Hymns to the Mystic Fire

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RV VI.1.1-4

Rigveda Book VI. Annotations: First Draft.

[ ] - blank left by the author to be filled in later but left unfilled, which the editors were not able to fill.

[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.

I. Hymn to Agni

1) Thou, O Agni, art the supreme (or first) thinker (or giver of thought); and art the priest of invocation of this thinking, O doer of works (or,OPuissant); thou hast made an impassable strength for thyself to every side,Obull, that thou mayst overpower every force.

अग्ने त्वं हि प्रथमो (मुख्यः परमः पूर्वतमो वा) मनोता (मंता मनसः प्रचोदयिता वा) (हे) दस्म (कर्तः कर्मशक्त वा) (त्वं) अस्या धियः (श्रुतिरुपस्य मननस्य मंत्रस्य वा) होताह्वाताभवः । (हे) वृषन् (वर्षिष्ठ बलवन् देव). त्वं सीं (सर्वतो) दुष्टरीतु (दुर्भेद्यं दुर्लंघ्यं) सहो (बलं) अकृणोः (चकृथाः) विश्वस्मै सहसे (सर्वं बलं) सहध्यै (अभिभवितुं येन बलेन सर्वमन्यद्वलमभिभवेः) ।

2) Then didst thou take up thy seat in the place of revelation as the priest of invocation mighty for the sacrifice, adorable of men, thence impelling them to their journey (or to the work).

अधा (अथ) ईड्यः सन् (ईड्यः पूजनीयो वा) यजीयान् (यष्टुं समर्थतरो) होता सन्निळः (ज्ञानस्य) पदे इषयन् (प्रचोदयन्) न्यसीदः (चेतसोंऽतर्निषण्णवानसि) ।

The Strong Ones (of old) seeking the godhead, turning to knowledge, followed after thee, the first and supreme, to the great felicity.

तं त्वा that thee (तादृशं त्वां) प्रथमं the first or supreme नरः men or the Strong Ones देवयंतः seeking the godhead (देवतां सेवमाना देवकामा देवत्वकामा वा) महो राये for the great felicity (महते भद्राय) चितयंतो waking to or in knowledge (चित्तिं ज्ञानं वर्तयंतो)

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अनुग्मन् (अन्वगच्छन्) followed.

3) They with wakeful hearts followed thee, and thou travelledst as on a path with thy many colonists, and they attained to felicity in thee; yea they followed the blazing Flame which is visioned and vast and full of substance, and shines with all manner of lustres.

अनु after thee, in thy wake (त्वां understood) बहुभिर्वसव्यैः with many who were to be lodged (in the divine seats बहुभिर्देव-निवासयोग्यैः सह) वृतेव यंतं going as by a road (मार्गेण इव गच्छंतं) they (ते is understood) जागृवांसः wakeful (ज्ञाने जाग्रतः) त्वे रयिं ग्मन् attained to felicity in thee (त्वयि भद्रं प्राप्नुवन्)—अग्निं after Agni रुशंतं blazing (सवर्णें द्योतमानं सरक्तवर्नं वा) दर्शतं visioned (दृष्टियुक्तं पश्यंतं दर्शनीयं वा) बृहंतं vast वपावंतं substantial (वपा [ ]) विश्वहा दीदिवांसं every way shining (सर्वथा सर्वकालं वा देदीप्यमानं).

4) They came by adoration to the seat of the godhead; they desired inspired knowledge and they attained to an inviolate knowledge; yea, even, they held in them the sacrificial Names; they took delight in thy blissful power of vision.

पदं देवस्य To the place of the god नमसा by obeisance व्यंतः arriving (गच्छंतः) श्रवस्यवः desiring inspired knowledge (सत्यश्रुतिमिच्छंतः) अमृक्तं श्रव आपन् they got an untouched inspiration (वृत्रैरस्पृष्टामबाधितां सत्यश्रुतिं प्राप्नुवन्) चिद् even यज्ञियानि नामानि the sacrificial names (यज्ञफलदानसमर्थानि यज्ञयोग्यानि देव-नामानि) दधिरे they held in themselves (आत्मनः कृत्वा धारयामासुः); भद्रायां संदृष्टौ ते in thy happy vision (त्वदीयायां आनंदतत्त्वसंयुक्तायां परमसत्यदृष्ट्यां देवदर्शने वा) रणयंत they took delight (अरमयन् आनंदं चक्रुः).

