Madhu Kanda. Adhyaya 1, Brahmana 3. The contest of the vital breath
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Each mantra is given four ways: the Sanskrit in its Devanagari script, the same sounds in Roman letters, an English translation set in our own voice, and then the line once more in plain words, for a first and unhurried reading.
Not every passage is opened to the same depth. A few central mantras carry the full cross-school commentary, where the schools are set side by side. The rest are kept here whole and faithful, set in their place but not expounded, so the book stays entire and nothing is dropped for being thought minor.
Where the schools read a line differently, the difference is kept open. None is crowned and none is corrected. Each is met on its own terms, and where they contradict, the contradiction is left standing for you to sit with.
From whatever limb it departs
He is Ayasya Angirasa, for he is the essence of the limbs. The breath, indeed, is the essence of the limbs; for the breath truly is the essence of the limbs. Therefore from whatever limb the breath departs, that very limb withers; for he is indeed the essence of the limbs.
He is Ayasya Angirasa, because he is the sap and essence (rasa) of the limbs (anga). The vital breath is the essence of the limbs, for it is truly what gives them life. That is why, from whichever limb the breath withdraws, that limb at once dries up and withers. The breath really is the essence of the limbs.