Garbha

Verse 1

ॐ पञ्चात्मकं पञ्चसु वर्तमानं षडाश्रयं षड्गुणयोगयुक्तम् । तत्सप्तधातु त्रिमलं द्वियोनि चतुर्विधाहारमयं शरीरं भवति ॥ पञ्चात्मकमिति कस्मात्—पृथिव्यापस्तेजोवायुराकाशमिति । अस्मिन्पञ्चात्मके शरीरे का पृथिव...

Om. The body is fivefold, abiding in the five elements, resting on six supports and endowed with the conjunction of six qualities; it is of seven constituents, with three impurities, born of two sources (father and mother), and made from four kinds of food. Why is it called “fivefold”? Because it consists of earth, water, fire, air, and space. In this fivefold body, what is earth, what is water, what is fire, what is air, what is space? What is hard is earth; what is fluid is water; what is hot is fire; what moves is air; what is hollow is called space. Therein, earth serves for support; water for compacting and cohesion; fire for illumination; air for movement; space for granting room. Separately: in the ear, the apprehension of sound; in the skin, touch; in the eyes, form; in the tongue, taste; in the nose, smell; in the generative organ, pleasure; in apāna, excretion; by intellect one understands, by mind one forms intention, by speech one speaks. Why “six supports”? Because one experiences the six tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent—and also the seven notes: ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha, gāndhāra, madhyama, pañcama, dhaivata, niṣāda. The designations of pleasing and displeasing sound are sevenfold; through attentive application they become tenfold. “Seven constituents” are indicated as white, red, black, smoky, yellow, tawny, pale, and so forth.

Verse 2

कस्मात् यदा देवदत्तस्य द्रव्यादिविषया जायन्ते ॥ परस्परं सौम्यगुणत्वात् षड्विधो रसो रसाच्छोणितं शोणितान्मांसं मांसान्मेदो मेदसः स्नावा स्नाव्नोऽस्थीन्यस्थिभ्यो मज्जा मज्ज्ञः शुक्रं । शुक्रशोणितसंयोगादा...

Why, and at what time, do material objects and the like arise for Devadatta (the individual)? Through mutual combination, owing to the cool and moist quality, the essence (rasa) is sixfold; from essence arises blood; from blood, flesh; from flesh, fat; from fat, sinew; from sinew, bones; from bones, marrow; from marrow, semen. From the conjunction of semen and blood, the embryo comes into being and takes its station in the heart. In the heart is the inner fire; in the seat of fire is bile; in the seat of bile is wind; in the seat of wind is the heart—according to the sequence ordained by Prajāpati.

Verse 3

ऋतुकाले सम्प्रयोगादेकरात्रोषितं कलिलं भवति, सप्तरात्रोषितं बुद्बुदं भवति, अर्धमासाभ्यन्तरेण पिण्डो भवति, मासाभ्यन्तरेण कठिनो भवति, मासद्वयेन शिरः सम्पद्यते, मासत्रयेण पादप्रवेशो भवति । अथ चतुर्थे मासे...

From union in the proper season, after one night it becomes kalila, a gelatinous mass; after seven nights it becomes budbuda, a bubble; within half a month it becomes a lump; within a month it becomes firm; in two months the head is formed; in three months the formation of the feet takes place. Then in the fourth month the region of the abdomen and hips forms; in the fifth month the spinal column forms; in the sixth month the mouth, nose, eyes, and ears form; in the seventh month it is conjoined with the jīva; in the eighth month it becomes wholly complete. From excess of the father’s seed a male results; from excess of the mother’s seed a female results; from equality of the two seeds a sex-indeterminate being results. From disturbance of the mother’s mind, offspring become blind, lame, hunchbacked, or dwarfed. From division of semen due to mutual pressure of the winds, the body becomes twofold; then twins are born. The capable fivefold being, whose essence is kindled by the fivefold fire, through right knowledge and meditation contemplates the imperishable syllable Oṃ. Having known that single syllable, the eight prakṛtis and the sixteen modifications are (discerned) in the body of embodied beings. Then, by the thread-like channels of the nāḍīs that carry measured food and drink, prāṇa is nourished. In the ninth month it becomes complete in all marks; it remembers former births, illumines deeds done and not done, and apprehends auspicious and inauspicious karma.

Verse 4

नानायोनिसहस्राणि दृष्ट्वा चैव ततो मया । आहाराः विविधा भुक्ताः पीताश्च विविधाः स्तनाः ॥ जातस्यैव मृतस्यैव जन्म चैव पुनः पुनः । अहो दुःखोदधौ मग्नः न पश्यामि प्रतिक्रियाम् ॥ यन्मया परिजनस्यार्थे कृतं कर्...

Having beheld thousands of diverse wombs, I have indeed passed through them; various foods were eaten, and various breasts were drunk. For the born and for the dead, birth comes again and again. Alas, sunk in an ocean of suffering, I see no remedy. Whatever deed—auspicious or inauspicious—I did for the sake of my kin, by that I alone am burned; those who enjoyed the fruits have departed. If I am released from the womb, I shall resort to Sāṅkhya and Yoga—destroyers of the inauspicious, bestowers of freedom from the fruits (of karma). If I am released from the womb, I shall take refuge in Maheśvara—destroyer of the inauspicious, bestower of freedom from results. If I am released from the womb, I shall take refuge in the Blessed Lord Nārāyaṇa, the God—destroyer of the inauspicious, bestower of freedom from results. If I am released from the womb, I shall meditate upon the eternal Brahman. Then the creature, having reached the door of the womb after (passing through) a hundred female wombs, pressed by the mechanism and by great pain, when just born is touched by the Vaiṣṇava wind; then it remembers neither birth and death nor its good and evil deeds.

Verse 5

शरीरमिति कस्मात् साक्षादग्नयो ह्यत्र श्रियन्ते—ज्ञानाग्निर्दर्शनाग्निः कोष्ठाग्निरिति । तत्र कोष्ठाग्निर्नामाशितपीतलेह्यचोष्यं पचतीति । दर्शनाग्निः रूपादीनां दर्शनं करोति । ज्ञानाग्निः शुभाशुभं च कर्म...

Why is it called “body”? Because here, manifestly, fires are established: the fire of knowledge, the fire of perception, and the gastric fire. Of these, the gastric fire cooks (digests) what is eaten, drunk, licked, and sucked. The fire of perception brings about the perception of forms and the like. The fire of knowledge discerns auspicious and inauspicious action. Here there are three stations: in the heart, the Dakṣiṇa fire; in the belly, the Gārhapatya; the mouth is the Āhavanīya. The Self is the sacrificer; having set the intellect as the wife, the mind is Brahmā; greed and the rest are the animals; fortitude is the consecration (dīkṣā), and so too contentment; the organs of knowledge are the sacrificial vessels; the organs of action are the oblations; the head is the skull-bowl; the hairs are the darbha-grass; the mouth is the inner altar. The head is a fourfold skull; there are sixteen (sets of) side-teeth, lips, and palates; one hundred and seven vital spots; one hundred and eighty joints; one hundred and nine ligaments; seven hundred vessels; five hundred marrows; and indeed three hundred and sixty bones; and three and a half crores of hairs. The heart weighs eight palas; the tongue twelve palas; bile is one prastha; phlegm one āḍhaka; semen one kuḍava; fat two prasthas; urine and feces are indeterminate, according to the measure of food. The Paippalāda treatise on liberation is concluded; the Paippalāda treatise on liberation is concluded.