The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s9.8

v2.c30.s9.8

Mystically the rite seems in the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa⁵ to have been interpreted in the sense that the pot was the sun, the milk the divine flood of life and light which falls to the sacrificer: as the sun is the head of the universe, so the pot is the head of the sacrificer: the rite provides the sacrificer and the universe alike with a head. Hence the deep reverence paid to the pot, and its optional character in the rite, since the Soma sacrifice by itself would confer the same blessings. The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa holds that it must not be performed until after a Soma sacrifice, a view which is explained by the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa which requires that the body of the sacrificer should be first completed by the Soma sacrifice, and so made able to receive a head.