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Now the substances or
offerings also are to be understood as symbolic. Just as the
derivation of the names of ritviks gives us their symbolic
meaning of Gods etc., in the inner yajňa, so also
substances that are offered to the Gods in the ritual, even things
like ghee belonging to the yajamāna are symbolic and they
are to be so grasped following the meaning of the component parts
of the terms. The term go means both cow and ray of Light.
Hence gavya, yield of the cow, stands for the brilliant
Light indicating knowledge. Gavya, ghŗta, clarified
butter, havis, offering and the like are thus to be taken
as offerings to the Gods which intimately belong to the
yajamāna. Ghŗta, clarified butter, gharma, heat,
ghŗni ray - all these terms are derived from common roots
meaning heat, brilliance. Ghŗta is the brilliance of an
inner grace. The verb juhoti signifies both giving and
eating. What is given by the yajamāna to the Gods and eaten
by Agni, the mouth of the Gods, the first-born, Immortal among the
mortals, that is havis, offering, that is havaĥ,
invocation. The other substances offered to the Gods are also
outwardly symbolic of knowledge, action, happiness and enjoyment
along with their means acquired by the yajamāna.
This is to be noted:
all that is - macrocosmic or microcosmic - is under the control of
the Gods, belongs to the Gods. All that exists in us, separately
and intermingled - mind, life, matter (body) including any
combination of their elements with their causal material provided
by the cosmos and included in it- are under the control of the
Gods who are the Cosmic Powers, the functionaries. Hence all that
is offered by the yajamāna namely knowledge, skill in
works, means of enjoyments etc., is really offered to the Gods, as
belonging to them, for no part whatever belongs in fact to the
yajamāna, the whole universe itself being the property of the
Gods. Thus in the end the yajamāna offers his own self. The
brāhmaņa books also speak of the yajamāna, at
times, as the yūpa, sacrificial post. Even the animal to be
sacrificed is referred to as substitute for the yajamāna.
There are passages to be found in the brāhmaņa books which
state that the yajamāna redeems his own self by the
sacrifice to all the Gods. Thus reads the aitareya brāhmaņa
(2.6.3). “The yajamāna is the yūpa or altar.
He is the stone or rock. Agni is the womb of the Gods. Born
of the offerings made through agni, the womb of the Gods,
the yajamāna with the body of gold rises upwards to the
world of Heaven”. The kaushītaki brāhmaņa (10.3) states:
“He, who sacrifices, attains the mouth of Agni and Soma;
sacrificing, on the fasting day, the animal for Agni and Soma, he
redeems his self. Thus redeeming himself, free from obligation, he
carries on the sacrifice”. Similarly reads the aitareya
brāhmaņa: “He, who sacrifices, offers himself to all the Gods;
Agni is all the Gods” (2.6.3).
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