Aitareyabrahmana 2.28

2.28

The [cups] to two deities are the vital breaths. He should recite the offering verse for the [cups] to two deities without taking breath, for the continuity of the vital breaths, for the uninterruptedness of the vital breaths. The [cups] to two deities are the vital breaths. He should not pronounce the secondary vaṣaṭ for the [cups] to two deities. If he were to pronounce the secondary vaṣaṭ for the [cups] to two deities, he would bring to a conclusion the vital breaths when they are not concluded, for the secondary vaṣaṭ is indeed a conclusion. If someone should say to him in that regard: 'He has concluded the uncompleted vital breaths; breath will abandon him,' it would surely happen thus. Therefore he should not pronounce the secondary vaṣaṭ for the [cups] to two deities. As to this they say: 'The Maitrāvaruṇa priest, having twice recited the āgur formula, twice issues the direction; the hotṛ, having once recited the āgur formula, twice pronounces the vaṣaṭ: which is the hotṛ's āgur formula?' The [cups] to two deities are the vital breaths; the āgur formula is a thunderbolt. If the hotṛ were to recite the āgur formula in between, he would strike the vital breaths of the sacrificer with the thunderbolt of the āgur formula. If someone should say to him in that regard: 'He has struck the vital breaths of the sacrificer with the thunderbolt of the āgur formula; breath will abandon him,' it would surely happen thus. Therefore the hotṛ should not recite the āgur formula in between. Moreover, the Maitrāvaruṇa is the mind of the sacrifice, the hotṛ is the speech of the sacrifice. Impelled by the mind, speech speaks; for whatever speech one speaks with a distracted mind is demonic, not pleasing to the gods. Therefore, when the Maitrāvaruṇa twice recites the āgur formula here, that very [utterance] is the hotṛ's āgur formula.