स अइक्षत, यदि वा इममभिमंस्ये, कनीयोऽन्नं करिष्य इति; स तया वाचा तेनात्मनेदं सर्वमसृजत यदिदं किंच— ऋचो यजूंषि सामानि छन्दांसि यज्ञान् प्रजाः पशून् । स यद्यदेवासृजत तत्तदत्तुमध्रियत; सर्वं वा अत्तीति तददितेरदितित्वम्; सर्वस्यात्ता भवति, सर्वमस्यान्नम् भवति, य एवमेतददितेरदितित्वं वेद ॥ ५ ॥
sa aikṣata, yadi vā imamabhimaṃsye, kanīyo’nnaṃ kariṣya iti; sa tayā vācā tenātmanedaṃ sarvamasṛjata yadidaṃ kiṃca— ṛco yajūṃṣi sāmāni chandāṃsi yajñān prajāḥ paśūn | sa yadyadevāsṛjata tattadattumadhriyata; sarvaṃ vā attīti tadaditeradititvam; sarvasyāttā bhavati, sarvamasyānnam bhavati, ya evametadaditeradititvaṃ veda || 5 ||
5. He thought, ‘If I kill him, I shall be making very little food.’ Through that speech and that mind he projected all this, whatever there is—the Vedas Ṛc, Yajus and Sāman, the metres, the sacrifices, men and animals. Whatever he projected, he resolved to eat. Because he eats everything, therefore Aditi (Death) is so called. He who knows how Aditi came to have this name of Aditi, becomes the eater of all this, and everything becomes his food.
Seeing the babe frightened and crying, he, Death, thought, although he was hungry, ‘If I kill him, this babe, I shall be making very little food.’—The root ‘man’ with the prefix ‘abhi’ means to injure or kill.—Thinking thus he desisted from eating him, for he must make not a little food, but a great quantity of it, so that he might eat it for a long time; and if he ate the babe, he would make very little food as there is no crop if the seeds are eaten up. Thinking of the large quantity of food necessary for his purpose, through that speech, the Vedas already mentioned, and that mind, uniting them, that is, reflecting on the Vedas again and again, he projected all this, the movable and immovable (animals, plants, etc. etc.), whatever there is. What is it? The Vedas Ṛc, Yajus and Sāman, the seven metres, viz. Gāyatri and the rest, i.e. the three kinds of Mantras (sacred formulæ) forming part of a ceremony, viz. the hymns (Stotra), the praises (Śastra)[9] and the rest, composed in Gāyatri and other metres, the sacrifices, which are performed with the help of those Mantras, men, who perform these, and animals, domestic and wild, which are a part of the rites.
Objection: It has already been said that Death projected Virāj through the union of speech (the Vedas) with the mind. So how can it now be said that he projected the Vedas?
Reply: It is all right, for the previous union of the mind was with the Vedas in an unmanifested state, whereas the creation spoken of here is the manifestation of the already existing Vedas so that they may be applied to the ceremonies. Understanding that now the food had increased, whatever he, Prajāpati, projected, whether it was action, its means or its results, he resolved to eat. Because he eats everything, therefore Aditi or Death is so called. So the Śruti says, ‘Aditi is heaven, Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the mother, and he is the father,’ etc. (Ṛ. I. lix. 10). He who knows how Aditi, Prajāpati or Death, came to have this name of Aditi, because of eating everything, becomes the eater of all this universe, which becomes his food—that is, as identified with the universe, otherwise it would involve a contradiction; for nobody, we see, is the sole eater of everything. Therefore the meaning is that he becomes identified with everything. And for this very reason everything becomes his food, for it stands to reason that everything is the food of an eater who is identified with everything.