Hymn to the Wandering Mind
Rigveda X.58 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 10 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced for the Good Works Library from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension. Each verse names a place the mind (manas) has strayed to — the realm of Yama, the sky, the sea, the four directions, the sun and dawn, the mountains — and repeats a single refrain calling it home, to dwell and to live. Tradition uses the hymn as a recall-charm, spoken over someone whose mind has wandered too far, whether in sleep, illness, or the approach of death.
1. Your mind that went far away, to Yama, son of Vivasvat — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
2. Your mind that went far away, to the sky, to the earth — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
3. Your mind that went far away, to the four-cornered earth — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
4. Your mind that went far away, to the four directions — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
5. Your mind that went far away, to the surging sea — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
6. Your mind that went far away, to the rays of light, to the far slopes — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
7. Your mind that went far away, to the waters, to the plants — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
8. Your mind that went far away, to the sun, to the dawn — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
9. Your mind that went far away, to the tall mountains — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
10. Your mind that went far away, to this whole moving world — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
11. Your mind that went far away, to the farthest distances — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
12. Your mind that went far away, to what has been and what will be — we bring it back to you here, to dwell, to live.
Translator's note: "pravataḥ" in verse 6 (paired with marīcīḥ, "rays of light") is a compact word for downward slopes, streams, or distant reaches — rendered here conservatively as "far slopes." "kṣayāya jīvase," the refrain's closing purpose clause, literally reads "for dwelling, for living"; rendered here as "to dwell, to live" to keep the repetition audible in English.
Colophon
Rigveda X.58 is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation rendered verse by verse from the Sanskrit text printed below. Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation.
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Source Text: ṛgveda X.58
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
yat te yamaṁ vaivasvatam mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 1 ||
yat te divaṁ yat pṛthivīm mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 2 ||
yat te bhūmiṁ caturbhṛṣṭim mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 3 ||
yat te catasraḥ pradiśo mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 4 ||
yat te samudram arṇavam mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 5 ||
yat te marīcīḥ pravato mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 6 ||
yat te apo yad oṣadhīr mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 7 ||
yat te sūryaṁ yad uṣasam mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 8 ||
yat te parvatān bṛhato mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 9 ||
yat te viśvam idaṁ jagan mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 10 ||
yat te parāḥ parāvato mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 11 ||
yat te bhūtaṁ ca bhavyaṁ ca mano jagāma dūrakam |
tat ta ā vartayāmasīha kṣayāya jīvase || 12 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).