1) त्वं ह्याग्ने प्रथमो मनोता. अग्ने (O Agni) त्वं हि (त्वं खलु thou verily) प्रथमः मनोता (art the first or supreme thinker).

Sayana here differs only in the sense of मनोता which means in his view देवानां मनो यत्रोतं भवति तादृशः he on whom the mind of the gods is sewn. मनोता is therefore मन + ऊत (वे]) or else मन् + ओत (आवे), a very hazardous and forced etymology; besides the termination is not त but तृ. I take it as a verbal agent, an archaic derivative from मन् with an archaic connecting gunated उ as in

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तनोति. We find this form surviving from O.A. in Greek forms in ωτƞς. It will mean the thinker or else the giver of thought, the mentaliser.

S. quotes Ai. Br. 2.10 अग्निः सर्वा मनोता अग्नौ मनोताः संगच्छंते and says हि shows that the verse is a reference to the Brahmana. This is chronologically impossible.

अस्या धियो अभवो दस्म होता. दस्म (O active, or, O powerful) अस्याः धियः (of this thought) होता अभवः (thou hast become the priest of invocation).

दस्म Sayana takes as दर्शनीय beautiful. दस् means to cut, divide, bite (like दंश्), injure, rob, destroy; give, (like दा, दाश्, दत्); to see (like दृश्); to shine. It may therefore mean (1) robber, destroyer, destructive, cf दस्युः, दासः, (2) giver, bountiful, (3) seeing, visible, beautiful, (4) shining. None of these senses is suitable in the context; the epithet is otiose therefore in Veda. But also दस् or दंस् must have meant to do, work, toil, cf दंसना, दंसि, पुरुदंसा, दासः a servant, slave; or, like other words having the sense of cutting, striking etc it may develop the sense of strength, force, power.We have then two other possible senses, active, and powerful or forceful, both of which come in perfectly wherever दस्म or दस्र occurs in the Veda.

धियः Sayana takes = कर्मणः. I see no reason for attaching this sense to the word in the Rig Veda. S. himself frequently admits for धी the sense thought or understanding. At most times he renders it स्तुति prayer. धी means thought, and may mean especially the thought expressed in the mantra, therefore the mantra or hymn itself; and in that sense we may justify this interpretation. But I take it always as thought in a particular or a general sense. See Appendix. Agni is the supreme thinker; in that capacity he has become the priest of the present (godward) thought in the mind of the Rishi. S's sense is "Thou art the summoning priest of this rite", mine, "Thou hast become the priest of invocation of this thinking."

त्वं सीं वृषन्नकृणोर्दुष्टरीतु सहो विश्वस्मै सहसे सहध्यै । वृषन् (O bull), त्वं (thou) दुष्टरीतु सहः (a hard-to-pierce or hard-to-cross force), सीं (on every side) अकृणोः (अकरोः hast made) विश्वस्मै सहसे सहध्यै (विश्वं सहः प्रसह्याभिभवितुं to force every force). दुष्टरितु—

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दुस् + तरीतु (तृ gunated + तु with connecting ई), t to pierce, wound, cross, pass beyond. सहध्यै, an old Vedic infinitive form, expressing the infinitive of purpose; modified into thai (sthai) it remained the ordinary middle and passive infinitive termination in Greek. विश्वस्मै सहसे (विश्वस्मै not विश्वाय because विश्व like सर्व is a pronominal word in V.S.); the dative of the object instead of the accusative is a common Vedic idiom.

वृषन् Sayana here as ordinarily, कामानां वर्षितः. The word means Bull or Male; it is used of horses. It is the strength of Agni that is in immediate question, not his bounty. वृषा bull, male is constantly applied to Indra and Agni, as to other gods, often with a direct reference to the rays or energies or human beings as the herd they lead. वि सहसे सह S. to overpower every strong enemy. सहस् may be used as an adjective as well as a noun like यशस् = strength or strong, but there is no clear instance in the R.V. and no need here for the adjectival sense. Agni's is the supreme strength or force, which overpowers and dominates all forces in the world.

S's sense, "O rainer (of desires), thou hast made on all sides an invulnerable strength to overcome every strong one (ie enemy)", mine, "Thou hast made an impassable strength for thyself on every side, O Bull, that thou mayst overpower every force."

Translation. S. Thou art the supreme (or ancient) mind-sewn (on whom is sewn the mind of the gods); thou art the summoning priest of this (ritual) work; O rainer (of desires), thou hast made on all sides an invulnerable strength to overcome every strong one.

