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Having united with parts of one another, they become gross, and in that form they become the cause for the formation of the gross body. Their subtle essence constitutes the sense objects, five in number, such as sound etc., which contribute to the enjoyment of the experiencer, the individual ego.
In the previous stanza, a mere mention was made of the subtle elements, and in this stanza we are told how they, by a process of mutual combination, become condensed to sufficient grossness that they become perceptible to our sense organs. This process by which the subtle elements become the Five gross Elements accepted even by modern science as the unit of matter in the world, is called in Sanskrit,
Pancikaranam', a pentamerous self-duplication and mutual combinations.
This process is explained in Vedanta as taking place in four distinct stages of "self-division and mutual combinations". The rudimentary subtle elements are constituted of units called Tanmatrās. There are five distinct Tanmatrās for the five great elements, the Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Each Tanmätra, (unit of each of the five Elements) in the first stage of their self-grossification, shows a tendency to divide itself into two halves. In the second stage, each Tanmatra of the Five Elements becomes bifurcated into two equal parts.:
During the third stage, one half of all the Five Elements remain intact* while the other half (of each Element) gets itself divided into four equal parts. Thus, under the column 'Ether', we have in its third stage, half a Tanmātra remaining intact (the blacked-half) and the other half divided itself into four equal parts, each not constituting, therefore, gth of the original Tanmātra
* Refer Swamiji's "Talk on Atmabodha".
