Sukta 4

Mantra 1

प्र वः शुक्राय भानवे भरध्वं हव्यं मतिं चाग्नये सुपूतम् । यो दैव्यानि मानुषा जनूंष्यन्तर्विश्वानि विद्मना जिगाति ॥

Bring forward for the bright, shining Agni the well-purified offering and the illumined thought. He is the one who by his knowledge goes through all births within—divine and human—linking the whole becoming from inside.

Mantra 2

स गृत्सो अग्निस्तरुणश्चिदस्तु यतो यविष्ठो अजनिष्ट मातुः । सं यो वना युवते शुचिदन्भूरि चिदन्ना समिदत्ति सद्यः ॥

May that Agni be for us the keen and youthful power, he who from the Mother is born as the youngest; he who swiftly joins himself to the forests, giving purity, and at once consumes even abundant foods—so may he take up in us all that is to be transformed into light.

Mantra 3

अस्य देवस्य संसद्यनीके यं मर्तासः श्येतं जगृभ्रे । नि यो गृभं पौरुषेयीमुवोच दुरोकमग्निरायवे शुशोच ॥

In the presence, in the face of this god, mortals have seized the bright one; he who has spoken down the human grasping that makes the home hard to inhabit—Agni has blazed for the seeker, burning away the cramped dwelling of ignorance.

Mantra 4

अयं कविरकविषु प्रचेता मर्तेष्वग्निरमृतो नि धायि । स मा नो अत्र जुहुरः सहस्वः सदा त्वे सुमनसः स्याम ॥

This Agni is the seer among the unseeing, the awakened intelligence; the immortal has been set within mortals. O mighty purifier, here burn away what is warped in us, so that always in you we may become of a good and luminous mind.

Mantra 5

आ यो योनिं देवकृतं ससाद क्रत्वा ह्यग्निरमृताँ अतारीत् । तमोषधीश्च वनिनश्च गर्भं भूमिश्च विश्वधायसं बिभर्ति ॥

He who has come to the womb fashioned by the gods—by his conscious power Agni has crossed beyond the immortals. Him the plants and the forests bear as a germ, and Earth too bears him, the all-sustaining, as the hidden seed of her universal becoming.

Mantra 6

ईशे ह्यग्निरमृतस्य भूरेरीशे रायः सुवीर्यस्य दातोः । मा त्वा वयं सहसावन्नवीरा माप्सवः परि षदाम मादुवः ॥

For Agni is master of abundant immortality; he is master of the giver of wealth and plenitude of heroic force. O lord of power, let us not approach you without the inner heroes; let us not sit around you as the powerless or the misled.

Mantra 7

परिषद्यं ह्यरणस्य रेक्णो नित्यस्य रायः पतयः स्याम । न शेषो अग्ने अन्यजातमस्त्यचेतानस्य मा पथो वि दुक्षः ॥

For the treasure that is to be won by right striving, for the eternal wealth, may we become its masters. O Agni, there is no remainder that is born otherwise; do not let the path of the unawakened be scattered for us—keep us in the right track of consciousness.

Mantra 8

नहि ग्रभायारणः सुशेवोऽन्योदर्यो मनसा मन्तवा उ । अधा चिदोकः पुनरित्स एत्या नो वाज्यभीषाळेतु नव्यः ॥

For Arani is not to be seized; he is gracious, yet to be grasped only by the mind’s true thinking, not by another’s belly-hunger. Even if the home is lost, he comes again to the dwelling; may the victorious force, the new impeller, come to us with conquering might.

Mantra 9

त्वमग्ने वनुष्यतो नि पाहि त्वमु नः सहसावन्नवद्यात् । सं त्वा ध्वस्मन्वदभ्येतु पाथः सं रयिः स्पृहयाय्यः सहस्री ॥

You, Agni, protect the one who strives to serve; you, O mighty one, guard us from fault. Let the path come to you with firm intensity; let the desirable plenitude of being, thousandfold, gather to us in your flame.

Mantra 10

एता नो अग्ने सौभगा दिदीह्यपि क्रतुं सुचेतसं वतेम । विश्वा स्तोतृभ्यो गृणते च सन्तु यूयं पात स्वस्तिभिः सदा नः ॥

These felicities shine for us, O Agni; may we choose and follow the conscious will that is luminous in understanding. May all blessings be for the praiser and the singer; and you Powers, guard us always with states of well-being.