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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Baudhâyana - Prasna II, Adhyâya 7
Kandikâ 12
1. Now we will explain the oblations (offered) to the vital air (prâna) by Sâlînas (householders) and Yâyâvaras (vagrants), who sacrifice to the soul.1
2. At the end of all the necessary (daily rites), let him sit down, facing the east, in a place that has been well cleaned and smeared with cowdung; next let him worship that prepared (food) which is being brought. (saying), 'Bhûh, Bhuvah, Svah, Om,' (and then) remain silent.
3. (Next) he pours water round the food which has been placed (before him), turning his right hand towards it, and reciting the Mahâvyâhritis; (afterwards), continuing to hold (the dish) with his left hand, he first drinks water, (saying), 'Thou art a substratum for ambrosia,' and (finally) offers five oblations of food to the vital airs, (reciting the2 texts), 'Full of reverence, I offer ambrosia to Prâna; mayest thou propitiously enter me, not in order to burn me. To Prâna, Svâhâ!' &c.
4. After offering the five oblations of food to the vital airs, let him finish his meal silently. Meditating in his heart on the lord of created beings, let him not emit speech while (eating),
5. If he emits speech, he shall mutter 'Bhûh, Bhuvah, Svah, Om,' and afterwards continue to eat.
6. Now they quote also (the following rule): 'If he sees (bits of) skin, hair, nail-(parings), insects, or the dung of rats (in his food), 'he shall take out a lump, sprinkle that spot with water, scatter ashes on it, again sprinkle it with water, and use (the remainder of the food), after it has been declared fit (for use).'3
7. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'He shall eat, seated with his face towards the east, silent, not despising his food, not scattering (fragments on the ground), and solely attend (to his dinner); and, after he has eaten, he shall touch fire.'4
8. He shall not cut off with his teeth (pieces from) eatables (that must be swallowed) entire, (such as) cakes, bulbs, roots, fruit, and flesh.
9. (Let him) not (eat) to repletion.5
10. After (dinner) he shall drink water, (reciting the text), 'Thou art 'a covering for ambrosia,' and stroke (the region of) the heart, (saying), 'Thou art the bond that connects the vital airs; (thou art)6 Rudra and Death; enter me; mayest thou grow through this food.'
11. After sipping water a second time, he allows (the drops from) the hand to flow on the big toe of his right foot (and recites the following text): 'May the male be pleased, he who is of the size of a thumb, who occupies (a space of the size of) a thumb, who is the lord of the whole world, masterful, and the enjoyer of the universe.'7
12. Let him perform the subsequent consecration (anumantrana) of the (food which has been) offered, with raised arms, (and let him recite) the five (texts beginning), 'With faith, worshipping Prâna, (I have) offered ambrosia; mayest thou increase Prâna through this food,'8
13. (And let him address the soul with the last text of the Anuvâka), '(May) my soul (gain) immortality in the universal soul.'
14. And let him (meditate on his) soul (as) united with the imperishable (syllable Om).9
15. He who sacrifices to the soul, surpasses him who offers all sacrifices.
Kandikâ 13
1. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'As cotton and reeds, thrown into a fire, blaze up, even so all the guilt of him who sacrifices to the soul is consumed;'
2. (Moreover), 'He who eats merely (in order to satisfy his own hunger) reaps only guilt. In vain (the fool) takes food.'10
3. Let him daily, both in the morning and in the evening, sacrifice in this manner;
4, Or (he may offer) water in the evening.
5. Now they quote also (the following verses): Let him first feed his guests, next the pregnant women, then the infants and the aged, thereafter the distressed and particularly the diseased. But he who eats first, without having given (food) to those (persons) according to the rule, does not know that he is being eaten. He does not eat, (but) he is eaten.'11
6. 'Let him eat silently what remains, (after he has given their portions) to the manes, the gods, the servants, his parents, and his Gurus; that is declared to be the rule of the sacred law.'12
7. Nov they quote also (the following verses): Eight mouthfuls are the meal of an ascetic, sixteen that of a hermit in the woods, thirty-two that of a householder, and an unlimited (quantity) that of a student.'
8. 'An Agnihotrin, a draught-ox, and, a student, those three can do their work only if they eat (much); without eating (much) they cannot do it.'
9. 'A householder, or a student who practises13 austerity by fasting, becomes an Avakîrnin through the omission of the sacrifice to the vital airs;'
10. Except when he performs a penance. In the case of a penance that (fasting) is the rule.
11. Now they quote also (the following verses): 'He who never eats between the morning and the evening meals, (obtains the same reward as he who) constantly fasts.'
12. 'As in case one obtains no materials (for the sacrifice), one must mutter the sacred texts to be recited at the Agnihotra, offered in the three fires, even so one should mutter the texts to be recited at the Prânâgnihotra, when one is prevented from dining.'
13. 'He who acts thus, will become one with Brahman.' Thus spake Pragâpati (the lord of created beings).
Footnotes
1. The Prânâgnihotra is alluded to by Âpastamba II, 7, 17, 16, Regarding the terms Sâlîna and Yâyâvara, see below, III, 1, 3-4.
2. The Mahâvyâhritis are the Mantras given Taittirîya Âranyaka X. 2. The second Mantra is found Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 32, and the third ibid. X, 34. The translation of the Mantras follows Govinda, who somewhat differs from Sâyana.
3. Vasishtha XIV, 23.
4. Vishnu LXVIII, 40-43.
5. Vishnu LXVIII, 47.
6. The first text is found Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 35, and the second ibid. X, 37. I translate the first according to Govinda.
7. Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 38. The individual soul which re-sides, in the heart is here identified with the universal soul; see also Kâthaka Upanishad IV, 12.
8. Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 36.
9. The syllable Om is Brahman, the universal soul.
10. Rig-veda X, 117, 6, and Taittirîya Brâhmana II, 8, 8, 3. The words have been transposed.
11. Vasishtha XI, 6-8; Manu III, 114-115. I write, with the Dekhan and Gugarât MSS., na sa bhuṅkte, sa bhugyate, instead of the senseless reading of M. and the commentary, na sa bhuṅkte na bhugyate.
12. Vasishtha XI, 11. 7-8. Âpastamba II, 4, 9, 13.
13. Âpastamba II, 4, 9, 12, and note on II, 1, 1, 2.
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