Jaiminīya (Talavakāra) Brāhmaṇa 2-8.426

2-8.426

"Now, when I told you, 'Do not go from the village to the forest,' that was just telling you, 'Do not yearn for borrowed sāmans.' As one might travel safely without fear from village to village, so it is with the Agniṣṭoma sāmans. But as one might go from forest to forest and arrive pierced by a thorn or a stake, or [say], 'So many have attacked us, from so many who were shooting at us we have escaped,' just so it is with the borrowed sāmans. Therefore, one should not cause borrowed sāmans to be ruined. Now, when I told you, 'Do not depart from knowledge,' that was just telling you [about] right knowledge. Now, when I told you, 'Do not depart from divine marriage,' that was just telling you [about] the Śyaita and Naudhasa [sāmans]. Now, when I told you, 'Do not depart from the sacrifice,' that was just telling you, 'May faith not depart from you.' Faith indeed is the queen of the gods. Having stepped forth in the morning, she stands. The gods wait upon her, saying, 'In whichever direction she goes, in that direction we shall go.' All the gods follow her path and delight [in her] in the evening. She enters him; he offers; he sacrifices. By that the gods live. In that way he stated this harmlessness to them in the year. Those who, knowing thus, undertake the year-long rite, attain the end safely, unharmed.