Upanishads · Chāndogya 5,8.2
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मिन् एतस्मिन् अग्नौ देवाः रेतः जुह्वति तस्याः आहुतेः गर्भः संभवति
Transliteration (IAST)
tasmin etasmin agnau devāḥ retaḥ juhvati tasyāḥ āhuteḥ garbhaḥ saṃbhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मिन्tasminin It; in this
एतस्मिन्etasminin this; in this
अग्नौagnauin the fire; when fire
देवाःdevāḥthe gods; divine powers
रेतःretaḥseed; the seminal power
जुह्वतिjuhvatibring; they make the oblation
तस्याःtasyāḥout of her; it
आहुतेःāhuteḥout of the oblation; from the offering
गर्भःgarbhaḥthe embryo (garbha — 'the fruit of the womb'); as a foetus; as an embryo
संभवतिsaṃbhavatiarises; becomes
Translation
Into this fire the gods offer seed. From this oblation the embryo is born.
Version
786fa2be5420 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:29:09 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fifth oblation completes the chain: faith → Soma → rain → food → seed → embryo. Five fires — sky, thunderstorm, earth, man, woman; five oblations — and at the fifth step the "waters" (the subtle sacrificial fluid running through the whole chain) "come to have a human voice": they become a being who will say "I".
See what the vidyā has done: the conception of a human being turns out to be the gods' work — on every altar it is they who pour, not chance. Every birth is the outcome of a liturgy as long as heaven and earth; behind every child stands a chain of sacrifices begun in faith. One who knows this can neither despise birth nor deify it: it is a rite of passage — and who passes, and where he may go so as not to return, the sequel will tell (5.10).