The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c4.s4.1

c4.s4.1

Here the classical brahmin comes into his own. However, he does not do so primarily in a priestly capacity, for he would risk his exclusive attachment to the transcendent rule of the śruti by attaching himself to a patron. Instead he is the archetypal single sacrificer, practicing by and for himself the injunctions of the śruti's transcendent order. From there, the road leads straight to the interiorization of the ritual order. Even when eating his meal, he does so as a sacrifice in the internal fires of the breaths (*prāṇāgnihotra*), thereby realizing in himself the absolute order of the śruti.¹² The ideal brahmin is a renouncer turning his back on the world in order to find transcendence in himself.