Aitareya Upanishad - 4

 

Sec. 3, Mantras 1to10

Mantra 1 & 2

sa iIkshateme nu lokashcha lokapalaschannamebhyah srija iti. II 1 II

He bethought Himself: "Here now are the worlds and the world-guardians. Let Me cerate food for them."

So’po abhyatapattabhyo abhitaptabhyo murtirajayata.I

ya vai sa murtirajayatannam vai tat. II 2 II

He brooded over the waters. From the waters, thus brooded over, there emerged a material form. The form that so emerged is indeed food.

After creation of these deities, Iswara thought He should create food for them as hunger and thirst are co-existent with them.   He brooded over the waters, representing the five elements, from which there emerged the ‘organic matter’ as food.

Mantra 3

tadenatsrishtam parang tyajighamsattadvacha-jighriksat

tannasaknod-vacha grahItum,

yaddhvainadvacha-grahaisyad-abhivyahritya haivannam-atrapsyat. II3II

The food so created wished to flee away. He (the first embodied being) sought to grasp it with speech. But he was not able to grasp it with speech. If, indeed, he had grasped it with speech, one would then have been satisfied by merely uttering the word 'food'.

In order to quench the hunger and thirst of the worlds, gross food was created. That food thought that they would eat it away and to escape from the eater, it started running away. Then jivathma in the form of human being tried to catch hold of it by speech but failed to grasp it by speech. At that time if that Jivathma could hold the food by speech, now the human beings also could feel satiated by simply uttering the word 'food' but it did not happen like that.

The next six Mantras from 4 to 9, give similar examples of different organs of the body trying to catch the food and failing in their efforts.  So Mantras are not quoted and only their meaning is given Mantra-war.

Mantra 4 to 9

He sought to catch it (food) by breadth (smelling).  He could not seize it by smelling.  If he had caught it by smelling, then one would have been satisfied indeed by merely smelling food (Mantra 4)

He sought to catch it by the eyes.  He could not seize it by the eyes.  If he had caught it by the eyes, then one would have been satisfied indeed by merely seeing food (Mantra 5)

He sought to catch it by the ears.  He could not seize it by the ears.  If he had caught it by the ears, then one would have been satisfied indeed by merely hearing about food (Mantra 6)

He sought to catch it by the skin.  He could not seize it by the skin.  If he had caught it by the skin, then one would have been satisfied indeed by merely touching the food (Mantra 7)

He sought to catch it by the mind.  He could not seize it by the mind.  If he had caught it by the mind, then one would have been satisfied indeed by merely thinking about food (Mantra 8)

He sought to catch it by the reproductive organ.  He could not seize it by the reproductive organ.  If he had caught it by the reproductive organ, then one would have been satisfied indeed merely by emission. (Mantra 9)

Mantra 10

tadapanenajighrikshat tadavayath saisho-annasya graho

yadvayuranayurva esha yadvayuh. II10II

He sought to grasp it with the apana and he grasped it. Therefore, apana alone is that which catches the food; and indeed, the apana (Vayu) is the chief cause in supporting life by food.  

Lastly, he tried to grasp the food with apana through the gate of mouth and he succeeded. It is with the help of apana the food eaten gets assimilated and the assimilated food keeps all the sense-organs active and efficient in the human body.  Apana is a part of the five-fold Prana.  Since apana, with the other four upa-pranas, grasps food, retains, consumes and assimilates it and rejects the waste by-products, it is the chief cause in supporting life by food  and therefore it is called Vayu.

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