In plain words
Entering the earth, I sustain all beings with My power; becoming Soma, essence of sap, I nourish all plants.
Word for word
Entering the earth, I sustain the beings by [My] power; and I nourish all plants, having become Soma, whose nature is sap.
गामाविश्य च भूतानि धारयाम्यहमोजसापुष्णामि चौषधीः सर्वाः सोमो भूत्वा रसात्मकः
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
किञ्च —
गां पृथिवीम् आविश्य प्रविश्य धारयामि भूतानि जगत् अहम् ओजसा बलेन ; यत् बलं कामरागविवर्जितम् ऐश्वरं रूपं जगद्विधारणाय पृथिव्याम् आविष्टं येन पृथिवी गुर्वी न अधः पतति न विदीर्यते च । तथा च मन्त्रवर्णः — ‘येन द्यौरुग्रा पृथिवी च दृढा’(तै. सं. ४ । १ । ८) इति, ‘स दाधार पृथिवीम्’(तै. सं. ४ । १ । ८) इत्यादिश्च । अतः गामाविश्य च भूतानि चराचराणि धारयामि इति युक्तमुक्तम् । किञ्च, पृथिव्यां जाताः ओषधीः सर्वाः व्रीहियवाद्याः पुष्णामि पुष्टिमतीः रसस्वादुमतीश्च करोमि सोमो भूत्वा रसात्मकः सोमः सन् रसात्मकः रसस्वभावः । सर्वरसानाम् आकरः सोमः । स हि सर्वरसात्मकः सर्वाः ओषधीः स्वात्मरसान् अनुप्रवेशयन् पुष्णाति ॥ १३ ॥
In plain words
And there's more —
Having entered the earth, having pervaded it completely, I sustain all beings, the whole world, by my own vital strength. That strength is free of any desire or craving; it is the Lord's own form, poured into the earth to hold the world up, and it is why the earth, heavy as it is, never falls, never breaks apart. Scripture itself says so: 'by which the sky is made mighty and the earth firm' (Taittirīya Saṃhitā 4.1.8), and 'he held up the earth' (Taittirīya Saṃhitā 4.1.8), and more like it. So it is rightly said: having entered the earth, I sustain every being, moving and unmoving alike. And there is more: I nourish every plant that grows from the earth, rice, barley, all of them, filling them with nourishment and making them rich with flavor, by becoming Soma, whose very nature is flavor itself. Soma, being made of flavor, has flavor as his own essential being. Soma is the source of every flavor there is. And because he is, in himself, every flavor, he nourishes all the plants by pouring his own essence into them.
Close to the Sanskrit
Moreover —
Having entered, having pervaded, the earth, I sustain the beings, the world, I, by ojas, by strength; that strength which, free from desire and attachment, is the Lord's own form, entered into the earth for the sustaining of the world, by which the earth, though heavy, does not fall down and does not disintegrate. And so the mantra-text says — 'by which the sky is mighty and the earth is firm' (Taittirīya Saṃhitā 4.1.8) — and 'he held up the earth' (Taittirīya Saṃhitā 4.1.8), etc. Therefore, 'having entered the earth, and I sustain the beings, moving and unmoving' — thus is it rightly said. Moreover, the herbs born on the earth, all of them, rice, barley, etc., I nourish, making them full of nourishment, and full of tasty flavor I make them, becoming Soma, of the nature of rasa; Soma, being of the nature of rasa, having rasa as his inherent nature. Soma is the source of all rasas. For he, being of the nature of all rasas, nourishes all the herbs, infusing them with his own essence. || 13 ||