The Secret of the Veda

The Third Hymn to Agni

The Divine Force, Conqueror of the Supreme Good

[The Divine Will-Force is that of which all the other godheads are forms and he manifests all these powers of supreme Truth as he grows in us. Thus the supreme state of conscious being is attained and by that our complex and manifold existence is maintained in the Light and the Joy. The Rishi prays that the evil may not be allowed to express itself again in him, that the secret soul in us who is the Father of things but in us appears as the child of our works and our evolution, may open itself to the vast Truth-Consciousness. The Divine Flame will destroy all the powers of falsehood and evil who seek to make us stumble and would rob us of our heavenly treasure.]

त्वमग्ने वरुणो जायसे यत् त्वं मित्रो भवसि यत् समिद़्धः ।
त्वे विश्वे सहसस्पुत्र देवास्त्वमिन्द्रो दाशुषे मर्त्याय ॥१॥

1) Thou art he of the Wideness,¹ O Will, when thou art born; thou becomest the Lord of Love² when thou art entirely kindled. In thee are all the gods, O son of Force; thou art the Power-in-Mind³ for the mortal who gives the offering.

त्वमर्यमा भवसि यत् कनीनां नाम स्वधावन् गुह्यं बिभर्षि ।
अञ्जन्ति मित्रं सुधितं न गोभिर्यद् दंपती समनसा कृणोषि ॥२॥

Page 401

2) O thou who possessest self-ordering Nature, thou becomest the might of the Aspirer⁴ when thou bearest the secret Name of the Virgins.⁵ They brighten thee with the Light in her rays as Love⁶ perfectly founded when thou makest of one mind the Lord and his Spouse⁷ in their mansion.

तव श्रिये मरुतो मर्जयन्त रुद्र यत् ते जनिम चारु चित्रम् ।
पदं यद् विष्णोरुपमं निधायि तेन पासि गुह्यं नाम गोनाम् ॥३॥

3) For the glory of thee, O Violent One, the Thought-Powers make to shine out by their pressure that which is thy rich and beautiful birth.⁸ When that highest stride⁹ of Vishnu has been established within, thou protectest by it the secret Name of the herds of the Radiance.¹⁰

तव श्रिया सुदृशो देव देवाः पुरु दधाना अमृतं सपन्त ।
होतारमग्निं मनुषो नि षेदुर्दशस्यन्त उशिजः शंसमायोः ॥४॥

4) By the glory of thee because thou hast right vision, O god-head, the gods holding all that multiple existence taste immortality and men take their seat in the Force that offers the oblation and, desiring, they distribute to the godheads the self-expression of the being.

न त्वद़्धोता पूर्वो अग्ने यजीयान् न काव्यैः परो अस्ति स्वधावः ।
विशश्च यस्या अतिथिर्भवासि स यज्ञेन वनवद् देव मर्तान् ॥५॥

Page 402

5) There is none that precedeth thee as the priest of the oblation nor any mightier for sacrifice; O Flame, none is supreme over thee in the things of the Wisdom, thou who possessest the self-ordering power of Nature. The creature of whom thou becomest the guest, O godhead, prevails by sacrifice over all that belong to the mortality.

वयमग्ने वनुयाम त्वोता वसूयवो हविषा बुध्यमानाः ।
वयं समर्ये विदथेष्वन्हां वयं राया सहसस्पुत्र मर्तान् ॥६॥

6) May we, O Flame, fostered by thee and awakened, seekers of the substance, prevail by the offering,—we in the great struggle, we in the comings of knowledge in our days,¹¹ we by the felicity, O son of Force, overcome all that are mortal.

यो न आगो अभ्येनो भरात्यधीदघमघशंसे दधात ।
जही चिकित्वो अभिशस्तिमेतामग्ने यो नो मर्चयति द्वयेन ॥७॥

7) The expresser of evil who seeks to bring sin and transgression into us, his own evil do thou return upon his head; slay, O conscious knower, this hostile self-expression of him who oppresses us with the duality.

त्वामस्या व्युषि देव पूर्वे दूतं कृण्वाना अयजन्त हव्यैः ।
संस्थे यदग्न ईयसे रयीणां देवो मर्तैर्वसुभिरिध्यमानः ॥८॥

8) Thee, O Godhead, in the dawning of this our Night the Ancients¹² made their messenger and through thee sacrificed by their offerings because thou art the godhead that is being kindled by the mortal dwellers in this substance and thou movest to the meeting-place¹³ of all felicities.

Page 403

अव स्पृधि पितरं योधि विद्वान् पुत्रो यस्ते सहसः सून ऊहे ।
कदाँ चिकित्वो अभि चक्षसे नोऽग्ने कदा ऋतचिद् यातयासे ॥९॥

9) Deliver the Father and in thy knowledge put away evil from him who is borne in us as thy son, O child of Force. When wilt thou have that vision for us, O conscious knower? when wilt thou, O Truth-Conscious Will, impel us to the journey?

भूरि नाम वन्दमानो दधाति पिता वसो यदि तज्जोषयासे ।
कुविद् देवस्य सहसा चकानः सुम्नमग्निर्वनते वावृधानः ॥१०॥

10) Then indeed the Father adores and holds, O Dweller in the substance, the vast Name¹⁴ when thou makest him to accept and cleave to it. Will in us desires the bliss and, increasing, wins it entirely by the force of the Godhead.¹⁵

त्वमङ्ग जरितारं यविष्ठ विश्वान्यग्ने दुरिताति पर्षि ।
स्तेना अदृश्रन् रिपवो जनासोऽज्ञातकेता वृजिना अभूवन् ॥११॥

11) Thou, O Will, O youngest vigour, earnest thy adorer beyond all stumblings into grief and evil; for the creatures are seen of thee who would do hurt to us and are thieves in their hearts,—they whose perceptions are void of the knowledge and therefore they have fallen into the crookedness.

इमे यामासस्त्वद्रिगभूवन् वसवे वा तदिदागो अवाचि ।
नाहायमग्निरभिशस्तये नो न रीषते वावृधानः परा दात् ॥१२॥

12) Lo, all these movements of our journeying have turned their faces towards thee, and for that evil in us, it is declared to the Dweller in our being. O never can this Will in his increasing betray us to the hurter of our self-expression; he will not deliver us into the hands of our enemy!

Page 404