Praśna II, Adhyāya 7, Kaṇḍikā 13

1. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'As cotton and reeds, thrown into a fire, blaze up, even so all the guilt of him who sacrifices to the soul is consumed;'

2. (Moreover), 'He who eats merely (in order to satisfy his own hunger) reaps only guilt. In vain (the fool) takes food.'^[1]

3. Let him daily, both in the morning and in the evening, sacrifice in this manner;

4, Or (he may offer) water in the evening.

5. Now they quote also (the following verses): Let him first feed his guests, next the pregnant women, then the infants and the aged, thereafter the distressed and particularly the diseased. But he who eats first, without having given (food) to those (persons) according to the rule, does not know that he is being eaten. He does not eat, (but) he is eaten.'^[2]

6. 'Let him eat silently what remains, (after he has given their portions) to the manes, the gods, the servants, his parents, and his Gurus; that is declared to be the rule of the sacred law.'^[3]

7. Nov they quote also (the following verses): Eight mouthfuls are the meal of an ascetic, sixteen that of a hermit in the woods, thirty-two that of a householder, and an unlimited (quantity) that of a student.'

8. 'An Agnihotrin, a draught-ox, and, a student, those three can do their work only if they eat (much); without eating (much) they cannot do it.'

9. 'A householder, or a student who practises^[4] austerity by fasting, becomes an Avakīrṇin through the omission of the sacrifice to the vital airs;'

10. Except when he performs a penance. In the case of a penance that (fasting) is the rule.

11. Now they quote also (the following verses): 'He who never eats between the morning and the evening meals, (obtains the same reward as he who) constantly fasts.'

12. 'As in case one obtains no materials (for the sacrifice), one must mutter the sacred texts to be recited at the Agnihotra, offered in the three fires, even so one should mutter the texts to be recited at the Prāṇāgnihotra, when one is prevented from dining.'

13. 'He who acts thus, will become one with Brahman.' Thus spake Prajāpati (the lord of created beings).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

13. Rig-veda X, 117, 6, and Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa II, 8, 8, 3. The words have been transposed.

[2]:

Vasiṣṭha XI, 6-8; Manu III, 114-115. I write, with the Dekhan and Gujarāt MSS., na sa bhuṅkte, sa bhujyate, instead of the senseless reading of M. and the commentary, na sa bhuṅkte na bhujyate.

[3]:

Vasiṣṭha XI, 11. 7-8. Āpastamba II, 4, 9, 13.

[4]:

-10. Āpastamba II, 4, 9, 12, and note on II, 1, 1, 2.