Thou art the supreme thinker, and thou hast become the priest of invocation of this thinking. Thou hast made an impassable strength for thyself on every side, O Bull, that thou mayst overpower every force.

Explanation. For the esoteric sense of the Veda, we start with the premiss that Agni is the Flame or Force, base of all action, formation, creation, not only, as he very evidently is in the surface exoteric sense, in the material universe, but in all being, in spirit and mind and life as well as in matter. But how do

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we arrive at or justify this premiss? At first sight it seems not at all obvious, but rather a very considerable assumption. It appears from the very first expression in this first hymn of Bharadwaja. "O Flame (Agni), thou art the supreme or first thinker."Material fire or its god cannot be so described; the phrase at once gives Agni a psychological function—a flame or fire-god cannot be called thus significantly the supreme or first thinker unless we suppose that in the fiery principle which pervades the universe there is a consciousness which thinks out all the works attributed to it by the Vedic Rishis, such as the creation of the worlds, the guardianship of Truth and Immortality. Sayana's interpretation, "the first in whom the mind of the gods is inwoven", imposes the same idea. We see too that Agni is everywhere designated the Seer, kavi. Not only so, but for Vamadeva (IV.3.16) he is the seer to whom the secret words of seer-wisdom (निण्या वचांसि काव्यानि) are spoken and to whom their hidden sense expresses its meaning, निवचना. This would have no sufficient sense, if it were spoken only of a godhead of cosmic physical flame. It is quite evident from the most literal sense of the Veda that Agni is a godhead characterised by a supreme power of divine knowledge. This can be nothing else than the conscious Force of divine Knowledge which creates (निर्ममे) the worlds. We shall find from other passages that he is the divine Flame also in the thoughts and in the heart of man, अमृतो मर्तेषु, the immortal in mortal beings.

This godhead of divine active Force is the supreme thinker or the first mentaliser of things. He is then an immortal flame of Power that makes for knowledge. As this thinker, this active Puissance, दस्म, he has become the Hotri of this thought, अस्या धियो होता. The thought may be the thought expressed in the hymn = अस्य सूक्तस्य; even if we take धियः = कर्मणः, still it is as the supreme thinker that he works in the sacrifice, and the sense therefore is that it is by his power of thought that he conducts the sacrifice, brings into it the other gods and gives its fruit, —unless we take the two padas as unconnected in sense. The Hotri is the priest of invocation and also the priest who gives the offering. This divine Power of the sacrificial thought and

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action brings in the powers of the other gods into the sacrifice and conducts the sacrificial action. Is this spoken of the inner or only of the outer ritual sacrifice?

And the Flame is a flame not of effective thought, but of invincible and inviolable Power. It is the Vrishan, the Bull, the Leader of the Herds, the Strong and Mighty One. In the abundance of its strength [it] makes all around it and us and the sacrifice a force which is hard to pierce or whose defences none can pass, and this invulnerable force is not only defensive but aggressive; it overpowers every force. This may mean that the force of this flame of the divine Will in the sacrificial thought and action overcomes every other hostile force or, more simply and generally, it dominates all surrounding powers and makes the sacrifice master of a movement which nothing can resist, degrade or violate.

2) अधा होता न्यसीदो यजीयान्. अधा (Then, or now) न्यसीदो (thou tookest thy seat) यजीयान् होता as the priest of invocation and offering very capable for the sacrifice.

अधा. Sayana takes "now", अधुना. But अधा may mean like अतः, then, next, after this; after making the invulnerable strength all round. यजीयान्, यजिष्ठ he takes sometimes in a passive sense, यजनीय; but not here, and it would not be appropriate here, for Agni is here the sacrificing priest, not the god to whom sacrifice is given. I find no passage in which यजीयान् or यजिष्ठ must mean यजनीय,—यष्टृतम makes always a good and often the only possible sense. I take it for that reason always in this active significance.

इळस्पदे इषयन्नीड्यः सन्. इळस्पदे (in the place of knowledge) इषयन् (impelling), ईड्यः सन् (being adorable or desirable).

