Text:
योनिमन्ये प्रपद्यन्ते शरीरत्वाय देहिनः ।
स्थाणुमन्येऽनुसंयन्ति यथाकर्म यथाश्रुतम् ॥ ७ ॥yonimanye prapadyante śarīratvāya dehinaḥ ।
sthāṇumanye’nusaṃyanti yathākarma yathāśrutam ॥ 7 ॥7. Some jivas (dehinah) go into wombs to be embodied; others pass into the immoveable, according to their karma and to their knowledge.
Shankara’s Commentary:
Into wombs, combined with semen virile. Some ignorant fools go to take a body. The meaning is that the jivas having a body enter the womb. Others, yet inferior after death, become immoveable, such as trees and the rest; ‘according to their karma, means according to karma performed by them, i.e., by the form of karma performed by them, in this birth. Similarly also , ‘ according to their knowledge,’ i.e., according to the nature of knowledge acquired by them. The meaning is that they take a body corresponding to them; for, another sruti says ‘they are born according to their knowledge.’