This is a paraphrase of the text of Chapter Seven of Sri Aurobindo’s The Secret of the Veda. It presents the role of Vayu and Indra and then of Varuna and Mitra in the Vedic conception of the supramental consciousness which is the condition of the state of immortality. If there is the preparation first of the vital forces represented by Vayu, and of the mentality by Indra, then Varuna and Mitra are two of the four gods who represent this working of the Truth in the human mind and temperament. It is by the thought that Indra and Vayu have been called upon to perfect the nervous mentality. But this instrument, thought, has itself to be perfected, enriched, clarified before the mind can become capable of free communication with the Truth-Consciousness. To realize this Varuna and Mitra, Powers of the Truth, are invoked for "accomplishing a richly luminous thought", dhiyam ghṛtācīm sādhantā. All this is based on the central Vedic conception of the Supramental or Truth-Consciousness towards which the progressively perfected mentality of the human being labours as towards a consummation and a goal. The two opening hymns of the Rig Veda already state this great conception of the supramental consciousness as the condition of the state of immortality. In the first hymn this is simply stated as the aim of the sacrifice and the characteristic work of Agni. The second hymn indicates the preliminary work of preparation, by Indra and Vayu, by Mitra and Varuna, of the ordinary mentality of man through the force of the Ananda and the increasing growth of the Truth.

The idea of the Truth in the very opening hymn of the Veda carries in it the contents amounting to the conception of a supramental consciousness which is the condition of the state of immortality. It is a conception of the Vedic Rishis which recurs throughout the hymns as a centre for other and dependent psychological realisations. In the second hymn of Madhuchchhandas addressed to Indra and Vayu the idea of the ŗtam is insisted upon with a great force. The verse may be translated literally "I invoke Mitra of purified strength (or, purified discernment) and Varuna destroyer of our foes perfecting (or accomplishing) a bright understanding." In the second Rik we have ŗtam thrice repeated and the words bŗhat and kratu. The verse may be translated, literally: "By Truth Mitra and Varuna, truth-increasing, truth-touching, enjoy (or, attain) a mighty work" or "a vast (effective) power." And here is the third Rik: "For us Mitra and Varuna, seers, multiply-born, wide-housed, uphold the strength (or, discernment) that does the work."

The three Riks occur as the closing passage of a hymn of which the first three verses are addressed to Vayu alone and the next three to Indra and Vayu. Indra in the psychological interpretation of the hymns represents Mind-Power. His special realm is Swar, a word which means sun or luminous, being akin to sūra and sūrya, the sun, and is used to indicate the third of the Vedic vyāhŗtis and the third of the Vedic worlds corresponding to the principle of the pure or unobscured Mind. Surya represents the illumination of the ŗtam rising upon the mind; Swar is that plane of mental consciousness which directly receives the illumination. Vayu on the other hand is always associated with the Prana or Life-Energy which contributes to the system all the ensemble of those nervous activities that in man are the support of the mental energies governed by Indra. Their combination constitutes the normal mentality of man. These two gods are invited in the hymn to come and partake together of the Soma-wine. This wine of Soma represents the intoxication of the Ananda, the divine delight of being, inflowing upon the mind from the supramental consciousness through the ŗtam or Truth. If we accept these interpretations we can easily translate the hymn into its psychological significance.

Indra and Vayu awaken in consciousness to the flowings of the Soma-wine; that is to say, the mind-power and life-power working together in human mentality are to awaken to the inflowings of this Ananda, this Amrita, this delight and immortality from above. They receive them into the full plenitude of the mental and nervous energies, cetathaḥ sutānām vājinīvasū. The Ananda thus received constitutes a new action preparing immortal consciousness in the mortal and Indra and Vayu are bidden to come and swiftly perfect these new workings by the participation of the thought, ā yātam upa niṣkṛtam makṣu ...dhiyā; dhī is the thought-power, intellect or understanding, and is intermediate between the normal mentality represented by the combination of Indra and Vayu and the ŗtam or Truth-Consciousness.

It is at this point that Varuna and Mitra intervene. The earlier part of the hymn has for its subject the preparation first of the vital forces represented by Vayu who is alone invoked in the three opening Riks, then of the mentality represented by the couple Indra-Vayu for the activities of the Truth-Consciousness in the human being; the close has for its subject the working of the Truth on the mentality so as to perfect the intellect and to enlarge the actions. Varuna and Mitra are two of the four gods who represent this working of the Truth in the human mind and temperament. It is by the thought that Indra and Vayu have been called upon to perfect the nervous mentality. But this instrument, thought, has itself to be perfected, enriched, clarified before the mind can become capable of free communication with the Truth-Consciousness. Therefore Varuna and Mitra, Powers of the Truth, are invoked "accomplishing a richly luminous thought", dhiyam ghṛtācīm sādhantā. 

