SUKTA 1

1. Bear me that I may be strong to hold the wine, O Fire, for thou hast made me a carrier flame of sacrifice in the getting of knowledge: I shine towards the gods, I put the stone to its work, I accomplish the labour; [[Or, I attain to the peace;]] O Fire, take delight in my body.

2. We have made the sacrifice with its forward movement, may the word increase in us, with the fuel, with the obeisance they have set the Fire to its work. The heavens have declared the discoveries of knowledge of the seers and they have willed a path for the strong and wise.

3. Full of understanding, pure in discernment, close kin from his birth to earth and heaven he has founded the Bliss. The gods discovered the seeing Fire within in the waters, in the work of the sisters.

4. The seven mighty rivers increased the blissful flame, [[Or, increased him in his beauty,]] white in his birth, ruddy glowing in his mightiness: the Mares went up to him as to a new born child; the gods gave body to Agni in his birth.

5. With his bright limbs he has built wide the mid world purifying the will by his pure seer powers; wearing light like a robe around the life of the waters he forms his glories vast and ample.

6. He moved all round the seven mighty Ones of heaven: undevouring, inviolate, neither were they clothed nor were they naked: here young and eternal in one native home the seven Voices held in their womb the one Child.

7. Wide strewn, compact, taking universal forms are his energies in the womb of the light, in the streaming of the sweetnesses: here the milch cows stand nourished and growing; two great and equal companions [[Or, vast and whole]] are the mothers of the Doer of works.

8. Upborne, O Son of Force, thou shinest out wide holding thy bright and rapturous bodies; there drip down streams of the light and the sweetness, there where the Bull has grown by the seer wisdom.

9. At his birth he discovered the teat of abundance of the Father, he loosed forth wide his streams, wide his nourishing rivers; [[Or, he loosed forth the milch cows;]] he discovered him moving in the secrecy with his helpful comrades, with the mighty Rivers of Heaven, but himself became not secret in the cave.

10. He carried the child of the father who begot him; one, he sucked the milk of many who nourished him with their overflowing. Two who have one lord and kinsman, for this pure male of the herds guard both in the human being.

11. Vast was he in the unobstructed wideness and grew, for the waters many and glorious fed the flame; in the native seat of the Truth the Fire lay down and made his home, in the work of the companions, the sisters.

12. Like a height upbearing all [[Or, like one moving and upbearing all]] in the meeting of the great waters, eager for vision for the Son, straight in his lustres, he is the Father who begot the shining Ray herds, the child of the Waters, the most strong and mighty Fire.

13. One desirable and blissful gave birth to him in many forms, a visioned child of the waters and a child of the growths of earth: the gods too met with the Mind the Fire, strong at his birth and powerful to act [[Or, most admirable]] and set him to his work.

14. Vast sun blazings cleave like brilliant lightnings to this Fire, straight in his lustres, growing as in a secret cave within in his own home in the shoreless wideness, and they draw the milk of immortality.

15. Making sacrifice with my offerings for thee I pray, and pray for thy friendship and true mindedness with an utter desire. Fashion with the Gods protection for thy adorer and guard us with thy flame forces that dwell in the house.

16. We who come to thee to dwell with thee in thy home, O perfect leader of the way, holding all opulent things, may we, overflowing [[Or, smiting]] them with the full stream of inspiration, overwhelm the hostile army of the undivine powers.

17. O Fire, thou becomest in us the rapturous ray of intuition of the gods that knows all seer wisdoms; established in thy home thou settlest mortals in that dwelling place, as their charioteer achieving their aim thou journeyest in the wake of the gods.

18. In the gated house of mortals the immortal sat as King accomplishing the things of knowledge: the Fire shone out in his wideness with his luminous front, knower of all seer-wisdoms.

19. Come to us in a rapid approach with thy happy befriendings, mighty, come with thy mighty protectings; in us the abundance of the delivering riches, for us our glorious high- worded portion create.

20. O Fire, these are thy eternal births which I have declared to thee, ever new births for the ancient flame: great are the offerings of the Wine we have made for the mighty one. He is the knower of all births set within in birth and birth.

21. The knower of all births set within in birth and birth is kindled by Vishwamitra, an unceasing flame; in the true thinking of this lord of sacrifice, in a happy right mindedness may we abide.

22. O forceful God, O strong Will, establish this sacrifice of ours in the gods and take in it thy delight: O Priest of the call, extend to us the vast impulsions; O Fire, bring to us by sacrifice the great Treasure.

23. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech, the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; [[Or, himself a begetter]] O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 2

1. We create an understanding like pure light for the Fire that makes the Truth to grow, for the universal godhead. The priests of the word fashion twofold by the thought of the human being [[Or, the human priest of the word by their thought]] this priest of the call, as the saw carves a chariot, and join him into a whole.

2. He from his birth illumined both the firmaments, he became the desirable son of the Father and Mother. The ageless and inviolable Fire, firmly founded in bliss, with his riches of the Light, is the carrier of offering and the guest of the peoples.

3. By the will, in the order and law of a delivering discernment, the gods brought the Fire into being by their perceptions of the Knowledge. In his greatness shining forth with his blazing light I invoke him as the Horse so that I may conquer the plenitude.

4. To conquer the supreme bliss of the rapturous godhead, the undeviating plenitude full of the word of illumination, we accept the gift of the Flame Seers, [[Or, the Bhrigus,]] the Fire that aspires, the Seer Will shining with heavenly light.

5. Having gathered the sacred grass, stretching out the ladle of offering, men have set here in their front the Fire for the happiness, in his plenitude of inspiration, the Violent, the universal in godhead, the bright and beautiful, one who accomplishes the seekings of sacrifice of the doers of the works.

