The Secret Of The Veda Aurobindo - HolyBooks.com

Agni and the Truth 63
satya and r.ta which are closely associated in the Veda or to
give a forced sense to r.ta. And throughout we have avoided the
natural suggestions pressed on us by the language of the Rishi.
Let us now follow instead the opposite principle and give
their full psychological value to the words of the inspired text.
Kratu means in Sanskrit work or action and especially work in
the sense of the sacrifice; but it means also power or strength
(the Greek kratos) effective of action. Psychologically this power
effective of action is the will. The word may also mean mind or
intellect and Sayana admits thought or knowledge as a possible
sense for kratu. ´Sravas means literally hearing and from this
primary significance is derived its secondary sense, “fame”. But,
psychologically, the idea of hearing leads up in Sanskrit to another
sense which we find in ´sravan. a, ´sruti, ´sruta, — revealed
knowledge, the knowledge which comes by inspiration. Dr.s.t.i
and ´sruti, sight and hearing, revelation and inspiration are the
two chief powers of that supra-mental faculty which belongs
to the old Vedic idea of the Truth, the Ritam. The word ´sravas
is not recognised by the lexicographers in this sense, but it is
accepted in the sense of a hymn, — the inspired word of the
Veda. This indicates clearly that at one time it conveyed the
idea of inspiration or of something inspired, whether word or
knowledge. This significance, then, we are entitled to give it,
provisionally at least, in the present passage; for the other sense
of fame is entirely incoherent and meaningless in the context.
Again the word namas is also capable of a psychological sense;
for it means literally “bending down” and is applied to the
act of adoring submission to the deity rendered physically by
the prostration of the body. When therefore the Rishi speaks
of “bearing obeisance to Agni by the thought” we can hardly
doubt that he gives to namas the psychological sense of the
inward prostration, the act of submission or surrender to the
deity.
We get then this rendering of the four verses: —
“May Agni, priest of the offering whose will towards action
is that of the seer, who is true, most rich in varied inspiration,
come, a god with the gods.