प्रकृत्या शीतलस्पर्शो हिमविद्धश्च साम्प्रतम्।
प्रवाति पश्चिमो वायुः काले द्विगुणशीतलः॥
prakṛtyā śītala-sparśo hima-viddhaś ca sāmpratam
pravāti paścimo vāyuḥ kāle dvi-guṇa-śītalaḥ
prakṛtyā = is naturally; śītala-sparśaḥ = cold to touch; hima-viddhaḥ ca = penetrated by frost; sāmpratam = in winter; pravāti = the wind; paścimaḥ = from the west; vāyuḥ = the wind; kāle = at this time; dvi-guṇa-śītalaḥ = is twice as cold.
The wind from the west is naturally cold to touch. Penetrated by frost at this time in winter, the wind is twice as cold.
1 “The five pure elements” refer to the elements—earth, water, fire, air and ether—in their original state. The gross elements experienced by the conditioned souls also bear the names of “earth,” “water,” “fire,” “air” and “ether” respectively, but the “earth” experienced by the conditioned souls is not pure earth. Rather it is a mixture of earth and the other elements, with earth being the predominant component in this mixture. This is also the case with the other elements as they are experienced by the conditioned souls.
The wind is naturally cold to touch. The author intends to say that it is hot to touch [in summer] due to adventitious conditions.
GLOSS. It is not inappropriate to state that wind is naturally cold because the unique qualities of water are also present in air by the process of trivṛt-karaṇa.
NOTE. Trivṛt-karaṇa technically refers to the mixture of the three elements of earth, water and fire in the process of creation as noted in Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.3.2-4 and Vedānta-sūtra 2.4.20 (saṁjñā-mūrti-kḷptis tu trivṛt kurvata upadeśāt). In his Govinda-bhāṣya to this sūtra, Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Prabhu notes that this process is actually a reference to the mixture of the five pure elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) which produces the universe containing the gross elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) as experienced by the conditioned souls.1
They are mixed in the following manner: The five pure elements earth, water, fire, air and ether are divided into halves each. Then each half is divided into four parts. One-eighth part of each of the other four pure elements is added to half of the remaining pure element and thus the gross element bearing the name of the remaining pure element is produced.
For example, the gross ether is made up of half of pure ether plus one-eighth pure air, one-eighth pure fire, one-eighth pure water and one-eighth pure earth. Similarly, the gross air is made up of half of pure air plus one-eighth pure ether, one-eighth pure fire, one-eighth pure water and one-eighth pure earth. This is also the case with the other three elements.
This explains the glossator’s remark. Gross air in the form of the wind does contain a small part of water naturally and so the unique feature of water—coldness—is naturally present in the wind.