40. On account of (the passage showing) respect, there is non-omission (of the prânâgnihotra) (even when the eating of food is omitted).
We read in the Khândogya under the heading of the Vaisvânara-vidyâ, 'Therefore the first food which comes is in the place of Homa. And he who offers that first oblation should offer it to Prâna, saying Svâhâ' (Kh., Up. V, 19, i). The text thereupon enjoins five oblations, and later on applies to them the term 'Agnihotra;' 'He who thus knowing this offers the agnihotra,' and 'As hungry children here on earth sit round their mother, so do all beings sit round the agnihotra' (V, 24, 2; 4).
Here the doubt arises whether the agnihotra offered to the prânas is to be omitted when the eating itself is omitted or not.--As, according to the clause, 'The first food which comes,' &c., the oblation is connected with the coming of food, and as the coming of food subserves the eating, the agnihotra offered to the prânas is omitted when the eating is omitted.--Against this conclusion the Sûtra (embodying the pûrvapaksha) declares, 'It is not omitted.--Why?--'On account of the respect.' This means: In their version of the Vaisvânara-vidyâ the Gâbâlas read as follows: 'He (i.e. the host) is to eat before his guests; for (if he would make them eat first) it would be as if he without having himself offered the agnihotra offered that of another person.' This passage, which objects to the priority of the eating on the part of the guests and establishes priority on the part of the host, thereby intimates respect for the agnihotra offered to the prânas. For as it does not allow the omission of priority it will allow all the less the omission of that which is characterised by priority, viz. the agnihotra offered to the prânas.--But (as mentioned above) the connexion--established by the Khândogya-passage--of the oblation with the coining of food--which subserves the eating--establishes the omission of the oblation
To this pûrvapaksha the next Sûtra replies.
250:1 For one of the great sacrifices lasting a whole year--called the ayana of the Kundapâyins--the texts enjoin the offering of the 'agnihotra' during a full month (cp. e.g. "Tândya Mahâbrâhmana XXV, 4). Now from the term 'agnihotra' we conclude that all the details of the ordinary agnihotra are valid for the agnihotra of the ayana also.
250:2 Whereby the materials offered in the ordinary agnihotra are superseded.