6. O Fire, O purifying light, O Priest of the call, men in their sacrifices having gathered the sacred grass, desiring the work, sit around thy house which we must obtain as ours; found for them the Treasure.

7. He filled the two firmaments, he filled the vast sun world, when he was born and held by the doers of the work. He is led around for the pilgrim sacrifice, the Seer founded in the Bliss, as the Horse for the conquest of the plenitude.

8. Bow down to the giver of the offering, set to his work the perfect in the pilgrim rite, the knower of all the births who dwells in the house: for he is the all seeing charioteer of the vast Truth, the Fire has become the priest of the gods set in front.

9. Triple is the fuel of the mighty and pervading Fire purified by the aspiring immortals; one of three they have set in the mortal, the fuel of the enjoyment, two have gone to that companion world.

10. This seer and lord of creatures human impulsions have perfected everywhere like an axe for sharpness. He goes overrunning the high and the low places; he holds the child born in these worlds.

11. The male of the herds has been born in different wombs and he stirs abroad like a roaring lion, the universal godhead, the immortal wide in his might bestowing the riches and the ecstasies on the offerer of sacrifice.

12. Universal godhead as in the ancient days has ascended glad by high thoughts to the firmament, to the back of heaven, even as of old he creates the riches for the creature born; wakeful he travels ever over the same field of movement.

13. The sacrificial Fire whose home is in heaven and who possesses the Truth, the illumined seer with his utterance of the word whom life that grows here in the mother has set, him with his diverse journeying, his tawny hair of flame we desire, the deep thinking Fire for a new and happy movement.

14. Pure bright, rapid of impulsion in his journeying, Fire that looks upon the sun world, heaven's ray of intuition, standing in the luminous planes, waking in the Dawn, Fire, head of heaven, whom no darkness can cover, him we desire with obeisance of surrender, the Fire of the plenitudes who is the Vast.

15. The pure and rapturous Priest of the call in whom is no duality, the dweller in the house, the speaker of the word, the all seeing, the visioned Fire set in the thinking human being who is like a many hued chariot in his embodiment, him ever we desire and his riches.

SUKTA 3

1. For the universal godhead, wide in his might, his illuminations [[Or, the illumined Ones]] create the ecstasies to make a path on the foundations of things: because the immortal Fire sets the gods to their work none can corrupt the eternal Laws.

2. He travels as the Messenger between earth and heaven, the doer of works, man's Priest of the call, seated within him, the vicar set in his front; with his light he envelops the Vast Home, the Fire missioned by the gods, rich with the Thought.

3. Ray of intuition of their sacrifices, effective means of the finding of knowledge, the illumined seers greatened the Fire by their awakenings to Wisdom; the Fire in whom his words have built into a harmony his works, in him the doer of sacrifice desires the things of his happiness.

4. The Fire is the father of sacrifice, the Mighty Lord of the wise, he is the measure and the manifestation of knowledge for the priests of the word: he enters into earth and heaven with his manifold shape, many delightful things are in him, he is the seer who has gladness of all the planes.

5. The gods have set in this world in his beauty and glory the delightful Fire, with his chariot of delight, luminous in the way of his workings, the universal godhead, who is seated in the waters, who is the discoverer of the sun world, who enters into the depths and is swift to cross beyond, who is rapt in his mights, who bears in himself all things.

6. The Fire with the gods and creatures born builds by the thought of man the sacrifice in its many forms, he moves between earth and heaven as their charioteer bearing them to the achievement of their desires; he is the swift in motion and he is a dweller in the house who drives off every assailant.

7. O Fire, come near to us in a life rich with offspring, nourish us with energy, illumine our impulsions, animate in us the expanding powers of the Vast, O wakeful Flame; thou art the aspirant strong in will for the gods and the illumined seers.

8. Men ever with obeisance, with swift urgings, give expression for their growth, to the knower of all births, the mighty one, the lord of the peoples, the Guest, the driver of our thoughts, the aspirant in those who speak the word, the wakener to consciousness in the pilgrim sacrifice.

9. Fire, the wide shining godhead, joyful in his happy chariot, has enveloped in his might our abodes; [[Or, the worlds of our habitation;]] with complete purification may we obey [[Or, may we approach with reverence]] in the house the laws of work of this giver of our manifold increase.

10. O universal godhead, I desire thy lights [[Or, seats or planes]] by which thou becomest, O all seeing, [[Or, clear seeing,]] the knower of the sun world: born, thou hast filled the worlds and earth and heaven, thou art there enveloping them all with thyself, O Fire.

11. Fire the One Seer by his seeking for perfect works [[Or, by his skill in works]] released out of the actions [[Or, detached from the actions]] of the universal godhead, the Vast: the Fire greatening both the parents, earth and heaven, was born from a mighty seed. [[Or, the Fire was born greatening both the parents, earth and heaven. with his mighty stream.]]

SUKTA 4

1. Aflame and again aflame in us awake with thy truth of mind, with light upon light grant us right understanding from the shining One. A god, bring the gods for the sacrifice; right minded, a friend do sacrifice to the friends, O Fire.

2. O thou whom the gods, even Varuna, Mitra and the Fire, thrice in the day worship with sacrifice from day to day, O Son of the body, make this sacrifice of ours full of the sweetness, so that it may create the native seat of the light.

3. The Thought in which are all desirable things comes to this first and supreme Priest of the call to offer our aspirations as a sacrifice, towards the mighty one to adore him with our prostrations; missioned, strong to sacrifice, may he do worship to the gods.

4. In the pilgrim sacrifice a high path for you both has been made which departs to the high lustres, the mid worlds; the Priest of the call has taken his seat in the navel centre of heaven. We spread wide the sacred grass, a space of wideness of the gods.

