Rigveda – Mandala 1, Sukta – 40 to 42

We shall discuss the hymns, Sukta wise & Mandala wise. Our focus is on the implicit meaning of the various hymns instead of literal translations of the hymns. These purported meanings are based primarily on the English translations by Swami Dharmanand Saraswati of the works done by Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
 
Highlights –
Everyone enjoys happiness by the association of and service to the learned persons, knowledge, Yoga, righteousness, doing good to others and spreading it to all. The man who serves learned persons with body, speech and mind, acquires inexhaustible wisdom, enjoys the earthly kingdom and then attains emancipation. Officers of the State should punish the persons who are doing mischief.
 
In these Suktas of Rigveda, principle of democracy is enshrined. People should elect head of state and Commander-in-Chief of the Army who is friendly to all as ambassador, teacher and preacher and a righteous person as dispenser of justice. They should talk politely. State should remove all wicked robbers and thieves as well as poverty, protect well all subjects, make all happy, keep them engaged in doing noble deeds, observe Brahmacharya (continence), renounce hankering after lustful indulgence and develop their physical and spiritual faculties with wisdom and good education, so should all people among the subjects also do. People should construct roadways, waterways and airways to travel on the earth, the sea and the sky
 
By worshipping God and obeying his commandants in Vedas, people attain all happiness. People should talk politely with their parents, teachers and other elderly educated persons. All men should pray to the Lord of the Universe to keep away from the path of evil and lead towards the path of Dharma.
The hymn wise, purported explanations –
 
Mandala 1 – Sukta – 40

1. Men should enjoy all happiness and bring the same to others by the association of and service to the learned persons, knowledge, Yoga, righteousness, doing good to others and other means. They should get happiness of all kinds by acquiring the knowledge of God-the Lord of all true wisdom.
2. Men should enjoy happiness by benefiting one another in the dealings of learning and teaching.
3. All men should do and desire that there may be development and diffusion of knowledge.
4. The man who serves learned persons with body, speech and mind, acquires inexhaustible wisdom, enjoys the earthly kingdom and then attains emancipation. Those who are well-versed in the science of speech or language, can make others learned and not others.
5. Everyone should adore only that one God who has revealed the Vedas (in the beginning of the Human creation) who pervades the entire Universe, in Whom the earth and other globes reside and in Whom learned persons abide during emancipation.
6. Learned persons should teach to all the Vedas with their meanings and limbs (grammar, meter, etymology etc.), their secret and practical application. If one desires to enjoy happiness, he must acquire the Vedic knowledge. Without it, none can attain true happiness. Therefore, all teachers and the taught should learn and teach all Vedas.
7. It is not all persons that approach a learned man who desires to diffuse knowledge. It is not all that can build a house that is suitable and source of happiness in all seasons. But it is only some fortunate persons that are able to do it.
8. Those officers and workers of the State who conquer their enemies in greater as well as lesser fights, imprison them and restrain them from doing any mischief, can administer the State righteously, enjoy happiness in this world and attain emancipation after passing away.

