Rig Veda

Text & Audio

MAṆḌALA 1

Sūkta 76

2. Audio

▪   by South Indian brahmins
▪   by Sri Shyama Sundara Sharma and Sri Satya Krishna Bhatta. Recorded by © 2012 Sriranga Digital Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

1. Circa 1915¹

1.76.1 वराय — supreme good शं — का त उपेतिर्मनसो वराय भुवदग्ने शंतमा का मनीषा

दक्ष in sense of mental capacity, discernment.

cf सौमनसाय — 2

1.76.2 अव् = foster, increase, not protect. अवतां त्वा रोदसी विश्वमिन्वे ॥

1.76.4 प्रजा in psychological sense प्रजावता वचसा आसा आ च हुवे

1.76.5 कविः — cf सत्यतर

2. 1913 – early 1914²

1.76.1 वराय. S. तव मनसो निवारणायास्मास्ववस्थापनाय. This is a most improbable sense for वर. It is much better to take वर (= that which is वरणीय) in its ordinary Vedic significance of good, boon, thing desired, with a shade which makes it amount to “supreme good”, and मनसः with उपेतिः, ie, How shall the mind approach thee so that it may gain its desirable good? Or मनसो वराय may be taken together, “for the supreme state or desirable good of the mind”. In the one case the phrase anticipates & leads up to केन वा ते मनसा; in the second it anticipates and leads up to यजा महे सौमनसाय of v.2. ते मनसो no more goes together here than ते मनसा in the fourth pada of this verse.

मनीषा. S. स्तुतिः, “How shall our praise be most happiness-giving to thee”, ie there is no praise even suitable to thee, and he thinks the answer to को वा is न होऽपि. It certainly does not mean that any more than केन वा मनसा means that no one has the right mentality in the sacrifice. The series of questions merely express the seeking of the mind for the right way of approaching Agni, the right thought, मनीषा, the right mentality in the self-giving, मनस् , the power to embrace in the human mind the right judgment and discernment of the divine seer-will. मनीषा does not mean स्तुति in the Veda, but either the intellectual mind as distinguished from the wider मनस् which embraces the emotional mentality and sense-mind also, or else the intellectual thought that seeks for the Truth. Cf इमं स्तोमं .. सं महेमा मनीषया (1.94.1) which certainly does not mean “we will form the hymn [of] praise by the hymn of praise.” There is no reason for assigning different meanings to मनीषा here and in that passage. But Sayana can seldom forego an opportunity of making a word mean “hymn” or “food”.

शंतमा, not तव सुखकरी, but full for us of the bliss.

दक्षं . S. वृद्धिं बलं वा. Neither, but the judgment, discerning thought. ते must go surely with दक्षं not with यज्ञैः.

परि .. आप. परि gives the idea of “all round”, ie an embracing possession of the whole दक्ष.

Sayana’s rendering.

O Agni, what kind of approach should there be for stopping thy mind (keeping it with us)? what kind of hymn most gives thee happiness (there is probably none); who can get strength (or increase) by sacrifices to thee? or with what mind should we give to thee?

Psychological rendering.

How shall the mind of man approach thee for his supreme good? what thought, O Flame, must that be which carries with it the extreme bliss? who hath by sacrifices embraced all thy discerning? or with what mind shall we give to thee the offerings?

1.76.2 एहि होता takes up the idea of हवींषि implied in दाशेम. The answer to the questions of the first rik is that Agni, the Seer-Will, must himself come as the होता, the होमनिष्पादक (Sayana takes it wrongly here as देवानामाह्वाता) and bring about the right mentality by his sacrifice, महे सौमनसाय.

पुरएता, the leader in the march of the sacrifice towards the gods and the vast Truth, a leader who at once guides on the right path, पथिभी रजिष्ठैः and slays the besetters of the way, विश्वान्रक्षसः (5.3). The यज्ञ of which Agni is the होता is the अध्वरो यज्ञः.

अवतां. Not “protect”; Agni is अदब्धः पुरएता who burns all the Rakshasas; what need has he of protection who protects all? अवतां means “foster, increase” the Seer-Will. Let the earth and heaven, the physical and mental being, attain their full, all-embracing wideness, विश्वमिन्वे and by that wideness give full scope to the increase of the Seer-Will.