5. Accepting with the mind the seven invocations, taking possession of all that is by the Truth, they went towards their goal. Many powers born in the finding of knowledge and wearing the forms of gods move abroad to this sacrifice.

6. May night and dawn differently formed in their body be joined close and smile upon us in their gladness, so that Mitra may take pleasure in us and Varuna or with his greatness Indra too with the life gods. [[Or, may they so shine with their lights that Mitra may take pleasure in us and Varuna and Indra with the life gods.]]

7. I crown the two supreme Priests of the invocation. The seven pleasures take their rapture by the self law of their nature; the Truth they express, the Truth only they speak, guardians of the law of its action according to that law they shine.

8. In unison may Bharati with her Muses of invocation, Ila with gods and men and Fire, Saraswati with her powers of inspiration come down to us, the three goddesses sit upon this seat of sacrifice.

9. O divine maker of forms who hast the utter rapture, cast upon us that supreme transcendence cause of our growth, from which is born in us the hero ever active with wise discernment, the seeker of the gods who sets to work the stone of the wine pressing.

10. O tree, release thy yield to the gods; Fire the achiever of the work speeds the offering on its way. It is he who does worship as the Priest of the call, the more true in his act because he knows the birth of the gods.

11. Come down to us, O Fire, high kindled, in one chariot with Indra and swiftly journeying gods; let Aditi, mother of mighty sons, sit on the sacred grass, let the gods, the immortals, take rapture in svaha.

SUKTA 5

1. The Fire is awake fronting the dawns; one illumined, he becomes aware of the paths of the seers: kindled into a wide might by the seekers of godhead, the upbearing flame opens the gates of the Darkness.

2. Ever the Fire increases by the lauds, the words of those who hymn him by their utterances, one to be adored with prostrations; the Messenger who desires the many seeings of the Truth has shone out in the wide flaming of the Dawn.

3. The Fire has been set in the human peoples, child of the Waters, the Friend who achieves by the Truth; luminous, [[Or, beloved and adorable,]] a power for sacrifice, he has risen to the summits; he has become the illumined seer who must be called by our thoughts.

4. The Fire when he has been kindled high becomes Mitra, the Friend Mitra the Priest of the call, Varuna, the knower of the births, Mitra, the Friend, the Priest of the pilgrim- sacrifice, one rapid in his impulsions, the dweller in the house, the friend of the Rivers, the friend of the Mountains.

5. He guards from hurt the beloved [[Or, delightful]] summit seat of the being, mighty, he guards the course [[Or, movement]] of the Sun; Fire guards in the navel centre the seven headed thought, sublime, he guards the ecstasy of the gods.

6. A skilful craftsman, a god knowing all the manifestations of knowledge, he forms the beautiful and desirable Name, the luminous seat of the being in the movement of the peace; that the Fire guards, not deviating from his work.

7. Desiring it as it desired him, the Fire entered into that luminous native abode wide in its approach; shining forth, pure, purifying, sublime, again and again he makes new the father and the mother.

8. Suddenly born he is carried by the growths of the earth when the mothers who bore him make him grow by the light. The Fire in the lap of the father and the mother is as one who defends the waters gliding happily [[Or, gliding brightly]] down a slope.

9. Lauded by us mighty he shone with his high flaming in the largeness [[Or, height]] is Mitra the Friend, the desirable one, he is life growing in the mother; [[Or, life that breathes in the mother;]] may he as our messenger bring the gods for the sacrifice.

10. The Fire with his high flaming up- pillared, sublime, the firmament and became the highest of the luminous kingdoms, [[Or, highest of all lights,]] when for the flame-seers life, that grows in the mother, kindled all around the carrier of the offerings who was hidden in the Secrecy.

11. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; [[Or, himself a begetter;]] O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 6

1. The Doers of the work, seekers of godhead, who find expression by the thought, lead it on turned godwards; full of the plenitude, luminous, carrying the Understanding, it journeys moving forwards, bringing the offering to the Fire.

2. Even in thy birth thou hast filled earth and heaven, and now thou hast exceeded them, O Flame that carriest on the sacrifice; by the greatness of earth and heaven may thy seven tongues find utterance, carriers of the word, O Fire.

3. Heaven and earth and the lords of sacrifice set thee within as the Priest of the call for the house when human beings, seeking godhead, having the delight, ask for the resplendent Ray.

4. Mighty, he is seated steadfast in the world of his session, rejoicing between the two mightinesses of earth and heaven, the united wives of one wide moving lord, ageless and inviolate, the two milch-cows giving their rich yield of milk.

5. Great art thou, O Fire, and great the law of thy workings, by thy will thou hast built out earth and heaven; in thy very birth thou becamest the Messenger, O mighty lord, and, thou the leader of men that see.

6. Set under the yoke with the straps of the yoking the two maned steeds of the Truth red of hue, dripping Light: thou, O God, bring all the gods; O knower of the births, make perfect the ways of the pilgrim-sacrifice.

7. From heaven itself thy lights blazed forth, thou shinest in the wake of many outshinings of the Dawn [[Or, in the wake of many wide- shining Dawns]] when, O Fire, passionately burning [[Or, flaming as dawn]] in the woods, the gods set the waters [[Apas, work, would make a clearer sense; it would then mean "set in action the work of the rapturous Priest of the call".]] to their work for the rapturous Priest of the call.

8. The gods who take their rapture in the wide mid- world, or those who are in the luminous world of heaven, or those lords of sacrifice who are helpful and ready to the call, them thy chariot-horses have borne towards us.

9. Come down to us with them in one chariot or in many chariots for thy horses pervade and are everywhere; ac cording to thy self-law bring here with their wives the gods thirty and three and give them to drink of the rapture.

