Text 27] Prayers by the Demigods 161
aqeTTEAeT avatar
eared fat aesza: iVll
ekdyano ’sau dvi-phalas tri-miilas
catii-rasah parica-vidhah sad-atma
sapta-tvag asta-vitapo navakso
dasa-cchadi dvi-khago hy ddi-vrksah
eka-ayanah—the body of an ordinary living being is fully dependent
on the material elements; asau—that; dvi-phalah—in this body we are
subject to material happiness and distress, which result from karma; tri-
milah—having three roots, the three modes of nature (goodness, pas-
sion and ignorance), upon which the body is created; catuh-rasah—four
rasas, or tastes;* parica-vidhah—consisting of five senses for acquiring
knowledge (the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and touch); sat-dtma—six
circumstances (lamentation, illusion, old age, death, hunger and thirst);
sapta-tvak—having seven coverings (skin, blood, muscle, fat, bone,
marrow and semen); asta-vitapah—eight branches (the five gross ele-
ments—earth, water, fire, air and ether—and also the mind, intelligence
and ego); nava-aksah—nine holes; dasa-chadi—ten kinds of life air,
resembling the leaves of a tree; dvi-khagah—two birds (the individual
soul and the Supersoul); hi—indeed; ddi-vrksah—this is the orig-
inal tree or construction of the material body, whether individual or
universal.
TRANSLATION
The body [the total body and the individual body are of the same

composition] may figuratively be called ‘“‘the original tree.” From
this tree, which fully depends on the ground of material nature,
come two kinds of fruit—the enjoyment of happiness and the
suffering of distress. The cause of the tree, forming its three roots,
is association with the three modes of material nature— goodness,
*As the root of a tree extracts water (rasa) from the earth, the body tastes dharma,
artha, kama and moksa—religion, economic development, sense gratification and libera-
tion. These are four kinds of rasa, or taste.
