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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 893 of 1027

Mandala 10: HYMN LVI. Viśvedevas.

1.HERE is one light for thee, another yonder: enter the third and he therewith united. Uniting with a body be thou welcome, dear to the Gods in their sublimest birthplace.

2.Bearing thy body, Vajin, may thy body afford us blessing and thyself protection. Unswerving, stablish as it were in heaven thine own light as the mighty God’s supporter.

3.Strong Steed art thou: go to the yearning Maidens with vigour, happily go to heaven and praises: Fly happily to the Gods with easy passage, according to the first and faithful statutes.

4.Part of their grandeur have the Fathers also gained: the Gods have seated mental power in them as Gods. They have embraced within themselves all energies, which, issuing forth, again into their bodies pass.

5.They strode through all the region with victorious might, establishing the old immeasurable laws. They compassed in their bodies all existing things, and streamed forth offipring in many successive forms.

6.In two ways have the sons established in his place the Asura who finds the light, by the third act, As fathers, they have set their heritage on earth, their offspring, as a thread continuously spun out.

7.As in a ship through billows, so through regions of air, with blessings, through toils and troubles Hath Bṛhaduktha brought his seed with glory, and placed it here and in the realms beyond us.

Asked of Guide

Why does the hymn call the soul a 'Strong Steed' and urge it to 'go to the yearning Maidens'?

The hymn uses ‘Strong Steed’ to portray the soul as an active carrier that bears a body and carries blessings and protection into the world; lines 2–3 ask Vajin to ‘go to the yearning Maidens’ with vigour and reach the Gods with ‘easy passage,’ portraying sexual, social, and cosmic movement as sacred and potent. The image connects bodily life to divine ends: the Fathers and Gods ‘compassed in their bodies all existing things’ (lines 4–5), so embodied activity continues a lineage of creative, world-forming energy.

This chapter treats lineage and procreation as ritual acts that transmit light and law: offspring are a ‘thread continuously spun out’ (line 6), a living continuation of divine power. If you want a close parallel, read the Upanishads’ discussion of atman and rebirth, where personal action in life carries the self forward into new forms.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.