Shloka 13
अन्तर्वन-विद्यारण्योपमा
The Allegory of the Inner Forest of Knowledge
एको वह्ि: सुमना ब्राह्मणोउत्र पज्चेन्द्रियाणि समिथधश्चात्र सन्ति । तेभ्यो मोक्षा: सप्त फलन्ति दीक्षा गुणा: फलान्यतिथय: फलाशा:
eko vahniḥ sumanā brāhmaṇo ’tra pañcendriyāṇi samidhaś cātra santi | tebhyo mokṣāḥ sapta phalanti dīkṣā guṇāḥ phalāny atithayaḥ phalāśāḥ ||
バラモンは言った。「この森にはただ一つの火がある。意を清らかにした生ける自己こそバラモンである。五つの感官は、その火に投じられる薪である。その内なる供犠から、七種の解脱が生じる。この供犠のディークシャー（受戒・浄化）は決して空しくない。徳そのものが果であり、七人の『客』がその果を味わう者である。」
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents an allegory of inner sacrifice: the purified self is the ‘Brāhmaṇa,’ the five senses are the fuel offered into the single inner fire, and the true ‘fruit’ of the rite is virtue itself, culminating in multiple modes of liberation. It shifts attention from external ritual results to ethical discipline and self-mastery as the real sacrificial outcome.
A Brāhmaṇa speaker explains a symbolic yajña set in a forest setting, redefining ritual elements—fire, fuel-sticks, consecration, fruits, and guests—as inner spiritual realities. The discourse instructs listeners to interpret sacrifice as sense-restraint and moral cultivation leading toward liberation.