Varuna and Mitra who accomplish or perfect this state of the intellect, are distinguished by two several epithets. Mitra is pūtadakşa, possessed of a purified judgment; Varuna is riśādas, he destroys all hurters or enemies. In the Veda there are no merely ornamental epithets. Every word is meant to tell, to add something to the sense and bear a strict relation to the thought of the sentence in which it occurs. There are two obstacles which prevent the intellect from being a perfect and luminous mirror of the Truth-Consciousness; first, impurity of the discernment or discriminative faculty which leads to confusion of the Truth, secondly the many causes or influences which interfere with the growth of the Truth by limiting its full application or by breaking up the connections and harmony of the thoughts that express it and which thus bring about poverty and falsification of its contents. Just as the Gods in the Veda represent universal powers descended from the Truth-Consciousness which build up the harmony of the worlds and in man his progressive perfection, so the influences that work against these objects are represented by hostile agencies, Dasyus and Vritras, who seek to break up, to limit, to withhold and deny. Varuna in the Veda is always characterised as a power of wideness and purity; when, therefore, he is present in man as a conscious force of the Truth, all that limits and hurts the nature by introducing into it fault, sin and evil is destroyed by contact with him. He is riśādas, destroyer of the enemy, of all that seek to injure the growth. Mitra, a power like Varuna of the Light and Truth, especially represents Love, Joy and Harmony, the foundations of Mayas, the Vedic beatitude. Working with the purity of Varuna and imparting that purity to the discernment, he enables it to get rid of all discords and confusions and establish the right working of the strong and luminous intellect.

This progress enables the Truth-Consciousness, the ŗtam, to work in the human mentality. With the ŗtam as the agency, ŗtena, increasing the action of the Truth in man, ŗtāvŗdhā, touching or reaching the Truth, enabling, that is to say, the mental consciousness to come into successful contact with and possession of the Truth-Consciousness, ŗtaspṛśā, Mitra and Varuna are able to enjoy the use of a vast effective will-power, kratum bŗhantam āśāthe. It is the Will that is the chief effective agent of the inner sacrifice, but a Will that is in harmony with the Truth, guided therefore by a purified discernment. The Will as it enters more and more into the wideness of the Truth-Consciousness becomes itself wide and vast, free from limitation in its view and of hampering impediments in its effectivity. It works urau anibdāhe, in the wideness where there is no obstacle or wall of limitation.

Thus the two requisites on which the Vedic Rishis always insist are secured, Light and Power, the Light of the Truth working in the knowledge, dhiyam ghṛtācīm, the Power of the Truth working in the effective and enlightened Will, kratum bŗhantam. As a result Varuna and Mitra are shown to us in the closing verse of the hymn working in the full sense of their Truth, kavi tuvijātā urukşayā: kavi means possessed of the Truth-Consciousness and using its faculties of vision, inspiration, intuition, discrimination; tuvijātā is "multiply born", for tuvi, meaning originally strength or force, is used like the French word "force" in the sense of many. But by the birth of the gods is meant always in the Veda their manifestation; thus tuvijātā signifies "manifested multiply", in many forms and activities; uruguayan means dwelling in the wideness, an idea which occurs frequently in the hymns; uru is equivalent to bŗhat, the Vast, and indicates the infinite freedom of the Truth-Consciousness. Thus we have as the result of increasing activities of the ŗtam the manifestation in the human being of the Powers of wideness and purity, of joy and harmony, a manifestation rich in forms, seated in the wideness of the ṛtam and using the faculties of the supramental consciousness.

This manifestation of the Powers of the Truth upholds or confirms the discernment while it does the work, dakşam dadhāte apasam. The discernment, now purified and supported, works in the sense of the Truth as a power of the Truth and accomplishes the perfection of the activities of Indra and Vayu by freeing the thoughts and the will from all defect and confusion in their working and results.

All is based on the central Vedic conception of the Supramental or Truth-Consciousness towards which the progressively perfected mentality of the human being labours as towards a consummation and a goal. In the first hymn this is merely stated as the aim of the sacrifice and the characteristic work of Agni. The second hymn indicates the preliminary work of preparation, by Indra and Vayu, by Mitra and Varuna, of the ordinary mentality of man through the force of the Ananda and the increasing growth of the Truth.