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Hymn 83: Help of the divine powers
Rişhi: Gotama
MANTRA (1.83.1): FOREMOST TO GO
TO THE LIGHT
Dwelling
amidst life-energies, he is the foremost to go to the light,
Who grows most by your increasings, O Indra;
Fill him with plentiful riches
As the fully conscious waters fill the rivers.
ashvāvati prathamo goşhu gachchhati
amidst
life-forces, foremost, light, goes,
suprāvīĥ indra martyaĥ tava ūtibhiĥ,
grows most, Indra, mortal, your,
tam it pŗņakşhi vasunā bhavīyasā
he, ., endow or fill, wealth, plentiful,
sindhum āpo yatha abhito vichetasaĥ
rivers, waters, just as, everywhere, conscious.
Details:
A human aspirant can attain the
Light or knowledge only because the Indra- power has increased
in him.
The analogy is interesting. Just as
the waters naturally join the rivers by the force of gravity,
the force of Indra makes the spiritual riches go to the
aspirant.
ashva:
horses symbolise Life-energies.
go:
Rays of Light.
āpaĥ:
waters, currents of consciousness.
vichetasaĥ:
fully conscious (waters); absence of consciousness for some
moderns.
sindhum:
rivers. Obviously they are the streams of consciousness, not
merely physical rivers.
MANTRA (1.83.2): GODS SERVE THE
DEVOTEE LIKE SUITORS
The divine
powers approach the human aspirant like waters flowing down;
The powers
concentrate (on the human aspirant) just as the extended
mid-region looks down on earth;
Gods lead the God-lover and mantra-lover to the high station;
Like suitors, they (the Gods) serve him.
āpo na devī upa yanti hotriyam
waters, like, divine, ., approach, yajamāna,
avaĥ pashyanti vitatam yathā rajaĥ,
below, looks upon, extended, as, midworld,
prāchaiĥ
devāsaĥ pra ņayanti devayum
first, Gods, ., lead him, he who loves Gods,
brahmapriyam joşhayante varā iva.
(person) who loves mantrās, serve (him), suitor, like.
Details:
There are three steps. The divine
powers approach the body of the yajamāna. They look on
him attentively with concentrated attention. This look
transports the yajamāna to a high state of consciousness.
The Gods continue to serve the yajamāna to help him in
his endeavours, like the suitors serving a maiden.
We see here for the first time the
idea developed later in great detail in Bhāgavatam that
the God becomes the servant of his devotee.
MANTRA (1.83.3): ASPIRATION OF
HEAVEN AND EARTH
You have
placed potent words suited to both earth and heaven
Inside the human aspirant who worships in the twin-state with
uplifted aspiration;
Unchecked, he abides in your law and is nourished.
Auspicious power comes to the seeker who offers Soma.
adhi dvayoĥ adadhā ukthyam vacho
in, both, set or placed, potent, words,
yata sruchā mithunā yā saparyataĥ,
uplifted, aspiration, twin, states, who, worship,
asamyatto vrate te kşheti puşhyati
unchecked, law or dharma, your, abides, nourished,
bhadrā
shaktiĥ yajamānāya sunvate.
auspicious, power, for yajamāna, pours the Soma.
Details:
ukthyam:
riks which perfectly go to the destination like
shastra, a pointed arrow.
yata sruchā:
with uplifted aspiration (with uplifted ladle for ritualists).
dvayoĥ:
the two which stands for the two states of consciousness namely
the Earth, waking or physical consciousness, and Heaven, the
pure mental consciousness. Indra places the potent Words in the
subtle body of the seeker suited to both these states.
mithuna:
the two states of consciousness as in dvayoĥ, mentioned
above.
MANTRA (1.83.4): ANGIRASAS
ESTABLISH THE POWER
Later the
Angirasas first establish the power (in the human aspirant);
They, the leaders with flaming lustures,
By their auspicious actions win from the Paņi enjoyable things,
The rays, life-energies and material wealth.
