tadÄ bhÅ«mer gandha-guṇaá¹
grasanty Äpa uda-plave
grasta-gandhÄ tu pá¹›thivÄ«
pralayatvÄya kalpate
tadÄ - then; bhÅ«meḥ - of the earth; gandha-guṇam - the perceptible quality of fragrance; grasanti - takes away; Äpaḥ - the water; uda-plave - during the flooding; grasta-gandhÄ - deprived of its fragrance; tu - and; pá¹›thivÄ« - the element earth; pralayatvÄya kalpate - becomes unmanifest.
As the entire universe is flooded, the water will rob the earth of its unique quality of fragrance, and the element earth, deprived of its distinguishing quality, will be dissolved.
As clearly explained throughout ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, the first element, sky, possesses the unique quality of sound. As creation expands, the second element, air, comes into being, and it possesses sound and touch. The third element, fire, possesses sound, touch and form, and the fourth element, water, possesses sound, touch, form and flavor. The earth possesses sound, touch, form, flavor and aroma. As each element loses its unique distinguishing quality, it naturally becomes indistinguishable from the more subtle elements and is thus effectively dissolved as a unique entity.
