15.14 The fire that digests Krishna speaks

अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रितः
प्राणापानसमायुक्तः पचाम्यन्नं चतुर्विधम्

ahaṁ vaiśhvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśhritaḥ
prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pachāmy annaṁ chatur-vidham

Becoming the fire of digestion in the bodies of the living, I take in the fourfold food with the outgoing and incoming breath.

Explanation

The fire of digestion, and the breath either way.

vaiśvānara, the fire in the belly, taking in the fourfold food with the outgoing and incoming breath.

This is the least exalted claim in the chapter and it is doing something specific: the highest person is being located in the most involuntary, unspiritual process a body performs. There is nowhere left for the divine not to be.

Word by word

aham: I
vaiśhvānaraḥ: fire of digestion
bhūtvā: becoming
prāṇinām: of all living beings
deham: the body
āśhritaḥ: situated
prāṇa-apāna: outgoing and incoming breath
samāyuktaḥ: keeping in balance
pachāmi: I digest
annam: foods
chatuḥ-vidham: the four kinds