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Kāņda
1 deals with four important inner yajňās
namely darshapūrnamāsau,
agnişhţoma,
vājapeya and rājasūya. The
kāņda has 8
prapāţhakā. In prapāţhaka 1 is
described the darshapūrnamāsau which
is a brief and simple yajňa performed
on new moon and full moon days. The deities are
Agni, the Lord of Will and Soma, the
Lord of Delight. It begins with a prayer for marshalling the rays
of knowledge. The next prapāţhakās,
2-4, constitute the famous Agnishţoma
yāga for the deities
Agni and Soma. For the
ritualists this
yajňa involves animal sacrifice; the text itself does not
mention the killing of animal explicitly. But a careful reading
reveals that yajamāna or the performer
of yajňa is himself the
pashu or the animal offered. He
offers all his organs and faculties to the deities in the inner
heaven and they become perfected. The fifth
Prapāţhaka has over 55 mantras from the Rig Veda text. The
sixth Prapāţhaka offers several
details on the inner yajňa occurring
in our subtle body. The seventh Prapāţhaka
deals with the Vājapeya
yajňa whose aim is the protection (peya)
of the plenitude of the life-force (vāja).
The last Prapāţhaka deals with the
Rājasūya. Usually one regards it as an
elaborate external rite for anointing the king with water (abhisheka)
during coronation ceremony; however the king will obtain the full
powers only when he meditates and invokes the Divine. It quotes
the famous Rig Vedic verse (5.62.8) invoking both the Goddesses
Diti who lavishes us on the riches of
the finite and Aditi who guards the
infinite for us. |
