Kanda X, adhyaya 5, brahmana 1

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

1. The mystic import of this Fire-altar, doubtless, is Speech; for it is with speech that it is built: with the Ṛc, the Yajus and the Sāman as the divine (speech); and when he (the Adhvaryu) speaks with human speech, 'Do ye this! do ye that!' then also it (the altar) is built therewith.

2. Now, this speech is threefold--the Ṛk-verses, the Yajus-formulas, and the Sāman-tunes;--thereby the Fire-altar is threefold, inasmuch as it is built with that triad. Even thus, then, it is threefold; but in this respect also it is threefold, inasmuch as three kinds of bricks are put into it--those with masculine names, those with feminine names, and those with neuter names; and these limbs of men also are of three kinds--those with masculine names, those with feminine names, and those with neuter names.

3. This body (of the altar), indeed, is threefold; and with this threefold body he obtains the threefold divine Amṛta (nectar, immortality). Now all these (bricks) are called 'iṣṭakā (f.),' not 'iṣṭakaḥ (m.),' nor 'iṣṭakam (n.):' thus (they are called) after the form of speech (vāc, 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, 'Aṅgiras-like lie thou steady (dhruvā, f.)!' not with, 'Aṅgiras-like lie thou steady (dhruvaḥ, m.)!' or with, 'Aṅgiras-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 field 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 Ṛk-verses, the Yajus-formulas, and the Sāman-tunes the Ṛk-verses are the orb, the Sāman-tunes the light, and the Yajus-formulas the man (in the sun); and that immortal element, the shining light, is this lotus-leaf^[2]: thus, when he builds up the Fire-altar after laying down the lotus-leaf, it is on that immortal element that he builds for himself a body consisting of the Ṛk, the Yajus, and the Sāman; and he becomes immortal.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See VI, 1, 2, 28; VII, 1, 1, 30.

[2]:

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.