740.  Kritya is mantra-power or the efficacy of Atharvan rites.  What is said here is that women are as frightful as Atharvan rites which can bring destruction upon even unseen foes.  Rajasi antarhitah means that they are sunk so completely in that attribute as to become invisible, i.e., completely enveloped by that attribute.

741.  The sense is this:  parasitical vermin spring from sweat and other filth emitted by the body.  Children spring from the vital seed.  In the former case, it is Swabhava (nature) that supplies the active energy.  In the latter, the undying influence of previous acts and propensities supply the active force.  One’s offspring, therefore, are like parasitical vermin on one’s body.  Wisdom should teach disregard or indifference for either.

742.  This is a repetition of what has been asserted in various forms before.  Rajas (passion) is the cause of Pravritti or propensity for acts.  Sattwa (goodness) is enlightenment or the higher aspirations that lead to Brahma.  Both rest on Tamas (Darkness), the first immediately, the last mediately.  Chit or Jiva is pure Knowledge.  When overtaken by Tamas or Avyakta, it becomes clothed with that existence which is called life or which we realise in the world, the conditions of that life being Consciousness and Intelligence.

743.  The Chit or Soul is all-Knowledge.  When overspread with Ignorance or Darkness, it becomes manifested by Intelligence and Consciousness, i.e., assumes a form or body.  Knowledge overspread by Darkness, therefore, or Knowledge with the attributes of Intelligence and Consciousness, is the cause of Chit or soul or Jiva assuming a body.  Such knowledge, therefore, is called the seed of the body.  Then, again, the tadvijam (the second expression), i.e., the foundation on which knowledge overspread by ignorance (or knowledge with the attributes of intelligence and consciousness) rests, is, of course, pure Knowledge or chit or jiva or Soul as it existed before life.  It is only another form of repeating a statement made several times before.  Both the vernacular translators have misunderstood the last half of the second line.

744.  The meaning, of course, is that while in the mother’s womb, the Soul remembers the acts of past lives, and those acts influence and determine the growth of its senses as also the character it will display in its new life.

745.  I do not follow Nilakantha in his grammatical exposition of the second line.  That exposition seems to be very far-fetched.  Besides tebhyah tyagat for tesham tyagat is no violence to grammar, the use of the ablative in this sense not being infrequent in these writings.

746.  Women have before (vide verse 9 of this section) been said to be the embodiment of the senses and as antarhitah in Rajas or Passion.  The senses, therefore, are, it is concluded here, originated in Rajas.  By the destruction, again, of Rajas, they may be destroyed.  What is wanted, therefore, is the conquest of Rajas or Passion.  This may be effected with the aid of the eye whose vision has been sharpened by scriptural knowledge.