इळस्पदे. Sayana takes in the place of earth, that is in the place of the altar-earth, meaning simply, on the altar. This is a very forced and artificial rendering. पद cannot be so neutral and otiose a word. It means always the footprint or footstep, the place attained to or the proper seat, as in देवस्य पदं (below), or विष्णोः परमं पदं. इड् or इळ् means originally to go to, approach, (इ family), so to ask, pray, adore; इळस्पदे may mean exoterically,

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place of prayer or adoration. But also verbs with this sense give constantly the sense of knowing, eg ऋषि etc. Ila is a goddess who teaches or gives knowledge, मनुषः शासनी. I suggest that इळ् means knowledge, especially, revelation, ऋक्, अर्चिः, the illumining knowledge imparted by इळा, who is the goddess or female energy of इळ्. इळस्पदे must be a very archaic phrase. The word itself only occurs in this form इळः.

इषयन्. S. takes as if a nominal from इष् food as if it were "fooding" or "foodifying" like देवयंतः; here in the sense, desiring food, elsewhere, making food. I doubt whether इष् in the Veda really means food, and in any case there is no compelling reason for taking this verb as a nominal form. It is like चेतयन् etc, from इष् which means to throw, drive, impel, send. We shall see immediately that the hymn speaks of the journey to Swar, to the देवस्य पदं. Agni thinker, priest, active power sitting as Hotri in the seat of knowledge impels or sends the sacrifice and by its power the sacrificer on the way, वृतेव यंतं, by which as Envoy of the Gods, mover between earth and heaven, he takes them to the home and seat of the Gods, his own home देवस्य पदं.

तं त्वा नरः प्रथमं देवयंतो महो राये चितयंतो अनु ग्मन् ॥ तं प्रथमं त्वा (तमेव परमं मंतारं त्वां) thee that supreme नरः men (of old) or, the strong ones, देवयंतः (देवान् कामयंतो देवत्वं वा) seeking the godheads चितयंतः seeking knowledge महो राये (महत्यै भूत्यै आनन्दाय) to or for great felicity अनुग्मन् followed.

तं त्वा. तं has the force of तादृशं—thee who hast these qualities and doest these actions, प्रथमं recalling the प्रथमो मनोता of the opening pada.

नरः. Sayana takes this word sometimes as simply meaning "men" (मनुष्याः), but here as most often he explains नेतारो मनुष्याः, men who lead, Ritwiks and Yajamanas, priests and sacrificers. This is a sense which is quite inappropriate in many passages and नृ could not have come to mean men, if it had meant leaders. नृ meant originally to move (cf नृत् to dance, नार water etc.), नृ must have meant mobile, active and so strong. This sense is proved by the word नृम्ण which is certainly used in the Veda in the sense of strength. नृ is a word applied to the gods, the Males, Strong Ones, Purushas as opposed to the ग्नाः, the females, goddesses

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(Gr. gunê, woman); it is applied to the fathers, the Angirases or others; it is used as an equivalent to वीर, as in नृवद् वसु for वीरवद् वसु. These are, it seems to me, conclusive indications of the Vedic sense of नृ. Here it is used for the Fathers or ancient Seers as can be seen from many parallel passages. प्रथमं. S. takes "before the other gods", but that has no force in this passage, —what would be the sense of desiring Agni and following him to Heaven first, the other gods afterwards, as if the journey had to be undertaken many times,—and it ignores the प्रथम of the first line of which this is an evident resumptive repetition.

देवयंतः. Nominal vb. from देव a god. Sayana takes "desiring thee the god", but I do not know where he gets his "thee" in the word, and if he takes it from त्वा, then there is no instance of an accusative of this kind after देवयति. The word is quite general; it must mean divinising, god-seeking or else making themselves divine. चितयंतः. S. knowing Agni or else making known by the hymn of praise; a very feeble sense in itself and not warranted by other passages. चित् is to become conscious of a thing, get to know or know, चितयंतः expresses either an awakening to knowledge or a continuous activity of getting knowledge. The Fathers or ancient Rishis desired godhead or immortality or companionship with the gods, अमृतत्वं, a growing in knowledge was the means by which they pursued it, and Agni, the first thinker, was the leader of the way to the home of immortality, the seat of the godhead, पदं देवस्य where men too became divine and immortal. Cf [ ] This is the very obvious, the straightforward, the most literal sense of the passage. महो राये. Dative of purpose or objective. महः (for महत्) is one of the few curious indeclinable adjectives. राः like रयिः is taken by Sayana as meaning wealth; so taking it he misses the whole sense of the passage and its connection with the two Riks that follow. It means obviously a divine riches or spiritual felicity, as we see in the next line, where the Rishis follow Agni as on a path to a great riches रयिं which they find in him, and again in 4, where the thought is expanded and made quite clear, for there it is said the Rishis travel to (व्यंतः) the seat of the god and the wealth they find is श्रवः (श्रव आपन्नमृक्तं), the fullness of the outflowing of the

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Truth which Agni leads us to and which is found in the very self of Agni, त्वे रयिं.