10. He is the Priest of the call for whose growing even wide earth and heaven speak the word at sacrifice on sacrifice; facing each other, fixed like two ends of the pilgrim-way, the Truth they keep in his truth who from the Truth was born.

11. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; [[Or, himself a begetter;]] O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 7

1. They who have climbed from the dark-backed foundation have entered the Father and Mother, have entered into the seven voices. The Father and Mother who dwell encompassing all move abroad and go forward to give by sacrifice long-extended the Life.

2. He reached the milch-cows that dwell in heaven, the Mares of the male, the divine rivers that carry in their flow the sweetness. The one Light moves on the way around thee when thou seekest thy dwelling in the house of the Truth.

3. On every side he ascends them and they become easy to control, he awakes to knowledge and is the lord and discoverer of the riches. Fire with his blue back and many diverse faces brings them from the ever-moving foundation to a settled dwelling.

4. The rivers energised and bear his mighty force of formation firmly fixed and undecaying; he shines out wide with his limbs in the world of his session and has entered earth and heaven as if they were one.

5. They knew the bliss of the ruddy-shining bull and they rejoice in the rule of the Great One; they are the lights of heaven luminously blazing and the Word of Revelation is their mighty common speech.

6. And great by the knowledge of the great Father and Mother they led his strength in the wake of its proclaiming call, where the bull bears his worshipper round the hold of night towards its own seat.

7. Seven illumined seers guard by the five priests of the pilgrim rite the beloved [[Or, delightful]] seat of the being that is set within: moving forward the imperishable bulls take joy; the gods move according to the law of the workings of the gods.

8. I crown the two supreme Priests of the invocation. The seven pleasures take their rapture by the self-law of their nature; the Truth they express, the Truth only they speak, guardians of the law of its action according to that law they shine.

9. The many Rays well governed in their course, grow passionate for the great Horse, the many-hued Bull. O divine Priest of the call, rapturous, awaking to knowledge, bring here the great gods and earth and heaven.

10. The swift-running dawns have shone opulently bringing us our satisfactions, with their true speech, their rays of intuition. And do thou, O Fire, by the greatness of the earth cut away for the Vast even the sin that has been done.

11. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech, the many actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; [[Or, himself a begetter;]] O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 9

1. Mortals we have chosen thee, a god, for our comrade to protect us, the Child of the Waters, full of happiness and light, victorious, [[Or, strong to break through,]] to whom no hurt can come.

2. When leaving the woods thou goest to thy mother waters, that retreat turns not to oblivion of thee, [[Or, to thy destruction,]] O Fire, for even though thou art far thou hast come into being here.

3. When thou hast carried beyond the rough ground [[Or, beyond thirst]] then hast thou truth of mind: some depart, [[Or, move forward,]] others remain seated around thee in whose comradeship thou art lodged.

4. When he has passed beyond the forces that make to err, beyond those that cling perpetual, the long-lasting who have no hurt have followed and found him like a lion who has taken refuge in the Waters.

5. As if one who of himself has sped away and utterly disappeared, this Fire Life growing in the mother led from the Beyond, churned out on every side, for the gods.

6. This is thou upon whom mortals have seized for the gods, O carrier of the offerings, because thou guardest all sacrifices by thy will, O Flame in man, O most youthful god!

7. O Fire, thy action covers That Bliss from the ignorant when the Animals sit together around thee, kindled against the night.

8. Offer the oblation to the Fire intense with its purifying light, who does perfectly the pilgrim-rite, the swift messenger, with his rapid pace; wait soon upon the ancient and desirable godhead.

9. Gods three thousand and three hundred and thirty and nine waited upon the Fire. They anointed him with streams of the clarity, they spread for him the seat of sacrifice, and seated him within as Priest of the call.

SUKTA 10

1. Thee, O Fire, men who have the thinking mind kindle in the sacrifice, an emperor over those who see, mortals set alight a godhead.

2. Thee, O Fire, they pray in the sacrifices as the sacrificant of the rite, the Priest of the call; shine out the guardian of the Truth in thy own home.

3. He who gives to thee with the fuel, to the knower of the births, holds the hero-energy, he ever grows.

4. He is the ray of intuition in the sacrifices; may he, the Fire, come with the gods, anointed by the seven priests of oblation, to him who holds the offerings.

5. Bring forward for the Fire, for the Priest of the call, the vast and supreme word [[Or, ancient word]] as for the creator and me who bring the lights of illuminations.

6. May our words make the Fire to grow when he is born, the Fire that carries the utterance, visioned for the great plenitude, for the treasure.

7. O Fire, most strong to sacrifice in the pilgrim-rite, worship the gods for the seeker of the godhead; as the rapturous Priest of the call thou shinest wide, beyond the forces that make us err.

8. So, do thou, O purifying Flame, kindle in us the luminous hero-energy, to those who laud thee become most close for their weal.

9. This is thou whom the illumined seers who have the light, ever wakeful, kindle, the immortal bearer of the offering, increaser of our force.

SUKTA 11

1. Fire is our all-seeing Priest of the call, our vicar set in front in the pilgrim-rite; he knows the uninterrupted course of the sacrifice.

2. He is the immortal, the carrier of the offering, the aspirant, the messenger settled in the rapture; the Fire joins with our Thought.

3. Agni wakes to knowledge companioning our Thought, he is the supreme [[Or, ancient]] ray of intuition in the sacrifice; it is he who crosses through to man's goal.

4. Fire, the Son of Force, who hears the things that are eternal, [[Or, who has the inspired knowledge of things eternal,]] knower of the births, the gods created as a carrier flame.

5. The inviolable who goes in front of the human peoples the Fire is a swift chariot that is ever new.

6. Overpowering all assailants the Fire is the will of the gods never crushed, filled with the multitude of his inspirations.

