Mahabharata — Ashvamedhika Parva, Shloka 14
Cāturhotra as Inner Sacrifice (Yoga-Yajña) and Nārāyaṇa Recitation
गुणवत्पावको महां दीव्यते5न्त:शरीरग: । जो मनसे अवगत होता है
brāhmaṇa uvāca | guṇavat pāvako mahān dīvyate 'ntaḥśarīragaḥ | yogayajñaḥ pravṛtto me jñānavallīprado 'dbhutaḥ | prāṇastotraḥ apānaśastraḥ sarvatyāgasudakṣiṇaḥ |
मेरे भीतर, शरीर के अंतःस्थल में, गुणवान् महान् पावक प्रकाशित हो रहा है। मैंने योग-रूपी यज्ञ का प्रवर्तन कर दिया है, जो ज्ञान-वल्ली को उद्भूत करने वाला है। इसमें प्राण स्तोत्र है, अपान शस्त्र है, और सर्वस्व का त्याग ही उत्तम दक्षिणा है।
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
True sacrifice can be internalized: by restraining the senses and mind, one offers sense-objects back into disciplined awareness, making the self the altar. The ‘fire’ is the Supreme Self shining within, and the highest sacrificial gift is total renunciation.
A Brahmin speaker describes his spiritual practice as a ‘yoga-sacrifice.’ He reinterprets Vedic ritual elements symbolically—prāṇa as the chant, apāna as the implement, and renunciation as the dakṣiṇā—asserting that through this inner rite the Supreme Self becomes manifest within him.