Translation. Then didst thou take thy seat, a priest of the invocation very mighty for sacrifice, in the seat of knowledge (or, of adoration), impelling, one desirable (or, adorable). The strong ones (of old) seeking godhead, growing in knowledge, followed after thee, even that supreme (thinker) to great riches.

S. Now thou hast taken thy seat, a priest of the offering and great sacrificer, in the place of earth (ie on the altar), desiring food, being worthy of praise. The leaders desiring thee, such a godhead, for themselves, knowing thee (or making thee known), followed thee first (of the gods) for a great wealth.

Explanation.

The Rishi then takes up again and expands the expression of the second pada of the first verse in order to restore the sequence of the idea. It is when he has made around him an invulnerable force to secure the sacrifice and its progress that the divine Flame takes up, as now, his seat as the priest of the invocation and offering and in that fulfilled strength he is very mighty for the works of sacrifice. He sits in the seat of knowledge as the supreme thinker—the Seer Will, may we not say, in the plane of revelatory thought and seeing, इळस्पदे, from there he gives the impulsion to the works and the journey of the sacrifice. This is the desirable Godhead, the Flame that men pray for which by its power of knowledge lifts them to immortality. And the Rishi takes up the suggestion of the word "impelling", इषयन्, and indicates the nature of the great journey on whose paths the Flame of the divine Force marches himself and impels the human being. It is the great march which was undertaken by the strong semi-divine men of old. They found this supreme Thinker within, awakened by him to knowledge and growing constantly in knowledge they followed after him to divinise themselves in the planes of immortal being, their objective a felicity of vast riches, an immense wealth of spiritual being. This sense is inevitable, if we accept the psychological indications in मनोता, देवयंतः, चितयंतः and all that immediately follows this

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verse. How, in any case, can this insistence on the god-seeking, on knowledge, [on the] thought-aspect of the Flame God, on the wakeful following of the seer Agni on his march and on the reaching of the देवस्य पदं mean only a following after Agni for food and material wealth? This is not only wilfully to degrade and materialize the lofty language of the poetry, but to make the whole sense and expression clumsy, blundering and incoherent, where in the original it is admirably developed, straightforward and as natural and flowing as a limpid stream.

3) वृतेव यंतं बहुभिर्वसव्यैः त्वे रयिं जागृवांसो अनु ग्मन् ।
रुशंतमग्निं दर्शतं बृहंतं वपावंतं विश्वहा दीदिवांसं ॥

रुशंतं (भास्वंतं) दर्शतं बृहंतं वपावंतं विश्वहा दीदिवांसं (नित्यं सर्वथा वा देदीप्यमानं) अनु Agni blazing with light, visible (or visioned), vast, having substance, always (or altogether, in all ways) shining, बहुभिः वसव्यैः वृता इव (मार्गेणेव) यंतं in the wake of (thee) going as on a path with many colonists or accompanied by many wealthy Powers, जागृवांसः (ते जाग्रतः संतः) त्वे रयिं ग्मन् (त्वयि भूतिमध्यगच्छन्) in thee they went to (attained) the wealth.

इव. Sayana takes इव = now, संप्रति. He interprets it thus, that the last verse referred to former priests and sacrificers, अनु ग्मन् having there a past sense पूर्वं, but this verse to present priests and sacrificers, अनु ग्मन् having here a present sense. This is an unusual and here quite unwarranted sense of इव. There is nothing to indicate a new subject for the verb or a change in its tense significance. The repetition of the verb is a quite common feature of the Vedic style and it sustains a continuity in the sense and subject; it does not indicate a break in it or turning to a new subject. इव simply indicates that the path, वृत्, पंथा so often referred to in the Veda, is a symbol; this use of इव is common enough in the hymns. वृता. S, the path between earth and heaven: no doubt, but it is not a physical path, but the path of Truth by which Agni goes, ऋतस्य पंथा, (cf [ ]). वसव्यैः S. says this may mean the Vasus, or "those who are fit to dwell among the Yajamanas"! He takes अनु ग्मन् here, as following after in the sense of being devoted to or serving, संभजंते. But वृता यंतं surely demands the plain natural sense for the verb. वसव्यै

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may mean "wealthy" from वसु or "those who are for the वासः" cf वस्यं. Agni is accompanied by many powers that hold or amass the wealth, रयि, वसु or he marches to the देवस्य पदं with many who, like the Rishis following him, have to be lodged there.

