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 ||
伐由说道：“嗅者、食者、见者、触者、闻者、趋向所缘之动者、思者与知者——此七者行作至上祭官。又如七类供献，由七祭官投入七火之中。智者若能如法投献——即从诸境撤回贪著——便于自身之本源中，生起声等诸微细境。”
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.