Shloka 5
कर्मविद्या-भेदः
Karma–Vidyā Distinction: Paths of Bondage and Release
भूमेरपि गुणं गन्धमाप आददते यदा । आत्तगन्धा तदा भूमि: प्रलयत्वाय कल्पते,तत्पश्चात् जब जल पृथ्वीके गुण गन्धको ग्रहण कर लेता है, तब गन्धहीन हुई पृथ्वी अपने कारणभूत जलमें लीन हो जाती है
bhūmer api guṇaṃ gandham āpa ādadate yadā | ātta-gandhā tadā bhūmiḥ pralayatvāya kalpate ||
毗耶娑阐明坏灭的次第：当水摄取大地的特有德性——“香（气味）”——之时，大地既失其香，便堪为劫坏（pralaya），复归于其因——水——而融入其中。此教以法则说明宇宙变迁：果必还因；一切成形之物终将失去其标志性的性质，依时归入更微细的原理。
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
All compounded entities are impermanent and dissolve by a lawful process: when a thing’s defining quality is withdrawn, it can no longer sustain its separate existence and returns into its causal source—here, earth loses smell and merges into water.
Vyāsa is describing the step-by-step cosmic dissolution (pralaya) in elemental terms: water appropriates the earth-element’s specific property (gandha), and the earth-element, now without its hallmark quality, is said to dissolve back into water.