अथात्मनेऽन्नाद्यमागायत्; यद्धि किंचान्नमद्यतेऽनेनैव तदद्यते, इह प्रतितिष्ठति ॥ १७ ॥
athātmane’nnādyamāgāyat; yaddhi kiṃcānnamadyate’nenaiva tadadyate, iha pratitiṣṭhati || 17 ||
17. Next it secured eatable food for itself by chanting, for whatever food is eaten, is eaten by the vital force alone, and it rests on that.
As the organ of speech and the rest had chanted for their own sake, so the vital force in the mouth, after securing, by chanting the three hymns called Pavamāna, the result to be shared by all the organs, viz. identity with Virāj, next secured eatable food for itself by chanting the remaining nine hymns. We have already said that according to the Vedas the priests get the results of a sacrifice.[16] How do we know that the vital force secured that eatable food for itself by chanting? The resaon is being stated: For whatever food
—food in general is meant— is eaten by creatures in the world is eaten by the vital force (Ana) alone. The particle ‘hi’ (for) denotes a reason. ‘Ana’ is a well-known name of the vital force. There is another word ‘Anas’[17] ending in s, which means a cart, but this word ends in a vowel and is a synonym of the vital force. Besides, the vital force not only eats the eatable food, it also rests on that food, when it has been transformed into the body. Therefore the vital force secured the eatable food for itself by chanting, in order that it might live in the body. Although the vital force eats food, yet, because it is only in order that it might live in the body, there is no question of its contracting the evil due to attachment to fine performance, as was the case with the organ of speech and the rest.