MANDALA THREE

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GATHINA VISHWAMITRA

SUKTA 1

1. Bear me that I may be strong to hold the wine, O Fire, for thou hast made me a carrier flame of sacrifice in the getting of knowledge: I shine towards the gods, I put the stone to its work, I accomplish the labour;¹ O Fire, take delight in my body.

2. We have made the sacrifice with its forward movement, may the word increase in us; with the fuel, with the obeisance they have set the Fire to its work. The heavens have declared the discoveries of knowledge of the seers and they have willed a path for the strong and wise.

3. Full of understanding, pure in discernment, close kin from his birth to earth and heaven he has founded the Bliss. The gods discovered the seeing Fire within in the waters, in the work of the sisters.

4. The seven mighty rivers increased the blissful flame,² white in his birth, ruddy glowing in his mightiness: the Mares went up to him as to a new-born child; the gods gave body to Agni in his birth.

¹Or, I attain to the peace; ²Or, increased him in his beauty.

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5. With his bright limbs he has built wide the mid-world purifying the will by his pure seer-powers; wearing light like a robe around the life of the waters he forms his glories vast and ample.

6. He moved all round the seven mighty Ones of heaven: undevouring, inviolate, neither were they clothed nor were they naked: here young and eternal in one native home the seven Voices held in their womb the one Child.

7. Wide-strewn, compact, taking universal forms are his energies in the womb of the light, in the streaming of the sweetnesses: here the milch-cows stand nourished and growing; two great and equal companions¹ are the mothers of the Doer of works.

8. Upborne, O Son of Force, thou shinest out wide holding thy bright and rapturous bodies; there drip down streams of the light and the sweetness, there where the Bull has grown by the seer-wisdom.

9. At his birth he discovered the teat of abundance of the Father, he loosed forth wide his streams, wide his nourish-

¹ Or, vast and whole

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ing rivers;¹ he discovered him moving in the secrecy with his helpful comrades, with the mighty Rivers of Heaven, but himself became not secret in the

cave.

10. He carried the child of the father who begot him; one, he sucked the milk of many who nourished him with their overflowing. Two who have one lord and kinsman, for this pure male of the herds guard both in the human being.

11. Vast was he in the unobstructed wideness and grew, for the waters many and glorious fed the flame; in the native seat of the Truth the Fire lay down and made his home, in the work of the companions, the sisters.

12. Like a height upbearing all ² in the meeting of the great waters, eager for vision for the Son, straight in his lustres, he is the Father who begot the shining Ray-herds, the child of the Waters, the most strong and mighty Fire.

13. One desirable and blissful gave birth to him in many forms, a visioned child of the waters and a child of the growths of earth: the gods too met with the Mind the Fire, strong at his birth and powerful to act ³ and set him to his work.

¹ Or, he loosed forth the milch-cows; ² Or, all like one moving and upbearing all

³ Or, most admirable

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14. Vast sun-blazings cleave like brilliant lightnings to this Fire, straight in his lustres, growing as in a secret cave within in his own home in the shoreless wideness, and they draw the milk of immortality.

15. Making sacrifice with my offerings for thee I pray, and pray for thy friendship and true-mindedness with an utter desire. Fashion with the Gods protection for thy adorer and guard us with thy flame-forces that dwell in the house.

16. We who come to thee to dwell with thee in thy home, O perfect leader of the way, holding all opulent things, may we, overflowing ¹ them with the full stream of inspiration, overwhelm the hostile army of the undivine powers.

17. O Fire, thou becomest in us the rapturous ray of intuition of the gods that knows all seer-wisdoms; established in thy home thou settlest mortals in that dwelling-place, as their charioteer achieving their aim thou journeyest in the wake of the gods.

18. In the gated house of mortals the immortal sat as King

¹ Or, smiting

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accomplishing the things of knowledge: the Fire shone out in his wideness with his luminous front, knower of all seer-wisdoms.

19. Come to us in a rapid approach with thy happy befriendings, mighty, come with thy mighty protectings; in us the abundance of the delivering riches, for us our glorious high-worded portion create.

20. O Fire, these are thy eternal births which I have declared to thee, ever new births for the ancient flame: great are the offerings of the Wine we have made for the mighty one. He is the knower of all births set within in birth and birth.

21. The knower of all births set within in birth and birth is kindled by Vishwamitra, an unceasing flame; in the true thinking of this lord of sacrifice, in a happy right-mindedness may we abide.

22. O forceful God, O strong Will, establish this sacrifice of ours in the gods and take in it thy delight: O Priest of the call, extend to us the vast impulsions; O Fire, bring to us by sacrifice the great Treasure.

