अन्नमिति होवाच सर्वाणि ह वा इमानि भूतन्यन्नमेव प्रतिहरमाणानि जीवन्ति सैषा देवता प्रतिहारमन्वायत्ता तां चेदविद्वान्प्रत्यहरिष्यो मूर्धा ते व्यपतिष्यत्तथोक्तस्य मयेति तथोक्तस्य मयेति ॥ १.११.९ ॥
॥ इति एकादशः खण्डः ॥annamiti hovāca sarvāṇi ha vā imāni bhūtanyannameva pratiharamāṇāni jīvanti saiṣā devatā pratihāramanvāyattā tāṃ cedavidvānpratyahariṣyo mūrdhā te vyapatiṣyattathoktasya mayeti tathoktasya mayeti || 1.11.9 ||
|| iti ekādaśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ||9. Uṣasti said: ‘It is anna [food], for all these beings support themselves by eating food. Anna is that deity to whom the pratihāra is addressed. If you had sung the pratihāra not knowing the deity to whom it is addressed, your head would surely have fallen, as I had told you’.
Word-for-word explanation:
Annam iti ha uvāca, [Uṣasti] said, it is anna [food]; ha vai, for; imāni sarvāṇi bhūtāni, all these beings; annam eva pratiharamāṇāni jīvanti, support themselves by collecting food; sā eṣā devatā, that [food] is the deity; pratihāram anvāyattā, the pratihāra is addressed to; cet, if; tām, that [deity]; avidvān, from ignorance; pratyahariṣyaḥ, you had sung the pratihāra; [then] tathā, like that; mayā uktasya, in spite of being warned by me; te mūrdhā vyapatiṣyat iti, your head would surely have fallen [the repetition is for the sake of emphasis]. Iti ekādaśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ, here ends the eleventh section.
Commentary:
Every living being has to support itself by collecting food. It involves much effort, but each one has to make that effort. Prati means ‘each and every.’ The deity is pratihāra because each and every being has to ‘collect’ (āharam) food for himself.
In short, you worship prāṇa (the vital force) through the prastāva, āditya (the sun) through the udgītha, and anna (food) through the pratihāra. What is the result of this? The result is progress in every way.