Though one maintain the sacred fire in the forest for a hundred years, paying homage even for a moment to one who has cultivated themselves is better than a hundred years of that devotion.

Vassasataṃ aggiṃ paricare vane — maintaining the sacred fire in the forest for a hundred years: maintaining the agnihotra (sacred fire) was one of the most important practices of Vedic Brahmanism. A century of this practice represents the maximum devotion of the ritual system.

This verse is significant for its historical context: the Buddha emerged in a world where Brahmanism and its rituals were the dominant religion. By affirming that a moment of reverence to the awakened being surpasses a hundred years of fire maintenance, he is making a statement about the superiority of the inner contemplative path.

It is not a destructive critique but a reorientation. The fire that really matters is the fire of knowledge that purifies the mind, not the physical fire that purifies ritually.

The structure of the verse is almost identical to the previous one (106), using the same comparison with different forms of external devotion. The pedagogical insistence underscores the importance of the teaching.