that belong perfectly to the Master in our dwelling,1 form altogether thy inspirations of knowledge and turn them towards us.Sri Aurobindo
The Secret of the Veda
with Selected Hymns
The Fourth Hymn to Agni
The Divine Will, Priest, Warrior and Leader of Our Journey
[The Rishi hymns the Divine Force that knows all the successive births of the soul on its ascending planes of existence and as priest of his upward and onward-journeying sacrifice gives him the purity, the power, the knowledge, the increasing riches, the faculty of new formation and spiritual productiveness by which the mortal grows into immortality. It destroys the enemy, the assailants, the powers of evil, enriches the soul with all they try to withhold, gives the triple peace and the triple fulfilment of the mental, vital and physical being and, labouring in the light of the supramental Truth, leads beyond, creating in us the world of immortal felicity.]
5.4.1
त्वाम॑ग्ने॒ वसु॑पतिं॒ वसू॑नाम॒भि प्र म॑न्दे अध्व॒रेषु॑ राजन् ।
त्वया॒ वाजं॑ वाज॒यन्तो॑ जयेमा॒भि ष्या॑म पृत्सु॒तीर्मर्त्या॑नाम् ॥१॥
tvām agne vasu-patim vasūnām abhi pra mande adhvareṣu rājan
tvayā vājam vāja-yantaḥ jayema abhi syāma pṛtsutīḥ martyānām
Strength, master over the lords of substance, towards thee I direct my delight in the march of my sacrifices. O King, by thee, increasing thy plenitudes, may we conquer our plenty and overcome the embattled assaults of mortal powers.
5.4.2
ह॒व्य॒वाळ॒ग्निर॒जरः॑ पि॒ता नो॑ वि॒भुर्वि॒भावा॑ सु॒दृशी॑को अ॒स्मे ।
सु॒गा॒र्ह॒प॒त्याः समिषो॑ दिदीह्यस्म॒द्र्य१́क्सं मि॑मीहि॒ श्रवां॑सि ॥२॥
havya-vāṭ agniḥ ajaraḥ pitā naḥ vi-bhuḥ vibhā-vā su-dṛśīkaḥ asme iti
su-gārhapatyāḥ sam iṣaḥ didīhi asmadryak sam mimīhi śravāṃsi
Strength unaging that bears the oblation is the Father of us, he in us pervades in being and is extended in light and is perfect in vision. Kindle altogether thy strengths of impulsion that belong perfectly to the Master in our dwelling,1 form altogether thy inspirations of knowledge and turn them towards us.
5.4.3
वि॒शां क॒विं वि॒श्पतिं॒ मानु॑षीणां॒ शुचिं॑ पाव॒कं घृ॒तपृ॑ष्ठम॒ग्निम् ।
नि होता॑रं विश्व॒विदं॑ दधिध्वे॒ स दे॒वेषु॑ वनते॒ वार्या॑णि ॥३॥
viśām kavim viśpatim mānuṣīṇām śucim pāvakam ghṛta-pṛṣṭham agnim
ni hotāram viśva-vidam dadhidhve saḥ deveṣu vanate vāryāṇi
Will that is the Seer and Lord of the creature in the human peoples, that is pure and purifies, with his surface of the mind’s clarities, Will omniscient hold in you as the priest of your oblations, for this is he that wins for you your desirable boons in the godheads.
5.4.4
जु॒षस्वा॑ग्न॒ इळ॑या स॒जोषा॒ यत॑मानो र॒श्मिभि॒: सूर्य॑स्य ।
जु॒षस्व॑ नः स॒मिधं॑ जातवेद॒ आ च॑ दे॒वान्ह॑वि॒रद्या॑य वक्षि ॥४॥
juṣasva agne iḷayā sa-joṣāḥ yatamānaḥ raśmibhiḥ sūryasya
juṣasva naḥ sam-idham jāta-vedaḥ ā ca devān haviḥ-adyāya vakṣi
Becoming of one heart with the goddess of Truth-vision,2 labouring by the rays of the Sun of Light, cleave to us with love, O Strength: accept in heart thy fuel in us, O Knower of the Births, and bring to us the gods that they may eat of our offering.
5.4.5
जुष्टो॒ दमू॑ना॒ अति॑थिर्दुरो॒ण इ॒मं नो॑ य॒ज्ञमुप॑ याहि वि॒द्वान् ।
विश्वा॑ अग्ने अभि॒युजो॑ वि॒हत्या॑ शत्रूय॒तामा भ॑रा॒ भोज॑नानि ॥५॥
juṣṭaḥ damūnāḥ atithiḥ duroṇe imam naḥ yajñam upa yāhi vidvān
viśvā agne abhi-yujaḥ vi-hatya śatru-yatām ā bhara bhojanāni
Domiciled in our gated dwelling, the Guest loved and accepted, come to this our sacrifice in all thy knowledge; all these energies slay that set themselves to attack us and bring to us their enjoyments who make themselves our enemies3.
5.4.6
व॒धेन॒ दस्युं॒ प्र हि चा॒तय॑स्व॒ वयः॑ कृण्वा॒नस्त॒न्वे॒३́ स्वायै॑ ।
पिप॑र्षि॒ यत्स॑हसस्पुत्र दे॒वान्त्सो अ॑ग्ने पाहि नृतम॒ वाजे॑ अ॒स्मान् ॥६॥
vedhena dasyum pra hi cātayasva vayaḥ kṛṇvānaḥ tanve svāyai
piparṣi yat sahasaḥ putra devān saḥ agne pāhi nṛ-tama vāje asmān
Chase from us with thy blow the Divider, make a free space for thine own body! When, O Son of Force, thou art carrying the gods over to their goal4, protect us in the plenitude of our possession, O Strength, O mightiest Deity.
