Sāyaņāchārya (S) has declared that several parts of TS such as (1.3) deal only with animal immolation. The uncritical admirers of Sāyaņa say that, “S has given these meanings to these mantrās based on his profound knowledge of the grammar.   If you do not accept this meaning, what is your alternative meaning? Can it be supported by grammar?''

To be specific, let us begin with the anuvākās (1.3.8) to (1.3.11) which are declared by S to deal with animal immolation.

A careful reading of each verse in these anuvākās reveals that the claim of the ritualists is unwarranted. All the verses can be viewed as describing the yajňa occurring in the subtle body of the yajamāna. One of the aims of the inner yajňa is the perfection of all the parts of the human body, both the subtle and the gross aspects. The procedure is to recite a mantra asking the organ to ascend to the inner heaven, become charged with the higher energies, become more perfect and then descend to the earth. Asking the organ to go to heaven (which is within us) does not mean that the body is dismembered.

Again it is interesting to note that the offering of the vapa (diaphragm) of the animal into the fire has an interesting interpretation. During the exercises of prāņāyāma, the diaphragm becomes contracted and falls into the fire in the stomach (jaţhara), the so-called jaţharāgni. Persons have forgotten the details of the prāņāyāma and declare that the physical vapa or diaphragm of animal is being dropped into the physical fire in the altar. We discuss the symbolism of vapa given by the commentator Shabara [R4] while explaining TS (2.1.1), “prajāpati offered his own vapa into the fire'' prajāpatī ātmano vapām udakkhidhat. Clearly prajāpati has no physical body or physical vapa.

The titles given by the ritualists to the individual anuvākās give ample clues to their content from the view of inner yajňa.

The anuvāka 5 is entitled searching for the sacrificial post yūpa (yūpa chedhanam). In the outer sense, it is searching for the correct type of wood from which the yūpa post may be made. yūpa is the wooden post on which the ritual immolation takes place in the outward rite. In inner yajňa, recall that yajamāna himself is yūpa, according to the Brāhmaņa books which are the authorities for the ritualists. It is titled "the search for the sacrificial post yūpa in the inner body'. The seer is trying to locate the subtle yūpa which supports the inner being.

Anuvāka 6 is titled by ritualists as the establishment of the yūpa (yūpa- sthāpanam). In the inner yajňa this anuvāka is an adoration of the yūpa. It mentions explicitly that yūpa is hidden in the midworld within.

According to the ritualists, anuvāka 7 deals with the bringing of the animal to be killed or immolated and the anuvākās 8, 9 and 10 deal with the cutting of the animal (vishasanam), separation of the parts, and the offering of vapa (diaphragm) of the animal to the fire (anuvāka 9) and the offering of the intestine of the animal into the fire (vasāhoma) in anuvāka 10.

A careful reading of all the verses in the anuvākās reveals that we are dealing with the symbolic separation of the various organs of the human yajamāna and their offering to the higher powers for purification and perfection. Physical slaying is nowhere mentioned.

Here we assign the following titles based on the actual content of the anuvāka:

Anuvāka 8: offering his own life symbolically for the yajňa.

Anuvāka 9: Symbolic offering of the various organs or parts of the  body for purification and  perfection.

Anuvāka 10: Inner yajňa in the body involving prāņāyāma  (breath control) and the           harmonisation of the parts.

Anuvāka 11: Offerings in the inner yajňa.

S has an obsession with the killing of the animals in the yajňa. He forces this meaning wherever possible. As an instance consider TS (1.4.36). Here the names of various organs are mentioned. There is no mention of killing as in the earlier anuvāka. Still S states that the flesh of all these organs is offered to the fire. There is no word for flesh in the text.

Even in his commentary on Rig Veda Samhitā, he views many sūktās as dealing with animal sacrifice even though the deeper meanings are clear even for a casual reader. For instance take RV(1.162) dealing with the steed. He translates shamitu and shamitāra as the immolator (slayer) of the steed (vishasana karta) and develops this sort of meaning for the sūkta. What is being described is life-energy, whose symbol is the steed.

For persons who believe only in the samskŗt bhāşhya we refer to the bhāşhya of Swami Dayananda Sarasvati (SD) on the Shukla Yajur Veda Vājasaneyi Samhitā (VS) [C8]. The mantrās in TS (1.3.8) to (1.3.11) referred above are in VS (6.8) to (6.22). SD has shown that these verses can be interpreted as dealing with dharma without involving any animal killing. He also gives the grammatical derivation of the meanings.

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