In the Rig Veda, there are one thousand and twenty-eight hymns. And among them, one hundred and fourteen form a world apart — the ninth mandala. A world entirely inhabited by a single presence: Soma pavamāna — the Soma that purifies itself.
No Indra conquering. No Agni burning. No Varuṇa judging. Just the golden juice flowing through the woollen filter, purifying itself in the stream, entering the cup, descending into Indra’s belly — and producing, up there, inside, something that the rishis of the ninth mandala seek to name with all the words of Sanskrit.
That something is ecstasy.
One mandala, one subject
In the introduction to my translation of the Rig Veda, I affirm it: the deified Soma had considerable importance in the functioning of society. And the fact that an entire mandala — the only one in the entire Rig Veda devoted to a single subject — is dedicated to him is the most eloquent proof.
This mandala is also, paradoxically, the most difficult to read for a modern Western reader. Its repetition, its circularity, its insistence on the same images — the woollen filter, the ten fingers that press, the golden stream, the cup, the intoxication — can seem monotonous to one who does not understand what is at stake.
What is at stake is the description of a process — not a narrative. The ninth mandala does not tell a story. It accompanies an action: the purification of soma, from raw plant to juice ready to be drunk. And in this accompaniment, it simultaneously describes the physical process and the inner process it produces.
The language of purification
The most repeated word in the ninth mandala is pavamāna — « the purified one, » « the one who purifies itself. » Soma is not simply pressed and drunk. It purifies itself — through the woollen filter, through the mantras, through the intention of the officiants. And this purification of soma is also, simultaneously, a purification of the consciousness of the one who drinks it.
This is the first verse of hymn 9.1, in my translation:
9.1.1 — O Soma, purify your sweetest, most intoxicating flow for Indra, so that he may drink the juice.
And hymn 9.2.8 immediately states the purpose:
9.2.8 — We go to you for a vigorous intoxication, you who have created the worlds. The great proclamations are yours.
« You who have created the worlds » — Soma is not a simple drink. He is the force that produced manifestation. To drink Soma is to enter into contact with this original force — with what precedes forms and produces them.
The animal metaphor: bull, eagle, horse
What strikes one in the poetry of the ninth mandala is the density of its animal metaphors. Soma is successively — and sometimes simultaneously — a bull that bellows, an eagle that flies, a horse that runs. These three images are not interchangeable. Each carries a different dimension.
The bull (vṛṣan) is the fertilizing power — the raw, male, explosive energy that penetrates and fecundates. When Soma is a bull, it is his power of inner transformation that is evoked:
9.85.9 — The bull, radiant, standing on the Sky, illuminated the Light of the Sky for the sage. The king crosses the filter bellowing.
9.86.11 — Howling, the hero flows in a hundred streams, the master of the Sky, splendid. The brownish one sits on the seat of Mitra.
The eagle (śyena) is speed and elevation — the capacity to cross worlds, to carry something precious from one level of reality to another. In Vedic mythology, it is the eagle that brought soma from the Sky to give it to men:
9.85.11 — The many hymns of those who desire him have made the eagle fly into the firmament, for those who desire him. The thoughts caress the child, worthy of admiration. The golden bird stands near the weak.
9.86.13 — This bird, rich in thoughts, was placed on the wool and flowed, purified, by its stream.
The horse (aśva) is speed and direction — the force that goes straight to the goal, that does not stray, that carries toward the destination:
9.86.3 — Like a spurred Horse, run toward strength. The cup of the Sky wins the Sky, through its mothers: the stones.
Hymn 9.63: the light of meditations
Hymn 9.63, composed by the rishi Nidhruvi Kāśyapa, is one of the most beautiful in the mandala in its description of the inner state produced by Soma. Verse 21 is perhaps the most striking:
9.63.21 — The swift bull is active through thoughts. This is the flow of truth. The sages have been completely illuminated by the meditations.
« The sages have been completely illuminated by the meditations » — Enlightenment is not a vague metaphor. It is a precise state, produced by a precise practice — meditation on the mantra, while soma produces its effects in consciousness.
And verse 16 of this same hymn formulates the purpose with admirable clarity:
9.63.16 — Flow, O Soma, for the most intoxicating Wealth, in the filter toward the intoxication that makes one know the gods best.
« That makes one know the gods best » — the gods are not external beings to be propitiated. They are inner forces to be known, activated, revealed. And Soma is the instrument of this revelation.
Hymn 9.113: the summit of ecstasy
Hymn 9.113, composed by the rishi Kaśyapa Mārīca, is the hymn of all Vedic ecstasy poetry. Its refrain — pari srava somāso indravāyava indu — « Flow around, for Indra, O Indu » — returns like a wave after each verse, giving the hymn a hypnotic rhythm.
And verses 7 to 11 describe states of consciousness with a precision unmatched in all world mystical literature:
9.113.7 — There, where eternal Light resides, in that world the Sun has been placed. Place me, O Purified One, in that immortal and imperishable world. Flow around, for Indra, O Indu.
9.113.8 — There where the one who comes from the Sun is king, there, he descends from the Sky. There where these waters always flow, there, make me immortal. Flow around, for Indra, O Indu.
9.113.9 — There, where one can receive from the Sky, at will, for three days and three nights, there, the worlds are illuminated — there, make me immortal. Flow around, for Indra, O Indu.
9.113.10 — There where desires and pleasures are, there where the reddish Sky is, there where comfort and satisfaction lie — there, make me immortal. Flow around, for Indra, O Indu.
9.113.11 — There where bliss, plenitude, jubilation, Happiness reside — he sits there. There where one attains the delights of desire — make me immortal. Flow around, for Indra, O Indu.
Five verses, five states, one request: immortality. Not biological immortality — permanence in the state of consciousness where eternal Light resides, where waters always flow, where bliss and plenitude and jubilation coexist.
These are the states that contemporary research — Griffiths, Carhart-Harris, Pahnke — rediscovers in experiences with psilocybin: expansion of consciousness, ego dissolution, feeling of unity with the cosmos, lasting bliss. The ninth mandala named them four thousand years ago.
What the form says as much as the content
The poetry of the ninth mandala is also a formal demonstration. The Gāyatrī metre — three times eight feet — dominates the shorter hymns. The Jagatī — four times twelve feet — structures the longer ones. These metres are not ornaments. They are tools of consciousness — their hypnotic regularity prepares the ground in which soma will operate.
Reciting the hymns of the ninth mandala while soma purifies itself is to create a resonance between the rhythm of the mantra, the rhythm of the breath, the rhythm of the juice flowing through the filter. Everything aligns. And in this alignment, something opens.
9.85.3 — O Indu, when you are purified, you are the one who does not disappoint, the most intoxicating, for you are the soul of Indra, the highest drink. The many thoughts shine and touch the king of creation.
« The many thoughts shine and touch the king of creation » — this is perhaps the most beautiful description of the meditative state that the ninth mandala has left us. Thought no longer agitates. It shines. And in that brilliance, it touches something greater than itself.
Le Rig Veda 
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