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VI PRAPATHAKA, 37.
337
is the Åhavaniya-fire; and this is done to increase our bodily vigour, to gain the world of purity, and for the sake of immortality. And here they quote:
'Let him who longs for heaven, offer an Agnihotra. By an Agnishtoma he wins the kingdom of Yama; by Uktha, the kingdom of Soma ; by a Shodasin-sacrifice, the kingdom of Surya ; by an Atirâtra-sacrifice, the kingdom of Indra ; by the sacrifices beginning with the twelve-night sacrifice and ending with the thousand years' sacrifice, the world of Pragâpati.
As a lamp burns so long as the vessel that holds the wick is filled with oil, these two, the Self and the bright Sun, remain so long as the egg (of the world) and he who dwells within it hold together.'
37. Therefore let a man perform all these ceremonies with the syllable Om (at the beginning). Its splendour is endless, and it is declared to be threefold, in the fire (of the altar), in the sun (the deity), in the breath (the sacrificer). Now this is the channel to increase the food, which makes what is offered in the fire ascend to the sun. The sap which flows from thence, rains down as with the sound of a hymn. By it there are vital breaths, from them there is offspring. And here they quote:
'The offering which is offered in the fire, goes to the sun; the sun rains it down by his rays; thus food comes, and from food the birth of living beings.'
And thus he said:
*The oblation which is properly thrown on the fire, goes toward the sun; from the sun comes rain, from rain food, from food living beings?'
. ! See Manu III, 76.
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