Stretch out your arms of awakened knowledge2 to the human being when he chants to you the illumining word; your bliss adorable shall reach through all our earths.3Sri Aurobindo
The Secret of the Veda
with Selected Hymns
The Third Hymn to Mitra-Varuna
The Leaders to the Blissful Home
[The Rishi invokes the Lords of the infinite wideness and harmony whose arms embrace the soul’s highest plane of the Truth and Bliss, to extend to him those arms of awakened consciousness and knowledge, so that he may have their all-embracing delight. He aspires by the path of Mitra to the joy of his harmonies in which there is no wound nor hurt; conceiving and holding the highest by the power of the illumining word, he would aspire to an increase in that plane, the proper home of the gods. Let the two great gods create in his being that wide world of their divine strength and vastness; let them bring to him its plenitude and felicity in the dawning of the divine light and the divine force.]
5.64.1
वरु॑णं वो रि॒शाद॑समृ॒चा मि॒त्रं ह॑वामहे ।
परि॑ व्र॒जेव॑ बा॒ह्वोर्ज॑ग॒न्वांसा॒ स्व॑र्णरम् ॥१॥
varuṇam vaḥ riśādasam ṛcā mitram havāmahe
pari vrajā-iva bāhvoḥ jaganvāṃsā svaḥ-naram
Varuna, destroyer of the foe, and Mitra we call to you by the word of illumination; their arms encompass the world of the power of Light1 as if cast around the pens of the shining herds.
5.64.2
ता बा॒हवा॑ सुचे॒तुना॒ प्र य॑न्तमस्मा॒ अर्च॑ते ।
शेवं॒ हि जा॒र्यं॑ वां॒ विश्वा॑सु॒ क्षासु॒ जोगु॑वे ॥२॥
tā bāhavā su-cetunā pra yantam asmai arcate
śevam hi jāryam vām viśvāsu kṣāsu joguve
Stretch out your arms of awakened knowledge2 to the human being when he chants to you the illumining word; your bliss adorable shall reach through all our earths.3
5.64.3
यन्नू॒नम॒श्यां गतिं॑ मि॒त्रस्य॑ यायां प॒था ।
अस्य॑ प्रि॒यस्य॒ शर्म॒ण्यहिं॑सानस्य सश्चिरे ॥३॥
yat nūnam aśyām gatim mitrasya yāyām pathā
asya priyasya śarmaṇi ahiṃsānasya saścire
May I go by the path of the Friend4 that even now I may attain to the goal5 of my journey; so men cling firmly to the bliss of that Beloved in whom there is no wounding.
5.64.4
यु॒वाभ्यां॑ मित्रावरुणोप॒मं धे॑यामृ॒चा ।
यद्ध॒ क्षये॑ म॒घोनां॑ स्तोतॄ॒णां च॑ स्पू॒र्धसे॑ ॥४॥
yuvābhyām mitrāvaruṇā upa-mam dheyām ṛcā
yat ha kṣaye maghonām stotṝṇām ca spūrdhase
O Mitra and Varuna, may my thought hold by the illumining word that highest which is your possession, so that it shall aspire6 to the home of the masters of plenitude for them and for men who affirm you.
5.64.5
आ नो॑ मित्र सुदी॒तिभि॒र्वरु॑णश्च स॒धस्थ॒ आ ।
स्वे क्षये॑ म॒घोनां॒ सखी॑नां च वृ॒धसे॑ ॥५॥
ā naḥ mitra sudītibhiḥ varuṇaḥ ca sadha-sthe ā
sve kṣaye maghonām sakhīnām ca vṛdhase
O Mitra, come to us with thy perfect givings and Varuna in the world of our session, for increase in their own home of the masters of plenitude7 and for increase of your companions.
5.64.6
यु॒वं नो॒ येषु॑ वरुण क्ष॒त्रं बृ॒हच्च॑ बिभृ॒थः ।
उ॒रु णो॒ वाज॑सातये कृ॒तं रा॒ये स्व॒स्तये॑ ॥६॥
yuvam naḥ yeṣu varuṇā kṣatram bṛhat ca bibhṛthaḥ
uru naḥ vāja-sātaye kṛtam rāye svastaye
For in them you twain bring to us, O Varuna, the might8 and the vastness; form in us the wide world for the conquest of our plenitudes, for bliss, for our soul’s happiness.
5.64.7
उ॒च्छन्त्यां॑ मे यज॒ता दे॒वक्ष॑त्रे॒ रुश॑द्गवि ।
सु॒तं सोमं॒ न ह॒स्तिभि॒रा प॒ड्भिर्धा॑वतं नरा॒ बिभ्र॑तावर्च॒नान॑सम् ॥७॥
ucchantyām me yajatā deva-kṣatre ruśat-gavi
sutam somam na hastibhiḥ ā paṭbhiḥ dhāvatam narā bibhratau arcanānasam
To me, O lords of sacrifice, in the breaking of the dawn, in the flashing of the ray, in the force of the gods, to my wine pressed out as if9 by men with hands come racing with your trampling steeds, O gods who bring,– to the pilgrim of the Light.10
1 Swarnara. Swar is the solar world of the Truth and the herds are the rays of its solar illuminations, therefore it is compared to the pens of these shining Vedic cattle.
2 The epithet shows how entirely symbolic are the bodies and members of the Gods as well as their other physical belongings, weapons, chariots, horses.
3 All the planes of our being.
4 Mitra, who creates the perfect and unhurt harmonies of our higher, divine existence.
5 Gati. The word is still used for the spiritual or supraterrestrial status gained by man’s conduct or efforts upon earth. But it may also mean the movement to the goal or the way, “May I even now attain to the Way, go by the path of Mitra.”
6 That is, manifesting in men it shall strive to raise them up to its own proper station, the Truth-plane.
7 The gods. Swar is the “own house” of the Gods.
8 The divine force of the Truth-conscious being, called in the next verse “the force of the gods”; the Vast, bṛhat, is the constant description of that plane or “wide world”,– the Truth, the Right, the Vast.
9 “As if”,– showing, as often, that the wine and its pressing are figures and symbols.
10 Arcanānas, he who travels to the illumination created by the word, the significant name of the Rishi of this hymn, one of the line of Atri.