तस्माद्वा एतस्मादात्मन आकाशः सम्भूतः । आकाशाद्वायुः ।
वायोरग्निः । अग्नेरापः । अद्भ्यः पृथिवी ।
पृथिव्या ओषधयः । ओषधीभ्योन्नम् । अन्नात्पुरुषः ।
स वा एष पुरुषोऽन्नरसमयः । तस्येदमेव शिरः ।
अयं दक्षिणः पक्षः । अयमुत्तरः पक्षः ।
अयमात्मा । इदं पुच्छं प्रतिष्ठा ।
तदप्येष श्लोको भवति ॥ १॥ इति प्रथमोऽनुवाकः ॥
tasmādvā etasmādātmana ākāśaḥ sambhūtaḥ . ākāśādvāyuḥ .
vāyoragniḥ . agnerāpaḥ . adbhyaḥ pṛthivī .
pṛthivyā oṣadhayaḥ . oṣadhībhyonnam . annātpuruṣaḥ .
sa vā eṣa puruṣo’nnarasamayaḥ . tasyedameva śiraḥ .
ayaṃ dakṣiṇaḥ pakṣaḥ . ayamuttaraḥ pakṣaḥ .
ayamātmā . idaṃ pucchaṃ pratiṣṭhā .
tadapyeṣa śloko bhavati .. 1.. iti prathamo’nuvākaḥ ..
From That, verily,—from This Self—is ākāśa (ether) born; from ākāśa, the air; from the air, fire; from fire, water; from water, earth; from earth, plants; from plants, food: from food, man.
He, verily, is this man, formed of food-essence. This itself is his head; this is the right wing, this is the left wing, this is the self, this is the tail, the support. On that, too, there is this verse:
Swami, Nikhilananda. Vedanta-sara Advaita Ashrama.
THE NATURE OF THE GROSS BODIES
स्थूलभूतानि तु पञ्चीकृतानि ॥९८॥
98. But the gross elements are all compounded.
But—This shows the difference in composition of the gross elements from those of the subtle ones.
पञ्चीकरणं त्वाकाशादिपञ्चस्वेकैकं द्विधा समं विभज्य तेषु दशसु भागेषु प्राथमिकान्पञ्चभागान्प्रत्येकं चतुर्धा समं विभज्य तेषां चतुर्णां भागानां स्वस्वद्वि-तीयार्धभागपरित्यागेन भागान्तरेषु योजनम् ॥९९॥
99. The compounding takes place thus: Each of the five elements, viz ether etc., is divided into two equal parts; of the ten parts thus produced five—being the first half of each element—are each sub-divided into four equal parts. Then leaving one half of each element, to the other half is added one of these quarters from each of the other four elements. At the time of creation the five elements remain in an uncompounded state. As such they cannot produce the phenomenal objects of the universe. These subtle elements are then said to remain in the Apañcīkṛta state. Afterwards these elements combine with one another in a certain ratio, viz. half of itself plus one-eighth of each of the other four.
पञ्चानां पञ्चात्मकत्वे समानेऽपि तेषु च “वैशेष्यात्तु तद्वादस्तद्वाद:” (ब्र० सू० २।४।२२) इति न्यायेनाकाशादिव्यपदेश: सम्भवति ॥१०२॥
102. Though these five gross elements are alike in so far as each of them contains the five elements, yet they are differently named as ether etc. owing to the “preponderance1 of a particular element in them” (Brahma Sūtras 2. 4. 22).
Bhagavad Git Chapter 7 Verse 4
भूमिरापोऽनलो वायुः खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च।
अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा॥४॥
bhūmirāpo’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhireva ca,
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtiraṣṭadhā.
(4) भूमिः - earth; आपः - water; अनलः - fire; वायुः - air; खम् - space; मनः - mind; बुद्धिः - intellect; एव - even; च - and; अहङ्कारः - egoism; इति - thus; इयम् - these; मे - my; भिन्ना - divided; प्रकृतिः - nature; अष्टधा - eightfold
4. Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, egoism; these are My eightfold prakṛti.
Chinmayananda, Swami. Shrimad Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 7 (p. 19). Central Chinmaya Mission Trust. Kindle Edition.