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23. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech, the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth;¹ O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 2

1. We create an understanding like pure light for the Fire that makes the Truth to grow, for the universal godhead. The priests of the word fashion twofold by the thought of the human being ² this priest of the call, as the saw carves a chariot, and join him into a whole.

2. He from his birth illumined both the firmaments, he became the desirable son of the Father and Mother. The ageless and inviolable Fire, firmly founded in bliss, with his riches of the Light, is the carrier of offering and the guest of the peoples.

3. By the will, in the order and law of a delivering discernment, the gods brought the Fire into being by their perceptions of the Knowledge. In his greatness shining forth with his blazing light I invoke him as the Horse so that I may conquer the plenitude.

¹ Or, himself a begetter ² Or, the human priest of the word by their thought

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4. To conquer the supreme bliss of the rapturous godhead, the undeviating plenitude full of the word of illumination, we accept the gift of the Flame-Seers,¹ the Fire that aspires, the Seer-Will shining with heavenly light.

5. Having gathered the sacred grass, stretching out the ladle of offering, men have set here in their front the Fire for the happiness, in his plenitude of inspiration, the Violent, the universal in godhead, the bright and beautiful, one who accomplishes the seekings of sacrifice of the doers of the works.

6. O Fire, O purifying light, O Priest of the call, men in their sacrifices having gathered the sacred grass, desiring the work, sit around thy house which we must obtain as ours; found for them the Treasure.

7. He filled the two firmaments, he filled the vast sun-world, when he was born and held by the doers of the work. He is led around for the pilgrim-sacrifice, the Seer founded in the Bliss, as the Horse for the conquest of the plenitude.

8. Bow down to the giver of the offering, set to his work the perfect in the pilgrim-rite, the knower of all the births who dwells in the house: for he is the all-seeing charioteer of the

¹ Or, the Bhrigus,

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vast Truth, the Fire has become the priest of the gods set in front.

9. Triple is the fuel of the mighty and pervading Fire purified by the aspiring immortals; one of three they have set in the mortal, the fuel of the enjoyment, two have gone to that companion world.

10. This seer and lord of creatures human impulsions have perfected everywhere like an axe for sharpness. He goes overrunning the high and the low places; he holds the child born in these worlds.

11. The male of the herds has been born in different wombs and he stirs abroad like a roaring lion, the universal god-head, the immortal wide in his might bestowing the riches and the ecstasies on the offerer of sacrifice.

12. Universal godhead as in the ancient days has ascended glad by high thoughts to the firmament, to the back of heaven, even as of old he creates the riches for the creature born; wakeful he travels ever over the same field of movement.

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13. The sacrificial Fire whose home is in heaven and who possesses the Truth, the illumined seer with his utterance of the word whom life that grows here in the mother has set, him with his diverse journeying, his tawny hair of flame we desire, the deep thinking Fire for a new and happy movement.

14. Pure-bright, rapid of impulsion in his journeying, Fire that looks upon the sun-world, heavenʼs ray of intuition, standing in the luminous planes, waking in the Dawn, Fire, head of heaven, whom no darkness can cover, him we desire with obeisance of surrender, the Fire of the plenitudes who is the Vast.

15. The pure and rapturous Priest of the call in whom is no duality, the dweller in the house, the speaker of the word, the all-seeing, the visioned Fire set in the thinking human being who is like a many-hued chariot in his embodiment, him ever we desire and his riches.

SUKTA 3

1. For the universal godhead, wide in his might, his illuminations¹ create the ecstasies to make a path on the foundations of things: because the immortal Fire sets the gods to their work none can corrupt the eternal Laws.

¹Or, the illumined Ones

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2. He travels as the Messenger between earth and heaven, the doer of works, manʼs Priest of the call, seated within him, the vicar set in his front; with his light he envelops the Vast Home, the Fire missioned by the gods, rich with the Thought.

3. Ray of intuition of their sacrifices, effective means of the finding of knowledge, the illumined seers greatened the Fire by their awakenings to Wisdom; the Fire in whom his words have built into a harmony his works, in him the doer of sacrifice desires the things of his happiness.

4. The Fire is the father of sacrifice, the Mighty Lord of the wise, he is the measure and the manifestation of knowledge for the priests of the word: he enters into earth and heaven with his manifold shape, many delightful things are in him, he is the seer who has gladness of all the planes.

