Bhashya
यत् यदि वृक्षो वृक्णः छिन्नः रोहति पुनः पुनःप्ररोहति प्रादुर्भवति मूलात् पुनर्नवतरः पूर्वस्मादभिनव-तरः ; यदेतस्माद्विशेषणात्प्राक् वनस्पतेः पुरुषस्य च, सर्वंसामान्यमवगतम् ; अयं तु वनस्पतौ विशेषो दृश्यते- यत्छिन्नस्य प्ररोहणम् ; न तु पुरुषे मृत्युना वृक्णे पुनः प्ररो-हणं दृश्यते ; भवितव्यं च कुतश्चित्प्ररोहणेन ; तस्मात् वःपृच्छामि- मर्त्यः मनुष्यः स्वित् मृत्युना वृक्णः कस्मात्मूलात् प्ररोहति, मृतस्य पुरुषस्य कुतः प्ररोहणमित्यर्थः ॥
In plain words
'Yat' simply means 'if.' A tree that's been cut down keeps growing back, fresher each time, straight from its root. Up to this point, everything said applied equally to a tree and to a person. But here's the one thing true only of the tree: cut it, and it grows back. Cut a person down with death, and nothing grows back -- and yet something must. So I'm asking you plainly: a mortal, felled by death -- from what root does he sprout again? Where, if anywhere, does a dead man's new growth come from? That's the question.
Close to the Sanskrit
'Yat' means 'if'; a tree, felled -- that is, cut -- grows again and again; it sprouts forth, comes into manifest being, from the root, again fresher -- more entirely fresh than before. Now, prior to this particular remark, it was understood that everything said was common to both a tree and a man. But this specific feature is seen only in a tree: that a cut one sprouts again. In the case of a man felled by death, however, no such re-sprouting is seen; and yet some sprouting must occur from somewhere. Therefore I ask you: does a mortal -- a human being -- felled by death, sprout forth from what root? That is, from where does the sprouting of a dead man occur? -- such is the meaning.