In Mandala Five of the Rig-veda we have eleven hymns addressed by the Atris to Mitra and Varuna, the mighty Lords of Light. Sri Aurobindo in The Secret of the Veda has rendered these into English, bringing out their esoteric contents expressed in a luminous and pregnant symbolic language. While unravelling the mystic’s spiritually charged idiom he has also thrown light on several side issues; but our immediate concern here is regarding the Four Powers of the manifesting Truth that have separated themselves from their divine Origin. In these hymns we get the clue about the nature of the two mighty Lords who stand out prominently in terms of their vastness and shining harmonies, Varuna and Mitra. Sri Aurobindo’s rendering begins with prefatory notes which we have compiled in order to get an idea at a glance about these two mighty godheads who create in man the force of divine knowledge and wide being.

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