The Leader of our Journey
The ṛgveda, as I believe, is the record of our human fathers, pitaro manuṣyaḥ, who have conquered immortality by the work, and having reached this goal, are invoked to assist a later mortal race in the same divine achievement. It is the great journeys – from mortality to immortality – from falsehood to the truth – that our ancestors accomplished, opening the way for their descendants.
The imagery is also very clear. The following excerpt from one of Sri Aurobindo’s works is relevant. Here he speaks about the ṛṣi vasiṣṭha who invokes the divine powers in VII.42 and VII.52 of the veda.
In the first, he sings, “Ease of travelling for Thee is the path, O agni and known to Thee from of old. . . . Seated, I call the births divine.” This path is between the home of these divine powers and our earthly mortality down which the divinities descend, through the antarikṣa, the vital regions to the earthly sacrifice and up which the sacrifice and man by the sacrifice ascends to the home of the divine. agni yokes his steeds, the flames of the divine force he represents, which bear the hero within us that performs the journey.
The 52nd hymn is more significant. It first runs – आदित्यासो अदितयः स्याम – ādityāso aditayaḥ syāma – O, sons of the infinite mother, may we become infinite beings. It goes on to say – सनेम मित्रावरुणा सनन्तो भवेम द्यावापृथिवि भवन्तः – sanema mitrāvaruṇā sananto bhavema dyāvāpṛthivi bhavantaḥ – possessing may we possess you, o mitrā and varuṇā, becoming may we become you, O heaven and earth – evidently, in the sense that we are to possess and become the infinities or children of aditi.
In this journey, it is our great friend, agni, who guides us. He is both beginning and end, leading us from the start, helping and supporting us through the journey, till we at last reach his abode. He shows us vājasya panthaṁ – the path to the plenitude; ṝtasya pantham –the path of righteousness and asuryam ā aruhat – makes us climb to greatness.
I was recently reading maṇdala 5 of the ṛgveda which contains the hymns of the atri ṛṣi. My principal affinity towards the atri ṛṣi stems from the fact that their work comprises divinising life – as our journey progresses, the states of inconscience and darkness are dispelled and give way to conscious awareness. The fourth hymn sung by ṛṣi vasuśruta invokes agni – the divine will, priest, warrior and leader of our journey and one of my own beloved deities.
त्वामग्ने वसुपतिं वसूनामभि प्र मन्दे अध्वरेषु राजन्
त्वया वजं वाजयन्तो जयेमाऽभि ष्याम पृत्सुतीर्मर्त्यानाम्
tvāmagne vasupatiṁ vasūnāmabhi pra mande adhvareṣu rājan
tvayā vajaṁ vājayanto jayemā’bhi ṣyāma pṛtsutīrmartyānām
O agni, wealth-master of riches, I direct my delight towards thee in the pilgrim-sacrifice
O king, replenishing thee may we conquer the plenitude, may we overcome the battle hosts of the mortals
हव्यवाळग्निरजरः पिता नो विभुर्विभावा सुदृशीको अस्मे
सुगार्हपत्याः समिषो दिदीह्यस्मध्रक् सं मिमीहि श्रवांसि
havyavāt agniḥ ajaraḥ pitā no vibhuḥ vibhāvā sudṛśīkaḥ asme
sugārhapatyāḥ sam iṣaḥ didīhi asmadhrak saṁ mimīhi śravāṁsi
The ageless agni, who carries the offering, is our father. He is pervasive in his being, perfect in vision and extended in light
Accomplished in works of the master of the house, blaze out your forces – form the inspirations of knowledge and turn them towards us
विशां कविं विश्पतिं मानुषीणाम् शुचिं पावकं घृतपृष्ठमग्निम्
नि होतारं विश्वविदं दधिध्वे स देवेषु वनते वार्याणि
viśāṁ kaviṁ viśpatiṁ mānuṣīṇām śuciṁ pāvakaṁ ghṛtapṛṣṭhamagnim
ni hotāraṁ viśvavidaṁ dadhidhve sa deveṣu vanate vāryāṇi
The seer, master of men, lord of the human people, pure and purifying with its back of light
Set within you, agni, as the omniscient priest of the call, he shall win our desirable things in the godheads
जुषस्वाग्न इळया सजोषा यतमानो रश्मिभिः सूर्यस्य
जुषस्व नः समिधं जातवेद आ च देवान् हविर्द्याय वक्षि
juṣasvāgna iḻayā sajoṣā yatamāno raśmibhiḥ sūryasya
juṣasva naḥ samidhaṁ jātaveda ā ca devān haviḥ adyāya vakṣi
Take pleasure in us, o agni – of one mind with ilā, the goddess of revelation, labouring with the rays of the sun
