इदं वै तन्मधु दध्यङ्ङाथर्वणोऽश्विभ्यामुवाच । तदेतदृषिः पश्यन्नवोचत् ।
पुरश्चक्रे द्विपदः, पुरश्चक्रे चतुष्पदः ।
पुरः स पक्षी भूत्वा पुरः पुरुष आविशत् ॥ इति ।
स वा अयं पुरुषः सर्वासु पूर्सु पुरिशयः; नैनेन किंचनानावृतम्, नैनेन किंचनासंवृतम् ॥ १८ ॥idaṃ vai tanmadhu dadhyaṅṅātharvaṇo’śvibhyāmuvāca | tadetadṛṣiḥ paśyannavocat |
puraścakre dvipadaḥ, puraścakre catuṣpadaḥ |
puraḥ sa pakṣī bhūtvā puraḥ puruṣa āviśat || iti |
sa vā ayaṃ puruṣaḥ sarvāsu pūrsu puriśayaḥ; nainena kiṃcanānāvṛtam, nainena kiṃcanāsaṃvṛtam || 18 ||18. This is that meditation on things mutually helpful which Dadhyac, versed in the Atharva-Veda, taught the Aśvins. Perceiving this the Rṣi said, ‘ He made bodies with two feet and bodies with four feet. That Supreme Being first entered the bodies as a bird (the subtle body). ‘ He on account of his dwelling in all bodies is called the Puruṣa. There is nothing that is not covered by him, nothing that is not pervaded by Him.
This is that meditation, etc., is to be explained as before. The two foregoing Mantras sum up the story which is connected with the rite called Pravargya. They express in the form of a story the purport of the two chapters that have a bearing on that rite. Now the text proceeds to describe through the two following Mantras the purport of the two chapters that deal with the meditation on Brahman. It has been said that the Brāhmaṇa versed in the Atharva-Veda also taught the Aśvins a secret meditation on things mutually helpful. What that meditation was is now being explained. He made bodies, etc.—the Supreme Lord who made this universe come out of the unmanifested state, in the course of His manifesting the undifferentiated name and form, after first projecting the worlds such as this earth, made bodies with two jeet, viz. human and bird bodies, and bodies with jour jeet, viz. animal bodies. That Supreme Being, the Lord, first entered the bodies as a bird, i.e. as the subtle body. The text itself explains it: He on account of His dwelling in all bodies is
called the Puruṣa. There is nothing that is not covered by Him; likewise there is nothing that is not pervaded by Him. That is, everything is enveloped by Him as its inside and outside. Thus it is He who as name and form—as the body and organs—is inside and outside everything. In other words, the Mantra, ‘He made bodies,’ etc. briefly enunciates the unity of the Self.