Fourteen Worlds
FOURTEEN WORLDSVedic Cosmology

SB 11.3.13

Devanāgarī

वायुना हृतगन्धा भू: सलिलत्वाय कल्पते । सलिलं तद्‍धृतरसं ज्योतिष्ट्वायोपकल्पते ॥ १३ ॥

Text

vāyunā hṛta-gandhā bhūḥ salilatvāya kalpate salilaṁ tad-dhṛta-rasaṁ jyotiṣṭvāyopakalpate

Synonyms

vāyunā—by the wind;hṛta—deprived;gandhā—of its quality of aroma;bhūḥ—the element earth;salilatvāyakalpate—becomes water;salilam—water;tat—by that (the same element, wind);hṛta-rasam—deprived of its quality of taste;jyotiṣṭvāyaupakalpate—becomes fire.

Translation

Deprived of its quality of aroma by the wind, the element earth is transformed into water; and water, deprived of its taste by that same wind, is merged into fire.

Purport

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives several descriptions of the material creation, by which air is expanded from ether, fire from air, water from fire, and earth from water. Now, in the reverse order, the creation is wound up. Thus earth merges back into the water from which it came, and water similarly merges into fire.
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