Shloka 23
Abhaya-Itihāsa: Karma, Indriyas, and the Non-sensory Brahman
Brāhmaṇī–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda
घ्राता भक्षयिता द्रष्टा स्प्रष्टा श्रोता च पठडचम: । मन्ता बोद्धा च सप्तैते भवन्ति परमर्त्विज:
ghrātā bhakṣayitā draṣṭā spraṣṭā śrotā ca paṭhaṅgamaḥ | mantā boddhā ca saptaite bhavanti paramar̥tvijaḥ || havīṁṣy agniṣu hotāraḥ saptathā sapta saptasu | samyak prakṣipya vidvāṁso janayanti svayoniṣu ||
Vāyu dit : «Celui qui sent, celui qui mange, celui qui voit, celui qui touche, celui qui entend, ce qui se porte vers son objet, celui qui pense et celui qui sait : ces sept-là agissent comme les prêtres suprêmes. Telles sept sortes d’oblations, ils sont offerts par sept prêtres dans les sept feux. Quand les sages les y jettent comme il convient—c’est-à-dire en retirant l’attachement aux objets des sens—ils engendrent, dans leurs propres sources, les objets subtils tels que le son et les autres.»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reframes sacrifice as an inner discipline: the sense-faculties and inner instruments act like priests and offerings. When a wise person ‘offers’ them correctly—i.e., withdraws attachment and regulates their outward flow—one gains mastery over the arising of sense-objects and experiences, rather than being driven by them.
Vāyu is instructing by using a yajña metaphor. He identifies seven functional powers (senses and inner faculties) as priests and describes their sevenfold offerings into seven fires, explaining that proper ‘offering’ means turning away from craving for objects and thereby governing the production/manifestation of sensory objects (sound and the rest) within their subtle sources.