Shloka 3
Vāc–Manas Saṃvāda: Prāṇa-Apāna and the Primacy Debate (वाक्–मनस् संवादः)
शब्दस्पर्शों रूपरसौ गन्धो वाक्य क्रिया गति: । रेतोमूत्रपुरीषाणां त्यागो दश हवींषि च,शब्द, स्पर्श, रूप, रस, गन्ध, वाणी, क्रिया, गति, वीर्य, मूत्रका त्याग और मल-त्याग-- ये दस विषय ही दस हविष्य हैं
śabda-sparśau rūpa-rasau gandho vākya-kriyā gatiḥ | reto-mūtra-purīṣāṇāṃ tyāgo daśa havīṃṣi ca ||
The Brahmin said: “Sound and touch; form and taste; and smell; speech, action, and movement; and the discharge of semen, urine, and feces—these ten are to be regarded as the ten oblations. In other words, the disciplines of sense-control and bodily restraint are themselves the offerings by which one performs an inner sacrifice, turning ordinary impulses into a path of ethical self-mastery.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reframes sacrifice as an inner discipline: mastering the senses (sound, touch, form, taste, smell), regulating speech, action, and movement, and maintaining bodily restraint regarding sexual and excretory impulses—these become the ‘oblations’ offered into the inner fire of self-control.
A Brahmin speaker instructs by using sacrificial language: instead of external offerings, he enumerates ten human functions/objects of experience and bodily discharges, teaching that ethical restraint and regulation of these is the true performance of a subtle, internal yajña.