भूमिर्भूत्वा बिभर्तीमां लोकस्थितिमखण्डिताम् । तृणगुल्मलता भूत्वा ददाति फलसन्ततिम् ॥ १८ ॥
bhūmirbhūtvā bibhartīmāṁ lōkasthitimakhaṇḍitām | tṛṇagulmalatā bhūtvā dadāti phalasantatim || 18 ||
Translation
Becoming the earth, he bears this unbroken order of the worlds; becoming grass, shrubs and creepers, he gives their abundance of fruit.
Word by word
- bhūmir
- (bhūmiḥ) the earth
- bhūtvā
- becoming
- bibharti
- he bears
- imāṁ
- this
- lōka
- of the worlds
- sthitim
- order
- akhaṇḍitām
- unbroken
- tṛṇa
- grass
- gulma
- shrubs
- latā
- and creepers
- dadāti
- he gives
- phala
- of fruit
- santatim
- abundance
Meaning
The earth holds up the whole order of life, unbroken; the commentary reads it as the order of human life that is never cut off. And in every plant it is he who bears fruit. Here the vision comes close to the ground: not only gods and mountains but the grass by the path is the bodiless one's own body.