LIGHT OF VEDAS: HYMN TO USHA

HYMN TO USHA

O Usha! You are of a luminous movement, vast with the Truth,
move according to the path of the Truth, in solar light manifest,
true in her being with the gods as the impeller of happy truths.

O Usha! born in heaven from Truth, You open out to things by the Truth,
with Truth are Your horses yoked, from the seat of Truth You awake
manifesting Your greatness as the supreme guardian of the Truth.


O Usha! the most auspicious, eternally youthful, robed with divine light,
by impelling the Sun's powers to pervade the supramental home of Truth
You have illumined our inner beings with the dawn of the spiritual wealth.


With abundance of the powers of life You propel us toward divine action
giving expression to our inmost self with inspired speech or mantras
striking at the jīva’s mortal span, to replacing it with immortality.

O Usha! Your each advent brings fresh spiritual experiences for the seer
manifesting as awakening of the soul to the light of spiritual dawn
to let the Sun's rays to permeate our beings for the sacrifice-born bliss.

O Mother! the face of the infinite, the divine vision that sacrifice awakes
creates effulgence in the soul partaking of the joy of celestial dawn
with darkness departed You repair to the home of truth where life blooms.

No realization of truth’s light until the divine consciousness dawns
until the power of revelation of the inner happenings shines bright,
the rising Sun of Truth, the Supernal Light what the Vedas hymned.




O Face of the Infinite! Your yajna-born vision reveals all the hymns,
manifested You propel us to march to the higher worlds of Truth,
of blissful bounty, of the vast divine wealth along with the bliss of dawn.


O Usha! paired with the night, the two mighty mothers of Truth:
night and dawn, common-minded, well-lighted, different in hues,
with their loving caresses, increase our beings’ living space.


O Usha! in this sacrifice with the night Your path is common,
guided by the Sun alternately You travel to arrive at our seat
from our dismal human condition to lift us to the spring-eyed dawn.


Night and Dawn are the mothers twain who through a constant rhythm
of illumination and darkness accomplish the celestial birth of the new man
filling his being with knowledge, love and power to create a new world.


Night and Dawn, though of different forms but of one mind
suckle alternately the luminous progeny to foster their growth,
to ward off the devouring demons of division and dissention.


O Usha! the goddess of dawn, of the sunrise of spiritual consciousness,
our inner selves You open to luminous realms of bliss and perfection,
the physical dawn every morn we see symbolizes just this inner state.


Only those who open themselves to the reign of Truth,
who have Truth in thought, truth in feeling, truth in speech,
to them ,O Usha! You manifest the dawn of everlasting bliss.


Before the Truth’s Light dawns in the sacrificer’s inner consciousness,
many experiences must he undergo in his outer consciousness, his ego self,
the radiant luster You spread everywhere dispels the thick darkness.


Unending is the path of the dawns, O Usha! You go over and over again
before the dawning of the full illumination within the soul of man
bringing thus fresh revelation of the Supernal Light, the Sun of Truth.


You are rta and satya, Truth in manifestation, the supreme existence,
of luminous movement You move according to the path of the Truth
manifesting the dawning of divine consciousness within every being.


O Usha! with onset of the light-truth of bliss when You arrive,
an ineffable calm, a state of the being descends upon us,
in which, we, the earthlings, abide as the King of kings.


O Usha! by filling their mind and being with the light of Truth
the seekers attain to life divine beyond the pale of logic and reason,
You open the gates of Heaven Your divine splendor to manifest.


As the tropical monsoon washes away all the dirt in the streets,
O the goddess Usha! You cleanse our mind of all material dross,
endow us with the power of clear-sighted intuition and revelation.


O Usha of many hues! let You open the doors in our inner being
that the divine light spread with its power to flood the entire world,
being a brilliant guide to happy truths let You illumine our paths.


O Usha of multifarious hues! with the rosy color of the rising Sun
Your appearance You make propelling us toward the higher goals
leading us from the enveloping darkness to the light of bliss divine.