5. The gods have set in this world in his beauty and glory the delightful Fire, with his chariot of delight, luminous in the way of his workings, the universal godhead, who is seated in the waters, who is the discoverer of the sun-world, who enters into the depths and is swift to cross beyond, who is rapt in his mights, who bears in himself all things.

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6. The Fire with the gods and creatures born builds by the thought of man the sacrifice in its many forms, he moves between earth and heaven as their charioteer bearing them to the achievement of their desires; he is the swift in motion and he is a dweller in the house who drives off every assailant.

7. O Fire, come near to us in a life rich with offspring, nourish us with energy, illumine our impulsions, animate in us the expanding powers of the Vast, O wakeful Flame; thou art the aspirant strong in will for the gods and the illumined seers.

8. Men ever with obeisance, with swift urgings, give expression for their growth, to the knower of all births, the mighty one, the lord of the peoples, the Guest, the driver of our thoughts, the aspirant in those who speak the word, the wakener to consciousness in the pilgrim-sacrifice.

9. Fire, the wide-shining godhead, joyful in his happy chariot, has enveloped in his might our abodes;¹ with complete purification may we obey ² in the house the laws of work of this giver of our manifold increase.

¹ Or, the worlds of our habitation; ² Or, may we approach with reverence

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10. O universal godhead, I desire thy lights¹ by which thou becomest, O all-seeing,² the knower of the sun-world: born, thou hast filled the worlds and earth and heaven, thou art there enveloping them all with thyself, O Fire.

11. Fire the One Seer by his seeking for perfect works³ released out of the actions⁴ of the universal godhead, the Vast: the Fire greatening both the parents, earth and heaven, was born from a mighty seed.⁵

SUKTA 4

1. Aflame and again aflame in us awake with thy truth of mind, with light upon light grant us right understanding from the shining One. A god, bring the gods for the sacrifice; right-minded, a friend do sacrifice to the friends, O Fire.

2. O thou whom the gods, even Varuna, Mitra and the Fire, thrice in the day worship with sacrifice from day to day, O Son of the body, make this sacrifice of ours full of the sweetness, so that it may create the native seat of the light.

¹ Or, seats or planes ² Or, clear-seeing , ³ Or, by his skill in works

⁴ Or, detached from the actions

⁵ Or, the Fire was born greatening both the parents, earth and heaven, with his mighty steam.

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3. The Thought in which are all desirable things comes to this first and supreme Priest of the call to offer our aspirations as a sacrifice, towards the mighty one to adore him with our prostrations; missioned, strong to sacrifice, may he do worship to the gods.

4. In the pilgrim-sacrifice a high path for you both has been made which departs to the high lustres, the mid-worlds; the Priest of the call has taken his seat in the navel-centre of heaven. We spread wide the sacred grass, a space of wideness of the gods.

5. Accepting with the mind the seven invocations, taking possession of all that is by the Truth, they went towards their goal. Many powers born in the finding of knowledge and wearing the forms of gods move abroad to this sacrifice.

6. May night and dawn differently formed in their body be joined close and smile upon us in their gladness, so that Mitra may take pleasure in us and Varuna or with his greatness Indra too with the life-gods.¹

7. I crown the two supreme Priests of the invocation. The

¹ Or, may they so shine with their lights that Mitra may take pleasure in us and Varuna and Indra with the life-gods.

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seven pleasures take their rapture by the self-law of their nature; the Truth they express, the Truth only they speak, guardians of the law of its action

according to that law they shine.

8. In unison may Bharati with her Muses of invocation, Ila with gods and men and Fire, Saraswati with her powers of inspiration come down to us, the three goddesses sit upon this seat of sacrifice.

9. O divine maker of forms who hast the utter rapture, cast upon us that supreme transcendence cause of our growth, from which is born in us the hero ever active with wise discernment, the seeker of the gods who sets to work the stone of the wine-pressing.

10. O tree, release thy yield to the gods; Fire the achiever of the work speeds the offering on its way. It is he who does worship as the Priest of the call, the more true in his act because he knows the birth of the gods.

11. Come down to us, O Fire, high-kindled, in one chariot with Indra and swiftly journeying gods; let Aditi, mother of mighty sons, sit on the sacred grass, let the gods, the immortals, take rapture in svāhā.

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SUKTA 5

1. The Fire is awake fronting the dawns; one illumined, he becomes aware of the paths of the seers: kindled into a wide might by the seekers of godhead, the upbearing flame opens the gates of the Darkness.

2. Ever the Fire increases by the lauds, the words of those who hymn him by their utterances, one to be adored with prostrations; the Messenger who desires the many seeings of the Truth has shone out in the wide flaming of the Dawn.

