SEQUENCE OF CREATION FROM THE IMPERISHABLE:-

Chapter:-2.

Section:-1.

Mantra:-5.

Tasmad-agnih  samidho  yasya  suryah

somat  parjanya  osadhayah  prthivyam

puman  retah  sincati  yositayam

vahvih  prajah  purusat  samprasutah.

From Him are produced the sky (which is the first fire) whose fuel is the sun; from the moon, the rain clouds (the second fire); from the clouds, the herbs that grow on the earth(the third fire); from these (herbs eaten), the man(the fourth fire; who (the man) sheds his seeds into the woman(the fifth fire). In this manner many living beings are born from the Purusa (The Lord), the all-pervading being.

Sky... whose fuel is the Sun : The statement made is to facilitate the student's meditation for the purpose of self-purification. Here, the word 'sky'means the very concept of space.We know that our mind and intellect can function only in a medium of space, time and causality. The concept of space ( and the consequent sense of limitation) has come to us as a reaction of our past actions, for the enjoyment of which each one of us has taken this incarnation. The moment any one of us transcends the bondages of space-time, no more can this world and the experiences of this world assert themselves in our cognition.

We have already found earlier that the physical Sun has its own philosophical import. Philosophically, the Sun represents the sum-total of reactions of all the actions done by the total living world---from worm to man. As such, it is a wondrous analogy, poetry at its best, to say that sky is the fire whose fuel is the Sun. The difficulty in understanding it is in this : Pluto has taken the pen of Shelley to paint Cleopatra in order to represent the mighty beauty of the universe!!! In India alone we find philosophy and poetry, moulded  together into one idol of beauty and perfection.

From the Moon, the clouds----the second fire : This is to be considered as the second Great Fire. The moon is considered as that which causes the essence in the herbs and the seeds. Probably we will have to wait for some more years for the West, to discover and declare to us, that the moonlight has a definite function in nourishing the seeds and fruits with their vitamin-contents. However, it is known all over the world among agriculturists that  seeds dried up in the sun during the day and exposed to the moonlight in the night become very healthy seeds for sowing.

That from the rain, the seedlings grow, when these food is eaten, the male secretes its seeds which are thrown into the womb of the female where germination takes places. This is the pedigree or the sequence  by which from the Supreme, the multiple plurality of created beings come to exist, says the Sruti(passed on through ears) to generations.