Text 52
sattva-saṅgād ṛṣīn devān
rajasāsura-mānuṣān
tamasā bhūta-tiryaktvaṁ
bhrāmito yāti karmabhiḥ
sattva-saṅgāt — by association with the mode of goodness; ṛṣīn — to the sages; devān — to the demigods; rajasā — by the mode of passion; asura — to the demons; mānuṣān — and to human beings; tamasā — by the mode of ignorance; bhūta — to the ghostly spirits; tiryaktvam — or the animal kingdom; bhrāmitaḥ — made to wander; yāti — he goes; karmabhiḥ — because of his fruitive activities.
Made to wander because of his fruitive work, the conditioned soul, by contact with the mode of goodness, takes birth among the sages or demigods. By contact with the mode of passion he becomes a demon or human being, and by association with the mode of ignorance he takes birth as a ghost or in the animal kingdom.
The word tiryaktvam means “the status of an animal,” which includes all lower forms of life, such as beasts, birds, insects, fish and plants.