Bhashya
नीमेव हि स्वाभाविकादासङ्गान्मृत्योर्विमुच्यते आध्यात्मिकात्परिच्छिन्नरूपात् आधिभौतिकाच्च; तस्मात् स होता अग्निरूपेण दृष्टः मुक्तिः मुक्तिसाधनं यजमानस्य ।सा अतिमुक्तिः- यैव च मुक्तिः सा अतिमुक्तिः अतिमुक्तिसाधनमित्यर्थः ।साधनद्वयस्य परिच्छिन्नस्य या अधिदैवतरूपेण अपरिच्छिन्नेन अग्निरूपेण दृष्टिः, सा मुक्तिः; या असौ मुक्तिः अधिदैवतदृष्टिः सैव- अध्यात्माधिभूतपरिच्छेदविषयाङ्गास्पदं मृत्युमतिक्रम्य अधिदेवतात्वस्य अग्निभावस्य प्राप्तिर्या फलभूता सा अतिमुक्तिरित्युच्यते; तस्या अतिमुक्तेर्मुक्तिरेव साधनमिति कृत्वा सा अतिमुक्तिरित्याह ।यजमानस्य हि अतिमुक्तिः वागादीनामग्न्यादिभावः इत्युद्गीथप्रकरणे व्याख्यातम्; तत्र सामान्येन मुख्यप्राणदर्शनमात्रं मुक्तिसाधनमुक्तम्, न तद्विशेषः; वागादीनामग्न्यादिदर्शनमिह विशेषो वर्ण्यते; मृत्युप्राप्यतिमुक्तिस्तु सैव फलभूता, या उद्गीथब्राह्मणेन व्याख्याता- 'मृत्युमतिक्रान्तो दीप्यते' इत्याद्या ॥
In plain words
—itself. Because it is out of that natural clinging—bound to the limited form of body and world alike—that a person is released from death. So the Hotā priest, seen as fire, stands for release itself: he is the sacrificer's own means to release. And that release is what is meant by atimukti, 'release beyond release'; the word simply means 'the means to the further release.' Of the two means, the one that is limited, when seen instead in its unlimited, divine form as fire—that seeing is release. And that very release, that vision of the deity, is this: once a person has passed beyond death, the boundary marking self and world, and has arrived at the state of becoming the presiding fire itself, that arrival—that fruit—is what is called the further release. Since release is nothing but the road to that further release, it is named the further release. That the sacrificer's further release means speech and the rest becoming fire and the rest was already explained back in the Udgītha section. There only the general principle was given—that seeing the chief breath is the means to release—not the specifics. Here the specifics are spelled out: speech and the rest are seen as fire and the rest. But the further release reached at the moment of death is exactly that same fruit, the one the Udgītha Brāhmaṇa itself describes: 'having passed beyond death, he shines'—and so on.
Close to the Sanskrit
—nīm eva. For, from natural attachment—[death] of limited form pertaining to the self and pertaining to the elements—one is released from death. Therefore he, the Hotā, seen in the form of Agni, is release, the sacrificer's means of release. That is the further release (atimukti): the very release which is release, that is the further release; the meaning is 'the means to the further release.' Of the pair of means, that vision which is of the limited [means] in the unlimited, deity-pertaining form of fire—that vision is release; that release which is the vision pertaining to the deity, that alone, having crossed beyond death—the seat of the topic of the self-and-element limitation—the attainment of the state of being the presiding deity, of the fire-condition, which has become the fruit, is called the further release; because release alone is the means to that further release, therefore it is called the further release. That the sacrificer's further release is the fire-condition and so forth of speech and so forth has been explained in the Udgītha section; there, only the general point—mere vision of the chief breath as the means of release—was stated, not its particular detail; here the particular detail—the vision of speech and so forth as fire and so forth—is described. But the further release attained at death is that very fruit, which is explained by the Udgītha Brāhmaṇa: 'having crossed beyond death, he shines,' and so on.