226
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 7]
TEXT 17
वैष्णवं यज्ञसन्तत्यै त्रिकपालं द्विजोत्तमाः । पुरोडाशं निरवपन् वीरसंसर्गशुद्धये ॥१७॥
vaiṣṇavam yajña-santatyai trikapālam dvijottamāḥ puroḍāśam niravapan vīra-saṁsarga-śuddhaye
vaiṣṇavam —meant for Lord Viṣṇu or His devotees;  yajña —sacrifice;  santatyai —for performances;  trikapālam —three kinds of offerings;  dvija-uttamāḥ —the best of the  brāhmaṇas ;  puroḍāśam —the oblation called  puroḍāśa ;  niravapan —offered;  vīra —Vīrabhadra and other followers of Lord Śiva;  saṁsarga —contamination ( doṣa ) due to his touching;  śuddhaye —for purification.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, in order to resume the activities of sacrifice, the  brāhmaṇas  first of all arranged for purification of the contamination caused by the touch of Vīrabhadra and other ghostly followers of Lord Śiva. They then arranged to offer the oblations known as  puroḍāśa  into the fire.
PURPORT
Lord Śiva's followers and devotees, headed by Vīrabhadra, are known as  vīras , and they are ghostly demons. Not only did they pollute the entire sacrificial arena by their very presence, but they disturbed the whole situation by passing stool and urine. Therefore, the infection they had created was to be first purified by the method of offering  puroḍāśa  oblations. A  Viṣṇu yajña , or an offering to Lord Viṣṇu, cannot be performed uncleanly. If anything is offered in an unclean state, that is called  sevāparādha . The  Viṣṇu Deity  worship in the temple is also  Viṣṇu yajña . In all  Viṣṇu  temples, therefore, the priest who takes care of the  arcanā-vidhi  must be very clean. Everything should be always kept neat and clean, and the foodstuffs should be prepared in a neat and clean manner. All these regulative principles are described in  The Nectar of Devotion . There are thirty-two kinds of offenses in discharging  arcanā  service. It is required, therefore, that one should be extremely careful not to be unclean. Generally, whenever any ritualistic ceremony is begun, the holy name of Lord  Viṣṇu  is first chanted in order to purify the situation. Whether one is in a pure or impure condition internally or externally,