7. By this bringer of delights the mortal who gives, reaches and possesses the house of the purifying light.

8. May we by our thought possess around us well-established all the things of the Fire, may we be illumined seers who know all things born. [[Or, in whom knowledge is born.]]

9. O Fire, we shall win all desirable things in thy plenitudes, in thee have moved towards us the gods.

SUKTA 12

1. O Indra, O Fire, come to the offering of the wine, by our words, your supreme desirable ether; drink of it you who are missioned by the Thought.

2. O Indra, O Fire, the conscious sacrifice journeys taking with it the worshipper: by this word drink of this offered wine.

3. I choose by the swift impulse of the sacrifice Indra and the Fire whose pleasure is in the seer; take here your content of the Soma-wine.

4. The smiters, the slayers of the coverer I call, the unvanquished, the companions in victory, Indra and the Fire, most strong to win the plenitudes.

5. Your adorers, speakers of the word, they who know the ways of the guidance hymn you: O Indra, O Fire, I accept your impulsions.

6. Indra and Fire shook down the ninety cities possessed by the destroyers, together by one deed.

7. O Indra, O Fire, all around our work our thoughts go for ward towards you along the paths of the Truth.

8. O Indra, O Fire, your mights are companions and your delights; in you is founded all swiftness in the work.

9. O Indra, O Fire, you encompass the luminous kingdom of heaven in the plenitudes; it is your strength that is manifested there. [[Or, that is your strength which wakes to knowledge.]]

RISHABHA VAISHWAMITRA

SUKTA 13

1. Sing out some mightiest hymn to this divine Fire; may he come to us with the gods and, strong to sacrifice, sit upon the sacred grass.

2. He is the possessor of the Truth to whom belong earth and heaven and their guardings accompany his mind of discernment; for him the givers of the oblation pray, for him for their protection when they would win the riches.

3. He is the illumined seer and regent of these sacrifices, he and always he; that Fire set to his work who shall win and give the plenitude.

4. May he, the Fire, give us all happy peace for our journeying there whence are rained the riches in heaven, from all the planes, in the Waters.

5. Men who have the light kindle into his flaming, incomparable, by the opulent thinkings of this being Fire, the Priest of the call, the lord of all the peoples.

6. Do thou, strong to call the gods, protect us in the Word, in all our utterances; increasing the life-powers powerful to win the thousands. Flame out blissfully for us, O Fire.

7. Now give us a thousandfold riches bringing the Son, bringing our growth, luminous, a hero-strength, abundant, inexhaustible.

SUKTA 14

1. The rapturous Priest of the call has reached the things of knowledge; he is the true, doer of sacrifice, a great seer, a creator. Fire the son of force, with his chariot of lightning and his hair of flaming light has attained to a massive strength on the earth.

2. 1 come to thee, accept my word of obeisance, O master of Truth and strength, to thee who givest knowledge. As the knower, bring those who know and sit in the midst on the sacred grass, O lord of sacrifice.

3. Let dawn and night full of their plenitude come running towards thee on paths of the wind, O Fire, when all around they anoint with oblation thee the first and supreme, as if two sides of a chariot-front they enter into the gated house.

4. To thee, O Forceful Fire, Mitra and Varuna and all the life-powers chant a hymn of bliss, when with thy flame of light, O son of Force, thou standest as the sun above the peoples shining wide upon men.

5. Today we give to thee thy desire, approaching thee with outstretched hands and with obeisance; worship the gods with a mind strong for sacrifice, an illumined seer, with thy unerring thought, O Fire.

6. For, from thee, O son of Force, go forth the many protections of the godhead, and his plenitudes. Do thou give us the thousandfold treasure, give by the word that betrays not the truth, O Fire.

7. O understanding mind, O Seer-Will! now that all these things we who are mortals have done for thee, O god, in` the pilgrim-sacrifice, do thou awake to the whole well-charioted action and taste all That here, O immortal Fire.

UTKILA KATYA

SUKTA 15

1. Flaming out in a wide mass of strength press back the hostile powers that hurt and afflict. May I abide in the bliss of the all-blissful Vast, in the leading of the Fire who is swift to our call.

2. Thou in the dawning of this dawn, thou when the Sun has arisen wake for us and be our protector. Take pleasure in the Son as if in an eternal birth. Accept my affirmation of thee, O Fire, perfectly born in thy body.

3. Thou art the male with the divine vision, in the wake of many dawns shine out luminous in the black nights, O Fire. O prince of the riches, lead and carry us over beyond the evil; O youthful god, make us aspirants for the treasure.

4. Shine out, O Fire, the invincible male, conquering all the cities, all the felicities; thou art the knower of the births, O perfect guide on the way, thou art the leader of the first, the Vast all-protecting sacrifice.

5. O Fire of worship, towards homes of bliss many and without a gap, towards the gods shining out wise in understanding, like a conquering chariot bring the plenitude; O Fire, do thou make earth and heaven firmly established for us.

6. O Bull of the herds, nourish us, move towards us with plenitudes, make heaven and earth good milk-cows for us, O Fire; O god, come with the gods glowing in the beauty of thy splendour. Let not the evil mind of mortal besiege us.

7. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; [[Or, himself a begetter;]] O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 16

1. This is the Fire that is lord of the hero-energy and the great felicity, lord of the wealth of the shining herds, and of good progeny who has power for the slaying of the coverers.

2. O gods, O life-powers, you cleave to this Fire of increase, in whom are the treasures that make our happiness to grow. Through all the days they have destroyed the enemies, the evil-thoughted who attack us in our battles.

3. So do thou, O bounteous Fire, with thy many lights bestow on us the greatest and griefless wealth, full of the hero-strength, of progeny and of force.

4. He who puts forth his force and is the doer in all the worlds, he who is the doer of works in the gods, labours in the gods and in all mights and in the self-expression of men.

