Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.4.15-19

apāḿ rasam atho tejas

tā līyante 'tha nīrasāḥ

grasate tejaso rūpaḿ

vāyus tad-rahitaḿ tadā

līyate cānile tejo

vāyoḥ khaḿ grasate guṇam

sa vai viśati khaḿ rājaḿs

tataś ca nabhaso guṇam

śabdaḿ grasati bhūtādir

nabhas tam anu līyate

taijasaś cendriyāṇy ańga

devān vaikāriko guṇaiḥ

mahān grasaty ahańkāraḿ

guṇāḥ sattvādayaś ca tam

grasate 'vyākṛtaḿ rājan

guṇān kālena coditam

na tasya kālāvayavaiḥ

pariṇāmādayo guṇāḥ

anādy anantam avyaktaḿ

nityaḿ kāraṇam avyayam

SYNONYMS

apām — of water; rasam — the taste; atha — then; tejaḥ — fire; tāḥ — that water; līyante — dissolves; atha — after this; nīrasāḥ — deprived of its quality of taste; grasate — takes away; tejasaḥ — of fire; rūpam — the form; vāyuḥ — the air; tat-rahitam — deprived of that form; tadā — then; līyate — merges; ca — and; anile — in wind; tejaḥ — fire; vāyoḥ — of the air; kham — the ether; grasati — takes away; guṇam — the perceptible quality (touch); saḥ — that air; vai — indeed; viśati — enters; kham — the ether; rājan — O King Parīkṣit; tataḥ — thereupon; ca — and; nabhasaḥ — of the ether; guṇam — the quality; śabdam — sound; grasate — takes away; bhūta-ādiḥ — the element of false ego in the mode of ignorance; nabhaḥ — the ether; tam — into that false ego; anu — subsequently; līyate — merges; taijasaḥ — false ego in the mode of passion; ca — and; indriyāṇi — the senses; ańga — my dear King; devān — the demigods; vaikārikaḥ — false ego in the mode of goodness; guṇaiḥ — along with the manifest functions (of false ego); mahān — the mahat-tattva; grasati — seizes; ahańkāram — false ego; guṇāḥ — the basic modes of nature; sattva-ādayaḥ — goodness, passion and ignorance; ca — and; tam — that mahat; grasate — seizes; avyākṛtam — the unmanifest original form of nature; rājan — O King; guṇān — the three modes; kālena — by time; coditam — impelled; na — there are not; tasya — of that unmanifest nature; kāla — of time; avayavaiḥ — by the segments; pariṇāma-ādayaḥ — transformation and the other changes of visible matter (creation, growth and so on); guṇāḥ — such qualities; anādi — without beginning; anantam — without end; avyaktam — unmanifest; nityam — eternal; kāraṇam — the cause; avyayam — infallible.

TRANSLATION

The element fire then seizes the taste from the element water, which, deprived of its unique quality, taste, merges into fire. Air seizes the form inherent in fire, and then fire, deprived of form, merges into air. The element ether seizes the quality of air, namely touch, and that air enters into ether. Then, O King, false ego in ignorance seizes sound, the quality of ether, after which ether merges into false ego. False ego in the mode of passion takes hold of the senses, and false ego in the mode of goodness absorbs the demigods. Then the total mahat-tattva seizes false ego along with its various functions, and that mahat is seized by the three basic modes of nature — goodness, passion and ignorance. My dear King Parīkṣit, these modes are further overtaken by the original unmanifest form of nature, impelled by time. That unmanifest nature is not subject to the six kinds of transformation caused by the influence of time. Rather, it has no beginning and no end. It is the unmanifest, eternal and infallible cause of creation.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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