Mitra-Varuna (Rig Veda 1.2) - Madhuchanda Vaisvamitra:

मित्रं हुवे पूतदक्षं वरुणं च रिशादसम् ।
धियं घृताचीं साधन्ता ॥१.२.७॥
Mitram Huve Puuta-Dakssam Varunnam Ca Rishaa-Dasam |
Dhiyam Ghrtaaciim Saadhantaa ||1.2.7||

• मित्रं हुवे पूतदक्षं (Mitram Huve Puuta-Dakssa): We invoke Mitra who has the dexterity to purify.
• वरुणं च रिशादसम् (Varunnam Ca Rishaa-Dasam): (We invoke) Varuna who is the destroyer of the foes (impurities).
• धियं घृताचीं साधन्ता (Dhiyam Ghrtaaciim Saadhantaa): They two help to obtain an Intelligence which is like the clarified butter (which has been subjected to the process of purification and removal of impurities).

Comments:

- In this mantra, the qualities of Mitra-Varuna are being mentioned. Mitra purifies and Varuna destroys the foes (which are the impurities). Together, they help us to obtain a pure Intelligence (by this purification process).

- Varuna has an exalted position among the Devas, because Varuna presides over Rita or Cosmic Order. In most mantras Varuna is accompanied by Mitra, so Mitra-Varuna jointly presides over the Rita. The Rita or Cosmic Order is both an external phenomenon and an internal one. This is illustrated by this mantra. The Cosmic Order is destroying our impurities and purifying our Intelligence.

- When we go to the vastness of Nature we feel peace outside as well as peace inside. Therefore, that peace is from a plane which connects both outside and inside. That peace purifies the mind as well as removes the gross worries and anxieties (at least temporarily). That feeling gives an idea of what Mitra and Varuna does. Mitra purifies the mind and Varuna removes the gross impurities which are the foes.

- The Vedic Rishis looked at these divine forces with great reverence, similar to the reverence we feel for deities in the temple. For them the entire universe was the temple. They preserved the external environment like a temple. In return, the temple gave them an Intelligence which is like the clarified butter.

- By contemplating on Mitra-Varuna, we also need to open ourselves to the Cosmic Order. We also need to feel that the entire universe is a temple of divine forces. And we are performing inner Yagna in this temple to purify ourselves.

- This attitude will also reflect in the external environment in the form of preservation of natural resources, not merely from the point of utility, but from an attitude of reverence.

ऋतेन मित्रावरुणावृतावृधावृतस्पृशा ।
क्रतुं बृहन्तमाशाथे ॥१.२.८॥
Rtena Mitraa-Varunnaav[au]-Rtaa-Vrdhaav[au]-Rta-Sprshaa |
Kratum Brhantam-Aashaathe ||1.2.8||

• ऋतेन ऋतावृधौ (Rtena Rtaa-Vrdhau): By Rita who grows the Rita (Cosmic Order).
• ऋतस्पृशा (Rta-Sprshaa): Who is in touch with Rita and gives the touch of Rita (Cosmic Order)
• क्रतुं बृहन्तं आशाथे (Kratum Brhantam Aashaathe): Who have obtained the great Kratu (Great Yagna) (of the Cosmic Order).

Comments:

- In this mantra, the roles of Mitra-Varuna are being mentioned. Mitra-Varuna enhance Rita and gives the touch of Rita (both internally and externally). They perform the great Yagna of the Cosmic Order.

- The Cosmic Order is like the temple of the divine forces encompassing the whole universe. When we revere this temple, the divine forces act within us. In this mantra the action of Mitra-Varuna has been mentioned. They give a touch of the great Rita and make it grow within us. This touch obviously has a transcendental aspect in feeling. This is part of the great Yagna going on in the universe, where the Rita in the personification of Mitra-Varuna touches us from within and makes us grow inwardly.

- Since the Devas act from a plane which is both external and internal, this touch also enhance the Rita in external Nature. Nature becomes charged with spiritual vibrations of the Devas.

- So, from the point of the Vedic Vision of Nature, preservation of external Nature is not about preserving trees and plants, but about making Rita manifest. It is to make the power of the Devas manifest. He is a greater architect of Nature who can make this happen, than he who can merely design a landscape.

कवी नो मित्रावरुणा तुविजाता उरुक्षया ।
दक्षं दधाते अपसम् ॥१.२.९॥
Kavii No Mitraa-Varunnaa Tuvijaataa Urukssayaa |
Dakssam Dadhaate Apasam ||1.2.9||

• कवी (Kavii): Who are full of wisdom.
• तुविजात (Tuvijaata): Who are powerful.
• उरुक्षय (Urukssaya): Who have spacious dwellings.

Comments:

- In this mantra, the qualities of Mitra-Varuna are being mentioned. Mitra-Varuna are full of wisdom and powerful. They have spacious dwellings.

- We feel a difference when we visit a temple within a crowded city and a temple on the top of a mountain. On the top of the mountain we are more in touch with Rita (in the spacious dwelling of the universe). We can relate this mantra with that feeling to get an understanding of its import.

- According to the Vedas, the Devas act in a space which is huge. It is Dyava-Prthivi. It includes the Earth (Prthivi), intermediate Space (Antariksha) and Heaven (Dyau). The Heaven or Dyau is no more like a physical space but is a divine space. The physical space as if merges with the divine space. This is an unique concept of the Vedas. Rita is the Cosmic Order within that space and Mitra-Varuna presides over Rita. That is why the space itself is not only huge physically, but has a wisdom of its own. That wisdom is connected with our inner world. When we stand before a boundless horizon we can get a feeling of this. We feel the huge space, and we can also feel a wisdom pervading that space.

- We need to open ourselves from the space of the limited individual world towards the vast space of the Cosmic Order. Then we can feel the joy filling us from the boundless plane.