Khila Kanda. Adhyaya 6, Brahmana 2. The five fires, and the two paths after death
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Each mantra is given four ways: the Sanskrit in its Devanagari script, the same sounds in Roman letters, an English translation set in our own voice, and then the line once more in plain words, for a first and unhurried reading.
Not every passage is opened to the same depth. A few central mantras carry the full cross-school commentary, where the schools are set side by side. The rest are kept here whole and faithful, set in their place but not expounded, so the book stays entire and nothing is dropped for being thought minor.
Where the schools read a line differently, the difference is kept open. None is crowned and none is corrected. Each is met on its own terms, and where they contradict, the contradiction is left standing for you to sit with.
Third fire, this earth
This world, O Gautama, is the fire. The earth is its fuel; fire, its smoke; the night, its flame; the moon, its embers; the stars, its sparks. In this fire the gods offer rain. Out of that oblation food arises.
The third fire: this world (the earth) is a fire, with the earth as fuel, fire as smoke, night as flame, the moon as embers, the stars as sparks. In this fire the gods offer rain (descended from the second fire), and from that offering food (grain and plants) is produced.