Vanaspati: Plants and Plant-Life as in Indian Treatises and Traditions c5.s8.12

c5.s8.12

“There come a time when the visible universe passes away, and consequently beings are reborn elsewhere in the nebular sphere. This is duly succeeded by a time when the world begins to develop anew. All is then water, and enveloped in darkness, a darkness that blinds. Those beings, falling from radiant worlds are reborn within the formed universe, made of consciousness, sustained by joy, floating in space, and shining in glory. The formed universe, the juicy earth (*rasa pathavi*) ‘emerges from the waters like a scum of milk or ghee, odorous and sweet.’ Having come in contact with it, feasting thereon, those beings become solidified, and lose thereby part of their luminance. Thus the Sun, the Moon and the Stars and Planets