5. O Fire, deliver us not to unconsciousness, nor to the lack of the strength of the hero, nor to the absence of the Light, [[Literally, "the Cow",]] nor to the bondage, [[Or, to the Censurer,]] O son of force, put away from us the hostile powers.

6. O felicitous Fire, have power in the pilgrim-rite for the fruitful plenitude, for the Vast; O thou of the many lights, join us to the large and glorious riches that create the Bliss.

KATA VAISHWAMITRA

SUKTA 17

1. He is kindled and blazes out according to the first and supreme laws and is united with the Rays, he in whom are all desirable things, Fire with his tresses of flame and his raiment of light, the purifier, perfect in sacrifice, for sacrifice to the gods.

2. O Fire, as thou hast accomplished in sacrifice thy priesthood for the earth, awaking to knowledge, O knower of the births, as thou hast accomplished it for heaven, [[Or, as thou hast offered in sacrifice the oblation of the earth, as thou hast offered the oblation of heaven,]] so with this oblation do sacrifice to the gods, carry yet further beyond the sacrifice with the human being today.

3. Three are thy lives, O knower of all things born, three are the dawns that are thy births, O Fire; [[Or, that gave thee birth, O Fire;]] by them win through sacrifice the protection of the gods, thou as the knower become for the doer of sacrifice the peace and the movement.

4. We hymn thee by our words, O knower of all things born, as the Fire perfect in light, perfect in vision, the object of our prayer and offer to thee our obeisance; thee the gods made the Messenger, the Traveller, the carrier of offerings, the navel-centre of Immortality.

5. O Fire, he who was before thee and was the Priest of the call and mighty for sacrifice and was dual entity and by the law of his nature the creator of the Bliss, by his law of action carry on the sacrifice, thou who art awake to knowledge, thou establish our pilgrim-rite in the advent of the gods.

SUKTA 18

1. O Fire, in our coming to thee become right-minded accomplishing our aim as a friend to a friend, as father and mother to their child; for these worlds of beings born are full of harm: burn to ashes the hostile forces that come against us.

2. Wholly consume our inner foes, consume the self-expression of the enemy who would war against us, O lord of the riches, consume, conscious in knowledge, the powers of ignorance; let them range wide thy ageless marching fires.

3. I desire and offer the oblation, O Fire, with the fuel, with > of heaven, in the navel centre of earth. The Fire the pouring of the clarity, for speed, for strength. Until I have the mastery, [[Or, as long as I have the power,]] adoring with the Word I lift to thee for the conquest of the hundreds this thought divine.

4. Affirmed by our lauds rise up with thy flame of light, O son of force, found the vast expansion in us who labour at the work, found opulently in the Vishwamitras the peace and the movement, O Fire. We make bright many times over thy body.

5. O conqueror of the riches, create for us the ecstasy, such thou becomest when thou art high kindled. Opulently in the gated house of thy felicitous adorer thou upholdest thy gliding bodies streaming their radiance.

GATHIN KAUSHIKA

SUKTA 19

1. Fire I choose the Priest of the call in the sacrifice, the wise, the seer, the omniscient, free from ignorance: he shall do worship for us strong for sacrifice, in the formation of the godheads; for the wealth, for the plenitude he wins all kinds of amassings.

2. O Fire, I mission towards thee a power of giving bearing my oblation, luminous, full of lustres. May he come to the sacrifice with his givings, with his treasures turning round it and widening the formation of the godheads.

3. So, am I guarded by thee with a mind of shining energy; then do thou teach us of the riches that teach and that give us good children of our works. O Fire, may we become affirmers of thee by our lauds and rich in the power of a wealth most full of the strength of the gods.

4. For, many flame-forces they have founded in thee, O Fire, men who have the will to sacrifice to the godhead. So, bring to us the formation of the godhead, O youthful god, when thou worshippest with sacrifice the divine host today.

5. Since the gods seating thee for sacrifice have anointed thee as Priest of the call in the rite, so do thou, O Fire, awake here as our protector and found thy inspirations in our bodies.

SUKTA 20

1. Fire and dawn and the two riders of the horse and Dadhikravan the Carrier of the offerings calls by his words in the dawnings. May the gods full of the Light hear us; may they desire and accept with a common pleasure our sacrifice.

2. O Fire, three are thy steeds, three the worlds of thy session; three are thy tongues, O thou born from the Truth, they are many: three too are thy bodies desired by the gods, with them protect undeviatingly our words.

3. Many are the names of thee, the Immortal, O Fire, O knower of the births, O god who bearest with thee the self- law of nature; all the manifold magic of the Lords of magic they have combined in thee, O all-ruler, O builder of the levels.

4. The Fire is as the Enjoyer the leader of the divine worlds, he is the divine guardian of the fixed time of things, and with him is the Truth. He is the slayer of the Coverer, the Eternal, the Omniscient; may he carry one who hymns him with the word beyond all the difficulty and stumbling.

5. Dadhikravan, I call here, and the Fire, and the divine dawn, Brihaspati and the god Savitri, the two riders of the horse, and Mitra and Varuna and Bhaga, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas.

SUKTA 21

l. Found this our sacrifice in the immortals, accept these offerings, O knower of things born. O Priest of the call sitting as first and supreme, taste of the drops of understanding [[Or, strength]] and light.

2. O purifying Fire, full of light there drip for thee drops of understanding; give us the supreme desirable thing in thy self-law for the advent of the gods.

3. To thee, the illumined seer, come these drops dripping light, O right and true, O Fire; then thou blazest up as the supreme Rishi. Become the protector of our sacrifice.

