12.177
Bharadvāja said.
These are those five elements which Brahmā formerly created. By which these worlds are enveloped, called the great elements.
When the great-minded one created thousands of beings, how is it that the state of being of the five elements is established?
Bhṛgu said.
The great sound of the immeasurable reaches the origin of beings. Therefore, for them, the term 'great beings' is justified.
Activity is air, space is ether, heat is fire, water is liquid, and the aggregate body here is composed of the five elements.
Thus, all immobile and mobile beings are composed of these five elements; the ear, nose, taste, touch, and sight are known as the senses.
Bharadvāja said.
If, indeed, both immobile and mobile beings are composed of the five elements, the five elements are not observed in the bodies of immobile beings.
In reality, in the bodies of trees, which are without heat, without movement, and are solid, the five elements are not found.
They neither hear nor see, nor do they know smell or taste; nor do they perceive touch. How then are they composed of the five elements?
Because space is not liquid, not fiery, not earthy, not airy, and is immeasurable, trees do not have a material (elemental) nature in relation to space.
Bhṛgu said.
Even among dense trees, there is certainly space; and among them, the appearance of flowers and fruits is always evident.
From heat, the bark, fruit, and flower of withered leaves wither away, but in cold, there is no such effect here.
Fruit and flowers are scattered by wind, fire, thunderbolt, and crushing. Sound is received by the ear; therefore, trees hear.
The creeper wraps around the tree and spreads in all directions. There is no path for the unperceiving; therefore, trees are aware.
Trees, being free from disease and in bloom, exist because of merit and demerit, as well as various scents and incenses; therefore, they are able to smell.
In trees, water is absorbed by the roots, and even diseases can be observed; because of their ability to counteract diseases, taste is present in the tree.
Just as one would take water upwards with the mouth through the stalk of a lotus, so too the tree drinks (water) with its feet, aided by the wind.
Because pleasure and pain are experienced and cut branches sprout again, I see that trees possess life; there is no absence of consciousness in them.
Thus, the water thus taken is digested by the action of fire and wind. From the transformation of food, unctuousness and growth arise.
In the bodies of all moving beings, there are five elements; each is individually divided, and by these, the body functions.
The skin, flesh, bones, marrow, and sinews—these five are described here as the earth element in the body.
Lustre, fire, anger, the eye, and heat—these five, in the same way, are fiery in embodied beings; fire also causes decay.
The ear, nose, mouth, heart, and abdomen—these five elements in the body of living beings arise from space.
Phlegm, bile, sweat, fat, and blood—these five forms of water always exist in the bodies of living beings.
The living being is moved by prāṇa, expanded by vyāna; apāna moves downward, and samāna is established in the heart.
It is by udāna that one breathes upward, and by each division that one speaks. Thus, these five vital airs function here in the embodied being.
The embodied being perceives the qualities of smell from earth and taste from water; perceives form through light with the eyes, and perceives touch through air.
I will now explain in detail the qualities of that fragrance: both its desirable and undesirable aspects, as well as its sweet and pungent characteristics.
The earthly expansion of scent is to be known as ninefold: removing, compact, unctuous, dry, clear, indeed, and thus.
Sound, touch, form, and taste are known as the qualities of water. Now, I will explain the knowledge of taste; listen to me as I speak.
The wise, those of renowned self, have declared that taste is of many kinds: sweet, salty, bitter, astringent, sour, and pungent. This sixfold expansion of taste, consisting of water, is remembered.
Sound, touch, and form, which are of threefold quality, are called light. Light perceives forms, and form is remembered in many ways.
Short, long, thick, quadrangular, minute, circular; white, black, red, blue, yellow, and reddish-brown—these twelvefold characteristics are considered the qualities of the form of light.
Sound and touch are to be understood as the two qualities of air; air is said to possess two qualities. Of air, the quality is touch, and touch is remembered in many ways.
The qualities of wind are described as twelvefold: hard, slippery, smooth, sticky, soft, harsh, hot, cold, pleasant, unpleasant, unctuous, and clear.
There, ether is said to have one quality, namely sound. I shall now explain in detail the various forms of that sound.
The notes ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha, gāndhāra, madhyama, pañcama, dhaivata, and niṣāda are to be known as such.
This sevenfold quality, described as the characteristic of space, is present everywhere by means of threefold sound, even in drums and similar objects.
They say that sound, which is born in the sky and carried along with the qualities of wind, is perceived when the wind is unobstructed, but is not recognized when the wind comes in a disturbed manner.
The elements are always nourished by those elements; waters, fire, and wind are always indeed awake in embodied beings.