5.4.7
व॒यं ते॑ अग्न उ॒क्थैर्वि॑धेम व॒यं ह॒व्यैः पा॑वक भद्रशोचे ।
अ॒स्मे र॒यिं वि॒श्ववा॑रं॒ समि॑न्वा॒स्मे विश्वा॑नि॒ द्रवि॑णानि धेहि ॥७॥
vayam te agne ukthaiḥ vidhema vayam havyaiḥ pāvaka bhadra-śoce
asme iti rayim viśva-vāram sam inva asme iti viśvāni draviṇāni dhehi
May we order aright for thee our sacrifice by our words and by our offerings, O Will that purifiest, O happy flame of purity; in us pervade a felicity of all desirable boons, in us confirm all substance of our riches.
5.4.8
अ॒स्माक॑मग्ने अध्व॒रं जु॑षस्व॒ सह॑सः सूनो त्रिषधस्थ ह॒व्यम् ।
व॒यं दे॒वेषु॑ सु॒कृतः॑ स्याम॒ शर्म॑णा नस्त्रि॒वरू॑थेन पाहि ॥८॥
asmākam agne adhvaram juṣasva sahasaḥ sūno iti tri-sadhastha havyam
vayam deveṣu su-kṛtaḥ syāma śarmaṇā naḥ tri-varūthena pāhi
O Will, O Son of Force who dwellest in the three worlds5 of our session, cleave in heart to our sacrifice, cleave to our oblation. May we become perfect in our works in the godheads; protect us by thy peace triple-armoured6.
5.4.9
विश्वा॑नि नो दु॒र्गहा॑ जातवेद॒: सिन्धुं॒ न ना॒वा दु॑रि॒ताति॑ पर्षि ।
अग्ने॑ अत्रि॒वन्नम॑सा गृणा॒नो॒३́ऽस्माकं॑ बोध्यवि॒ता त॒नूना॑म् ॥९॥
viśvāni naḥ duḥ-gahā jāta-vedaḥ sindhum na nāvā duḥ-itā ati parṣi
agne atri-vat namasā gṛṇānaḥ asmākam bodhi avitā tanūnām
O Knower of the Births, bear us over every difficult crossing, yea, over all stumblings into evil as in a ship that travels over the waters. O Will, expressed by us with our obeisance of submission as the Eater of things, awake in us, be the fosterer of our embodyings7.
5.4.10
यस्त्वा॑ हृ॒दा की॒रिणा॒ मन्य॑मा॒नोऽम॑र्त्यं॒ मर्त्यो॒ जोह॑वीमि ।
जात॑वेदो॒ यशो॑ अ॒स्मासु॑ धेहि प्र॒जाभि॑रग्ने अमृत॒त्वम॑श्याम् ॥१०॥
yaḥ tvā hṛdā kīriṇā manyamānaḥ amartyam martyaḥ johavīmi
jāta-vedaḥ yaśaḥ asmāsu dhehi pra-jābhiḥ agne amṛta-tvam aśyām
I meditate on thee with a heart that does the Work and, mortal, I call to the Immortal. O Will, O Knower of the Births, confirm victory in us; by the children of my works may I enjoy immortality.
5.4.11
यस्मै॒ त्वं सु॒कृते॑ जातवेद उ लो॒कम॑ग्ने कृ॒णवः॑ स्यो॒नम् ।
अ॒श्विनं॒ स पु॒त्रिणं॑ वी॒रव॑न्तं॒ गोम॑न्तं र॒यिं न॑शते स्व॒स्ति ॥११॥
yasmai tvam su-kṛte jāta-vedaḥ ūm̐ iti lokam agne kṛṇavaḥ syonam
aśvinam saḥ putriṇam vīra-vantam go-mantam rayim naśate svasti
O Knower of the Births, the man perfect in his works for whom thou createst that other blissful world8, reaches a felicity that is peopled happily with his life’s swiftnesses, his herds of Light, the children of his soul, the armies of his energy.9
1 Agni is here the supreme Will dwelling in us, Father and Lord of our being; he is to act in us entirely by the divine will and knowledge.
2 Ila.
3 All hostile energies that attack the soul of man possess certain riches which he needs and has to wrest from them in order to arrive at his perfect plenitude.
4 The divine powers in us are carried to their goal in the Truth and Bliss by the force of the Divine Will working in man.
5 Mental, vital, physical, the lower “births” all the knowledge of which the Divine Will, knower of our Births, possesses and through which it has to lead the ascending sacrifice to the supramental.
6 The peace, joy and full satisfaction in the mental, vital and physical being.
7 Not only the physical body, but the vital and mental sheaths, all the embodied states or forms of the soul.
8 The supramental world has to be formed or created in us by the Divine Will as the result of a constant expansion and self-perfecting.
9 The constant Vedic symbols of the Horse, Cow, Son, Hero. The sons or children are the new soul-formations which constitute the divine Personality, the new births within us. The heroes are the mental and moral energies which resist the assaults of ignorance, division, evil and falsehood. The vital powers are the motive forces that bear us on our journey and are therefore symbolised by the Horse. The herds are the illuminations that come to us from the supramental Truth, herding rays of the sun of Light.