LIGHT OF VEDAS:HYMN TO SAVITARI

HYMN TO SAVITARI

O Savitr! You are an Aditya, the golden eyed,
the golden handed, the golden tongued,
riding a golden chariot You come, overseeing all.

O Savitr! You are the sun before sun rise,
the golden sun of the morning,
the hidden sun of dark night too.

O Savitr! mounting Your golden chariot,
lofty with golden pole, colorful pearls decked
You go to illumine the darksome regions .

O Savitr! both ways moving, upward and downward,
traveling along the ancient dustless paths of the Sun
with two bright adorable bays in the air's mid region.

With Your white footed Bays drawing the gold-yoked car,
You bid the Sun in mid-heaven to approach the earthlings
through the darksome region spreading the brightened sky.

O Savitr! from far away You come to illumine
worlds caught in the darkness of doubt and despair,
chasing away the rakshasas and the Yatudhanas.
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O the golden-handed Savitr! the far-seeing one,
on Your way You go between the earth and heaven,
driving away the demons of sorrow and affliction.

O Savitr! as the law upholder You are superior to all the other gods
neither Varuna nor Indra, not Mitra, nor Aryaman, nor Rudra
dare break Your ordinance nor dare defy Your divine decree.

O Savitr! the golden disc with bright pointed rays,
the goal, the purpose and the object of meditation,
with Your effulgence, the whole inner world is lit up.

O Savitr! by the luminous, life-giving energy of the Sun
You manifest the divine effulgence to all the peoples
bestowing on them wisdom, radiance, luster and illumination.

O Savitr! the most adorable god of mystic realms,
the key to man’s liberation and enlightenment,
in Your lap all men and beings attain immortality.

O Savitr! of adorable splendor, the beauty incarnate,
concentrating on Your icon of ineffable radiance
the dark shadows of sin from our being are expelled.

LIGHT OF VEDAS:HYMN TO AGNI

HYMN TO AGNI

O Agni, You are the principal Vedic god, the chosen Priest,
the minister of sacrifice, the hotar of the Yajna rites,
the supreme lavisher of wealth, the dispeller of darkness.

O the Radiant One! You are the ruler of all sacrifices,
without Your presence no Yajna sacrifice is complete,
only the oblation You accept alone goes to the gods.

O the Sapient-minded Priest, the guard of Law Eternal,
the oblation-bearer, the gloriously great, the truth incarnate,
between the earth and the heavens You shuttle as the Divine Messenger.

O the earliest of the Angiras! the Seer among the gods,
Lord Manu appointed You as the hotar of all sacrifice,
the Maruts only there after with glittering spears were born.

O Agni! Matariswan brought You down from the heavens,
handed You over to the Bhrigus to keep You ever effulgent,
investing You with preeminence among all the other Gods.

O Agni! You are envisioned with two heads, long flowing hair,
a pot belly, six eyes, seven hands, four horns, three legs,
often are You seen seated with svaha and svadha, Your consorts.

O Agni! Your seven hands represent the seven flames,
the three legs the three worlds over which You reign,
Your pot belly denotes Your love for rich oily food.

O Agni! the Ram, a sacrificial animal, is Your vehicle
having a holy connection with the Vedic rituals,
what the rishis performed during the Yajna rites.

O Agni! You are the herald, the master of all treasure,
as beloved of the gods, You bring them on to the earth ,
making them sit on the grass near the sacrificial altar.

O the Lord of Red Steeds! the lover of music and dance,
the bearer of offerings, the charioteer of sacrifice,
the bountiful giver of gifts, of the wondrous fame.

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Wth Indra, O Agni! You share the passion for soma drink,
brewed from the celestial waters in the heart of the Sun,
the intoxicant of the gods, the mystic key to life divine.

O Agni! You are the dhoomaketu, smoke is Your banner,
infinite Your destructive power to set the forests aflame
of reducing to ashes many a garden in bloom in no time.

