सर्वान्नानुमतिश्च प्राणात्यये, तद्दर्शनात् ॥ २८ ॥
sarvānnānumatiśca prāṇātyaye, taddarśanāt || 28 ||
sarva-anna-anumatiḥ—Permission to take all sorts of food; (ca—and;) prāṇātyaye—when life is jeopardized; tat-darśanāt—because the Sruti declares that.
28. (Only) when life is jeopardized (there is) permission to take food indiscriminately, because the Sruti declares that.
“For one who knows this, there is nothing that is not food” (Chh. 5. 2. 1). The opponent holds that on account of the newness of the statement it is enjoined on one who meditates on Prana. Such a statement being found nowhere else, it has an injunctive value. This Sutra refutes it and says that it is not an injunction, but only a statement of fact, and where the idea of an injunction does not arise, we are not justified in assuming one. Prohibited food may be eaten only when life is in danger, as was done by the sage Chakrayana when he was dying for want of food. This fact we get from the Sruti.