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III KÂNDA, I ADHYÂYA, 3 BRÂHMANA, 28.
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indeed is the sacrifice to be taken hold of, as is either this staff or the garment,—but invisible indeed are the gods, invisible is the sacrifice.
26. Now when he says, “Hail, from the mind (I take hold of) the sacrifice,' he takes hold of it from the mind;-in saying, ' From the wide ether,' he takes hold of it from the ether ;-in saying, 'From heaven and earth,' he takes hold of it from those two, heaven and earth, on which this entire universe rests ;-and in saying, 'From the wind I take hold of (the sacrifice)'-the wind being the sacrifice-he takes hold of the sacrifice directly.
27. And when he calls, ‘Hail! Hail?!' — the Svâhâ' being the sacrifice-he thereby appropriates the sacrifice. Here now he restrains his speech; the sacrifice being speech : he thereby appropriates? the sacrifice.
28. He (the Adhvaryu) then makes him enter the hall. He walks along the back of the Ahavaniya and the front of the Garhapatya",—this is his passage until the Soma pressing. The reason why this is his passage until the Soma pressing is this. The fire is the womb of the sacrifice, and the consecrated is an embryo; and the embryo moves about
1 That is, svâhâ' in each formula. The Samhità has twice svâhâ' in the last formula (svâhâ våtâd arabhe svaha), to which this might refer, but neither recension of the Brahmana mentions the final 'svâhâ.'
Literally, he takes within him' (as the speech confined within him through silence).
• That is, he enters the hall by the front (east) door, then walks along the north side of the Ahavaniya and altar, and passes between the Gârhapatya and altar to his seat south of the Ahavanîya. The Pratiprasthầtri then silently anoints and purifies the Dikshita's wife and leads her into the hall, either by the front or back door.
C2
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