सा भावयित्री भावयितव्या भवति तम् स्त्री गर्भम् बिभर्ति सः अग्र एव कुमारम् जन्मनः अग्रे अधि भावयति सः यत् कुमारम् जन्मनः अग्रे अधि भावयति आत्मानम् एव तत् भावयति एषाम् लोकानाम् सन्तत्यै एवम् सन्तताः हि इमे लोकाः तत् अस्य द्वितीयम् जन्म
sā bhāvayitrī bhāvayitavyā bhavati tam strī garbham bibharti saḥ agra eva kumāram janmanaḥ agre adhi bhāvayati saḥ yat kumāram janmanaḥ agre adhi bhāvayati ātmānam eva tat bhāvayati eṣām lokānām santatyai evam santatāḥ hi ime lokāḥ tat asya dvitīyam janma
She, the fosterer, is to be fostered. The woman bears him as an embryo. He, even before the birth, fosters the child. In fostering the child before its birth, he fosters his own self — for the continuance of these worlds: for thus are these worlds continued. This is his second birth.
f8fef4ed6caf · publicado 26 jul 2026, 19:36:16 UTC
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A circle of care: sā bhāvayitrī bhāvayitavyā bhavati — "she who fosters is to be fostered": a play of words with all the force of Sanskrit: she who rears is herself to be reared: care for a pregnant woman is not a courtesy but a law of the symmetry of being: she who nourishes is nourished. The whole culture of surrounding a mother with peace, food and honour comes from this line.
sa… kumāraṁ janmano 'gre 'dhi bhāvayati — "he fosters the child even before its birth": the father is included in the gestation! — by caring for the mother he is already rearing his son; and deeper: ātmānam eva tad bhāvayati — "thereby he fosters his own self": the child is himself (the first birth!), and care for the unborn is care for one's own continuation: eṣāṁ lokānāṁ santatyai — "for the continuity of these worlds": evaṁ santatā hi ime lokāḥ — "for thus are these worlds strung together": the fabric of the universe is woven of the threads of parental care; break it, and the worlds break off.
tad asya dvitīyaṁ janma — "this is his second birth": the coming forth from the mother into the light. The family in the Aitareya is not a social institution but a cosmic mechanism of continuity: father, mother and child together hold the unbrokenness of being — santati, that same "continuity" which the Taittirīya taught in its śikṣā as the connectedness of sound: the worlds hold together by the connectedness of births, as speech by the connectedness of syllables.