अस्य शारीरयज्ञस्य यूपरशनाशोभितस्यात्मा यजमानः । बुद्धिः पत्नी । वेदा महर्त्विजः । अहङ्कारोऽध्वर्युः । चित्तं होता । प्राणो ब्राह्मणच्छंसी । अपानः प्रतिप्रस्थाता । व्यानः प्रस्तोता । उदान उद्गाता । समानो मैत्रवरुणः
asya śārīrayajñasya yūparaśanāśobhitasyātmā yajamānaḥ | buddhiḥ patnī | vedā mahartvijaḥ | ahaṅkāro'dhvaryuḥ | cittaṃ hotā | prāṇo brāhmaṇacchaṃsī | apānaḥ pratiprasthātā | vyānaḥ prastotā | udāna udgātā | samāno maitravaruṇaḥ
Of this bodily sacrifice, the self is the sacrificer, the intellect is the wife, the Vedas are the great priests, ego is the adhvaryu, consciousness is the hotṛ, prāṇa is the brāhmaṇācchaṃsī, apāna is the pratiprasthātṛ, vyāna is the prastotṛ, udāna is the udgātṛ, samāna is the maitrāvaruṇa.
54cf05aed87c · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The answers begin, and the first is the most essential: ātmā yajamānaḥ, "the self is the sacrificer." That is, the one who offers the sacrifice is neither the body nor the mind, but the soul. Let us examine the whole arrangement, for it is set out with purpose.
Ātman is the sacrificer, that is, the one for whose sake, and in whose name, everything is done. Buddhi, "intellect," is the wife, that is, the inseparable companion. Ahaṅkāra, "the making of 'I,'" is the adhvaryu, the one who performs the actions. Citta, "consciousness," is the hotṛ, the one who invokes.
This arrangement, spelled out, is a whole teaching about the person. What acts is ahaṅkāra, "I-making"; and it was discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (4.34), where a verse of the Gītā was cited: ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate, "deluded by I-making, one thinks 'I am the doer'" (3.27). But the ātman does not act: it is the sacrificer, that is, the one who is present and to whom the fruit belongs.
The Vaiṣṇava side holds this distinction and states it through the image of the chariot from the Kaṭha, cited when reading the Pañcabrahma (34): the soul sits, the intellect drives, the senses carry. Let us add what follows from this for the question of freedom. If the soul does not act, then it does not answer either; and yet it does answer. So something belongs to it that is not action — and this is consent: the sacrificer does not perform the rite with his own hands, but the rite is performed by his will and at his cost.