Sukta 115

Mantra 1

चित्रं देवानामुदगादनीकं चक्षुर्मित्रस्य वरुणस्याग्नेः । आप्रा द्यावापृथिवी अन्तरिक्षं सूर्य आत्मा जगतस्तस्थुषश्च ॥

The luminous face of the gods has risen—Surya, the eye of Mitra and Varuṇa and of Agni. He has filled Heaven and Earth and the mid-world; the Sun is the very Self of all that moves and all that stands.

Mantra 2

सूर्यो देवीमुषसं रोचमानां मर्यो न योषामभ्येति पश्चात् । यत्रा नरो देवयन्तो युगानि वितन्वते प्रति भद्राय भद्रम् ॥

Surya follows after the shining Dawn as a young man follows a maiden. There where men who seek the Divine spread out the ages, they set good against good—each auspicious step answering to a greater auspiciousness.

Mantra 3

भद्रा अश्वा हरितः सूर्यस्य चित्रा एतग्वा अनुमाद्यासः । नमस्यन्तो दिव आ पृष्ठमस्थुः परि द्यावापृथिवी यन्ति सद्यः ॥

Auspicious are the steeds, the bright green-golden powers of the Sun—variegated, swift-moving, exulting in their onward surge. In adoration they take their station upon the back of Heaven; at once they move encompassing both Sky and Earth—spreading the Sun’s ordered illumination through the whole field of our being.

Mantra 4

तत्सूर्यस्य देवत्वं तन्महित्वं मध्या कर्तोर्विततं सं जभार । यदेदयुक्त हरितः सधस्थादाद्रात्री वासस्तनुते सिमस्मै ॥

This is the godhead of Sūrya, this his greatness: he has gathered together the wide-stretched web between the two doers (Night and Dawn / the two horizons). When he yokes the Harits from their common station, then Night spreads her garment for him—so that the illuminer may emerge by a lawful passage from concealment to manifestation.

Mantra 5

तन्मित्रस्य वरुणस्याभिचक्षे सूर्यो रूपं कृणुते द्योरुपस्थे । अनन्तमन्यद्रुशदस्य पाजः कृष्णमन्यद्धरितः सं भरन्ति ॥

In the overseeing gaze of Mitra and Varuṇa, Sūrya forms his beauty in the lap of Heaven. One aspect of his force is boundless and shining; another is dark—these the Harits gather together. Thus the illuminer holds both the infinite radiance and the needed shadow, so that consciousness may grow by contrast and by ordered totality.

Mantra 6

अद्या देवा उदिता सूर्यस्य निरंहसः पिपृता निरवद्यात् । तन्नो मित्रो वरुणो मामहन्तामदितिः सिन्धुः पृथिवी उत द्यौः ॥

Today, O gods, with the rising of the Sun, deliver us out of distress, deliver us out of fault. May Mitra and Varuṇa enlarge us; may Aditi, the River (Sindhu), Earth and Heaven foster us—so that the whole order of existence supports our passage into truth and wideness.