Accept with pleasure our fuel, o knower of all things born and bring the gods to us to partake in our sacrifice
जुष्टो दमूना अतिथिर्दुरोण इमं नो यज्ञमुप याहि विद्वान्
विश्वा अग्ने अभियुजो विहत्या शत्रूयतामा भरा भोजनानि
juṣṭo damūnā atithiḥ duroṇa imaṁ no yajñam upa yāhi vidvān
viśvā agne abhiyujo vihatyā śatrūyatām ā bharā bhojanāni
A cherished guest domiciled in our gated house, come to the sacrifice of ours as the knower
O agni, slaying all [hostile energies*] who assail us, bring to us the enjoyments of those who make themselves our enemy
[*all hostile energies that attack the soul of man possess certain energies which he needs and has to wrest from them in order to arrive at his perfect plenitude]
वधेन दस्युं प्र हि चातयस्व वयः कृण्वानस्तन्वे स्वायै
पिपर्षि यत् सहसस्पुत्र देवान्त्सो अग्ने पाहि नृतम वाजे अस्मान्
vadhena dasyuṁ pra hi cātayasva vayaḥ kṛṇvānaḥ tanve svāyai
piparṣi yat sahasaḥ putra devān saḥ agne pāhi nṛtama vāje asmān
Chase the destroyer from us with your blow; make a free space for growth for your own body
When, o son of force, you are carrying the gods; guard us in the plenitude, o agni, mightiest deity
वयं ते अग्न उक्थैर्विधेम वयं हव्यैः पावक भद्रशोचे
अस्मे रयिं विश्ववारं समिन्वास्मे विश्वानि द्रविणानि धेहि
vayaṁ te agna ukthaiḥ vidhema vayaṁ havyaiḥ pāvaka bhadraśoce
asme rayiṁ viśvavāraṁ saminva asme viśvāni draviṇāni dhehi
May we worship thee with our words, o agni; worship thee with our offerings, o purifier, o happy light
Bring into us the treasure in which are all desirable things; establish in us substance of every kind of riches
अस्माकमग्ने अध्वरं जुषस्व सहसः सूनो त्रिषधस्थ हव्यम्
वयं देवेषु सुकृतः स्याम शर्मणा नस्त्रिवरूथेन पाहि
asmākam agne adhvaraṁ juṣasva sahasaḥ sūno triṣadhastha havyam
vayaṁ deveṣu sukṛtaḥ syāma śarmaṇā naḥ trivarūthena pāhi
Accept our pilgrim-sacrifice, o agni; accept our offering, o son of force [and] holder of the triple worlds [of your session]
May we be doers of good deeds before the godheads; protect us with a triple armour of peace
विश्वानि नो दुर्गहा जातवेद सिन्धु न नावा दुरिताति पर्षि
अग्ने अत्रिवन्नमसा गृणानोऽस्माकं बोध्यविता तनूनाम्
viśvāni no durgahā jātaveda sindhu na nāvā durita ati parṣi
agne atrivat namasā gṛṇāno asmākaṁ bodhi avitā tanūnām
Carry us through all difficult passages, o knower of all things born; through all calamities like a ship over the ocean
O agni, voiced by us with our obeisance, even as did the [sage] atri, awake and be the guardian of our bodies
यस्त्वा हृदा कीरिणा मन्यमानोऽमर्त्यं मर्त्यो जोहवीमि
जातवेदो यशो अस्मासु धेहि प्रजाभिरग्ने अमृतत्वमश्याम्
yah tvā hṛdā kīriṇā manyamānaḥ amartyaṁ martyaḥ johavīmi
jātavedaḥ yaśaḥ asmāsu dhehi prajābhiḥ agne amṛtatvam aśyām
I think of thee with a heart that is thy singer, and mortal, I call to thee immortal
Establish the glory in us, o knower of all things born, by [the children of] my works, may I win immortality, o agni
यस्मै त्वं सुकृते जातवेद उ लोकमग्ने कृणवः स्योनम्
अश्विनं स पुत्रिणं वीरवन्तं गोमन्तं रयिं नशते स्वस्ति
yasmai tvaṁ sukṛte jātaveda u lokam agne kṛṇavaḥ syonam
aśvinaṁ sa putriṇaṁ vīravantaṁ gomantaṁ rayiṁ naśate svasti
O knower of all things born, doer of greats deeds for whom you shall make that happy other world
Reaches in peace a wealth, in which are the horses of swiftness, the ray-cows, the son and the heroes**
[**the ancient vedic symbols of the Horse, Cow, Son and Hero recur here as well. The vital powers are the motive forces that bear us on our journey and symbolised by the horse; the herds are the illuminations that come to us from the Truth, the herding rays of the sun of Light, symbolised by the cow; the sons are the new soul-formations comprising the divine personality within us; and the heroes are the mental and moral energies within us that resist the assault of ignorance, division and falsehood]
So ends a hymn to the Divinity that knows all successive births of the soul in its ascending plans of existence.
Peace
S
PS: Sri Aurobindo’s writing quoted above and the poetic translation of the hymn 5.4 above (c) Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1998.