तदु ह शौनकः कापेयः प्रतिमन्वानः प्रत्येयायात्मा देवानां जनिता प्रजानां हिरण्यदंष्ट्रो बभसोऽनसूरिर्महान्तमस्य महिमानमाहुरनद्यमानो यदनन्नमत्तीति वै वयं ब्रह्मचारिन्नेदमुपास्महे दत्तास्मै भिक्षामिति ॥ ४.३.७ ॥
tadu ha śaunakaḥ kāpeyaḥ pratimanvānaḥ pratyeyāyātmā devānāṃ janitā prajānāṃ hiraṇyadaṃṣṭro babhaso’nasūrirmahāntamasya mahimānamāhuranadyamāno yadanannamattīti vai vayaṃ brahmacārinnedamupāsmahe dattāsmai bhikṣāmiti || 4.3.7 ||
7. After thinking this over, Śaunaka Kāpeya went to the brahmacārin and said, ‘He who is the self of all the gods and goddesses, the creator of all things moveable and immoveable, who eats with his golden [i.e., firm] teeth, who is intelligent, whom others cannot eat, who eats things which are not food, whose greatness wise people think highly of—O brahmacārin, we worship him.’ After this he said, ‘Give this man alms’.
Word-for-word explanation:
Tat u ha, that [statement]; śaunaka kāpeyaḥ pratimanvānaḥ, thought over; pratyeyāya, [and then] went to him; ātmā devānām, the self of all the gods and goddesses; janitā, the creator; prajānām, of all things [moving or unmoving]; hiraṇyadaṃstraḥ, with teeth made of gold; babhasaḥ, the eater; anasūriḥ, intelligent; mahāntam, great; asya, its; mahimānam, greatness; āhuḥ, is so described; anadyamānaḥ, uneatable; yat, that; anannam, no food; atti, eats; brahmacārin, O brahmacārin; vayam, we; idam vai ā-upāsmahe iti, worship this one; datta asmai bhikṣām iti, give alms to him.
Commentary:
Śaunaka told the brahmacārin: ‘It is not correct that we do not know him. We do know him. He is Prajāpati. He creates and also destroys everything.
He is the self of all, and he is also the destṛoyer of all. He is supreme. All wise people worship him as such.’ Śaunaka then told his servant to give the brahmacārin some food.