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Chandogya Upanisad
Chapter Five
5. 'A princeling asked me five questions, and I could not answer a single one of them…'
His father said, 'As you told them to me then, I do not know a single one of them. If I had known them, how would I not have told you?'
6. Gautama went to the king's home. When he got there, the king treated him as an honoured guest. In the morning he went to the assembly and approached him. The king said, 'Blessed Gautama, choose a boon from my human wealth.'
He said, 'O king, human wealth belongs to you. Tell me the words you spoke in the presence of the young man.'
The king was troubled.
7. He invited him to stay for a long time. He said, 'Gautama, since you have said that, you should know that before you, the knowledge has not previously gone to Brahmanas. So in all worlds, rulership has belonged to Ksatriyas'. He told him:
V.4
1. 'That world is a fire, Gautama. The sun is its fuel; the rays its smoke; the day its flame; the moon its embers; the constellations its sparks.
2. 'In that fire the gods offer faith. From that offering King Soma arises.
V.5
1. 'Parjanya is a fire, Gautama. Air is his fuel; cloud his smoke; the lightning his flame; the thunderbolt his embers; the hailstones his sparks.
2. 'In that fire the gods offer King Soma. From that offering rain arises.
V.6
1. 'The earth is a fire, Gautama. The year is its fuel; space its smoke; the night its flame; the directions its embers; the intermediate directions its sparks.
2. 'In that fire the gods offer rain. From that offering food arises.
V.7
1. 'A man (purusa) is a fire, Gautama. Speech is his fuel; the breath his smoke; the tongue his flame; the eye his embers; the ear his sparks.
2. 'In that fire the gods offer food. From that offering the seed arises.
V.8
1. 'A young woman is a fire, Gautama. The loins are her fuel; when one invites her, her smoke; the vagina her flame; what one does within, her embers; the pleasures her sparks.
2. 'In that fire the gods offer the seed. From that offering a foetus arises.
V.9
1. 'And so, in the fifth offering, the waters take on human speech. The foetus, covered by the amnion, sleeps inside for ten months or nine or however long it is, and then is born.
2. 'When he is born, he lives out his span of life, and when he has passed away at the appointed time, they take him from here to the fire from which he came, from which he came to be.
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