Hymns to the Mystic Fire

[1]

RV I.1

The Rigveda

Translated into English with an etymological reconstruction of the Old Sanscrit or Aryan tongue in which it was rendered in the Dwapara Yuga and an explanation of the Yogic phenomena and philosophy with which it is mainly concerned.

[word] - word(s) omitted by the author or lost through damage to the manuscript that are required by grammar or sense, and that could be supplied by the editors.

Hymns of the First Cycle

I.

A hymn of praise, welcome and prayer to Agni, Lord of Tejas, composed when the mind of the Yogin Madhuchchhanda was full of sattwic energy and illumination.

1) Agni the brilliant I adore who standeth before the Lord, the god that has the ecstasy of the truth, the fighter that fulfilleth utter bliss.

2) Agni adorable to the sages of old, adorable to the new, holds up the gods with force & might.

3) By Agni one enjoyeth strength, one enjoyeth increase day by day and a mastery full of force.

4) O Agni, the Lord below about whom thou art on every side a flame encompassing, came by the gods into this world.

5) Agni the fighter, the strong in wisdom, the true, the manifold, the high of fame, has come to us, a god meeting with gods.

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6) O beloved, that to the foe who would destroy thee thou, O Agni, doest good, this is the Truth of thee, O Lord of Love.

7) O Agni, to thee yearning if day by day we embrace thee with our mind and bear the law, then thou growest in mastery and might:—

8) To thee the shining one of the gods below who guardest the energy of the nectar and increasest in thy home.

9) Do thou therefore, O Agni, become lavish of thy approach to us as a father to his child; cleave to us for our heavenly bliss.

Linguistic.

अग्निम्. The word Agnis is composed of the root अग्, the suffix नि and the case-ending स्. The root अग् occurs in two other words of this hymn, अंग and अंगिरः. Its most common meaning is love, force or excellence. The original root अ of which it is a primary derivative meant existence. The addition of ग् adds the sense of force or power. To exist in force or power is अग् in its initial sense and all other meanings are derivative or deductive from the initial sense. The sound न् is added to roots with an adjectival force as in रत्न from रत्, यज्ञ from यज्. It may have adherent to it either अ, इ or उ, and may be pure or preceded by the enclitics अ, इ, उ or their prolonged forms आ, ई, ऊ. Thus करण, शयान, बलिन्, राजन्, वरुण, इष्णु, विष्णु etc. अग्नि means one who exists in force or power. Cf the Greek ἄϒαν, exceedingly, ἀϒαθóς, good, originally meaning strong, powerful, brave. From the same sense of power, force, excellence come various senses of ἄϒω, the Latin ago, lead, drive, act, etc. On the other hand the insertion of the nasal sound between अ and ग् gives the sense of love, sweetness, softness, beauty, as the particular kind of force or excellence implied in the root.

ईळे The root ईल्, dialectically ईळ्, also takes by a slight modification of sound the form ईड्. It is a primary derivative of the original root इ, implying motion towards. The addition of ल् gives the sense of approaching with love and gives rise to the signification, adore, worship. It has a strong sense of bhakti,

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emotional worship.

पुरो हितम्. Two separate words, adverb and participle, "set before". The participle is generally treated as belonging to धा, but it is originally the past verbal adjective of हि. The sound ह् conveys contact, motion or emission with force. Thus the root ह is to throw, strike, kill and in its derivatives to leap, dance etc. The root हु is similarly to attack, fight, throw from one, drag away etc. The root हि means to pierce, penetrate, adhere, be set in and actively to strike away, wear away, impair with other meanings. From the sense of adherence, we get a deductive sense of fondness, clinging, love, friendliness, the classic significance of the adjective हित.

यज्ञस्य. This word is of the utmost importance in the Veda. Its subsequent meaning of sacrifice has overclouded the sense of the Scriptures ever since the later half of the Dwapara Yuga; but originally and in the age of Madhuchchhanda it had no shade of this meaning. It is the root यज् with the suffix न adjectival, as explained under अग्नी. यज् is a primary derivative from the initial root य which had a sense of control, restraint, persistence, preservation. This we find in its derivatives यम् to order, control, regulate; यत् to use force upon, strive, practise; यक्ष् the habituative, to keep carefully from which यक्ष the guardians of wealth, the ganas, hosts of Kuvera; यछ् to importune, entreat, supplicate; यच् to control, to regulate, distribute, give. यज् means to regulate, rule, order, govern. यज is He who does these things, the Lord, Governor, Master, Provider, Giver, and in the Veda it is applied to the Supreme Being, Parameshwara, who governs the universe as the Master of Nature, the Disposer of its Laws, the Almighty Providence, the Master of the Dharma. It has a similar sense to the word यमः applied to the single god of Dharma, Yama. There is an echo of this use in the Vishnu Purana when it is said that Vishnu is born in the Satya Yuga as Yajna, in the Treta as the Chakravarti Raja, in the Dwapara as Vyasa. In the Satya Yuga mankind is governed by its own pure, perfect and inborn nature spontaneously fulfilling the dharma under the direct inspiration of God within as Yajna, the Lord of the Dharma. In the Treta the Dharma is maintained by the sceptre and the sword guarding

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the unwritten law. In the Dwapara the Dharma is supported by codes, Shastras, a regulated and written system.

देवम् From the root दिव् conveying the idea of active, rapid or brilliant energy. It means to shine, to play, (cf दिव् to gamble), to be bright, clear, strong, swift or luminous. The Devas are strictly speaking the sattwic and rajasic powers of the sukshma worlds, Swar and Bhuvar, who govern or assist the operations of intelligence and energy in man; but it came to be applied to all beings of the other worlds without distinction, even to the tamasic forces, beings and powers who hurt and oppose these very operations. It is in this latter sense that the Persians used it after the teachings of Jarad-drashta (Zaruthrusta, Jaratkaru) had accustomed them to apply other terms to the beneficent and helpful powers.

ॠत्विजम् The word ॠत्विक् like the word पुरोहितम् only latterly came to mean a sacrificial priest. It is composed of two words ॠत् and विज्. In Old Sanscrit ऋ and रि were used interchangeably like ळ and ड. The root ऋ conveyed the idea of fixity, constancy, ऋत् or रित् is the old verbal noun forming the roots ऋत् and रित् and conveys the ideas [of] fixity, persistence, constancy, truth, steadfastness, wisdom, धैर्य, सत्यं. From the same root is formed ऋषिः, the root ऋष् being a habituative form of ऋ and meaning to be constant, wise, true, steadfast, calm and still. It was the old word answering to the धीर of the Upanishads. Similarly ऋतम् means truth, law etc, ऋतु is the fixed period or season, the habitual menstruation etc. The word विज् is a derivative of the initial root वि to open, manifest, from which are formed विद् to see, the root विल् conveying the idea of publicity, light, etc common in Tamil and Latin, and विज् meaning also to see. The ऋत्विज् is the drashta, seer or rishi, the one who has vision of spiritual truth.

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