3. The Fire has been set in the human peoples, child of the Waters, the Friend who achieves by the Truth; luminous,¹ a power for sacrifice, he has risen to the summits; he has become the illumined seer who must be called by our thoughts.

4. The Fire when he has been kindled high becomes Mitra, the Friend — Mitra the Priest of the call, Varuna, the knower of the births, Mitra, the Friend, the Priest of the pilgrim-sacrifice, one rapid in his impulsions, the dweller in the house, the friend of the Rivers, the friend of the Mountains.

¹ Or, beloved and adorable,

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5. He guards from hurt the beloved ¹ summit-seat of the being, mighty, he guards the course² of the Sun; Fire guards in the navel-centre the seven-headed thought, sublime, he guards the ecstasy of the gods.

6. A skilful craftsman, a god knowing all the manifestations of knowledge, he forms the beautiful and desirable Name, the luminous seat of the being in the movement of the peace; that the Fire guards, not deviating from his work.

7. Desiring it as it desired him, the Fire entered into that luminous native abode wide in its approach; shining forth, pure, purifying, sublime, again and again he makes new the father and the mother.

8. Suddenly born he is carried by the growths of the earth when the mothers who bore him make him grow by the light. The Fire in the lap of the father and the mother is as one who defends the waters gliding happily ³ down a slope.

9. Lauded by us mighty he shone with his high flaming in the largeness ⁴ of heaven, in the navel-centre of earth. The Fire

¹ Or, delightful ² Or, movement ³ Or, gliding brightly ⁴ Or, height

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is Mitra the Friend, the desirable one, he is life growing in the mother;¹ may he as our messenger bring the gods for the sacrifice.

10. The Fire with his high flaming up-pillared, sublime, the firmament and became the highest of the luminous kingdoms,² when for the flame-seers life, that grows in the mother, kindled all around the carrier of the offerings who was hidden in the Secrecy.

11. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth;³ O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 6

1. The Doers of the work, seekers of godhead, who find expression by the thought, lead it on turned godwards; full of the plenitude, luminous, carrying the Understanding, it journeys moving forwards, bringing the offering to the Fire.

2. Even in thy birth thou hast filled earth and heaven, and now

¹ Or, life that breathes in the mother; ² Or, highest of alllights,

³ Or, himself a begetter;

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thou hast exceeded them, O Flame that carriest on the sacrifice ; by the greatness of earth and heaven may thy seven tongues find utterance, carriers

of the word, O Fire.

3. Heaven and earth and the lords of sacrifice set thee within as the Priest of the call for the house when human beings, seeking godhead, having the delight, ask for the resplendent Ray.

4. Mighty, he is seated steadfast in the world of his session, rejoicing between the two mightinesses of earth and heaven, the united wives of one wide moving lord, ageless and inviolate, the two milch-cows giving their rich yield of milk.

5. Great art thou, O Fire, and great the law of thy workings, by thy will thou hast built out earth and heaven; in thy very birth thou becamest the Messenger, O mighty lord, and, thou the leader of men that see.

6. Set under the yoke with the straps of the yoking the two maned steeds of the Truth red of hue, dripping Light: thou, O God, bring all the gods; O knower of the births, make perfect the ways of the pilgrim-sacrifice.

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7. From heaven itself thy lights blazed forth, thou shinest in the wake of many outshinings of the Dawn¹ when, O Fire, passionately burning² in the woods, the gods set the waters³ to their work for the rapturous Priest of the call.

8. The gods who take their rapture in the wide mid-world, or those who are in the luminous world of heaven, or those lords of sacrifice who are helpful and ready to the call, them thy chariot-horses have borne towards us.

9. Come down to us with them in one chariot or in many chariots for thy horses pervade and are everywhere; according to thy self-law bring here with their wives the gods thirty and three and give them to drink of the rapture.

10. He is the Priest of the call for whose growing even wide earth and heaven speak the word at sacrifice on sacrifice; facing each other, fixed like two ends of the pilgrim-way, the Truth they keep in his truth who from the Truth was born.

11. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth;⁴ O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

¹ Or, in the wake of many wide-shining Dawns ² Or, flaming as dawn

³ Apas, work, would make a clearer sense; it would then mean “set in action the work of the rapturous Priest of the call”.

⁴ Or, himself a begetter

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SUKTA 7

1. They who have climbed from the dark-backed foundation have entered the Father and Mother, have entered into the seven voices. The Father and Mother who dwell encompassing all move abroad and go forward to give by sacrifice long-extended the Life.

