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 ||
ヴāユは言った。「嗅ぐ者、食する者、見る者、触れる者、聞く者、対象へと赴く動き、思う者、知る者――この七つは至上の祭官（ṛtvij）として働く。七種の供物となって、七人の祭官により七つの火へと捧げ入れられる。賢者がそれを正しく投じるとき――すなわち感官の対象への執着を退けることによって――彼らは自らの根源のうちに、音などの微細なる対象を生み出す。」
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.