सौमनसाय. Perfect or right mentality including मनूषा, right thought enlightened by the दक्ष and not only the emotional part of the मनः. The सौमनस is vast, महे, as a result of the wideness of the Rodasi, the mental and physical being, which prepares the manifestation of the vast Truth; this wideness of the Rodasi is always a feature of the ascent of the gods, Agni or Indra, in that upward progress to the plane of the Truth, Swar, of which Agni here is the पुरएता, he who goes in front.

Sayana’s rendering.

Come, O Agni, sit here as the summoning priest; because thou art beyond the injury (of the Rakshasas) be well he who goes in front of us. May all-pervading earth and heaven protect thee; worship with sacrifice the divine ones for great grace.

Psychological rendering.

Hither come, O Flame, and take thy seat within as the priest of our oblation; be the unconquerable power that marches (leading and defending us) aright in our front; may our heaven and our earth, all-embracing, foster thee; sacrifice for a vast right-mindedness to the gods.

1.76.3 Indra, the Divine Mind-Power, is to be brought, after the path has been cleared of all Rakshasas, all wealth-detaining and destroying agencies, who prevent the सौमनस and break (अभिशस्ति) the uninterrupted progress of the अध्वर यज्ञ. Indra comes with his two bright powers to drink the purified wine of the Ananda offered in the clear and happy state of the mind (सौमनस) and to give in return the wealth of his world, स्वः (सुदाव्ने).

सोमपतिं. S. सर्वेषां सोमानां पालकं. Rather, lord of the Somas as he is of the गिरः, not in the sense that Soma is of the wine or Brihaspati is master of the ब्रह्माणि, because to him all speech and all outpourings of the intoxicating wine go as rivers to their sea, as herds to the bull, as women to their lord, अजोषा वृषभं पतिं.

चकृम. Possibly = we have prepared; ie the Soma is ready for the divine guest.

Utterly burn before thee all the Rakshasas, O Flame; become the protector of our sacrifices against the destroyer; then bring to us the master of our Soma-pourings with his two shining steeds; for him we have prepared guest-honour, for the perfect giver.

1.76.4 प्रजावता. प्रजा here seems not to be अपत्य in the technical Vedic sense, but to refer to all fruits of the sacrifice; S. दातव्यापत्यादिफलोपेतेन.

वचसा. S. स्तुतः सन् . I cannot accept such a clumsy construction; it means that Agni upbears the sacrifice (वह्निः) by means of the word and by his flaming mouth. That is to say, if वह्निः really refers to Agni and आसा to his flame, आस्यस्थानीयया ज्वालया as S. suggests. In that case we have to understand असि with the first pada. But the natural rendering would be to take वह्निः as referring to the Rishi. “I, upholder of the word by the breath of my mouth, call thee by the fruitful word and do thou at once take thy seat with the gods.”

वह्निः. “Upholder, maintainer” either of the word (cf सखायः स्तोमवाहसः, गिर्वाहः etc) which is most appropriate here, — “as the sustainer of the divine chant by his breath he calls him with the fruitful word”, — or else of the whole sacrifice, the inspired word of the hymn and therefore the breath of the mouth being the means by which the वह्नि upholds the course and strength of the sacrifice. Cf 1.3.11, यज्ञं दधे सरस्वती.

आसा. 1. breath. 2. mouth. The first seems to me the appropriate sense; it is the Pranic force, मुख्यः प्राणः, by which the ब्रह्म is uplifted from the heart where it has been shaped and held in the mind, हृदा तष्टं.

आ च .. नि च, gives importance to the prepositions; there are two immediately successive actions, the motion of the Rishi drawing the Seer-Will to him by the word, the motion of Agni and the Gods entering and taking their settled station within him, नि.

वेषि. S. कामयस्व. I think it is यासि, the verb used in its pure indicative sense, “’tis thou takest upon thee the office of होता and the office of पोता, O master of sacrifice, (therefore) awake.”

यजत्र. S. यजनीय. Rather here seems to express the agent as in मित्र. Agni is here the sacrificer (होतः .. यजस्व v. 5) and not the god to whom sacrifice is given.

प्रयंतः. S. प्रकर्षेण नियंतः । वसून्यस्मदायत्तानि कुर्वन् ।

जनितः. S. आहुतिद्वारा सर्वस्य जनयितरग्ने. I presume S. means सर्वस्य धनस्य.

