Another Mouthful of Sky

Someone once told me that a sureshot way of knowing that your kids have grown up is ' when they stop asking you where they come from and stop telling you where they go to'. Now it is the former that usually places parents in a tight spot and give us some wonderfully creative answers.

Zooming back into history, the same question was asked by a seer to a monk. Now this gets philosophical because its no kid asking his parent but a peer asking an established guru of his times as to how in the world are humans conceived out of the some basic five elements.(The funda being of "dust to dust and ashes to ashes" viewed in converse.). The guru answers back as follows

Heaven is fire
Sun, its fuel
Rays, its smoke
Day, its flame
Moon,its embers
Stars, its sparks
Into this fire God offers the oblation of faith
Out of this the, divine king Soma (the full moon) arises

Rain-god is indeed fire
Wind,fuel
Cloud, its smoke
Lightning, its flame
Thunderbolt, its embers
Thunder, its sparks
Into this fire the God offers the oblation of Soma
Out of this oblation, Rain Arises

Earth its fire
Year, its fuel
Sky, its smoke
Night, its flame
Four Directions, its embers
Inter-Directions its sparks
Into this fire the God offers the oblation of Rain
Out of this oblation arises Food

Man, indeed is the fire
Speech, his fuel
Breath, his smoke
Tongue, his flame
Eyes, his embers
Ears, his sparks
Into this fire the God offers the oblation of Food
Out of this oblation the Seed is created

Woman is the fire
Male Organ is the fuel
Incitation is the smoke
Groin is the flame
Copulation is the Ember
Orgasm is the Spark
Into this fire the God offers the oblation of Seed
Out of this oblation arises fetus

These five oblations of elements give rise to a human being.

For the curious the guru was Sankara of Kaladi and this was a recitation from one of the last 8 chapters of "Chaandogya Brahmana".The word "Another" because I have used the original title.