Chapter 15: Purushottama-yoga: / Verse 14

It is interesting to note how Krishna gives minute details of biological functions in our body, connecting them with the presence and potential of the Supreme.

The Supreme, as Vaiśvānara (fire of life) residing in the body of creatures, associated with prāna and apāna (the incoming and outgoing breaths), digests the food. Heartbeat and bellowing of lungs are incessant functions, which cannot stop or relax at all. These give rise to many simultaneous functions, especially in the alimentary canal. The intestines go on with their peristaltic movement, resulting in digestion of food, its absorption and assimilation.

i) Bhakshya, chewn and eaten, ii) bhojya, swallowed with the tongue, iii) choshya, to be sucked in, and iv) lehya, to be licked, are the four types of food that nourish our body.

Whatever the mouth receives reaches the stomach, passes through intestines, gets digested and absorbed into the system, and the waste gets excreted. All these functions are completed by the power of the Supreme manifesting through prāna and apāna.