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 |
婆罗门言：“一团伟大而具德之火，在我身内炽然照耀。我已开启名为瑜伽之祭——奇妙非常，能赐知识之藤蔓。在此仪轨中，入息为赞颂之歌，出息为祭器，而最上之祭资乃是舍弃一切。应以持戒之制御，将六种‘供物’——心所缘、口所言、耳所闻、目所见、肤所触、鼻所嗅——尽皆投入以心为首之六种认知之器，以自我为坛而行内供。于此内在供献中，作为主祭之火的至上自性，于我身与我心之中显现。”
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.