Flame-waves from the Upanishad-sea, part 2

I

transliteration

Agne naya supatha raye asman
visvani deva vayunani vidvan
yuyodhyasmaj juhuranam eno
bhuyistham te namaüktim vidhema

translation

O Agni, O Fire God, lead us along the right path so that we can enjoy the fruits of our divine actions.
You know, O God, all our deeds.
O God, take away from us all our unaspiring and binding sins and destroy them.
To You we offer our teeming, soulful salutations and prayers.

comment

Heart’s aspiration is the right path.
God’s Compassion is the genuine guidance.
The fruits of our divine actions are peace, light and bliss.
Sin is the smile of self-limiting bondage.
In our prayers and salutations abides God the illumining Saviour.

II

transliteration

Uttisthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata Ksurasya dhara nisita duratyaya Durgam pathas tat kavayo vadanti

translation

Arise! Awake! Realise and achieve the Highest with the help of the illumining, guiding and fulfilling Masters.

The path is as sharp as the edge of a razor, difficult to cross, hard to tread — so declare the wise sages.

comment

“Arise! You need God. Awake! God needs you.” Who brings this message? The Master. The road may be long, but it is not endless. The Goal is not only an endless life, but an ever-energising, immortal breath.

A wise sage is he whose outer life is the manifestation of the Truth’s inner life.

III

transliteration

Yo vai bhuma tat sukham
Nalpe sukham asti
Bhumaiva sukham

translation

The Infinite is the satisfying happiness.
In the finite no happiness can ever breathe.
The Infinite alone is the fulfilling happiness.

comment

The Life infinite is the Delight infinite.

The finite is a stranger to the infinite Happiness.

Infinity without Delight means the Creation without a Creator. Indeed, this is absurd.

Delight without Infinity means the Creator without the Creation. Indeed, this is equally absurd.

IV

transliteration

Na tatra suryo bhati na candratarakam Nema vidyuto bhanti kuto ’yam agnih Tam eva bhantam anubhati sarvam Tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati

translation

There the sun shines not, nor the moon and the stars, nor the lightning, let alone this earthly fire.

Only when illumining Light shines, everything else shines; the self-revealing Light illumines the entire universe.

comment

The outer sun asks us to see and, when we look around, we see all darkness.

The inner sun makes us see what we eternally are: the Light infinite.

V

transliteration

Nayam atma balahinena labhyo

translation

The soul cannot be won by the weakling.

comment

True, a weak aspirant cannot realise his soul. Again, who can really be strong before he has realised his soul?

A weak aspirant is God in His perfecting aspiration.

A strong aspirant is God in His manifesting realisation.

VI

transliteration

Yo devo agnau yo’ psu visvam bhuvanam avivesa
Ya osadhisu yo vanaspatisu tasmai devaya namo namah

translation

We offer our supreme salutations to this divine Being, who is in fire, in water, in the plants, in the trees, and who has entered and pervaded the whole universe.

comment

Fire is aspiration.
Water is consciousness.
A plant is a climbing hope.
A tree is an assuring confidence.
The divine Being is the concealed Breath and revealed Life of the universe.

VII

transliteration

Vidyañ cavidyañ ca yas tad vedobhyam saha Avidyaya mrtyum tirtva vidyayamrtam asnute

translation

He who knows and understands knowledge and ignorance as one, through ignorance passes beyond the domain of death, through knowledge attains to an eternal Life and drinks deep the Light of Immortality.

comment

Ignorance is the knowledge of the physical mind.

Knowledge is the secret of the soul.

When the physical mind surrenders its existence to the illumination of the soul, death dies; Immortality dawns.

VIII

transliteration

Bhadram karnebhih srnuyama deva Bhadram pasyemaksabhir yajatrah Sthirair angais tustuvamsas tanubhir Vyaséma devahitam yad ayuh

translation

O Cosmic Gods, may we hear with our human ears all that is auspicious.

O Gods who are truly worthy of worship, may we see with our human eyes all that is auspicious.

May we enjoy our life given by You, offering constant praises with our sound body and earthly existence to You.

comment

To hear an auspicious thing is to invoke God the Inspiration and God the Aspiration.

To see an auspicious thing is to feel God the Light and God the Delight.