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Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 26.2

English (machine translation) 26.2

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English

26.2.1

Now some enter upon ascending months and ascending days,

26.2.2

saying: “We ascend upwards through the year.”

26.2.3

“Only the months should turn round, not the days,” say some,

26.2.4

saying: “By this very Pṛṣṭhya six-day period that comes around again beyond, the months are turned round.”

26.2.5

Regarding this they say: “Indeed, it is disparate in form when there are the Trivṛt and the Trayastriṃśa stomass;

26.2.6

just as one would plunge from a mountain peak into an abyss, so is that cutting off of the stoma.

26.2.7

Therefore only the days should turn round,

26.2.8

not the months, so that there may be no cutting off of the stoma.”

26.2.9

Now follows the discussion of the Go and Āyus [days].

26.2.10

They should perform the Go and Āyus transposed.

26.2.11

Day and night are indeed the Go and Āyus;

26.2.12

these two, day and night, are transposed in one another.

26.2.13

Moreover, heaven and earth are the Go and Āyus;

26.2.14

these two, heaven and earth, are transposed in one another.

26.2.15

Moreover, out-breath and in-breath are the Go and Āyus;

26.2.16

these two, out-breath and in-breath, transposed, find support in each other.

26.2.17

Some enter upon them in direct order, saying: “The Go and Āyus should be performed in direct order;

26.2.18

the stomas of the Abhiplava turn round; following the ten-day period the stomas of the Pṛṣṭhya [turn round].”

26.2.19

Now, what this second day is and what the third is—these indeed are the Go and Āyus.

26.2.3_2

Now, if someone through negligence should spoil [a verse] in the recitation or in the repeating, or if there should be doubt, thinking that it has been spoiled, omitted, or passed over, looking with the mind to the conclusion of the event, turning back, making the spoiled un-spoiled, they discuss: “Should the performance proceed from the immediate continuation or from the conclusion of the event?”

26.2.3_3

Then Paiṅgya said: “The performance should not proceed from the immediate continuation; for that mantra would be redundant which without prescription is spoken twice.”

26.2.3_4

"Therefore the application should not be immediate," so said Paiṅgya.

26.2.3_5

Now Kauṣītaki used to say: "Limited indeed are the fruits of those rites in which a limited group of mantras is applied.

26.2.3_6

And unlimited are the fruits of those in which an unlimited group of mantras is applied.

26.2.3_7

Mind, indeed, is that which is unlimited. Mind is Prajāpati; sacrifice too is Prajāpati. The sacrifice itself enjoys of the sacrifice that which is mind of mind. Therefore the application should be immediate," so said Kauṣītaki.

26.2.3_8

"One wins the measured by the measured, the unmeasured by the unmeasured. For obtaining the unlimited, this is without excess," so said Kauṣītaki.

26.2.3_9

He should not make an oblation. Thus indeed the sacrificer obtains heavenly worlds, all desires, all attainments, and all immortality, and he attains pre-eminence among all beings, self-rule, and overlordship, for whom it is performed thus.

26.2.4_2

"Now if after the concluding verse, or after the praṇava and vaṣaṭ-call, or after the offering verse and invitatory verse, he should notice [it], the error has passed beyond at this moment," so said Prāgahi.

26.2.4_3

"Therefore at this moment the sadasya should not remind him of the error that has passed beyond," so said Paiṅgya.

26.2.4_4

"He either encounters a post, falls into a pit, is overwhelmed, or dies," he used to say, "if the sadasya should remind him of an error that has passed beyond.

26.2.4_5

"There is no repetition of what has been done," so said Āruṇi. "A subordinate element is omitted," said Śvetaketu. "Therefore the sadasya should not remind him of an error that has passed beyond," so said Paiṅgya.

26.2.4_6

"This is indeed a distress of the sacrifice, if the sadasya should remind him of an error that has passed beyond. Therefore the sadasya should not remind him of an error that has passed beyond," so said Paiṅgya.

26.2.5_2

Now Pratardana Daivodāsi, having approached the sacrificial session of the Naimiṣīyas and having sat down, asked a question of doubt: "If the sadasya should remind him of an error that has passed beyond, or one of the priests should notice it, how would it become free of error for you?"

26.2.5_3

And they remained silent. Alīkayu Vācaspata was their brahman priest. He said: "I do not know this; come, let me ask the elder teacher of our ancestors, Jātūkarṇya."

26.2.5_4

He asked him: "If the performer himself should notice an error that has passed beyond, or another should remind him, how would that error become free of error? Should he recite again the repetition, or the ritual direction, or the offering verse, or whatever else—recite all that again?" "Only so much as is the error should he recite: a verse, or a half-verse, or a pāda, or a word, or a syllable," so said Jātūkarṇya.

26.2.5_5

Now Kauṣītaki used to say: 'One should not repeat a mantra, nor offer an oblation; it is [already] flawless,' so Kauṣītaki used to say.

26.2.5_6

For whatever flaw the hotṛs unknowingly make in the sacrifice, Agni, the divine hotṛ, makes all of that flawless. That has been expressed in a verse:

26.2.6_2

'When mortals, being of simple mind and feeble understanding, do not comprehend the sacrifice, may Agni, the hotṛ knowing the ritual intention, discerning [all], the best sacrificer, worship the gods in proper season.' And when he says, upon the completion of the sacrifice, 'Jātavedas has sacrificed for the sacrifice,' he means: 'Jātavedas has sacrificed for this sacrifice.' When he says, 'having seated himself within, previously, in this [sacrifice],' he means: Agni, the divine hotṛ, having seated himself prior to the human hotṛ, sacrifices. With the latter half-verse, or with the preceding verse, he speaks a blessing.

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