Shanti Parva 218.28
Rahular Itihasa / M. N. Dutt · Shanti Parva Chapter 218 · Verse 28
Sanskrit Original
रेतो वटकणीकायां घृतपाकाधिवासनम्। जातिः स्मृतिरयस्कान्तः सूर्यकान्तोऽम्बुभक्षणम्॥
The capacity to produce leaves, flowers, fruits, roots and bark lies in a banian seed. The grass and water that is taken by a cow produce milk and butter, substances differing in nature from that of the causes. Various substances when allowed to decompose in water for sometime produce spirituous liquors whose nature is quite different from that of those substances producing them. Likewise, from the vital seed in produced the body and its attributes with the understanding, consciousness, wood, and other qualities. Two pieces of wood, rubbed together, beget fire. Coming in contact with the rays of the Sun, the stone called Suryakanta begets fire. Any solid metal, heated in fire, dries up water when coming in contact with it. Likewise, the material body produces the mind and its attributes of perception, memory, imagination, etc. As the loadstone moves iron, likewise the . senses are controlled by the mind.