āt angirāĥ prathamam dadhire
later, Angirasas, foremost or first, establish,
vaya idhdāgnayaĥ shamyā ye sukŗtyayā,
power, of flaming lustres, actions, your, auspicious,
sarvam paņeĥ samavindanta bhojanam
all, of Paņi, obtain, enjoyable,
ashvāvantam gomantam ā pashum naraĥ.
life-energies, rays of light, ., material wealth, leaders.
Details:
āt:
later, after the human aspirant abides in Indra's Law stated in
(1.83.3).
Angirasas: seers who along with
Indra recover the Rays of Light, stolen and hidden by the Paņi
in caves of the subconscient. Vala is the leader of the Paņis.
Paņi: traffickers in the sense
objects. Paņa is wealth in tamil, vaņik means merchant in
several Indian languages.
MANTRA (1.83.5): STEPS OF VEDIC YOGA
Atharvan,
first by yajňa, laid the paths;
Then was born the pleasing Sūrya, guardian of the laws;
Ushanās Kāvya, along with others, obtained the rays of light;
Let us worship the immortal (Indra), born of Yama, the lord of
the law.
yajňaiĥ atharvā prathamaĥ
by yajňas the sage Atharvan, first,
pathaĥ tate tataĥ sūryo vratapā vena ājani,
paths, laid, then, Sūrya, guardian of the laws, pleasing, was
born,
ā gā ājat ushanā kāvyaĥsachā
., rays of light, obtained, Ushanā, son of poet or seer, along
with others,
yamasya jātam amŗtam yajāmahe.
of yama (the lord of law), born of, immortal, (Indra),
worship.
Details:
This verse is a brief summary of
the Vedic Yoga. First Agni, identified with the seer Atharvan,
lays the paths of immortality, patha, in the subtle body of the
human aspirant. Then Indra, the Lord of the Divine Mind and
protector of the Laws, manifests his power in the human seeker.
Then the other powers, like Ushanās Kāvya, along with Indra
recover the knowledge, the Rays of Light hidden in the caves of
the subconscient realm in our subtle body. The verse ends with
the worship of Indra. Here Indra is identified with Sūrya.
Ushanās Kāvya is a key helper of
Indra. In RV (1.51.10), he is said to sharpen Indra's
strength. In RV (1.121.2), Indra receives the vajra from
Ushanās Kāvya. There are many other verses with similar purport.
yama: in the Veda this name always
refers to the Lord of all the Laws, Sūrya. It rarely refers to
the God of Death; only much later did it come to uniquely
signify the Lord of Death.
MANTRA (1.83.6): POTENT WORDS
When the sacred seat is readied and spread out,
When the luminous rik-mantra chants the praises towards
the heaven
Where the
potent words of the stone-singer sound high,
Indra rejoices at accepting all (these words).
barhiĥ vā yat svapatyāya vŗjyate
sacred seat, or, when, spread out, readied or purified,
arko vā shlokam āghoşhate divi,
luminous rik, or, the praises, chants or lauds, up the
heaven,
grāvā yatra vadati kāruĥ ukthyaĥ
stone, when, sounds high, singer, potent words,
tasya it indro abhipitveşhu raņyati.
all, ., Indra,
obtaining of these, rejoices.
Details:
The first line indicates the
preparation of the environment in the subtle body of the human
aspirant. All the inappropriate things are thrown out and the
region is widened to accept new thoughts. The second line
mentions the luminous rik-mantrās chanted by the human rişhi. It
is the riks themselves which chant using the human singer as an
instrument. The third line mentions the potent Words sent up in
the course of the actions of the worshipper, symbolised by the
pressing of the stone grāvā, which makes the sound. The last
line indicates Indra's gratification at the Words.
grāvā:
stone which crushes presses the Soma and releases the
juice. It signifies the Word issuing from the heart of the
yajamāna who through his actions releases the Soma.
The stone is the body of the singer, kāruĥ. The potent
Words, ukthyaĥ, coming out sound high. The symbolism of
grāvā is discussed extensively in the commentary on RV
(1.28) [CWKS, Vol.1].
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