image credit: Kanchi Kamakshi Twitter
In the thirty-second verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches about the deeper aspects of the fire ritual (homa) as follows:
पाशजालकमिदं परं पशोर्नाशकारणमतो मतं हविः ।
तत्त्वतो निजगुरोर्निरीक्षणात्प्राप्यते तदमलं पवित्रम् ॥ ३२ ॥
pāśajālakam idaṃ paraṃ paśor nāśakāraṇam ato mataṃ haviḥ |
tattvato nijaguror nirīkṣaṇāt prāpyate tad amalaṃ pavitram || 32 ||
“A bound individual is ensnared by an array of limitations. For this reason, the oblation to the fire (haviḥ) is understood [here] as bringing about their dissolution. That immaculate purifying offering (pavitra) is truly realized by the glance of one’s own Guru.” (translation by Ben Williams)