Urged by the lashing wind You spread through dry wood
with Your tongues armed for sickles, charging with a mighty roar,
black is Your path,O Agni, changeless, with glittering waves!

With teeth of flame, wind-driven, through the wood You speed,
triumphant like a bull with bright strength among the herd of cows,
like a moving quake eagerly are You seen rushing to envelop the trees.

O Agni! the Vaivashnara are You, in the center in the sky and the earth,
unveiling nights and all that is fixed or moves, You ascend the sky,
commingling, restless, preeminent in Your greatness and eminence.

LIGHT OF VEDAS:HYMN TO VARUNA

HYMN TO VARUNA

O Compassion Incarnate, the Almighty
the God omniscient, omnipresent,
the precursor of Upanishadic Brahman.

O the four armed! an umbrella over Your head,
You ride a chariot by seven crocodiles drawn,
symbolizing Your lordship over the aquatic life.

O You the Lord of the earth and heaven!
the Asvattha-like tree You sustain with its roots in heaven,
branches hanging down below to the earth.

O the knower-controller of all beings,
the supreme dispenser of justice,
Your writ runs all over the space.

O Varuna! the ordainer law enforcer,
the ruler of the worlds,
the upholder of the world order.

O the Justicer Wise! ocean-wide is Your Court
there You sit with holy laws to govern all men
who throng from all corners of the globe.

Spread every where are Your innumerable spies,
as rays of light they act as Your eyes and ears,
letting You know all what is going on in this world.

O Varuna! You are the Sovran of the sea,
You know the path of birds over which they fly,
You keep a track of of every ship that on Your waters plies.

You know the twelve moons with their progeny,
the pathway of the wind, spreading, high, and mighty,
the anchor and the loadstar are You to the wind-lashed ships.

O Varuna! You cause the rains to come down,
the sun to oversee all directions,
You make the rivers ceaselessly flow.

Born to Aditi, friend and brother of Mitra,
O Varuna! You are the Lord Merciful One,
You forgive the sinners if they repent for their sins.

O Rta Incarnate! when people transgress the moral order
You descend down upon them with sternness of a judge
but if they seek forgiveness, You rain on them Your love.

You are the law maker, O the Holiest of the Holy One!
universal are Your laws, O the legislator of mankind,
together with Mitra, the world order You sustain.


O Varuna! to You we repeatedly beseech
that from committing transgressions we refrain,
like loosened fetters cast away all our sins.

Forgive us if we have sinned against the man who loves us,
ever wronged a brother, friend, or comrade,
done wrong unwittingly or sinned of purpose.

O Varuna, remove from us the trespass,
forgive, if ever have we transgressed,
let us be Thine own beloved, O the Merciful One.

LIGHT OF VEDAS: HYMN TO INDRA

HYMN TO INDRA

O Indra! the lord of the heavens,
the god of the blue sky
the most powerful of the Vedic deities.

O god! mighty and sensuous,
ever prone to drinking soma,
often losing control over yourself.

Vexed always about your Indra status,
your survival as the leader of the gods ,
seen often scheming against your potential foes.

O Indra! you share with humans their foibles
which make you look more a king
upon the earth than of the heavens.

O the four-armed! You ride the white elephant,
your gloried steed, the mighty Airavata,
overseeing the garden of paradise.

O Indra! You wield the Vajra,
that dazzling weapon of lightening
what mythical god Tvastur had made.

O you! the vanquisher of Asuras,
the destroyer of their many empires,
you regained the lost paradise by your valour .

O you! the slayer of Vratasura,
the demon of the dark skies
manifest as the black clouds.

With your weapon of lightning
You strike the demon Vrata
releasing the captive cows of celestial waters.

Your victory over the demons in crucial battles
made you Indra, the first among the gods
earned for you the status as the ruler of the heavens.

Among the gods you by your peerless penances alone
could go nearest to Brahman, to know Him as Brahman

and to learn from Him the secrets of immortality.