2. He reached the milch-cows that dwell in heaven, the Mares of the male, the divine rivers that carry in their flow the sweetness. The one Light moves on the way around thee when thou seekest thy dwelling in the house of the Truth.

3. On every side he ascends them and they become easy to control, he awakes to knowledge and is the lord and discoverer of the riches. Fire with his blue back and many diverse faces brings them from the ever-moving foundation to a settled dwelling.

4. The rivers energised and bear his mighty force of formation firmly fixed and undecaying; he shines out wide with his limbs in the world of his session and has entered earth and heaven as if they were one.

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5. They knew the bliss of the ruddy-shining bull and they rejoice in the rule of the Great One; they are the lights of heaven luminously blazing and the Word of Revelation is their mighty common speech.

6. And great by the knowledge of the great Father and Mother they led his strength in the wake of its proclaiming call, where the bull bears his worshipper round the hold of night towards its own seat.

7. Seven illumined seers guard by the five priests of the pilgrim-rite the beloved¹ seat of the being that is set within: moving forward the imperishable bulls take joy; the gods move according to the law of the workings of the gods.

8. I crown the two supreme Priests of the invocation. The seven pleasures take their rapture by the self-law of their nature; the Truth they express, the Truth only they speak, guardians of the law of its action according to that law they shine.

9. The many Rays well governed in their course, grow passionate for the great Horse, the many-hued Bull. O divine Priest of the call, rapturous, awaking to knowledge, bring here the great gods and earth and heaven.

¹ Or, delightful

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10. The swift-running dawns have shone opulently bringing us our satisfactions, with their true speech, their rays of intuition. And do thou, O Fire, by the greatness of the earth cut away for the Vast even the sin that has been done.

11. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech, the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth;¹ O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA 9

1. Mortals we have chosen thee, a god, for our comrade to protect us, the Child of the Waters, full of happiness and light, victorious,² to whom no hurt can come.

2. When leaving the woods thou goest to thy mother waters, that retreat turns not to oblivion of thee,³ O Fire, for even though thou art far thou hast come into being here.

3. When thou hast carried beyond the rough ground⁴ then

¹ Or, himself a begetter; ² Or, strong to break through, ³ Or, to thy destruction,

⁴ Or, beyond thirst

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hast thou truth of mind: some depart,¹ others remain seated around thee in whose comradeship thou art lodged.

4. When he has passed beyond the forces that make to err, beyond those that cling perpetual, the long-lasting who have no hurt have followed and found him like a lion who has taken refuge in the Waters.

5. As if one who of himself has sped away and utterly disappeared, this Fire Life growing in the mother led from the Beyond, churned out on every side, for the gods.

6. This is thou upon whom mortals have seized for the gods, O carrier of the offerings, because thou guardest all sacrifices by thy will, O Flame in man, O most youthful god!

7. O Fire, thy action covers That Bliss from the ignorant when the Animals sit together around thee, kindled against the night.

8. Offer the oblation to the Fire intense with its purifying light, who does perfectly the pilgrim-rite, the swift messenger,

¹ Or, move forward,

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with his rapid pace; wait soon upon the ancient and desirable godhead.

9. Gods three thousand and three hundred and thirty and nine waited upon the Fire. They anointed him with streams of the clarity, they spread for him the seat of sacrifice, and seated him within as Priest of the call.

SUKTA 10

1. Thee, O Fire, men who have the thinking mind kindle in the sacrifice, an emperor over those who see, mortals set alight a godhead.

2. Thee, O Fire, they pray in the sacrifices as the sacrificant of the rite, the Priest of the call; shine out the guardian of the Truth in thy own home.

3. He who gives to thee with the fuel, to the knower of the births, holds the hero-energy, he ever grows.

4. He is the ray of intuition in the sacrifices; may he, the Fire, come with the gods, anointed by the seven priests of oblation,

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to him who holds the offerings.

5. Bring forward for the Fire, for the Priest of the call, the vast and supreme word¹ as for the creator and me who bring the lights of illuminations.

6. May our words make the Fire to grow when he is born, the Fire that carries the utterance, visioned for the great plenitude, for the treasure.

7. O Fire, most strong to sacrifice in the pilgrim-rite, worship the gods for the seeker of the godhead; as the rapturous Priest of the call thou shinest wide, beyond the forces that make us err.

8. So, do thou, O purifying Flame, kindle in us the luminous hero-energy, to those who laud thee become most close for their weal.

9. This is thou whom the illumined seers who have the light, ever wakeful, kindle, the immortal bearer of the offering, increaser of our force.

¹ Or, ancient word

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