The Hymns of the Sama Veda

THE SĀMAVEDA.

3 Here is one light for you, another yonder: enter
the third and be united with it.
Beautiful be your union with the body, beloved in the
Gods’ most sublime birthplace!

4 For He who Knows all Beings original: "Jâtavedas"; a title for the Fire God Agni, signifying his omniscience., worthy of our praise, we will fashion
with our minds this song of praise as if it were a chariot original: "car"; the poets often compared the careful construction of a hymn to the craftsmanship of a chariot-builder.;
For in his assembly, this care of ours is good. Let
us not, in your friendship, Fire original: "Agni", suffer harm!

5 Fire, the Friend of All Men original: "Agni Vaiṣvânara", born in the path of the Eternal Law original: "Order" or "ṛitam"; the fundamental principle that regulates the cosmos and the seasons., the
messenger of earth, the head of heaven,
The Sage, the sovereign, guest of men, the vessel fit for
their mouth, the Gods have brought him forth.

6 Even as the waters flow from the mountain ridges, so
the Gods sprang, through songs of praise, from you, O Fire original: "Agni".
To you speed hymns and eulogies, as horses haste,
bearing the singer of songs to battle.

3 Rigveda The oldest collection of Vedic hymns. X. 56. 1. Credited to the Sage original: "Rishi" Bṛihaduktha. This verse in the Rigveda is the start of a funeral hymn where the priest tells the deceased to unite with the heavenly lights. The one light is the fire of the funeral pyre, the another is the sun in the sky, and the third is the light in the highest spiritual region. Here, applied to the Fire God, the commentator Sāyaṇā A famous 14th-century scholar of the Vedas. says they represent lightning, the Sun, and earthly fire. In the original hymn, the body refers to a new spiritual body after cremation, but here it likely refers to the Sun. The Rigveda version uses slightly different phrasing for "union."

4 Rigveda I. 94. 1. Credited to the Sage original: "Rishi" Kutsa. He who Knows all Beings original: "Jâtavedas": The wise or all-knowing God of Fire. As it were a chariot: Just as a carpenter builds a wagon, the poet crafts a hymn to carry the sacrifice to the Gods.

5 Rigveda VI. 7. 1. Credited to the Sage original: "Rishi" Bharadvāja. Friend of All Men original: "Vaiṣvânara": A title meaning "common to" or "dwelling with" all people of the Aryan original: "Âryan"; referring to the noble or Vedic people. tribes. The Eternal Law original: "ṛitam": The cosmic law that even Gods must obey. Vessel fit for their mouth: The Gods eat the offerings through the fire, which acts as their "mouth." The Gods have brought him forth: Referring to a verse from Rigveda X. 88. 8 stating that the Gods created the hymns first, then the fire, then the offering.

6 Rigveda VI. 24. 6. Credited to Bharadvāja. In its original context in the Rigveda, this verse is actually addressed to Indra The King of the Gods and God of Thunder., but here it has been adapted to praise the Fire God.