हिन्दी
He who blows (i.e., air) is the sacrifice. While moving, he purifies all this. Since he purifies all this while moving, he is the sacrifice. The mind and speech are both his paths.
The priest called brahmā in a sacrifice purifies one of these two paths (i.e., the path of the mind) by his (discriminating) mind. The hotā, the adhvaryu, and the udgātā priests purify the other (i.e., the path of speech) by (chaste and elegant) speech.
If, however, the brahmā priest breaks his silence when the morning anuvāka has begun, before the paridhānīya Ṛk hymn has been read, then only one path (the path of speech) has been purified. The other is ruined. Just as a one-legged person trying to walk, or a one-wheeled chariot trying to move, is doomed, in the same way the sacrifice is ruined. And when the sacrifice is ruined, the sacrificer is also ruined. In fact, the sacrificer is even liable for having committed a sin by performing the sacrifice in that way.
But in the case of the sacrifice in which the reading of the morning anuvāka has already begun, and the brahmā priest does not break his silence before the paridhānīya has started, then both paths are purified. Neither of them becomes destroyed.
Just as a person with two legs can walk, or a chariot with two wheels can move, and attain the goal, so also his sacrifice succeeds. And if the sacrifice succeeds, the sacrificer also succeeds. He attains much greatness through his sacrifice.
