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X KÂNDA, 5 ADHYAYA, I BRÂHMANA, 5.
365
3. This body (of the altar), indeed, is threefold; and with this threefold body he obtains the threefold divine Amrita (nectar, immortality). Now all these (bricks) are called 'ishtakå (f.),' not 'ishta- ! kah (m.),' nor 'ishtakam (n.) : thus (they are called) after the form of speech (vâk, f.), for everything here is speech—whether feminine (female), masculine (male), or neuter—for by speech everything here is obtained. Therefore he settles' all (the bricks) 1 with, “Angiras-like lie thou steady (dhruvâ, f.)!' not with, “Angiras-like lie thou steady (dhruvah, m.)!' or with, Angiras-like lie thou steady (dhruvam, n.)!' for it is that Speech he is constructing.
4. Now, this speech is yonder sun, and this (Agni, the Fire-altar) is Death: hence whatsoever is on this side of the sun all that is held by Death ; and he who builds it (the Fire-altar) on this side thereof, builds it as one held by Death, and he surrenders his own self unto Death ; but he who builds it thereabove, conquers recurring Death, for by his knowledge that (altar) of his is built thereabove.
5. This speech, indeed, is threefold—the Rik. verses, the Yagus-formulas, and the Sâman-tunes : the Rik-verses are the orb, the Sâman-tunes the light, and the Yagus-formulas the man in the sun); and that immortal element, the shining light, is this lotus-leaf*: thus, when he builds up the Fire-altar
See VI, 1, 2, 28; VII, 1, 1, 30. · Viz. the lotus-leaf deposited in the centre of the altar-site, before the first layer is laid down, see VII, 4, 1, 7 seqq., where, however, it is represented as symbolising the womb whence Agni (the fire-altar) is to be born.
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