4. On thee they fall, the drops of understanding and light, O unseizable [[Or, uncontrollable]] Ray! O thou with whom is the puissance! Declared by the seers of truth thou hast come with the vast light. Accept our offerings, O wise intelligence!

5. Most full of energy is the understanding held up in the middle for thee, this is our gift to thee. The drops drip over thy skin, O shining one, [[Or, Lord of riches,]] take them to thee in the way of the gods.

SUKTA 22

1. This is that Fire in which Indra, desiring the wine, held it in his belly; our laud rises to thee because thou hast won the thousandfold plenitude as if a steed of swiftness, O knower of all things born!

2. O Fire, that splendour of thine which is in heaven and which is in the earth and its growths and its waters, O lord of sacrifice, by which thou hast extended the wide mid-air, it is a brilliant ocean of light in which is divine vision.

3. O Fire, thou goest towards the ocean of the sky, thou speak est towards the gods who are masters of knowledge, [[Or, the gods of the planes (seats),]]towards the waters that abide above in the luminous world of the sun and the waters that are below.

4. Let thy Fires that dwell in the waters joining with those that descend the slopes accept the sacrifice, mighty impelling forces, in which there is no harm nor any distress.

5. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; [[Or, himself a begetter;]] O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

DEVASHRAVAS, DEVAVATA -- BHARATAS

SUKTA 23

1. Churned out and well-established in the house of his session, the Youth, the Seer, the leader of the pilgrim-sacrifice, imperishable in the perishing woodlands, the Fire, the knower of all things born, has founded here immortality.

2. The sons of the Bringer, god-inspired and god-beloved, have churned out Fire of the perfect discernment. O Fire, look widely on us with the vast riches, become the leader of our impulsions throughout the days.

3. The ten who throw the Light have brought to birth all around the Ancient One well-born in his mothers and well-beloved. Affirm with lauds, O god-inspired, the Fire lit by the god-beloved, that he may be the controller of men.

4. One has set thee in the supreme seat of the earth, in the seat of the Word of Revelation, in the happy brightness of the days: O Fire, opulently shine in the human being, in the river of rocks, in the stream of flowing waters, in the stream of inspiration. [[Or, in the river Drishadwati, in Apaya and in Saraswati.]]

5. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many- actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth; [[Or, himself a begetter;]] O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

GATHINA VISHWAMITRA

SUKTA 24

1. O Fire, overpower the hostile armies, hurl them from us; hard to pierce, pierce the enemy-powers, found thy splendour in him who carries through the sacrifice.

2. O Fire, thou art kindled by the word of revelation, the immortal who comes to the offering, accept wholly our pilgrim- sacrifice.

3. O Fire, ever-wakeful with thy light, O son of force, invoked sit on my seat of sacrifice.

4. O Fire, with all thy divine fires greaten in our sacrifices the word that has sight.

5. O Fire, give to the giver a wealth full of hero-strengths enclosing us; intensify the force in us having with us the Son.

SUKTA 25

1. O Fire, thou art the son of heaven by the body of the earth, the conscious knower, even the omniscient. Sacrifice to each god in turn, O thou who knowest.

2. Fire the knower wins the hero-energies, wins the plenitudes striving towards immortality. So do thou bring to us the gods, O giver of the manifold plenty.

3. The Fire, free from all ignorance, illumines Earth and Heaven the divine and immortal mothers of all things; possessing all he is manifold in his delights by his plenitudes and his dispensations.

4. O Fire, and O Indra, here in the gated house of the giver who offers the wine, come to the sacrifice, gods unforgetting, for the drinking of the Soma-wine.

5. O Fire, thou shinest high, eternal in the house of the waters, O son of force, O knower of all things born, greatening under thy guard the worlds of thy session.

SUKTA 26

1. We the Kushikas, bringing the offering, desiring the Treasure, call by our words Fire, the universal godhead, discerning him by the mind, as the follower of the truth, who finds the world of the sun, the great giver, the divine and rapturous charioteer.

2. We call to guard us that brilliant Fire, the universal godhead, who grows in the mother, the master of the word, the speaker and the hearer, for the human being's forming of the god head, the illumined Seer, the Guest, the swift Traveller.

3. As if the neighing Horse by the mothers, the universal godhead is kindled high by the Kushikas from generation to generation; may that Fire wakeful in the Immortals give to us the hero-strength and good power of the Horse and the ecstasy.

4. Let them go forward, the plenitudes with the strengths, thy Fires; they have yoked the dappled mares mingled together to reach bliss and make the mountains tremble, before them the life-gods, omniscient, pouring the Vast, inviolable.

5. The life-gods with their glory of fire, universal in the peoples, [[Or, dragging all with them,]] we desire as our brilliant and forceful guard; great givers are they, thunderous and terrible, clothed as if in raiment of rain, they are like roaring lions.

6. Host upon host, troop upon troop with their proclaimings of the Fire we desire the luminous energy of the life-gods; they come to the sacrifice driving their dappled horses, their achievement cannot be taken from them, they are wise thinkers in the discoveries of knowledge.

7. I am the Fire, I am from my birth the knower of all things born; light is my eye, in my mouth is immortality; I am the triple Ray, I am the measurer of the mid-world, I am the unceasing illumination, I am the offering.

8. He has purified through the three filters the Ray, following the thought with the heart he has reached knowledge of the light; he has created by the self-laws of his nature the supreme ecstasy and his sight has embraced earth and heaven.

9. He is a fountain with a hundred streams that is never exhausted, with his illumined consciousness he is the father and accorder of all that must be spoken; he takes his rapture in the lap of the Father and Mother and earth and heaven fill him full, the speaker of truth.

SUKTA 27

1. Forward move the luminous plenitudes bearing the offering with the ladle of light; the seeker of bliss travels to the gods.

