Second Hymn to Agni

 

The Seventeenth Hymn to Agni

The Third Hymn to Agni

 

The Eighteenth Hymn to Agni

The Fourth Hymn to Agni

 

The Nineteenth Hymn to Agni

The Fifth Hymn to Agni

 

The Twentieth Hymn to Agni

The Sixth Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-First Hymn to Agni

The Seventh Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-Second Hymn to Agni

The Eighth Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-Third Hymn to Agni

The Ninth Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-Fourth Hymn to Agni

The Tenth Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-Fifth Hymn to Agni

The Eleventh Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-Sixth Hymn to Agni

The Twelfth Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-Seventh Hymn to Agni

The Thirteenth Hymn to Agni

 

The Twenty-Eighth Hymn to Agni

The Fourteenth Hymn to Agni

 

 

 

 

THE GUARDIANS OF THE LIGHT:

 

HYMNS TO THE LORDS OF LIGHT : V

Surya, Light and Seer

 

The First Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

The Divine Dawn

 

The Second Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

Pushan the Increaser

 

The Third Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

Savitri the Creator

 

The Fourth Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

The Four Kings

 

The Fifth Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

Varuna

 

The Sixth Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

Mitra

 

The Seventh Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

Aryaman

 

The Eighth Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

Bhaga

 

The Ninth Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

 

 

The Tenth Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

 

 

The Eleventh Hymn to Mitra-Varuna

     

PART FOUR

 

OTHER HYMNS

 

HYMN IN PRAISE OF INDRA : I. 5

 

A HYMN TO SAVITRI: V. 81 

HYMN TO INDRA: 1.7-11

 

HYMN TO VARUNA (two versions): V. 85

HYMN TO INDRA: VIII. 54 

 

A VEDIC HYMN: VII. 60

HYMN TO INDRA : X. 54

 

THE GOD OF THE MYSTIC WINE : IX. 42,75

A VEDIC HYMN: 1.3

 

A HYMN OF THE THOUGHT-GODS : V. 52-58

FROM A VEDIC HYMN: 1.15

 

INTERPRETATION OF THE VEDA

HYMN TO BRAHMANASPATI: 1.18

 

INTERPRETATION OF THE VEDA

HYMNS TO THE DAWN : V. 79,80

 

THE ORIGINS OF ARYAN SPEECH

 

 

Bibliographic note

 

All references are to the Rig-veda unless otherwise stated.

  HYMN TO INDRA

 

1.7

  1. Indra the Udgathins, Indra the masters of Rik with their thoughts of substance, Indra the voices desired.

  1. Indra is made one with our being by the love of the two Bright Ones yoked to speech, Indra of the brilliance, the wielder of the thunderbolt.

  1. Indra for far vision ascends in Heaven up to the sun, he manifests the mountain to all sides with those lustres.

  1. Indra protect us in our store of strength and in our strong possessions, fierce with fierce raptures.¹

  1. Indra we call in great wealth, Indra in little, the thunderer assailing the Vritras.

¹Pulsations of being

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  1. Therefore do thou, O Supreme, remove this film from our being and be to us unconcealed.

  1. The praises of Indra the thunderer which rise from layer¹ to higher layer,² in all I find not his perfect praise.

  1. As a yoked bull with its mate he in his might goeth to the power that work upon us and rules unconcealed.

  1. Indra who alone disposes all actions and possessions of the five planes.

  1. Indra for the people we call in everything that concerns you; may he be to us absolute and free.

¹height.      ²height.

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                                                                                               HYMN TO INDRA

 

1.8

  1. O Indra, fill us with soundness and a movement¹—victorious and of enduring force, utterly abundant to our desire.²

  1. O thou by whose strong action we through the destruction of their limiting hold encounter successfully³ the obstructing gods, O Hammerer of the foe.4

  1. O Indra, O Hammerer, smiting we hurl abroad the Vajra; may we wholly conquer in fight our jealous foes.

  1. We, O Indra, by the armed gods and by thee joined to us in Yoga, put forth constantly our strength in war.

  1. Mighty indeed is Indra and supreme, may the strength of the Mahat be with the wielder of the lightning as the sky is variedly brilliant with the wideness5 that fills it.

¹Or, delight    ²Or, for our expansion.    ³Or, stay the activity of

4Tvotasab — provisional.      5Or, wide one.  

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  1. For he enjoyeth alike whether in the safe keeping of one little among men or of the thoughtful wise.¹

  1. He that is a swallowing gulf devouring freely the nectar, and like a sea he drinketh these wide waters as if they were pools.²

  1. Therefore is the soul's brilliant strong-actioned laud of truth like a ripe branch to the giver.

  1. Therefore do thy puissances, and the expansions of thee, O Indra, become active at once in awareness to the giver that hath the power to contain them.³

  1. Therefore are the soul's desirable (and noble things) and its praise and adoration (to be declared to) for Indra that he may drink the nectar-juice.

¹Or, strong in thought.      ²Kakudah, — doubtful.      ³Mavate — provisional.

