Note 193 — SA@NKARA'S INTRODUCTION (continued 3)

Footnote 193:

(return)

The first reason excludes animals, gods, and rishis. Gods cannot themselves perform sacrifices, the essential feature of which is the parting, on the part of the sacrificer, with an offering meant for the gods. Rishis cannot perform sacrifices in the course of whose performance the ancestral rishis of the sacrificer are invoked.—The second reason excludes those men whose only desire is emancipation and who therefore do not care for the perishable fruits of sacrifices.—The third and fourth reasons exclude the Sûdras who are indirectly disqualified for sâstric works because the Veda in different places gives rules for the three higher castes only, and for whom the ceremony of the upanayana—indispensable for all who wish to study the Veda—is not prescribed.—Cp. Pûrva Mîmâmsâ Sûtras VI, 1.