अथैतद्वामेऽक्शणि पुरुषरूपमेषास्य पत्नी विराट्; तयोरेष संस्तावो य एषोऽन्तर्हृदय आकाशो; अथैनयोरेतदन्नं य एषोऽन्तर्हृदये लोहितपिण्डः; अथैनयोरेतत्प्रावरणं यदेतदन्तर्हृदये जालकमिव; अथैनयोरेषा सृतिः संचरणी यैषा हृदयादूर्ध्वा नाड्युच्चरति; यथा केशः सहस्रधा भिन्न एवम्; अस्यैता हिता नाम नाड्योऽन्तर्हृदये प्रतिष्ठिता भवन्ति, एताभिर्वा एतदास्रवदास्रवति; तस्मादेष प्रविविक्ताहारतर इवैव भवत्यस्माच्छारीरादात्मनः ॥ ३ ॥
athaitadvāme’kśaṇi puruṣarūpameṣāsya patnī virāṭ; tayoreṣa saṃstāvo ya eṣo’ntarhṛdaya ākāśo; athainayoretadannaṃ ya eṣo’ntarhṛdaye lohitapiṇḍaḥ; athainayoretatprāvaraṇaṃ yadetadantarhṛdaye jālakamiva; athainayoreṣā sṛtiḥ saṃcaraṇī yaiṣā hṛdayādūrdhvā nāḍyuccarati; yathā keśaḥ sahasradhā bhinna evam; asyaitā hitā nāma nāḍyo’ntarhṛdaye pratiṣṭhitā bhavanti, etābhirvā etadāsravadāsravati; tasmādeṣa praviviktāhāratara ivaiva bhavatyasmācchārīrādātmanaḥ || 3 ||
3. The human form that is in the left eye is his wife, Virāj (matter). The space that is within the heart is their place of union. Their food is the lump of blood (the finest essence of what we eat) in the heart. Their wrap is the net-like structure in the heart. Their road for moving is the nerve that goes upward from the heart; it is like a hair split into a thousand parts. In this body there are nerves called Hitā, which are placed in the heart. Through these the -essence of our food passes as it moves on. Therefore the subtle body has finer food than the gross body.
The human form that is in the left eye is his wife, Virāj. Of Indra or the self called Vaiśvānara whom you have attained, Virāj, or matter, is the wife, both being objects of enjoyment. This couple, matter and its enjoyer, is united in dreams.[1] How? The space that is within the lump of flesh called the heart is their place of union, the place where Indra and his wife enjoy each other’s company. Their food, or means of sustenance, ts the following. What is it? The lump of blood —(lit.) blood in the form of a lump— in the heart. The food we eat takes two forms; the gross part goes down (and is excreted), and the rest is metabolised in two ways under the action of the internal heat. That part of the chyle which is of medium fineness passes through the successive stages of blood etc., and nourishes the gross body made up of the five elements. The finest part of the chyle is ‘the lump of blood,’ which, penetrating our fine nerves, causes Indra—identified with the subtle body and called Taijasa—who is united with his wife in the heart, to stay in the body. This is what is expressed by the passage,. ‘Their food,’ etc.
There are other things also. Their wrap is, etc. People who sleep after their meals use wraps; the śruti is fancying that similarity here. What is the wrap of this couple? The net-like structure in the heart. ‘Net-like,’ because of the numerous openings of the nerves. Their road for motAng, or coming from the dream to the waking state, is the nerve that goes upward from the heart. Its size is being given; As in the world a hair split into a thousand parts is extremely fine, so is it. In this body there are nerves called Hitā, which are placed in that lump of flesh, the heart. From it they branch off everywhere like the filaments of a Kadamba floweṛ. Through these extremely fine nerves the food passes as it moves on. The body of Indra (the subtle body) is nourished by this food and held fast as by a cord. Because the gross body is nourished by gross food, but this subtle body, the body of Indra, is sustained by fine food. The food that nourishes the gross body is also fine, in comparison with the gross substances in the body that are eliminated; but the food that sustains the subtle body is finer than that. Hence the gross body has fine food, but the subtle body has finer food than the gross body. ‘Śārīra’ in the text is the same as ‘Śarira’ (body). The idea is that the Taijasa is nourished by finer food than the Vaiśvānara.