Shloka 10
महाभिष-गङ्गा-दर्शनं वसूनां शापकथनं च
Mahābhiṣa Encounters Gaṅgā; The Vasus Explain Their Curse
ययातिरुवाच अस॑र॑ रेत: पुष्पफलानुपृक्त- मन्वेति तद् वै पुरुषेण सृष्टम् । स वै तस्या रज आपसद्यते वै स गर्भभूत: समुपैति तत्र,ययाति बोले--अन्तरिक्षसे गिरा हुआ प्राणी अस्र (जल) होता है। फिर वही क्रमश: नूतन शरीरका बीजभूत वीर्य बन जाता है। वह वीर्य फूल और फलरूपी शेष कर्मोंसे संयुक्त होकर तदनुरूप योनिका अनुसरण करता है। गर्भाधान करनेवाले पुरुषके द्वारा स्त्रीसंसर्ग होनेपर वह वीर्यमें आविष्ट हुआ जीव उस स्त्रीके रजसे मिल जाता है। तदनन्तर वही गर्भरूपमें परिणत हो जाता है
Yayātir uvāca— asṛg retaḥ puṣpaphalānupṛktam anveti tad vai puruṣeṇa sṛṣṭam | sa vai tasyā raja āpasadyate vai sa garbhabhūtaḥ samupaiti tatra ||
Yayāti said: “The vital seed (semen), mixed with the residual fruits of past deeds—likened to ‘flower and fruit’—follows on according to what is fashioned through the male. Entering the woman, it comes into contact with her menstrual essence; and the embodied being, having entered that seed, there becomes established as an embryo.”
अष्टक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links conception to moral causality: the embodied being takes a new birth through the union of male seed and female reproductive essence, while carrying the ‘flower-and-fruit’ of prior actions—i.e., karmic residues that shape the kind of embodiment attained.
Yayāti explains to his interlocutor the mechanism of rebirth and conception: the jīva enters the generative seed, which—mixed with karmic residues—reaches the appropriate womb; upon contact with the woman’s rajas, it becomes established as an embryo.