2. I pray by the word the Fire with its illumined consciousness, who accomplishes the sacrifice, who has the inspiration, who has the firm holding.

3. O Fire, may we have the power to rein thee, the divine steed of swiftness, may we cross through the hostile forces.

4. Fire high-blazing in the rite of the path, Fire whom we must pray, who purifies, with his tresses of flame -- him we desire.

5. He is the immortal, wide in might, clothed in raiment of light; well-fed with the oblation, Fire is the carrier of the offerings in the sacrifice.

6. Assailed by the opponent the doers of sacrifice, setting to work the ladle, keeping the true thought, have made the Fire to guard them.

7. The immortal, the godhead, the Priest of the call goes in our front with his mage-wisdom, impelling the discoveries of knowledge.

8. He is held as the Horse in the plenitudes, he is led along in the rites of the path, he is the illumined Seer who accomplishes the sacrifice.

9. He was made by the Thought, one Supreme; [[Or, the desirable one;]] it held the child of beings, the father of the Understanding in the body. [[Or, the daughter of the Understanding set him in us the child born from creatures and their father.]]

10. The word of revelation born from the understanding sets thee within, one supreme, O thou forcefully created, O Fire, the perfect thinker and the aspirant.

11. Fire the swift in motion, who crosses through the waters, the illumined seers desiring to conquer in the union with the Truth set ablaze by the plenitudes.

12. l pray Fire, the Seer-Will, the Son of Energy flaming out in heaven in the rite of the path.

13. One to be prayed, to be worshipped with obeisance, one who sees [[Or, is seen]] through the darkness, the Fire is kindled high, the male of the herd.

14. Mighty and male the Fire is kindled high, he is like a horse that carries the gods, him they pray who bring the offerings.

15. Thee, mighty and male, we male and mighty kindle high, O Bull of the herds, O Fire, and thou illuminest the Vast.

SUKTA 28

1. O Fire, accept our offering, the frontal oblation in the dawn pressing of the wine, O knower of the births, O rich in thought.

2. O Fire, for thee is the frontal offering prepared and dressed, that accept, O youthful god.

3. O Fire, come to [[Or, devour]] the frontal offering that is cast to thee with the disappearance of day; O son of force, thou art established in the rite of the path.

4. In the noonday pressing of the wine, O seer, knower of all things born, accept the frontal offering. O Fire, the wise thinkers in their discoveries of knowledge impair not thy portion, who art the mighty one.

5. O Fire, in the third pressing also thou hast desire of the frontal offering cast to thee, O son of force; do thou by the illumination establish in the gods the pilgrim-sacrifice full of ecstasy and wakeful in the immortals.

6. O Fire, increasing accept the frontal offering, the oblation cast with the disappearance of the day, O knower of all things born.

SUKTA 29

1. This is the churning out, this the bringing to birth that is done; bring the Queen of the peoples, let us churn out the Fire as of old.

2. The knower of all births is set in the two tinders, like an unborn child well- placed in the womb of the mothers, Fire who is to be prayed from day to day by men wakeful and bearing their offering.

3. Waking to knowledge bring him down in her lying supine; at once penetrated she has brought to birth the male of the herd: a ruddy pile of strength his might shines forth, the son of the Word of revelation is born in the manifestation of knowledge.

4. We in the seat of the Word of revelation, on the navel-centre of the earth, set thee within, O knower of all things born, for the carrying of the oblations.

5. Churn out, O men, the seer who creates no duality, the immortal thinker and knower with his fair front; Fire who is the supreme intuition in the sacrifice, the blissful one, bring to birth in your front, O men.

6. When they churn him out by the strength of their arms wide he shines, he is like a horse of swiftness, he is luminous in the woodlands; he is like a richly hued chariot in the journeying of the two riders, none can impede him; burning around the rocks he tears the grasses.

7. Agni when he is born shines waking to knowledge, he is the Horse, the illumined who is declared by the seers, the great giver, whom the gods have set in the pilgrim-sacrifices as the carrier-of the offerings, the one to be prayed, the omniscient.

8. Sit, O Priest of the call, in that world which is thy own waking to knowledge, accomplish the sacrifice in the native seat of deeds well done; manifesting the godheads [[Or, bringing the gods]] thou sacrificest to the gods with the offering, -- O Fire, found in the sacrificer the vast expansion.

9. O Friends, create his mighty smoke, go with unerring steps towards the plenitude; this is the Fire conqueror in the battle, by whom the gods overcame the destroyers.

10. This is thy native seat where is the order of the Truth whence born thou shonest forth, know it and take there thy session, then give increase to our words.

11. A mighty child in the womb he is called the son of the body; when he is born he becomes one who voices the godhead: when as life who grows in the mother he has been fashioned in the mother he becomes a gallop of wind in his movement.

12. Churned out with the good churning the seer set within with a perfect placing, -- O Fire, make easy the paths of the sacrifice, offer sacrifice to the gods for the seeker of godhead.

13. Mortals have brought to birth the Immortal, Fire with his strong tusk, the unfailing deliverer. [[Or, one who unfailing crosses through all.]] The ten sisters who move as companions passion over the male that is born.

14. He shone out from the eternal with his seven priests of the call when he blazed on the lap of the mother, in her bosom of plenty. He is full of joy and closes not his eyes from day to day, once he has been born from the belly of the Almighty One.

15. Fighting down the unfriendly powers like the marching hosts of the life-gods the first-born of the Word come to know all that is: the Kushikas have sent forth the luminous word, one by one they have kindled the Fire in the house.

16. Because here today in the going forward of this sacrifice we have chosen thee, O Priest of the call, O thou who wakest to knowledge, thou hast moved to the Permanent, thou hast achieved by thy toil the Permanent; knowing, come as one possessed of knowledge to the Soma-wine.