Page – 505


HYMN TO INDRA

 

1.9

  1. Come, O Indra, thou takest rapture by all the bodily parts of this Matter; full of the great, setting thyself to it by thy force.

  1. Increase thy strength, and do ye when the nectar is ex- pressed create rapture for Indra the taker of joy, activity for the doer of our actions.

  1. Rejoice, O swift of mood, with praises that awake delight, O thou all-doer; attach thyself to these outpourings.

  1. When thou comest not to them, O Indra, thy voices laugh up to thee seeking unfulfilled satisfaction to their lover and lord.

  1. Excite entirely, O Indra, that manifold highest ecstasy below, — that is of thee which is universal being and supreme.

Page – 506


  1. Us too in that, O Indra, wholly excite to bliss; make us full of strong ecstasy and victorious strength, O thou brilliant in steadfast force.

  1. So do thou dispose to us, O Indra, wide knowledge full of light, full of substance, in nature of that greatness, enduring all our life unimpaired.

  1. Dispose to us knowledge of the large, a brilliance of utterly forceful steadfastness and, Indra, those rapturous masteries.

  1. Declare ye with your words Indra of the Substance, lord of substance, full of the rik (knowledge); as he goeth we call on him for expansion of our being.

  1. In every pouring of the nectar for capacity, of the large and increaser of the large, for Indra proceeds.

Page – 507


HYMN TO INDRA

 

1.1O

  1. Thee the Gayatrins¹ chant, the Arkins² begin their action; the mind movements, O Shatakratu, strive up by thee as they that climb a trunk.

  1. When one climbeth from plateau to plateau, a rich activity expresses itself, then Indra bringeth the substance of thought into consciousness, he moves a lover³ with his mate.4

  1. Yoke thou thy maned steeds, covering with mastery fill the containing soul, then, O Indra, drinker of the nectar, respond with the Sruti to our words.

  1. Come, vibrate5 to our songs of praise, speak them out as they rise, cry out thy response; attach thyself to our mind, O King, O Indra, and increase in us the Yajna.

 

¹Or, 'Devatas of mind'      ²Also, 'Devatas of mind'      ³Or, 'master'

4Or, 'vibrates with the force and mastery of his action.' Yūtha, joining, mate, that to which one is yoked, also force, strength.

5Or, 'answer'

Page – 508


  1. I form fully the prayer I have to declare towards Indra, the prayer that giveth increase, that potent Indra may have ecstasy in our nectar-yieldings and in our friendlinesses.¹

  1. Him we desire in comradeship, him in delight, him in strong energy; therefore this puissant Indra in his kindliness hath power to give us his substance.²

  1. O Indra, wide and untroubled³ success has been won, remove the veil4 over these rays, create delight, O dweller on the hill.

  1. Over thee the two obstructing firmaments have no power when thou goest stiffly upward5; victorious pour down for us on our earths the waters of heaven.

  1. Lend attentive ear and hear my call, now uphold6 my words; O Indra, draw this my song of praise into Thy innermost part of the state of Yoga.

¹Or, 'acts of friendship'.      ² Or, 'hath power to distribute to us of his substance'.     

³Or, 'undarkened      4vraja doubtful — perhaps 'reveal the multitude of those rays'.

5 Or, 'when thou goest straight'; ' Or, 'heed'  

Page – 509


  1. We know thee most supreme in the substantial strengths of being, a hearer of our call; because thou art thus supreme we call to thee for expansion of being strong in stability.

  1. O Indra, of the sheaths, drink then the Soma, be steadfast in delight, give us wholly a new being and create for us the Knowledge that preserveth utterly our force.

  1. O delighter in our words, may these our words be all around thee; may all increase follow the increase of our being and all love cling to it.

Page – 510


HYMN TO INDRA

 

1.11

  1. Indra, cleaver of the ocean, all words increased, most rapturous of the blissful master of being and lord of stable strengths.

  1. In thy friendship, who art stable and strong, we have no fear, O Indra, lord of the various light, towards thee we move forward the conqueror unconquered.

  1. The first delights of Indra, his former expandings are not destroyed because, for his praisers he collects fullness of luminous strength.

  1. He that breaketh the gate, the young, the seer, appeared immeasurable in force, Indra, that holdeth up all action, the thunderer wide-praised.

  1. Thou wert the uncoverer of luminous Vala's lair, O dweller on the hill; into thee the gods without fear entered forcefully protected.¹

¹Or, 'impelled'.

Page – 511


  1. Voiceful with thy ecstasies, O mighty one, I went towards the sea; the doers of action approached¹ in the knowledge of that delighter in my speech.

  1. By thy containing mights thou earnest down to the mighty and containing (Shushna); do thou in his revelation fulfilled in completeness lift up their inspirations.

  1. Towards Indra who rules in his force our praises yearned, he who hath a thousand delights, ay, they are even more.

¹Or, 'resorted to me'

Page – 512