tachchakşhur devahitam purastāchchhukram uchcharat.
pashyema sharadashshatam jīvema sharadashshatam
[RV (7.66.16), TA (4.42.5), AV
(19.6.7)]
nandāma sharadashshatam modāma sharadashshatam bhavāma
sharadashshatam
shŗņavāma sharadashshatam
prabravāma sharadashshatam ajītāsyāma sharadashshatam jyok cha
sūryamdŗşhe.
ya udagānmahato arņavādvibhrājamānaĥ sarjīrasya madhyāt
samā vŗşhabho lohitākşhassūyo vipashchin manasaa punātu.
[TA (4.42.5)]
Translation:
May we see and adore for a hundred years the Sun whose orb rises
in the east and who looks after the welfare of the celestials like
an eye. May we live thus for a hundred years. May we rejoice with
our kith and kin for a hundred years. May we live gloriously for a
hundred years. May we speak sweetly for a hundred years. May we
live for a hundred years undefeated by the forces of evil. We
desire to enjoy gazing at the Sun for a hundred years.
May my whole mind be sanctified by the Sun who bestows all our
needs, whose eyes are red, who is omniscient and who rises from
amidst the waters of the ocean illumining all the quarters.
There is another prayer in the Atharva Veda (19.67) which is a
variant of the one given above and which gives a deeper meaning of
"why we should live":
For a hundred autumns, may we see,
For a hundred autumns may we live,
For a hundred autumns may we know,
For a hundred autumns may we rise and progress.
For a hundred autumns may we thrive,
For a hundred autumns may we be, (our true self)
For a hundred autumns may we become (perfect beings).
Aye, and even more than a hundred autumns.
Prayer to Sun
ā satyena rajasā vartamāno niveshayannamŗtam martyam cha
hiraņyayena savitā rathenādevo yāti bhuvanā vipashyan.
[RV (1.35.2), KYV (3.4.11.2), SYV
(33.43); (34.31)]
Moving along the worlds of Truth duly establishing the immortal
and the mortal,
God Savitr comes in his golden car beholding the worlds.
udvayam tamasaspari pashyanto jyotiruttamam,
devam devatrā sūryam aganma jyotir uttamam.
[RV (1.50.10), Atharva (7.53.7), SYV
(20.21), (27.10), (35.14), (38.24), KYV (4.17.4)]
Beholding a higher Light beyond this darkness,
We have come
to the highest Light, Sūrya, God among Gods.
udutyam jātavedasam devam vahanti ketavaĥ dŗshe vishvāya sūryam
[RV (1.50.1), SV (31), Atharva,
(13.2.16), (20.47.13), KYV (1.2.8.2), SYV (7.41), (8.41),
(33.31)]
The Rays bear upward the Divine, the all-knowing Sun so that all
may behold him.
chitram devānām udagādanīkam chakşhur mitrasya varuņasyāgneĥ,
ā prā dyāvā pŗthivī antarikşham sūrya ātmā jagatas
tasthuşhashcha.
[RV (1.115.1), Atharva (13.2.35),
(20.107.14); SYV (7.42), (13.46); KYV (1.4.43.1), (2.4.14.4)]
The wonderful face of the Gods has arisen, the eye of Mitra,
Varuņa and Agni;
The Sun, the soul, ātma, of all that moves and moves not,
has filled the Heaven, the Earth and the mid-world.
[This verse is the earliest reference to the
concept of soul or ātman]
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