 
Mandala 1 – Sukta – 41

1. Men should select the best person as the President of the Assembly or Commander-in-Chief of the Army, one who is friendly to all as ambassador, teacher and preacher and a righteous person as dispenser of justice. Having obtained protection from them, they should kill all their enemies, properly administer a vast Government and bring about the welfare of all. None should be afraid of death, as death inevitable to all living beings.
2. As President of the Assembly, the Commander-in-Chief of the army and other officers of the State set aside or remove with their power and strength all wicked robbers and thieves as well as poverty, protect well all subjects, make all happy, eliminate all obstacles, keep them engaged in doing noble deeds, observe Brahmacharya (continence), renounce hankering after lustful indulgence and develop their physical and spiritual faculties with wisdom and good education, so should all people among the subjects also do.
3. Men should ever try to destroy those wicked persons, who trouble the righteous and then enter their forts, come out of them and then again cause trouble to the noble. They should always be engaged in protecting the righteous, in overcoming, subduing or even killing the wicked and administering the country righteously. Those who shine on account of their virtues.
4. Men should construct easy straight paths free from the fear of thorns, pits, thieves and robbers by which chariots, steamers and aero planes may travel on the earth, the sea and the sky and there may not be any inconvenience and fear to anyone. Having done all this, they should enjoy the happiness of good and vast Government and should allow others to do the same.
5. Where learned persons being the presidents of the Assembly, commanders of the armies, members of the Councils and servants behave politely, there is never an end to happiness.
6. Men protected by learned persons acquire all desirable objects and noble progeny. Without this, none can make true progress.
7. When someone ask another how shall we attain friendship justice and good knowledge, he should tell him that it is possible to do so only by diffusing knowledge and by benevolence or doing good to others. Without these, it is not possible for anyone to enjoy happiness.
8. A man should not love those who are enemies of his friend and who are their (his friends' enemies, accomplices or helpers. Friends should always be protected and safe-guarded. The learned friends should always be served with wealth, food) clothes and vehicles etc. A man without friends cannot enjoy happiness, therefore men should make friendship only with righteous and learned persons.
9. A man should not associate himself with or trust persons of ill words and wicked actions. He should not also be unfaithful to his friends, nor hate or insult them.

Mandala 1 – Sukta – 41

1. Just as humans overcome all sorrows and attain all happiness by worshiping God or obeying His commandments, in the same way pious people, friends of all, benevolent scholars in the presence of or by their teachings crossing the mesh like path of NE science get to knowledge form Sun.
2. Men should kill, throw away or imprison with the help of education, knowledge and army those wicked thieves who take away others' property. By so doing, they should make all roads and paths free from fear and danger. As God punishes the wicked according to their actions, in the same manner, we should also make them noble by giving proper Vedic education and suitable punishment.
3. The dispensers of justice should never leave a thief without giving him suitable punishment, otherwise the people will suffer. Therefore, for the protection of the people, it is necessary to give punishment to all guilty persons even if they be the parents, preceptors and friends of the officers concerned.
4. Justice-seeking people should never let a criminal thief go without punishing him. Otherwise, the people suffer, therefore, to protect the people, those who do evil deeds, parents, teachers, mothers, sons, friends, etc. should always be chastised and punished according to their crime.
5. As men should always satisfy and please their parents, teachers and other elderly educated persons with love and service, in the same way, they should gladden all good men by punishing the wicked for the welfare of all subjects.
6. Men should enjoy happiness abundantly by having the communion with God who is the Lord of all and association with a righteous President of the Assembly, a Commander of the army or dispenser of justice possessing prosperity, having acquired knowledge, gold and other kinds of wealth. They should make others also happy.
7. All men should thus pray to the Lord of the Universe. O God, take us away from the path of evil and lead us towards the path of Dharma. Learned persons also should be served and requested to conduct us by the pure and easy Vedic Path.
8. O God, grant us by your grace a beautiful country and good attributes, remove all miseries and lead us to happiness. O learned President of the Assembly, make us happy in this land by safe-guarding and preserving us with humility and giving us good education.
9. There is none except the President of the Assembly and Commander-in-Chief of the Army who is giver of happiness, strength and encouragement for exertion, remover of all fear of the thieves and the robbers, provider of all legitimate means of good enjoyment and illuminator of justice and knowledge. Therefore, all should take shelter in them.
10. No one should beg from any enemy out of folly, having given up the shelter of the President of the Assembly and the Commander of the Army, but after knowing the science of Politics from the Vedas, killing the enemies with the help of good and brave people, acquiring knowledge, gold and other kinds of wealth, giving the same in charity to deserving persons, knowledge should be diffused. In this hymn, by the use of the word Poosha, the President of the Assembly and Commander of the Army have been taken, the duty of increasing our power and removing wicked enemies, the attainment of all prosperity, treading upon the path of righteousness, developments of intellect and actions have been stated. So it has connection with the previous hymn.