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The gods, having fixed up a
place of sacrifice, could not distinguish the quarters. They ran up to one
another, (saying) 'By thee shall we distinguish them, by thee.' They fixed upon
Aditi, (saying, 'By thee shall we distinguish them.' She said, 'Let me choose a
guerdon. Let the opening oblation in the sacrifice be mine, and the concluding
oblation be mine.' Therefore the opening oblation of the sacrifice belongs to
Aditi, and the concluding oblation belongs to Aditi. He offers to five gods;
there are five quarters, (and so it serves) for the distinction of the quarters
[1]. Now the Pankti is of five elements, the sacrifice is fivefold; verily he
wins the sacrifice. They made sacrifice to Pathya Svasti. The eastern quarter
they distinguished by her, by Agni the southern, by Soma the western, by Savitr
the northern, by Aditi the zenith. He offers to Pathya Svasti; verily he
distinguishes the eastern quarter. Having offered to Pathya Svasti, he offers
to Agni and Soma. Agni and Soma indeed are the eyes of the sacrificer; verily
he sees with them [2]. Having offered to Agni and Soma, he offers to Savitr;
verily on the instigation of Savitr he sees. Having offered to Savitr, he
offers to Aditi; Aditi indeed is this (earth); verily taking his stand on it he
sees. Having offered to Aditi, he repeats the verse to the Maruts. The Maruts
are the subjects of the gods. As the subjects of the gods are in harmony, so he
brings the human subjects into harmony.' In that he repeats the verse to the
Maruts, it is to bring subjects into harmony. The theologians say, 'The opening
oblation should be performed with a fore-offering, but without an
after-offering; the concluding oblation should be performed with all
after-offering [3], but without a fore-offering.' These are the fore-offerings,
and these the after-offerings, and this is the course of the sacrifice. This is
not to be followed. The fore-offerings are the self; the after-offerings the
offspring. If he were to omit the fore-offerings, he would omit the self; if he
were to omits the after-offerings, he would omit offspring. In so far as the
whole of the sacrifice is not performed, in so far does the sacrifice come to
ruin, and the sacrificer comes to ruin along with the sacrifice [4]. Verily the
opening oblation should be performed with both fore- and after-offerings, and
the concluding oblation should be performed both with fore- and after
offerings. He does not omit the self, nor offspring; the sacrifice does not
come to ruin, nor the sacrificer. He offers the concluding oblation in the
scrapings of the opening oblation; this is the course of the sacrifice. Now if
he were to make the Yajya verses of the opening libation the Yajya verses of
the concluding libation, he would mount to the other world away from this, and
would be liable to die. The Puronuvakya verses of the opening libation should
be made the Yajya verses of the concluding libation; verily he finds support in
this world.
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