Shloka 8
ध्यानयोगवर्णनम्
Description of the Path of Meditation
तस्मिन् नष्टे शरीराग्नौ ततो देहमचेतनम् | पतितं याति भूमित्वमयनं तस्य हि क्षिति:,उस शरीराग्निके नष्ट होनेपर अचेतन शरीर पृथ्वीपर गिरकर पार्थिवभावको प्राप्त हो जाता है; क्योंकि पृथ्वी ही उसका आधार है। समस्त स्थावरों और जंगमोंकी प्राणवायु आकाशको प्राप्त होती है और अग्नि भी उस वायुका ही अनुसरण करती है। इस प्रकार आकाश, वायु और अग्नि--ये तीन तत्त्व एकत्र हो जाते हैं और जल तथा पृथ्वी--दो तत्त्व भूमिपर ही रह जाते हैं
tasmin naṣṭe śarīrāgnau tato deham acetanaṃ | patitaṃ yāti bhūmitvam ayanaṃ tasya hi kṣitiḥ ||
Bharadvāja said: “When the bodily fire is extinguished, the body becomes insentient; falling to the ground, it assumes the state of earth, for the earth is indeed its resting-place and support. (In this teaching on the dissolution of the elements at death, the body returns to its elemental basis.)”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the elemental dissolution of the body: when the sustaining bodily fire ceases, the body loses consciousness and returns to its material basis—earth—highlighting impermanence and the distinction between the self and the perishable body.
Bharadvāja is explaining what occurs at death in terms of the elements: the bodily fire is extinguished, the body becomes inert, falls to the ground, and is said to become 'earth' because earth is its support and final resting-place.