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CHAPTER IV, 29.
destroyed. Brahman is the oblation; with Brahman (as a sacrificial instrument) it is offered up; Brahman is in the fire; and by Brahman it is thrown; and Brahman, too, is the goal to which he proceeds who meditates on Brahman in the action! Some devotees perform the sacrifice to the gods, some offer up the sacrifice by the sacrifice itself in the fire of Brahman : Others offer up the senses, such as the sense of hearing and others, in the fires of restraint'; others offer up the objects of sense, such as sound and so forth, into the fires of the senses *. Some again offer up all the operations of the senses and the operations of the life-breaths into the fire of devotion by self-restraint, kindled by knowledge. Others perform the sacrifice of wealth, the sacrifice of penance, the sacrifice of concentration of mind, the sacrifice of Vedic study, and of knowledge, and others are ascetics of rigid vows. Some offer up the upward life-breath into the downward life-breath, and the downward life-breath into the upper lifebreath, and stopping up the motions of the upward and downward life-breaths, devote themselves to the restraint of the life-breaths ?. Others, who (take)
the supreme; cf. supra, p. 53. In Asvaldyana Grihya-sätra I, 1, 5, a lex is cited meaning . salutation verily is a sacrifice.'
" This thorough identification with the Brahman explains why the action is destroyed' and does not 'fetter' the doer.
'le. all acts, religious and other, offered up to the Brahman in the mode above stated.
• Practise yoga' and other like exercises. • Remaining unattached to sensuous enjoyments.
• Stopping the bodily operations mentioned, and engaging in contemplation. • This is called Brahmayagria, Asvaldyana Griya-sátra III, 1, 3.
Maitrf-opanishad, p. 129.
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