6-2-1  The Process of Rebirth
Shwetaketu, the grandson of Aaruni, (the son of Aaruni's daughter Sujaataa) came to the assembly of the Paanchaal. He approached Pravahan, the son of Jaibaal, who was being waited upon by his courtiers.
As soon as the King saw him, he said: "Is it you, boy?"
He replied: "Yes, Sir."
Then the King asked: "Have you been taught by your father?"
"Yes," he replied.

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 The King said: "Do you know how people, after departing from this life, proceed on different paths?"
"No," he replied.
"Do you know how they return to this world?"
"No," he replied.
"Do you know why the other world is never filled up even though so many people go there again and again?"
"No," he replied.
"Do you know after how many offerings of oblations the water (the liquid oblation) becomes endowed with a human voice, rises up and speaks?"
"No," he replied.
"Do you know the means of access to the path leading to the gods or to that leading to the Manes, that is to say, through what deeds men attain the path leading to the gods or that leading to the Manes? We have heard the following words of the Mantra: "I have heard of the two paths for men, one leading to the Manes and the other to the gods. Going along them they (departed souls) are united with their destination. They (the paths) lie between the father (Heaven) and the mother (Earth)."
Shwetketu said: "I do not know even one of these."

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Then the King invited him to stay. But the boy, disregarding the invitation, hurried away.
He went to his father and said: "Did you not tell me before that you had fully instructed me?"
"What then, my intelligent child?"
"That fellow of a Kshatriya asked me five questions and I did not know even one of them."
"What were they?"
"These," said Shwetketu and he recited them.

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The father said: "My child, believe me, whatever I myself knew, I told you. But come, let us go there and live as religious students (Brahmachaaree)."
"You may go, Sir," the son replied.
Then Gautam went to where King Pravahan, the son of Jaibaal, was giving audience. The King offered him a seat, ordered water for him and made him the reverential offering. Then he said: "Revered Gautam, we will give you a boon."

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Gautam said: "You have promised me this boon. Now please tell me what you spoke about to my boy."

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The King said: "Ah, those are divine boons, Gautam. Please ask for a human boon."

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Gautam said: "You know well that I have gold, cows, horses, maidservants, retinue and apparel. Please do not be ungenerous towards me in regard to that gift which is plentiful, infinite and inexhaustible."
The King said: "Then, verily, O Gautam, You should ask it in the prescribed way."
Gautam replied: "I approach you as a disciple."
The ancients used to approach a teacher through mere declaration. So Gautam lived with the King by merely announcing that he was a student.

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The King said: "Please do not be offended with us even as your paternal grandfather was not offended with ours. Before now this knowledge never rested with a Braahman. But I shall teach it to you, for who can refuse you when you speak like this?

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"Yonder world is the sacrificial fire, the Sun is its fuel, the rays are its smoke, the day is its flame, the four quarters are its cinders and the intermediate quarters are its sparks. In this fire the gods offer faith as libation. Out of that offering the King Moon is born.

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"Parjanya (the god of rain, Indra), O Gautam, is the fire, the year is its fuel, the clouds are its smoke, lightning is its flame, the thunderbolt is its cinders, the rumbling is its sparks. In this fire the gods offer King Moon as libation, and out of that offering rain is produced.

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"This world, O Gautam, is the fire, the Earth is its fuel, fire is its smoke, the night is its flame, the Moon is its cinders, the stars are its sparks. In this fire the gods offer rain as libation. Out of that offering food is produced.

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"Man, O Gautam, is the fire, the open mouth is its fuel, the vital breath is its smoke, speech is its flame, the eye is its cinders and the ear is its sparks. In this fire the gods offer food as libation. Out of that offering semen is produced.

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"Woman, O Gautam, is the fire, her sexual organ is the fuel, the hairs are the smoke, the vulva is the flame, sexual intercourse is the cinders, enjoyment is the sparks. In this fire the gods offer semen as libation. Out of this offering a man is born. He lives as long as he is to live. Then, when he dies,

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"They carry him to be offered in the fire. The fire becomes his fire, the fuel is his fuel, the smoke is his smoke, the flame is his flame, the cinders is his cinders and the sparks is his sparks. In this fire the gods offer the man as libation. Out of this offering the man emerges in radiant splendor.

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"Those even among householders who know this, as described and those too who, living in the forest, meditate with faith upon the Satya Brahm (Hiranyagarbh), reach the deity identified with flame, from him to the deity of the day, from him to the deity of the fortnight in which the Moon waxes, from him to the deities of the six months during which the Sun travels Northward, from them to the deity identified with the world of the gods (Dev Lok), from him to the Sun, from the Sun to the deity of lightning. Then a being created from the mind of Hiranyagarbh comes and leads them to the worlds of Braahm. In those worlds of Brahm they become exalted and live for many years. They no more return to this world.

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"But those who conquer the worlds through sacrifices, charity and austerity reach the deity of smoke, from smoke to the deity of the night, from night to the deity of the fortnight in which the Moon wanes, from the decreasing half of the Moon to the deities of the six months during which the Sun travels Southward, from these months to the deity of the world of the Manes and from the world of the Manes to the Moon. Reaching the Moon they become food. There the gods enjoy them, just as here the priests drink the shining Som juice - saying as it were: "Flourish, dwindle." And when their past work is exhausted they reach this very Aakaash, from the Aakaash they reach the air, from the air to the rain, from the rain to the Earth. Reaching the Earth they become food. Then they are again offered in the fire of man and thence in the fire of woman. Out of the fire of woman they are born and perform rites with a view to going to other worlds. Thus do they rotate. "Those, however, who do not know these two ways become insects and moths and those creatures which often bite (i.e. mosquitoes and gnats)."

END OF BRIHADAARANYAK UPANISHAD