Atharva Veda · 212 of 724

HYMN XLIV

A charm to remove disease 1. Firm stood the heaven, firm stood the earth, firm stood this universal world. Firm stood the trees that sleep erect: let this thy malady be still. 2. Of all thy hundred remedies, a thousand remedies combined. This is the surest cure for flux, most excellent to heal disease. 3. Thou art the stream that Rudra pours, the closest kin of Amrita. Thy name is called Vishānakā: thou sprangest from the Fathers' root, removing illness caused by wind.

Insight

A prayer for preservation from mental sin and evil promptings. The Atharvan understanding of sin is more interior than it is sometimes given credit for — bad intentions, treacherous thoughts, the unwilled stirrings of the mind that the man would not consciously endorse are all asked to be removed by the gods. The hymn is older than any of the philosophical systems that will later develop a full doctrine of mental hygiene (Yoga's citta-vṛtti-nirodha, Buddhist mindfulness practice, Stoic self-examination, the Christian eight thoughts of Evagrius), but it inhabits the same recognition: the mind is not always the master of itself, and the supplicant needs help even with what passes through the heart unbidden.Comparative interior-sin material; Evagrius Praktikos; Yoga-Sūtra 1.2.