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The Satapatha Brahmana: Eleventh Kânda, Third Adhyâya
First Brâhmana
The Agnihotra.
1. Verily, the Agnihotrî cow is the speech of the Agnihotra, and her calf is its mind. Now these two, mind and speech, whilst being one and the same, are, as it were, distinct from each other: therefore they tie up the calf and its mother with one and the same rope; and the fire1, indeed, is faith, and the ghee truth.
2. Now, as to this Ganaka of Videha once asked Yâgñavalkya, 'Knowest thou the Agnihotra, Yâgñavalkya?'--'I know it, O king,' he said.--'What is it?'--'Milk, indeed.'
3. 'If there were no milk, wherewith wouldst thou sacrifice?'--'With rice and barley.'--'If there were no rice and barley, wherewith wouldst thou sacrifice?'--'With what other herbs there are.'--'If there were no other herbs, wherewith wouldst thou sacrifice?'--'With what forest herbs there are.'--'If there were no forest herbs, wherewith wouldst thou sacrifice?'--'With fruit of trees.'--'If there were no fruit of trees, wherewith wouldst thou sacrifice?'--'With water.'--'If there were no water, wherewith wouldst thou sacrifice?'
4. He spake, 'Then, indeed, there would be nothing whatsoever here, and yet there would be offered--the truth in faith.'--'Thou knowest the Agnihotra, Yâgñavalkya: I give thee a hundred cows,' said Ganaka.
5. Concerning this point there are also these verses:--'Knowing what2, does the offerer of the Agnihotra stay away from his house? how is his wisdom (manifested)3? how is he kept up by his fires4?'--whereby he means to say, 'How, then, is there no staying away from home on his part5?'
6. 'He who is the swiftest in the worlds6, that wise one is found staying abroad: thus (is manifested) his wisdom, thus he is kept up by his fires;'--he thereby means the mind: it is owing to his mind that there is no staying away from home on his part.
7. 'When, having gone far away, he heedeth not there his duty, wherein is that offering of his offered; (and wherein) do they, at his house, perform the offering of the progress?'--that is to say,--'When, having gone far away, he there heeds not his duty, wherein does that offering of his come to be offered?'
8. 'He who waketh in the worlds and sustaineth all beings, in him that offering of his is offered, (and in him) do they, at his house, perform the offering of the progress;'--he thereby means the breath; whence they say, 'The Agnihotra is breath.'
Second Brâhmana
1. Verily, whosoever knows the six pairs in the Agnihotra, has offspring born to him by pair after pair, by all generations. The Sacrificer and his wife--this is one pair: through it his Agnihotra would be possessed of a wife,--'May I obtain this pair!' he thinks7. The calf and the Agnihotra-cow--this is another pair: through it his Agnihotra-cow would become possessed of a male calf,--'May I obtain this pair!' he thinks. The pot and the coals--this is another pair; the offering-spoon and the dipping-spoon--this is another pair; the Âhavanîya fire and the log--this is another pair; the libation and the Svâhâ-call--this is another pair: these, doubtless, are the six pairs in the Agnihotra; and he who thus knows them, has offspring born to him by pair after pair, by all generations.
Third Brâhmana
1. The Brahman delivered the creatures over to Death, the Brahmakârin (religious student) alone it did not deliver over to him. He (Death) said, 'Let me have a share in this one also.'--'Only the night on which he shall not bring his8 fire-wood,' said (the Brahman). On whatever night, therefore, the Brahmakârin does not bring fire-wood, that (night) he passes9 cutting it off from his own life: therefore the Brahmakârin should bring fire-wood, lest he should pass (his nights) cutting off (as much) from his life.
2. He who enters on a Brahmakârin's life, indeed, enters on a long sacrificial session: the log he puts on the fire in entering thereon is the opening (offering), and that which (he puts on the fire) when he is about to bathe10 is the concluding (offering); and what (logs) there are between these, are just his (logs) of the sacrificial session. When a Brâhmana enters on a Brahmakârin's life--
3. He enters beings in four parts: with one fourth part (he enters) the fire, with another part death, with another part his religious teacher; and his fourth part remains in his own self.
4. Now, when he brings a log for the fire, he redeems that fourth part of his which is in the fire; and having cleansed11 it, he takes it to his own self, and it enters him.
5. And when, having made himself poor, as it were, and become devoid of shame, he begs alms, then he redeems that part of his which is in death; and, having cleansed it, he takes it to himself, and it enters him.
6. And when he does the teacher's bidding, and when he does any work for the teacher, he redeems that part of his which is in the teacher; and, having cleansed it, he takes it to himself, and it enters him.
7. Let him not beg alms after he has bathed (at the end of his studentship), for by bathing he drives off beggary, and drives off hunger from his kinsmen and his deceased ancestors, 'Let him who knows this beg alms only from her in whom he has the greatest confidence12,' they say, 'for that makes for heaven.' And should he find no other woman from whom alms could be begged, he may even beg from his own teacher's wife, and thereafter from his own mother13. The seventh (night) should not pass by for him without begging: him who knows this and practises this all the Vedas enter; for, verily, even as the fire shines when kindled, so does he, after bathing, shine, who, knowing this, lives a Brahmakârin's life.
Footnotes
1. That is, according to Sâyana, the fire, or heat, produced by the rope. Instead of 'tega eva sraddhâ,' one would rather expect 'sraddhaiva tegah.'
2. That is, according to Sâyana,--What form of Agnihotra does he recognise, when he goes to stay abroad?
3. That is,--How does he show his knowledge of the sacred obligation that one ought to perform the Agnihotra regularly twice a day for life?
4. That is to say, How is the continuity in the constant attendance to his sacred fires kept up by him?
5. Literally, 'How is non-staying abroad (brought about)?' that is to say,--How, though having to stay abroad, does he ensure the spiritual benefits of remaining at home? or, as Sâyana puts it, How is the fault of staying abroad, avoided?--asya pravasato
6. Or, among (or in) beings. Sâyana supplies 'yagamânah' to 'yo gavishthah.'
7. Or, perhaps, it (the Agnihotra) thinks.
8. Prof. Delbrück, Altind. Syntax, p. 260, doubtless rightly takes the middle form (âharâtai) here to imply 'for his own self,' i.e. for his own protection from death.
9. Or, perhaps better,--that (night) he keeps cutting off from his life,--in which case the verb 'vas' would be construed with the gerund in much the same way as 'sthâ' commonly is. This construction would suit even better the second passage (without the object 'tâm') at the end of the paragraph. In any case we have to understand that, during every night passed with his teacher without his having brought fire-wood, he cuts off a night, or day, from (the latter end of) his life. Cf. Delbrück, Altind. Syntax, pp. 260, 334, 405.
10. That is, prior to his leaving the house of his teacher and returning to his own family.
11. Samskritya = utkrishtam kritvâ, Sâyana.
12. That is, from whom he is perfectly sure of getting something. Sâyana, however, takes it in the sense of 'from whom he feels sure he will get most,'--Sa brahmakârî yasyâ eva bhikshitâyâh striyah sakâsâd bhûyishtham bahutaram annam labhyata iti slâgheta tâm bhikshetety âhuh, Sây.
13. That is, after leaving his teacher's house and returning home.
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