अथ ह य एवायं मुख्यः प्राणस्तमुद्गीथमुपासांचक्रिरे तंहासुरा ऋत्वा विदध्वंसुर्यथाश्मानमाखणमृत्वा विध्वंसेतैवम् ॥ १.२.७ ॥
atha ha ya evāyaṃ mukhyaḥ prāṇastamudgīthamupāsāṃcakrire taṃhāsurā ṛtvā vidadhvaṃsuryathāśmānamākhaṇamṛtvā vidhvaṃsetaivam || 1.2.7 ||
7. Next, the gods and goddesses worshipped the chief prāṇa as udgītha. As regards the demons, they all met their end in prāṇa, just as [chunks of earth] break into pieces when they hit an unbreakable stone.
Word-for-word explanation:
Atha ha, next; yaḥ eva mukhyaḥ prāṇaḥ, the chief prāṇa [the vital force, inclusive of its five aspects—prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, udāna, and samāna]; tam udgītham upāsāñcakrire, [the gods and goddesses] worshipped him as udgītha; yathā, just as; ākhaṇam, unbreakable; aśmānam, stone; ṛtvā, hit against; vidhvaṃseta, broken into pieces [and are destroyed]; [in the same way] asurāḥ ca, the demons also; tam ha ṛtvā vidadh vaṃsuḥ, hit against it [prāṇa] and were destroyed.
Commentary:
The gods and goddesses worshipped pure prāṇa—that is, prāṇa without the organs—as udgītha. As before, the demons tried to hurt prāṇa, but they failed. In fact, they got lost in prāṇa. They met the same fate as chunks of earth thrown against granite. When the chunks hit the granite, they break into pieces and are destroyed. Similarly, it is beyond the power of the demons to do any harm to prāṇa.