Your
fostering cows1 have their streams, O Varuna, O Mitra, the rivers milk out their honeyed yield. There stand wide three luminous Bulls2 and cast their seed into the three Thoughts.Sri Aurobindo
The Secret of the Veda
with Selected Hymns
The Eighth Hymn to Mitra-Varuna
The Holders of the Luminous Worlds
[The Rishi invokes Mitra and Varuna as the upholders of the worlds or planes of being, especially the three luminous worlds in which the triple mental, the triple vital, the triple physical find the light of their truth and the divine law of their powers. The strength of the Aryan warrior is increased by them and guarded in that imperishable law. From the luminous worlds the rivers of the truth descend with their yield of bliss. In each of them a luminous Purusha fertilises a form of the triple thought-consciousness of the Truth; these, which make the luminous day of the soul, found in man the divine and infinite consciousness and in that the divine peace and the activity by which in the extended universality of our being there is the rich felicity and the creation of the godhead. The divine workings are impaired and restricted by the gods in the ordinary life of the vital and the physical being, but when Mitra and Varuna uphold in us the luminous worlds in which each of these finds its truth and power, they become complete and firm for ever.]
5.69.1
त्री रो॑च॒ना व॑रुण॒ त्रीँरु॒त द्यून्त्रीणि॑ मित्र धारयथो॒ रजां॑सि ।
वा॒वृ॒धा॒नाव॒मतिं॑ क्ष॒त्रिय॒स्यानु॑ व्र॒तं रक्ष॑माणावजु॒र्यम् ॥१॥
trī rocanā varuṇa trīn uta dyūn trīṇi mitra dhārayathaḥ rajāṃsi
vavṛdhānau amatim kṣatriyasya anu vratam rakṣamāṇau ajuryam
Three worlds of the Light you two uphold, O Varuna, three heavens, three mid-worlds, O Mitra, and you increase the might of the Warrior and guard him in the imperishable law of your working.
5.69.2
इरा॑वतीर्वरुण धे॒नवो॑ वां॒ मधु॑मद्वां॒ सिन्ध॑वो मित्र दुह्रे ।
त्रय॑स्तस्थुर्वृष॒भास॑स्तिसृ॒णां धि॒षणा॑नां रेतो॒धा वि द्यु॒मन्त॑: ॥२॥
irā-vatīḥ varuṇa dhenavaḥ vām madhu-mat vām sindhavaḥ mitra duhre
trayaḥ tasthuḥ vṛṣabhāsaḥ tisṝṇām dhiṣaṇānām retaḥ-dhāḥ vi dyu-mantaḥ
Your
fostering cows1 have their streams, O Varuna, O Mitra, the rivers milk out their honeyed yield. There stand wide three luminous Bulls2 and cast their seed into the three Thoughts.
5.69.3
प्रा॒तर्दे॒वीमदि॑तिं जोहवीमि म॒ध्यंदि॑न॒ उदि॑ता॒ सूर्य॑स्य ।
रा॒ये मि॑त्रावरुणा स॒र्वता॒तेळे॑ तो॒काय॒ तन॑याय॒ शं योः ॥३॥
prātaḥ devīm aditim johavīmi madhyandine ut-itā sūryasya
rāye mitrāvaruṇā sarva-tātā īḷe tokāya tanayāya śam yoḥ
In the dawn I call to the divine Mother infinite, in the midday and at the rising of the sun. I desire of Mitra and Varuna the peace and the movement in the forming of the all3 for felicity and for the creation and the begetting.4
5.69.4
या ध॒र्तारा॒ रज॑सो रोच॒नस्यो॒तादि॒त्या दि॒व्या पार्थि॑वस्य ।
न वां॑ दे॒वा अ॒मृता॒ आ मि॑नन्ति व्र॒तानि॑ मित्रावरुणा ध्रु॒वाणि॑ ॥४॥
yā dhartārā rajasaḥ rocanasya uta ādityā divyā pārthivasya
na vām devāḥ amṛtāḥ ā minanti vratāni mitrāvaruṇā dhruvāṇi
Because you are the upholders of the luminous sphere of the mid-world and the luminous sphere of the earth, O divine Sons of Infinity, O Mitra and Varuna, the immortal gods impair not your workings which are firm for ever.5
1 Dhenavaḥ, the rivers of the Truth, as gāvaḥ, the luminous cows, are the rays of its light.
2 The Bull is the Purusha, soul or conscious being; the Cow is the Prakriti, the power of consciousness. The creation of the godhead, the Son, comes by the fertilising of the triple luminous consciousness by the triple luminous soul of the Truth-being so that that higher consciousness becomes active, creative and fruitful in man.
3 The action of the sacrifice consists in the formation or “extension” of the universal being, sarvatāti, and of the divine being, devatāti.
4 Of the Son, the godhead created within the humanity.
5 That is, in the ordinary workings of the life-plane and the material plane, because they are unilluminated, full of ignorance and defect, the law of our divine and infinite being is impaired or spoiled, works under restrictions and with perversions; it manifests fully, steadfastly and faultlessly only when the ideal, supramental truth-plane is upheld in us by the pure wideness and harmony of Varuna and Mitra and takes up the vital and the physical consciousness into its power and light.