कस्य नूनं कतमस्यामृतानां मनामहे चारु देवस्य नाम। को नो मह्या अदितये पुनर्दात्पितरं च दृशेयं मातरं च॥1॥

पदपाठ — देवनागरी
कस्य॑। नू॒नम्। क॒त॒मस्य॑। अ॒मृता॑नाम्। मना॑महे। चारु॑। दे॒वस्य॑। नाम॑। कः। नः॑। म॒ह्यै। अदि॑तये। पुनः॑। दा॒त्। पि॒तर॑म्। च॒। दृ॒शेय॑म्। मा॒तर॑म्। च॒॥ 1.24.1

PADAPAATH — ROMAN
kasya | nūnam | katamasya | amṛtānām | manāmahe | cāru | devasya | nāma | kaḥ | naḥ | mahyai | aditaye | punaḥ | dāt | pitaram | ca | dṛśeyam | mātaram | ca

देवता —        प्रजापतिः ;       छन्द —        त्रिष्टुप् ;      
स्वर —        धैवतः;       ऋषि —        शुनःशेप आजीगर्तिः  स कृत्रिमो वैश्वामित्रो देवरातः

मन्त्रार्थ — महर्षि दयानन्द सरस्वती
हम लोग (कस्य) कैसे गुण कर्म स्वभाव युक्त (कतमस्य) किस बहुतों (अमृतानाम्) उत्पत्ति विनाशरहित अनादि मोक्ष प्राप्त जीवों और जो जगत् के कारण नित्य के मध्य में व्यापक अमृतस्वरूप अनादि तथा एक पदार्थ (देवस्य) प्रकाशमान सर्वोत्तम सुखों को देनेवाले देव का निश्चय के साथ (चारु) सुन्दर (नाम) प्रसिद्ध नाम को (मनामहे) जानें कि जो (नूनम्) निश्चय करके (कः) कौन सुखस्वरूप देव (नः) मोक्ष को प्राप्त हुए भी हम लोगों को (मह्यै) बड़ी कारणरूप नाश रहित (अदितये) पृथ्वी के बीच में (पुनः) पुनर्जन्म (दात्) देता है। जिससे कि हम लोग (पितरम्) पिता (च) और (मातरम्) माता (च) और स्त्री पुत्र बन्धु आदि को (दृशेयम्) देखने की इच्छा करें॥1॥

भावार्थ — महर्षि दयानन्द सरस्वती
इस मन्त्र में प्रश्न का विषय है कि कौन ऐसा पदार्थ है जो सनातन अर्थात् अविनाशी पदार्थों में भी सनातन अविनाशी है कि जिसका अत्यन्त उत्कर्ष युक्त नाम का स्मरण करें वा जानें और कौन देव हम लोगों के लिये किस-किस हेतु से एक जन्म से दूसरे जन्म का सम्पादन करता और अमृत वा आनन्द के करानेवाली मुक्ति को प्राप्त होकर भी फिर हम लोगों को माता-पिता से दूसरे जन्म में शरीर को धारण कराता है॥1॥

रामगोविन्द त्रिवेदी (सायण भाष्य के आधार पर)
1. देवों में किस श्रेणी के किस देवता का सुन्दर नाम उच्चारण करू? कौन मुझे फिर इस पृथिवी पर रहने देगा, जिससे मैं पिता और माता के दर्शन कर सकूँ?

Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith
1. WHO now is he, what God among Immortals, of whose auspicious name we may bethink us? Who shall to mighty Aditi restore us, that I may see my Father and my Mother? 

Translation of Griffith Re-edited  by Tormod Kinnes
Who is he, what God among immortals, of whose auspicious name we may bethink us? Who shall to mighty Aditi restore us, that I may see my Father and my Mother? [1]

H H Wilson (On the basis of Sayana)
1.Of whom, or of which divinity of the immortals, shall we invoke the auspicious name? who will give us to the great Aditi, that I may again behold my father and my mother.
1.6.1- The story of Sunahsepas or, as usually written, Sunahsepas has been for some time known to Sanskrit students through the version of it presented in the Ramayana, b. i. ch. 61, Schlegel: 63, Gorresio. He is there called the son of the Rsis Rcika, and is sold for a hundred cows by his father to Ambarsa, king of Ayodhya, as a victim for a human sacrifice; on the road, he comes to the lake Puskara, where he sees Visvamitra, and implores his succour, and learns from him a prayer, by the repetition of which at the stake, Indra is induced to come and set him free. It is obvious that this story has been derived from the Veda, for Visvamitra teaches him, according to Schlegel’s text, two Gathas, according to Gorresio’s, a mantra; but the latter also states, that he propiaated Indra by Rcas; mantras of the Rgveda (Rgbhis-tustava devendram), Vol. I, p. 249. Manu also alludes to the story (10. 105), where it is said that Ajigartta incurred no guilt by giving up his son to be sacrificed, as it was to preserve himself and family from perishing with hunger. Kullukabhatta names the son, Sunahsepas and refers for his authority to the Bahvrca Brahmana. The story is told in full detail in the Aitareya Brahmana, but the Raja is named Hariscandra: he has no sons, and worships Varuna, in order to obtain a son, promising to sacrifice to him his first-born: he has a son in consequence, named Rohita; but when Varuna claims his vicam, the king delays the sacrifice, under various pretexts, from time to time, until Rohita attains adolescence, when his father communicates to him the fate for which he was destined: Rohita refuses submission, and spends several years in the forests, away from home: he at last meets there with Ajigartta a Rsis, in great distress, and persuades him to part with his second son Sunahsepas, to be substituted for Rohita, as an offering to Varuna: the bargain is concluded, and SunahSepas is about to be sacrificed, when, by the advice of Visvamitra, one of the officiaang priests, he appeals to the gods, and is ulamately liberated. The Aitareya Brahmana has supplied the commentator with the circumstances, which he narrates, as illustrative of the series of hymns in this section. Dr. Rosen doubts if the hymns bear any reference to the intenaon of sacrificing Sunahsepas, but the language of the Brahmana is not to be mistaken, as Ajitgartta not only ties his son to the stake, but goes to provide himself with a knife, with which to slay him: at the same ame, it must be admitted that the language of the Suktas is somewhat equivocal, and leaves the intenaon of an actual sacrifice open to question. The Bhagavata follows the Aitareya and Manu, in terming SunahSepas the son of Ajigartta, and names the Raja also Hariscandra. In the Visnu Purana, he is called the son of Visvamitra, and is termed also Devavrata, or god-given; but this relates to subsequent occurrences, noticed in like manner by the other authorities, in which he becomes the adopted son of Visvamitra, and the eldest of all his sons; such of whom as refused to acknowledge his seniority being cursed to become the founders of various barbarian and outcaste races. Visvamitra’s share in the legend may possibly inamate his opposiaon, and that of some of his disciples, to human sacrifices. Stanza I is supposed to be uttered by SunahSepas when bound to the Yupa. or stake, as the Purusah- pasuh, the man-animal (or vicam), as the Bhagavata terms him Of whom (kasya) may also be rendered, of Brahma or Prajapati, one of whose names in the Veda is Ka; as Ko ha vai nama Prajapaah.1. Adia, according to Sayana, here means’ earth’.