The Secret Of The Veda Aurobindo - HolyBooks.com

The Cow and the Angiras Legend 147
unhurt; meditating they (the Angirases) found the wide Light;
they who desire opened the wideness of the cows and the waters
for them flowed forth from heaven”; I.72.8, “By right thought
the seven Mighty Ones of heaven (the seven rivers) knew the
truth and knew the doors of bliss; Sarama found the strong
wideness of the cows and by that the human creature enjoys”;
I.100.18, of Indra and the Maruts, “He with his shining companions
won the field, won the Sun, won the waters”; V.14.4, of
Agni, “Agni, born, shone out slaying the Dasyus, by the Light
the Darkness; he found the cows, the waters and Swar”; VI.60.2,
of Indra and Agni, “Ye two warred over the cows, the waters,
Swar, the dawns that were ravished; O Indra, O Agni, thou
unitest (to us) the regions, Swar, the brilliant dawns, the waters
and the cows”; I.32.12, of Indra, “O hero, thou didst conquer
the cow, thou didst conquer the Soma; thou didst loose forth to
their flowing the seven rivers.”
In the last passage we see Soma coupled with the cows
among the conquests of Indra. Usually the Soma intoxication
is the strength in which Indra conquers the cows; e.g. III.43.7,
the Soma “in the intoxication of which thou didst open up the
cowpens”; II.15.8, “He, hymned by the Angirases, broke Vala
and hurled apart the strong places of the hill; he severed their
artificial obstructions; these things Indra did in the intoxication
of the Soma.” Sometimes, however, the working is reversed and
it is the Light that brings the bliss of the Soma wine or they come
together as in I.62.5, “Hymned by the Angirases, O achiever of
works, thou didst open the dawns with (or by) the Sun and with
(or by) the cows the Soma.”
Agni is also, like the Soma, an indispensable element of
the sacrifice and therefore we find Agni too included in these
formulas of association, as in VII.99.4. “Ye made that wide
other world for (as the goal of) the sacrifice, bringing into being
the Sun and the Dawn and Agni,” and we have the same formula
in III.31.15 with the addition of the Path and in VII.44.3 with
the addition of the cow.
From these examples it will appear how closely the different
symbols and parables of the Veda are connected with each other