Upanishads · Chāndogya 5,7.2
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मिन् एतस्मिन् अग्नौ देवाः अन्नम् जुह्वति तस्याः आहुतेः रेतः संभवति
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmin etasmin agnau devāḥ annam juhvati tasyāḥ āhuteḥ retaḥ saṃbhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मिन्tasminin It; in this
एतस्मिन्etasminin this; in this
अग्नौagnauin the fire; when fire
देवाःdevāḥthe gods; divine powers
अन्नम्annamfood; food
जुह्वतिjuhvatibring; they make the oblation
तस्याःtasyāḥout of her; it
आहुतेःāhuteḥout of the oblation; from the offering
रेतःretaḥthe seed (retas — 'the effusion', from √ri — 'to flow'); the seed of life; the generative seed
संभवतिsaṃbhavatiarises; becomes
Translation
Into this fire the gods offer food. From this oblation seed is born.
Version
7a74048912f1 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:29:09 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fourth oblation: food into a man, and seed (retas) is born. Digestion is read as a sacrificial transmutation: the subtlest portion of what is eaten rises into the seed as smoke rises from poured butter. Everything a man eats — and more widely, everything he lets into himself — is distilled into the substance of a future life.
Hence the Vedic care for purity of food: the quality of the seed, and with it the quality of the offspring, is compounded from the quality of what is eaten and taken in. The Chāndogya will say so outright: "when the food is pure, the being is pure" (āhāra-śuddhau sattva-śuddhiḥ, 7.26.2). The ladder of sacrifices is almost complete: one altar remains, the fifth — and the king's fifth question will have its answer.