Sri Aurobindo
The Secret of the Veda
with Selected Hymns
The Twelfth Hymn to Agni
A Hymn of Man’s Aspiration to the Truth
[The Rishi invokes this flame of the Divine Force, this vast Lord of the superconscient Truth, this Truth-conscious One, to accept thought and word into himself, become truth-conscient in man and cleave out the many streams of the Truth. Not by mere force of effort nor under the law of the duality can the Truth be attained, but by the Truth itself. But there are not only powers of this Force that battle with the falsehood and guard and conquer, there are others also who have helped so far in the march, but who would keep to the foundation of the falsehood because they cling to the present self-expression of man and refuse to advance beyond it; these in their self-will speak the word of crookedness to the Truth-seeker. By the sacrifice and by submission in the sacrifice man, the ever-advancing pilgrim, brings near to him his wide dwelling-place beyond, the seat and home of the Truth.]
5.12.1
प्राग्नये॑ बृह॒ते य॒ज्ञिया॑य ऋ॒तस्य॒ वृष्णे॒ असु॑राय॒ मन्म॑ ।
घृ॒तं न य॒ज्ञ आ॒स्ये॒३́ सुपू॑तं॒ गिरं॑ भरे वृष॒भाय॑ प्रती॒चीम् ॥१॥
pra agnaye bṛhate yajñiyāya ṛtasya vṛṣṇe asurāya manma
ghṛtam na yajñe āsye su-pūtam giram bhare vṛṣabhāya pratīcīm
To Will, master of sacrifice, the Mighty One, the vast lord and diffuser of the Truth I bring forward my thought as an offering and it is as the clarified butter of the sacrifice purified in the mouth of the flame; my word1 I bring forward that goes to meet its lord.2
5.12.2
ऋ॒तं चि॑कित्व ऋ॒तमिच्चि॑किद्ध्यृ॒तस्य॒ धारा॒ अनु॑ तृन्धि पू॒र्वीः ।
नाहं या॒तुं सह॑सा॒ न द्व॒येन॑ ऋ॒तं स॑पाम्यरु॒षस्य॒ वृष्ण॑: ॥२॥
ṛtam cikitvaḥ ṛtam it cikiddhi ṛtasya dhārāḥ anu tṛndhi pūrvīḥ
na aham yātum sahasā na dvayena ṛtam sapāmi aruṣasya vṛṣṇaḥ
O conscious seer of the Truth, the Truth alone perceive in my consciousness; cleave out3 many flowing streams of the Truth.4 Not by force, nor by the duality can I achieve the journey nor attain to the Truth of the shining Worker, the fertilising Lord.
5.12.3
कया॑ नो अग्न ऋ॒तय॑न्नृ॒तेन॒ भुवो॒ नवे॑दा उ॒चथ॑स्य॒ नव्य॑: ।
वेदा॑ मे दे॒व ऋ॑तु॒पा ऋ॑तू॒नां नाहं पतिं॑ सनि॒तुर॒स्य रा॒यः ॥३॥
kayā naḥ agne ṛtayan ṛtena bhuvaḥ navedāḥ ucathasya navyaḥ
veda me devaḥ ṛtu-pāḥ ṛtūnām na aham patim sanituḥ asya rāyaḥ
By what thought in me, O Will, shalt thou seeking the Truth by the Truth become the impeller to knowledge of a new word? The godhead who guards the times and seasons5 of the Truth, knows all in me, but him I know not, the lord of that all-possessing felicity.
5.12.4
के ते॑ अग्ने रि॒पवे॒ बन्ध॑नास॒: के पा॒यवः॑ सनिषन्त द्यु॒मन्त॑: ।
के धा॒सिम॑ग्ने॒ अनृ॑तस्य पान्ति॒ क आस॑तो॒ वच॑सः सन्ति गो॒पाः ॥४॥
ke te agne ripave bandhanāsaḥ ke pāyavaḥ saniṣanta dyu-mantaḥ
ke dhāsim agne anṛtasya pānti ke asataḥ vacasaḥ santi gopāḥ
Who are they, O Will, that are thy binders of the Enemy? who are the shining ones, the guardians, the seekers after possession and conquest? Who, O Will, protect the foundations of the falsehood? who are the keepers of a present6 word?
5.12.5
सखा॑यस्ते॒ विषु॑णा अग्न ए॒ते शि॒वास॒: सन्तो॒ अशि॑वा अभूवन् ।
अधू॑र्षत स्व॒यमे॒ते वचो॑भिरृजूय॒ते वृ॑जि॒नानि॑ ब्रु॒वन्त॑: ॥५॥
sakhāyaḥ te viṣuṇāḥ agne ete śivāsaḥ santaḥ aśivāḥ abhūvan
adhūrṣata svayam ete vacaḥbhiḥ ṛju-yate vṛjināni bruvantaḥ
These are comrades of thine, O Will, who have gone astray from thee; benignant were they, they have become malignant. These do violence to themselves by their words speaking crooked things to the seeker after straightness.
5.12.6
यस्ते॑ अग्ने॒ नम॑सा य॒ज्ञमीट्ट॑ ऋ॒तं स पा॑त्यरु॒षस्य॒ वृष्ण॑: ।
तस्य॒ क्षयः॑ पृ॒थुरा सा॒धुरे॑तु प्र॒सर्स्रा॑णस्य॒ नहु॑षस्य॒ शेषः॑ ॥६॥
yaḥ te agne namasā yajñam īṭṭe ṛtam saḥ pāti aruṣasya vṛṣṇaḥ
tasya kṣayaḥ pṛthuḥ ā sādhuḥ etu pra-sarsrāṇasya nahuṣasya śeṣaḥ
But he, O Will, who desires with submission thy sacrifice, guards the truth of the shining Worker, the Fertiliser.7 To him may there come that wide habitation8 in which all is perfected, even that which is left9 for man the pilgrim to accomplish in his forward journeying.
1 To turn thought and word into form and expression of the superconscient Truth which is hidden beyond the division and duality of the mental and physical existence was the central idea of the Vedic discipline and the foundation of its mysteries.
2 The Bull; the thought is symbolised as the shining cow fronting and offering itself to the Godhead.
3 From the rock in the hill where they are guarded by the opposing powers.
4 The descent of the superconscient into our life was imaged as the rain of heaven; it formed the seven celestial rivers that flow down upon the earth-consciousness.
5 The periods, sometimes described as years, sometimes as the twelve symbolic months of the progress of the sacrifice.
6 Or, false word. In either case it means the old falsehood as opposed to the “new word” of the Truth of which Agni has to create the knowledge.
7 “The shining Bull or Male”, but the latter word means also the rainer, fertiliser or diffuser of abundance and sometimes the strong and abundant, the former seems to bear also the sense of active or moving.
8 The plane of the superconscient Truth or world of Swar beyond mental Heaven and physical earth in which all is accomplished that here we strive after; it is described as the wide habitation and the wide and fear-free pasture of the shining cows.
9 This world is sometimes described as what is left or the excess; it is the additional field of being beyond this triplicity of mind, life and body which constitute our normal state of existence.