Section 5.8 (eighth khaṇḍa) (two texts)

Upaniṣad text:

‘The Woman, O, Gautama, is the Fire; of that the Organ is the Fuel,—the Confabulation, the Smoke,—the Vagina, the Flame,—the Penetration is the Embers,—the Raptures, the Sparks’—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The Woman, O Gautama, is the Fire. Of that, the Organ is the Fuel; because it is by the organ that fire is lighted for the purpose of procreation. The Confabulation is the Smoke because the Confabulation proceeds from the Woman (just as smoke proceeds from the fire). The Vagina is the Flame; because both are red.—The Penetration is the Embers,—because of its connection with Fire.—The Raptures—i.e., the ripples of pleasure—are the Sparks;—because they are small.—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

‘Into this Fire, the Deities offer Semen; and out of that libation is born the embryo.’—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Into this Fire, the Deities offer Semen; out of that libation is produced the Embryo. Thus, through the gradual stages of the libation,—(1) Faith, (2) Soma, (3) Rain, (4) Food, and (5) Semen,—the water has become the Embryo. And, inasmuch as Water forms a constituent of the libation, it is spoken of as the most important of all,—hence the statement that ‘At the fifth libation, Water comes to be called Man’.—Yet it is not Water alone out of which Soma and the other Products are produced;—nor again does Water exist, except in its tripartite constitution; even in the tripartite constitution, (which applies to all the three Earth, Water and Fire, which are compounds formed of themselves), we have found special names applied,—such as ‘this is Earth’, ‘this is Water, ‘this is Fire’,—on the basis of one or the other of the three forming the predominant factor. (A compound in which the proportion of Earth-particles is larger than that of Water or Fire, is named Earth), It is for this reason that all the three elementary substances compounded together enter into the performance of Rites only when bearing a larger proportion of water-particles, and become productive of Soma and other products;—and it is on this account that they are spoken of by the common name of ‘Fire. As a matter of fact, we actually perceive an excess of fluids in the constitution of Soma, Rain, Food, Semen and Body; the Body, though apparently made up of Earth, abounds in fluids. Thus it is that when the fifth libation has been offered. Water, in the shape of Semen, becomes the Embryo.—(2)

End of Section (8) of Discourse V.