सङ्गीतरत्नाकर: प्रथम भाग (शार्ङ्गदेव - स्वरगताध्याय सविस्तार व्याख्या व अनुवाद सहित)

36 Treatment of Svara
(ix) जीवस्य गर्भाशयेऽवतरणम्
क्षेत्रज्ञः स्थित आकाशे आकाशाद्वायुमागतः ।
वायोर्धूमं ततश्चाभ्रमभ्रान्मेघे ऽवतिष्ठते ॥१८॥
आहृत्य ऽऽप्यायितो प्रस्तरसो ग्रीष्मे च भानुभिः ।
भानुर्मेघे घनरसं निधत्ते तं वलाहकः ॥१९॥
यदा वर्षति वर्षेण सह जीवस्तदा भुवः ।
वनस्पत्योषधीर्जाताः संक्रामत्यविलक्षितः ॥२०॥
ताम्यो ऽन्नं जातमनं तत्पुरुषैः शुक्लतां गतम् ।
शुद्धार्तवाया योषाय निषिक्तं स्मरमन्दिरे ॥२१॥
सहार्तवेन शुद्धं चेद्गर्भाशयगतं भवेत् ।
जीवकर्मप्रेरितं तद् गर्भमारभते तदा ॥२२॥
(ix) The descent of jīva into the womb : 18-22
The self-aware¹ intelligence, the resident² of ether,
descends into air; and from air into smoke, from smoke into
The embodied self, i. e., the self-aware intelligence, has already
been spoken of as having two bodies, subtle and gross. Here the pro-
cess of the physical, i. e., gross embodiment is being described, and
therefore, the thought-body is taken for granted to be existent in the
form of etheric vibrations as the residue of past incarnation of the
individual self or soul who is called kṣetrajña, which signifies intelligence
involved in the self-conscious individual being.

1. The word kṣetrajña of the text literally means the knower of
   the field, i. e., the observer, the witness of the field of con-
   sciousness. The word kṣetra also means an abode: so, by
   implication the word signifies the body. Kṣetrajña thus means
   the soul or intelligence as conditioned by self-consciousness; and
   here, the word is used in this technical sense. cf. Bh. Gītā XII.
   1 & 2. "This organism, oh! Arjuna, is named as kṣetra (the
   field); and the one who is aware of it is called as kṣetrajña (the
   perceiver of the field) by the experts." (13.1)
   Thus kṣetra and kṣetrajña may roughly be understood as
   the field of consciousness and consciousness subsisting in the
   awareness of the field. The deeper significance of these terms
   would be clear from the next verse.
   "Oh, Arjuna, understand that I am the kṣetrajña (intelli-
   gence) in all the kṣetra-s (organisms). The comprehension of
   the body and the soul is considered to be my knowledge."
2. It is assumed that thought body is made of subtle matter in
   Section 2 : The Genesis of the Human Embodiment 37
   cloud-formation³ and from the cloud-formation into the
   cloud. (18)
   The sun, being satiated⁴ by the oblations and surround-
   ed by vapours drawn by its rays in the summer,⁵ confines
   the waters in the clouds. When the clouds release the waters,
   the self-conscious intelligent being,⁶ descending with the
   showers, transfers itself imperceptibly⁷ to the terrestrial
   growth of trees and herbs. This⁸ (vegetation) becomes food;
   and when eaten by men, is transformed into semen; which,
   being sprinkled in the temple⁹ of love in the body of a young
   The process of the descent of the thought-embodied intelligence
   into the physical human organism follows the general pattern of the
   evolution of the five great elements, viz., from ether to air, from air to
   fire as associated with smoke, and from fire to water as associated with
   cloud, and from water to earth, through vegetation. Having entered
   the vegetation it remains a matter of course for it to reach an appro-
   priate womb for its physical encasement.
3. Abhra of the text signifies a cloud-formation devoid of water,
   so to say, a combination of smoke, light and air, while Megha
   signifies the cloud proper full of water.
4. In the Indian tradition the sun is offered oblations in the
   sacrificial fire. The gods, in this view, have nothing to eat in
   their heavenly abode and have to be nourished through the
   sacrificial oblations offered by human beings.
5. This is significant in the context of Indian climate. The sun
   is supposed to draw the waters of the Indian ocean in
   summer through the sun's rays that fall directly upon it and
   collect them in the clouds, and this is a statement of a geo-
   graphical fact, the phenomenon of monsoon.
6. Jīva is conceived to be pure intelligence conditioned by self-
   consciousness.
7. Since consciousness is not an object of sense perception, the
   the journey of the soul from the thought body to the physical
   body is imperceptible outwardly
8. What is notable here is that the self-aware intelligence or, in
   other terms, the individual soul can never keep an identity
   without a physical vehicle. So in fact the whole journey is a
   process of the movement from a purely ideal body to a
   physical one. Thus it is also a process of evolution or mani-
   festation from the subtle to the gross. Food also is a vehicle
   for the self-enclosed consciousness and so is semen into which
   it is transformed.
9. The temple of love spoken of here refers metaphorically to the
   vagina.