Manava Dharmashastra 5.28

5.28

prāṇaḥ koṣṭhyo vāyuḥ jīvabījabhūtaḥ | pañcavṛttasyodānādikasya śarīrasthityartham idaṃ sarvaṃ jagatprajāpatirannatvenākalpayat | idamiti sāmānyato nirdiśya viśeṣaṇaṃ nirdiśati sthāvaraṃ jaṅgamamiti | ato hetoḥ sarvaṃ prāṇasya bhojanam | tiryakpakṣimanuṣyasarīsṛpāvasthahetumadbhedanirdeśāt dvitīyaṃ sarvagrahaṇamapunaruktam | yataḥ prajāpatinā sarvamāpadi prāṇasya kalpitam ataḥ sarvametasya bhojanam | tathā ca prāṇasaṃvādopaniṣadi śrūyate (chāndogya0 5|

Prajāpati created all this as food for the vital spirit; and all that is movable or immovable is the food of the vital spirit (28).

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Vital spirit,’—‘the breath within the body, the very seed of life. For the sustenance of this breath, as functioning in the fivefold form of ‘Udāna’ and the rest,—and for its maintenance in the body,—‘Prajāpati created all this’—world—as food.

Having indicated the world in a general way, by means of the pronoun ‘this’, the author proceeds to specify it in details—‘all that is movable or immovable’. All this, on account of what is said in the first half, is the ‘food of the vital- spirit’. The second ‘all’ is not redundant, since it is added with a view to indicate the various kinds of beings,—beasts, birds, men, reptiles, etc.

Since Prajāpati has ordained all this to be ‘food’ in times of distress, all of it is the food of the vital spirit. This is also what we read in the dialogue of the Vital Breath contained in the Upaniṣads—‘He asked—what shall be my food?—Whatever exists, down to the dogs and down to the insects and worms’—(28).