तस्या वेदिः उपस्थः लोमानि बर्हिः चर्माधिषवणे समिद्धो मध्यतस् तौ मुष्कौ सः यावान् ह वै वाजपेयेन यजमानस्य लोकः भवति तावान् अस्य लोकः भवति यः एवम् विद्वान् अधोपहासं चरति आसां स्त्रीणां सुकृतं वृङ्क्ते अथ यः इदम् अविद्वान् अधोपहासं चरति अस्य स्त्रियः सुकृतं वृञ्जते
tasyā vediḥ upasthaḥ lomāni barhiḥ carmādhiṣavaṇe samiddho madhyatas tau muṣkau saḥ yāvān ha vai vājapeyena yajamānasya lokaḥ bhavati tāvān asya lokaḥ bhavati yaḥ evam vidvān adhopahāsaṃ carati āsāṃ strīṇāṃ sukṛtaṃ vṛṅkte atha yaḥ idam avidvān adhopahāsaṃ carati asya striyaḥ sukṛtaṃ vṛñjate
Her lap is the altar, the hairs the sacrificial grass, the skin the soma-press, the [middle part] the burning coals. As great as is the world of one who has performed the vājapeya, so great is the world of him who, knowing this, unites; he takes to himself the merit of the women. But he who unites without knowing this — the women take his merit.
5ee7e7247a63 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:28:05 AM UTC
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The correspondences are carried through: a woman's body is marked out as a soma altar — vedi, barhis, press, coals: marital union is equated with the vājapeya, one of the greatest sacrifices! To the knower belongs "the world of the vājapeya": intimacy performed as a service weighs as much as a royal sacrifice.
And a stern arithmetic of knowledge: the knower "takes the merit of the women", while from one who does not know "the women take his merit". The point is not a war of the sexes: in a union of two, merit flows to the one who holds it in awareness and reverence; whoever enters the mystery as a consumer leaves it a debtor. Intimacy is never neutral: it is either a sacrifice or a squandering — the Upaniṣad knows no third.