त्वे रयिं जागृवांसः. S. interprets, giving wealth to Agni! This is a portentous feat of learning! I fail to understand how "being wakeful" can mean giving, or how it can govern the accusative रयिं. Evidently रयिं is governed by the sense of "going to" in अनु ग्मन्, an accusative of the destination reached,—in literal English, they followed Agni to the wealth, or in the wake of Agni reached the wealth.

रुशंतं. S. "of a shining colour". रुशत् is opposed to कृष्ण in IV.3.9 and means bright of hue as opposed to black or simply bright as opposed to dark. दर्शत. S. says "beautiful", his usual interpretation. दर्शत from दृश् to see may be passive, visible, or fit to be seen, beautiful (but this second sense has here no force or bearing on the context), or, active = seeing. See App. वपावंतं. S. does not here explain the word, but elsewhere he says प्रवृद्धं. See Appendix. विश्वहा. S. "always". It may however mean "in all ways of light", हा = दा or हा = धा or था.

Translation. In thyw ake as thou travelledst as on a path with thy many colonists (or lords of riches) they followed wakeful after thee and came in thee to (those) riches,—(in the wake of) Agni blazing, visible (or, full of sight), vast, full of substance, ever luminous (or, shining in all ways of light).

Explanation. The ancient Rishis pursued the leading divine Power on its ways, with a full wakefulness of the mind of knowledge, चितयंतः, not falling into error or deviating from the path (this psychological sense is extremely frequent in all Vedic literature, it does not mean keeping lively and awake during the sacrifice) and attained in that Power those great riches,—that is to say, in the full flame of the divine Force and Knowledge on its own divine plane, देवस्य पदं. This plane, we find elsewhere, is the home of the Truth, सत्यं ऋतं बृहत्. I take it to be a symbol of the supramental plane of existence, बृहद् द्यौः which is beyond the two firmaments of heaven and earth. The divine Flame marches as if on a path; the oft-mentioned path of Truth by which the Rishis,

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we are told, attained to immortality. He goes surrounded by the souls that aspire to transcend the two firmaments and have to be lodged in that supreme dwelling place, क्षयः, क्षेत्रं etc. He is bright and vast, a visible or a seeing might of the divine force and consciousness, full of the body and substance (वपावंतं, वपुषं, वपुष्यं) of its light and flame, always lifting up its lustres or else shining with a manifold and universal light of knowledge. The epithets in the second line are all applicable to the physical Fire and but for the context they might be taken of the flame on the physical altar; but how does the physical Fire march as if on a path,—for it is not a forest fire that is being here described, or, if it is, how do the sacrificers or the priests follow wakefully the forest fire and get in it a great riches? If it be said that all this is a figure for getting wealth by constant sacrifice, I can only say that it is a most amazing figure and a most excited, violent, tortured, indirect and unprimitive style of writing. Certainly the epic exaltation of the style would lead us to think that it meant something much more exalted and inspiring. Pass, but what of the पदं देवस्य व्यंतः in the next verse? And if that means the altar, what are we to make of the 7th rik, त्वं विशो अनयो दीद्यानो दिवो अग्ने बृहता रोचनेन, where Sayana himself is obliged to translate, thou shining leadst men to heaven? Is not this exactly the same idea and an echo of the same language as in this verse, "men followed thee shining as on a path, and came to the seat of the godhead"? How can the idea of men following the shining god to the देवस्य पदं and the idea of the shining god leading men to the heavens, mean two quite different things? Absolutely, the only difficulty in the way of the plain sense is the refusal to take राये and रयिं in a figurative significance. This plain and natural figure is denied to the Rishis, but a much more violent figure forced on them in order to arrive at a materialistic meaning.

4) पदं देवस्य नमसा व्यंतः श्रवस्यवः श्रव आपन्नमृक्तं ।

पदं देवस्य the seat (world) of the god नमसा व्यंतः going to by adoration, श्रवस्यवः (सत्यश्रुतिकामाः) (they) desiring inspired knowledge श्रवः अमृक्तं आपन् (अधर्षितां सत्यश्रुतिं प्राप्नुवन्) attained an inviolate knowledge.

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