गोविन्द भाष्य (श्रील बलदेव विद्याभूषण - अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

"One should sacrifice an animal in an agnīṣomīya-yajña." Because piety and impiety is known only from the Vedas' statements, the Vedas' order to commit violence must be understood to be actually kind and pious. Therefore the orders of the Vedas are never impure. The prohibitions: "Never commit violence to anyone" and "Violence is a sin" are the general rules decreed by the Vedas, and the statement: "One should sacrifice an animal in an agnīṣomīya-yajña" is an exception to that general rule. A general rule and a specific exception to that rule need not contradict each other. There is scope for each. For these reasons, therefore, the scriptures' description that the fallen soul takes birth as a rice plant or similar being is metaphorical and not literal. What follows in this sequence is described in the next sūtra. Sūtra 27 retaḥ-sig-yogo 'tha retaḥ—semen; sik-sprinkling; yogaḥ—contact; atha—then. Then there is contact with the male that sprinkles the semen. Purport by Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa After entering the rice-plant or other plant, the fallen soul, accompanied by the remainder of his karma, enters the semen of a male. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (5.10.6) it is said: yo yo 'nnam atti yo retaḥ siñcati tad bhūya eva bhavati "A male eats that grain and then sprinkles semen. From that semen the fallen soul takes birth. He becomes just like his father." The statement that the soul becomes just like the father should not be taken literally, for one thing cannot have exactly the same form as another. In truth, if the offspring were completely identical with the father, and there were no difference at all between them, then the soul would not actually attain a new material body. Therefore this statement should be taken metaphorically. As the soul merely comes into contact with the rice plant or other vegetation, so the soul comes into contact with the father. The soul does not become identical with the