Tr. O Life, thy filling stream moves towards the giver, widening to drink the Soma.
vayo O Life; praprñcati touching superbly (that is to say, filling); tava thy; dhenā the stream, the flow of tongue indicated by speech; somapitaye for drinking the Soma; urūci expanding; dāśuse to the giver, Yajamana; jigāti goes, carries.
dhenā is among the synonyms of speech. So does Sayana explain in all the Riks. We explain it everywhere as dhārā, flow. Here is the reason. Generally in the Veda, rivers are described as dhenu, in some places in simile and in others as metaphor. The common feature there is pleasantness or nourishment. That is why Sayana comments upon dhenā in some places as speech that pleases, in some places as river that pleases, in others as woman that pleases. Just as cows full of milk become rivers that are pleasing, so too dhenā becomes a stream that is pleasing. The streaming of speech is accepted even in the commentary of Sayana. In “The seven speeches bore one seed” (3.1.6), he says, 'seven speeches, rivers.' Sarasvati, the stream of speech is famous in the Veda. In beginning his commentary on the Mantra, iyam $ușmebhiḥ (6.61.2) as “Sarasvati is in the form of a deity and in the form of a river; as deity she has been lauded; now he lauds her in the form of river”, Sayana's difficulty in the ascription of double form to Sarasvati is patent. Similarly in his commentary on the last Rik of the third Hymn, maho arṇaḥ. So it has to be understood that the word dhenā even though listed in the Nighanțu as a synonym of speech does not abandon its sense of flow.
Our line will be clear in passages such as, “Like rivers flow well the words (4.58.6), “He set his voice and stream in movement" (3.1.9). If it be said that dhenā may be stream enough, but why should it mean “flowing of the tongue which is indicated by speech”, we reply: it is said in this Rik that the stream of Vayu flows forth for the drinking of the Soma prepared by the Yajamana. Since speech itself cannot drink, by the process of indication, lakṣaṇā, what is spoken of is the special flowing of the tongue. Thus this is the expository meaning, not merely the word-meaning of the term dhenā. Pleasing or nourishing is only a part-meaning. If it is taken as dhārā, stream, then it fits in because of its sense of sustaining. Thus too is the adjective urūci, expanding, apposite. The flow giving up its contraction becomes expansive in order to take in the Soma juice. prapşñcati, encompassing fully, the adjective to dhenā, is also apposite. Here what is spoken of is the all-encompassing nature of the flow in the Soma that is pressed out and in the Yajamana who is giving. The stream of Vayu, the God of Life, effecting an excellent contact in the Yajamana and thus itself filling, is able to take the Soma libation to its content.
Those who follow the external meaning only say thus :
Vayu speaks: “O Yajamana, I shall drink the Soma given by you.” This taking of dhenā in the direct sense of speech, vāk, is after Sayana. Accordingly are the two adjectives explained. They say that the prapřñcati vāk means the speech that describes the virtues of Soma! And the urūci vāk is what goes forth to describe the many Yajamanas. On the other hand, Skandasvami holds that dhenā means jihvā, tongue, though he does not say that since the direct meaning of vāk is not feasible, it indicates jihvā, tongue.
But in our commentary following the inner sense, we have to consider: who is this Soma for the acceptance of whose libation Vayu is invoked and comes for the Yajamana throwing out his stream? We have said earlier that the pavamāna soma, the sap flowing from the worlds of șta-cit which is another name for Delight, ānanda, enters the worlds of the Mind and flows there. How then can such a Soma be pressed out by the Yajamana and be offered to Vayu ? True it is that the sap of the transcendent Saccidananda self-luminous, descends in the world of Mind and flows primarily for Indra, the lord of the Abode of Mind. It is the Soma spoken in sentences like, “We have drunk the Soma; we have become immortal”, “He is verily the Sap”, “Who indeed could labour to draw in the breath or who could have strength to breathe it out, if there were not that Bliss in the Ether?”, that becomes manifest in the many-tiered universal creation, suited to the conditions, in the microcosm and the macrocosm. Even as the divine Truth-Light concealed everywhere even in this obscure physical world becomes manifest in places by reason of evolution, so too Soma concealed everywhere stands as the sap that is the quintessence in the earth, in the growths of earth, in the objects of the senses, in the experiences of their objects. And it is he, the soul of rasa, that is externally symbolised by Soma creeper, that is ertracted, purified and offered to the Gods. In the inner sacrifice, the devotee of God, the sacrificer of Soma, extracts the flow of delight that runs in the experience of the sense-objects, divests it of his personal claims and enjoyments, and offers it to the Gods. This rasa becomes the food immortal of the Gods and thus do these eaters of the nectar, the Gods immortal, obtain nourishment in the sacrificer. This is the purport of words of invocation to the Gods Agni, Vayu or Indra viz., “ Svāhā ! This is not mine."
This in substance is the truth of Soma.
To effect this purification and consecration of the Soma libation, the Yajamana on earth aspiring to ascend to the world of the Gods, needs to have his nervous system in the body purified and full of life-strength. That is why the Grace of Vayu (God of life) is to be sought first. Even then the purification or the culturing of the experiences of the senses is not effected by the Grace of Vayu, the Lord of life alone, without the grace of the God presiding over the Mind. That is why the Yajamana prays in the second sub-hymn to both Indra and Vayu. It is to be noted that wholesome activity of life and mind in the body is conducted by Vayu and Indra. Though the world of Svar like the rising place of the Sun, the Light of Truth-Consciousness, ṣta-cit, is primarily the realm of the Pure Mind, the special abode of Indra, still he is the deity of the Mind of many-planes. He is the lord of even the sense-mind. In fact the word indriya is derived from the word Indra. It is also possible to say that of all the indriyas, senses, the first secret sense is mind. We recall: “Mind, six indriyas”. Panini has it (5.2.93): “Indriya : sign of Indra, seen by Indra; created by Indra; enjoyed by Indra; or given by Indra.” Here are given options by linga, dịşta, etc. The commentator's remark is to be kept in mind : “Here the word vā (or) governing each points to the freedom of each option.”
Thus the purport of the Seers is that without the help of Indra, the sovereign of all the senses, Vayu is not in a position to take his due share of the Soma. It is a matter of common experience that life-activity bereft of the power of the mind is not wholesome. It is thus that in the application of the second sub-hymn covering Indra and Vayu, the three parts are to Vayu and one to Indra: “Indra had the fourth part and Vayu three parts" (Ait. Br. 9.1), so proclaim the Aitareyins. In the Brahmana it is also said that Indra is the charioteer of Vayu: “With his steeds of yoking and Indra for charioteer.” This indicates the guiding quality of the power of mind open to the Grace of Indra, its service in beneficence and the consequent sharing of Soma in opulence by the life-force embodied in physical nervous organism.
And this is the first Rik in the second sub-hymn to Indra-Vayu :