Camakam, anuvāka 3 — welfare, freedom from disease, a good bed, a good day
The popular claimThe third anuvāka asks for the quiet things: no enemy, no fear, a long life, a bed, a dawn, a good day.
After the person and the person's standing, the third anuvāka asks for the person's peace. It is the gentlest section of the Camakam, and the one whose last three words a reciter is most likely to remember.
Welfare
Śaṁ ca me mayaś ca me. — Welfare, and joy. Śam — the word in śānti and in Śambhu; mayas — delight. The Namakam's eighth anuvāka bowed to the god as the source of both; the Camakam asks for them.
Priyaṁ ca me'nukāmaś ca me kāmaś ca me saumanasaś ca me. — The dear, the wished-for, desire, and good-mindedness. Anukāma — what follows desire, what one wants next; saumanasa — the state of a mind at ease.
Bhadraṁ ca me śreyaś ca me vasyaś ca me. — The auspicious, the better, the more excellent. Three grades of good.
Yaśaś ca me bhagaś ca me draviṇaṁ ca me. — Fame, fortune, wealth. Bhaga — the share, the portion of luck; also the god Bhaga.
Support
Yantā ca me dhartā ca me. — A guide, and a supporter. Yantṛ — one who restrains, who steers; dhartṛ — one who holds up. The sacrificer asks for someone to direct him and someone to bear him.
Kṣemaś ca me dhṛtiś ca me. — Peace, and steadfastness. Kṣema — safety, the keeping of what one has; dhṛti — firmness.
Viśvaṁ ca me mahaś ca me. — The all, and the great.
Saṁvic ca me jñātraṁ ca me. — Understanding, and the faculty of knowing. Saṁvid — agreement, awareness; jñātra — the power to know.
Sūś ca me prasūś ca me. — Begetting, and being begotten. Sū — the generative power; prasū — Sāyaṇa: the one who brings forth, or the state of having been brought forth.
Sīraṁ ca me layaś ca me. — The plough, and rest. Sīra — the plough, the field's work; laya — its cessation, the pause. Work and rest, one clause.
Order and life
Ṛtaṁ ca me'mṛtaṁ ca me. — Order, and immortality. Ṛta — the cosmic order that Varuṇa keeps; amṛta — the deathless.
Ayakṣmaṁ ca me'nāmayac ca me. — Freedom from wasting disease, and freedom from illness. Yakṣma — consumption, the disease the Ṛgveda most often names; āmaya — sickness in general.
Jīvātuś ca me dīrghāyutvaṁ ca me. — The means of life, and long life. Jīvātu — what one lives by.
Anamitraṁ ca me'bhayaṁ ca me. — No enemy, and no fear. Anamitra — the state of having no foe; abhaya — fearlessness, the word the later tradition uses for the hand-gesture of the gods.
The close
Sugaṁ ca me śayanaṁ ca me. — Easy going, and a bed. Śayana — a place to lie down.
Sūṣā ca me sudinaṁ ca me. — A good dawn, and a good day. Sūṣā — Sāyaṇa: a fine dawn, from uṣas; sudina — a good day. The anuvāka ends with the smallest thing in the Camakam: that tomorrow be fine.
What the third anuvāka asks
It asks for a life without disease, enemy or fear; for a guide and a support; for work and its rest; for order and the deathless; and for a bed and a good morning. A reader looking for the Veda's picture of an ordinary good life finds it here, in thirty-six nouns.
What this page does not say
It does not claim the request is answered, and it does not read amṛta as a doctrine of the soul — it is in a list beside ṛta, and the commentators take it as long life or as the immortality the sacrifice was believed to give. It opens the items so that sūṣā ca me sudinaṁ ca me is heard as what it is: a wish for a good dawn.
Source — Taittiriya Samhita 4.7.3 (Camakam, third anuvaka), Krishna Yajurveda; Sayana's bhashya on the Taittiriya; Bhattabhaskara's commentary on the Camakam
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