Verse 3.41

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

अन्योन्यस्थितिहेतुत्वादन्नान्नादत्वमुच्यते ।
शरीरप्राणयोरेवमुत्तरेष्वपि निर्णयः ॥ ४१ ॥

anyonyasthitihetutvādannānnādatvamucyate |
śarīraprāṇayorevamuttareṣvapi nirṇayaḥ || 41 ||

English translation of verse 3.41:

The body and the vital force are said to be food and the eater of food, since they mutually support each other. In this way, explanation must be given in respect of the subsequent entities also.

Notes:

This verse explains the śruti texts prāṇo vā annaṃ, śarīramannādam.

Śruti speaks of the body and the vital force as both food and the eater of food. What dwells within something is food, and whatever holds something within is the eater. Since the vital force dwells in the body, it is food, and the body is the eater. In the same way, the body, too, is food, and the vital force is the eater, because the body is dependent on the vital force for its continuation. Just as a pillar within the house supports the house, even so the vital force, dwelling within the body, supports the body; and so the body is fixed on the vital force (prāṇe śarīram-pratiṣṭhitaṃ). In the aspect of their being lodged in each other, they are food; and in the aspect of being the support of each other, they are caters. In the same way, the relation between water and fire as well as earth and ether mentioned in the subsequent anuvākas has to be explained in terms of food and the eater of food.