कालोऽयं भूतमशकघुंघुमानां प्रपातिनाम् । ब्रह्माण्डोदुम्बरौघानां बृहत्पादपतां गतः ॥ २७ ॥
kālō’yaṁ bhūtamaśakaghuṁghumānāṁ prapātinām | brahmāṇḍōdumbaraughānāṁ bṛhatpādapatāṁ gataḥ || 27 ||
Translation
This Time has become a great tree for the clusters of fig-fruit that are universes, falling, with beings for the buzzing gnats inside them.
Word by word
- kālō
- (kālaḥ) Time
- ayaṁ
- this
- bhūta
- beings
- maśaka
- gnats
- ghuṁghumānāṁ
- buzzing
- prapātinām
- falling
- brahmāṇḍa
- that are universes
- udumbara
- of fig-fruit
- ōghānāṁ
- for the clusters
- bṛhat
- a great
- pādapatāṁ
- tree
- gataḥ
- has become
Meaning
An udumbara fig is full of tiny gnats; when it falls and splits, they buzz out. Each universe is such a fig, and the beings in it the gnats; and Time is the great tree that bears and drops them. The scale is vast and the image humbling: whole universes are figs, and we the gnats within.