प्रयंतर्जनितः. जनितः he who brings the spiritual wealth into being in man. प्रयंतः he who brings it by his labour into right use or possession by man.

बोधि. S. अस्मान्बोधय. There is no reason to take transitively a verb usually intransitive.

Psychological rendering.

By the fruitful word I, bearer of the sacrifice by the force of my breath, call thee to me and, thou, take thy seat here within with the gods; ’tis thou takest on thee the oblation and the purifying; wake, O bringer into being, O bringer into use of our riches.

Sayana’s rendering.

(Hymned) by a fruitful word (he who is) the bearer of the offerings to the gods, him I call; and, thou, — sit down here with the gods, desire that which is done by the Hota and the Pota; wake us, O thou who entirely controllest riches and producest (all things).

1.76.5 मनुषः. S. मनोः — मन ज्ञाने. मनुषः does indeed mean the thinker, but the mental being generally, not Manu.

विप्रस्य. S. मेधाविनः, from विप् to be luminous — cf सूरिः which like सूर्यः means also luminous; men of knowledge are in the R.V. frequently called द्युमतः, luminous.

अयजः probably an aoristic past; “as thou hast always sacrificed”.

कविभिः कविः. S. renders कविः = क्रांतदर्शी, & कविभिः = मेधाविभिः. He makes a difference between the two senses in a note on 1.79.5, कविः क्रांतदर्शनो मेधावी वा. I presume that the former means a seer, one whose vision is active, the other merely an intelligent man or thinker. Perhaps S. is unwilling to attribute omniscient seerhood to men. But why should there be a difference of meaning between कविभिः कविः? I cannot understand this remarkable principle of composition attributed to the Rishis of putting the same word together in different cases or with different governing words in order to convey quite different ideas and with nothing to show the difference! It is only in Bedlam or else in Pundit-land that such a rule can stand. Mark that sometimes S. makes कवि mean simply क्रांत! As a matter of fact there is no reason to suppose that कवि ever means anything in the Vedas but a seer. Who are the कविs here? Not I think men, but the divine powers who assist the Seer-Will.

होतः. S. होमनिष्पादक. This passage होतः .. जुह्वा यजस्व and others show clearly enough that होता meant originally the priest who conducted or made the offering; the other sense देवानामाह्वाता is, in the R.V., extremely doubtful.

सत्यतर. S. अतिशयेन सत्सु साधो! An extremely clumsy and unnecessarily philological antic. Agni is frequently called सत्स, eg 1.1.5, होता कविक्रतुः सत्यश्चित्रश्रवस्तमः. Here also Agni is the होता, कविः & सत्यतरः. In 1.1.5 S. interprets सत्य giver of true results of the sacrifice, here in a precisely similar context, where the same words and ideas are repeated, he gives quite another and fantastic explanation. सत्य means true, full in his being of the truth of the ऋतं बृहत् of which the कवि is the knower, and therefore no doubt a giver of the riches of the truth to the sacrificer; but the latter idea cannot justly be read into सत्य when that word is divorced by Sayana from all idea of the ऋत & the काव्य. The comparative means ever growing in truth.

मंद्रया जुह्वा. S. हर्षयित्र्या होमसाधनभूतया स्रुचा. The जुहू is the flame of Agni by which he gives the offering to the gods, as Sayana’s explanation would lead us to believe; but perhaps he means the fire-tongue by स्रुच् . It is the flame or uplifting movement of the Will that lifts the Soma etc from the mind upward to the divine Superconscient with a motion of rapture — the rapturous will-movement, not, I think, the joy-giving will. The rapture comes from the state of सौमनस, clear of the Rakshasas etc, which Agni’s priesthood, the conduct of the Yoga by the divine Will, brings to man.

¹ CWSA.– Vol. 14.– Vedic and Philological Studies.– Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2016, pp. 455-456. (Part 4 № 5).

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² CWSA.– Vol. 16.– Hymns to the Mystic Fire.– Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2013, pp. 559-582. (Part 3 № 14). 1-st published: Sri Aurobindo: Archives & Research: a biannual journal.– Volume 5, No1 (1981, April), pp. 3-8.; Sri Aurobindo: Archives & Research: a biannual journal.– Volume 2, No2 (1978, December), pp. 125-147.

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