Upanishads · Chāndogya 5,4.2
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मिन् एतस्मिन् अग्नौ देवाः श्रद्धाम् जुह्वति तस्याः आहुतेः सोमो राजा संभवति
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmin etasmin agnau devāḥ śraddhām juhvati tasyāḥ āhuteḥ somo rājā saṃbhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मिन्tasminin It; in this
एतस्मिन्etasminin this; in this
अग्नौagnauin the fire; when fire
देवाःdevāḥthe gods; deities; the celestials
श्रद्धाम्śraddhāmfaith (śraddhā — 'the setting of the heart', from śrat + √dhā); faith and trust; śraddhā
जुह्वतिjuhvatithey offer (from √hu — 'to pour'); they pour the libation; they sacrifice
तस्याःtasyāḥout of her; it
आहुतेःāhuteḥout of the oblation (āhuti); from the offering; from the offering
सोमोsomoSoma (soma — the sacred draught and the moon); King Soma; Soma
राजाrājāthe king; the lord
संभवतिsaṃbhavatiis born (sam + √bhū — 'to come into being'); arises; comes about
Translation
Into this fire the gods offer faith. From this oblation King Soma is born.
Version
78465f81c853 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:27:54 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first oblation is the most astonishing: into the heavenly fire the gods pour śraddhā, faith. At the source of every embodiment stands not a substance but faith — that subtle trust-and-aspiration with which the sacrifice was performed and the life was lived. It rises higher than the smoke and the flame and on the heavenly altar is transmuted into "King Soma" — the luminous seed of a future life, the lunar substance of the sacrifice.
The Gītā states it: śraddhāmayo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ — "this man is made of faith: as his faith is, so is he" (BG 17.3). The pañcāgni-vidyā gives this a cosmic mechanism: faith is the first oblation, out of which everything subsequent precipitates into the world — rain, food, seed, a human being. Hence the quality of future births is laid down not at the moment of conception but in the quality of the faith a man lives by now. Whoever wants another destiny changes not his circumstances but his faith.