Bhashya
सा ह वाक् प्रथमं बलिदानाय प्रवृत्ता ह किल उवाचउक्तवती — यत् वै अहं वसिष्ठास्मि, यन् मम वसिष्ठत्वम्,तत् तवैव ; तेन वसिष्ठगुणेन त्वं तद्वसिष्ठोऽसीति ।यन् वैअहं प्रतिष्ठास्मि, त्वं तत्प्रतिष्ठोऽसि, या मम प्रतिष्ठा सा त्व-मसीति चक्षुः ।समानम् अन्यत् ।संपदायतनप्रजातित्वगु-णान् क्रमेण समर्पितवन्तः ।यद्येवम्, साधु बलिं दत्तवन्तोभवन्तः ; ब्रूत- तस्य उ मे एवंगुणविशिष्टस्य किमन्नम्,किं वास इति ; आहुरितरे — यदिदं लोके किंच किंचित्अन्नं नाम आ श्वभ्यः आ कृमिभ्यः आ कीटपतङ्गेभ्यः, यच्चश्वान्नं कृम्यन्नं कीटपतङ्गान्नं च, तेन सह सर्वमेव यत्किंचित्प्राणिभिरद्यमानम् अन्नम्, तत्सर्वं तवान्नम् ।सर्वं प्राणस्या-न्नामिति दृष्टिः अत्र विधीयते ॥
In plain words
Speech was the first to step forward and pay tribute. As the story has it, she said: 'Whatever excellence I have is entirely yours — by that same quality, you are the most excellent one.' Then the eye said the same about being the foothold: 'Whatever foothold I am, you are that too.' And so it went for the rest — hearing, mind, and seed handed over attainment, the abode, and the power to have children, one after another. 'Well then,' he said, 'you've all paid your tribute nicely — now tell me: for someone with all these qualities, what do I eat, and what do I wear?' The others answered: 'Whatever in this world counts as food at all — right down to what dogs eat, what worms eat, what insects and moths eat — every last thing any living creature eats is your food.' And that is the teaching given here: everything, without exception, is Prāṇa's food.
Close to the Sanskrit
She, Speech, having first set about giving tribute, indeed, so it is said, spoke, saying: 'Whatever, verily, I am — Vasiṣṭhā — whatever excellence is mine, that belongs to you alone; by that quality of excellence, you are that Vasiṣṭha' — thus. 'Whatever, verily, I am — the foothold — you are that foothold; whatever foothold is mine, that you are' — thus [said] the eye. The procedure is the same for the rest: they conferred, in sequence, the qualities of attainment, abode, and procreation-ness. 'If this is so, well have all of you given tribute; tell me, then — for me, thus distinguished by these qualities, what is food, or what is clothing?' The others said: 'Whatever in the world is called food at all, down to dogs, down to worms, down to insects and moths, and whatever is the dog's food, the worm's food, the insect's and moth's food too — together with that, absolutely everything whatsoever that is eaten by living creatures as food — all of that is your food.' The view that everything is Prāṇa's food is here being taught.