Praśna Upaniṣad

That is, Question Upamshad.

This stanza occurs again in Maitri 6. 8, as the conclusion of a section which expounds the unity of Prana (life) and Aditya (the sun).

Then Kabandhin Katyayana came up and asked : e Sir, whence, verily, are creatures here born ? '

To him then he said : < The Lord of Creation (Prajapati), verily, was desirous of creatures (offspring, praja). He performed austerity. Having performed austerity, he produces a pair, matter (rayi, fern.) and life (prana, masc.), thinking " These two will make creatures for me in manifold ways "

Elaborated in Bnh. 6. 2. 15-16 ; Chand. 4. 15. 5 ; Chand. 5. 10 ; andBhG. 8. 24-26 as the half-year of the sun's southward couise and as the half-year of the sun's northward course, respectively.

Now the sun, when it rises, enters the eastern quarter. Thereby it collects the living beings (prana) of the east in its rays. When it illumines the southern, the western, the northern, the lower, the upper, the intervening quarters, when it illumines everything— thereby it collects all living beings in its rays.

That fire rises as the universal all-formed life. This very [doctrine] has been declared in the verse : —

[. . . Him] who has all foims, the golden one, all-knowing,1 The final goal, the only light, heat-giving.

The year, verily, is Lord of Creation (Prajapati). This has two paths, the Southern and the Northern.3

But they who seek the Soul (Atman) by austerity, chastity, faith, and knowledge — they by the Northern course win the sun. That, verily, is the support of life-breaths. That is the immortal3 the fearless. That is the final goal. From that they do not return — as they say (itt). That is the stopping [of rebirth]. As to that there is this verse (sloka) : —

The month, verily, is the Lord of Creation (Prajapati), Its dark half, indeed, is matter ; its bright half, life. Therefore these seers (rsi) perform sacrifice in the bright half; other people, in the other half.

Now, they who practise this rule of Prajapati 5 produce a pair.6

That is, the five cosmic elements, and with prana (life-breath) the five personal functions.

To him then he said : * Space (akdsa), verily, is such a power (deva}— wind, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, sight, and hearing, too.1 These, having illumined it, declare : " We uphold and support this trunk (band) \ " '

To them Life (prdna, the life-breath), the chiefest, said; " Fall not into delusion 1 I indeed, dividing myself (atmanam) fivefold, support and sustain this body!"

They were incredulous. He, from pride, as it were, rises up aloft. Now when he rises up, then all the others also rise up ; and when he settles down, they all settle down with him.

As fiie (Agni), he warms. He is the sun (Surya).

Like the spokes on the hub of a wheel, Everything is established on Life (prand) . — The Rig verses, the Yajus formulas, the Saman chants, The sacrifice, the nobility (ksafra) and the priesthood (brahman] \

As the Lord of Creation (Prajapan), thou movest in the

Thou art the chief bearer [of oblations] to the gods ! Thou art the first offering to the fatheis f

Indra art thou, O Life, with thy brilliance ! Rudra art thou as a protector I

When thou rainest upon them,

That form of thine which abides in speech, Which abides in hearing, which abides in sight, And which is extended in the mind,

This whole world is in the contiol of Life — E'en what is established in the third heaven ' As a mother her son, do thou piotect [usp

Or, ' most devoted to Brahma,' brahmistha.

To him then he said: cYou are asking questions excessively, Eut you are pre-eminently a Brahman l— methinks (iti). Therefore I tell you.

This life (prana) is born from the Spirit (Atman, Self).

As an overloid commands his overseers, saying : " Super- intend such and such villages/5 even so this life (prana} controls the other life-breaths one by one.

The out-breath (apana) is in the organs of excretion and generation. The life-breath (prana) as such (svayam) estab- lishes itself in the eye and ear, together with the mouth and nose. While in the middle is the equalizing breath (samana\

In the heart, truly, is the self (atman}. Here there are those hundred and one arteries.3 To each one of these belong a hundred smaller arteiies. To each of these belong seventy- two thousand 4 branching arteries (fata). Within them moves the diffused breath (vydna)*

Now, rising upward through one of these [arteries],5 the up-breath (udand) leads in consequence of good [work] (puny a) to the good world ; in consequence of evil (papa), to the evil world 3 in consequence of both, to the world of men.

The sun, verily, rises externally as life7; for it is that which helps the life-breath in the eye. The divinity which is in the earth supports a person's out-breath (apana). What is between [the sun and the eaith], namely space (akasd), is the equalizing breath (samdna). The wind (Vayu) is the diffused breath (vydna).

Heat (fejas), verily, is the up-breath (udditci). Therefore one whose heat has ceased goes to rebirth, with his senses (indriya) sunk in mind (manas).

Whatever is one's thinking (cittd), therewith he enters into life (prdnd). His life joined with his heat, together with the self (dfrnan)) leads to whatever world has been fashioned [in thought].8

The source, the entrance, the location, The fivefold extension,

Life itself being- conceived of as a sacrifice, these three life-breaths are symbolically identified with the three fires which are used in the Vedic sacrificial rites. Compare the identification of the sacii§cerTs priest, wife, and son with these same three altar fires at Ait. Br. 8. 24.

To him then he said : e O Gargya, as the rays of the setting sun all become one in that orb of brilliance and go forth again and again when it rises, even so, verily, everything here becomes one in mind (manas\ the highest god.

Life's fires, in truth, remain awake in this city.

The equalizing breath (samand) is so called because it <f equalizes " (samam nayati) the two oblations : the in-breath- ing and the out-breathing (itcchvasa-niksvasa). The mind, verily, indeed, is the sacrificer. The fruit of the sacrifice is the up-breath (uddna). It leads the sacrificer to Brahma day by day.

There, in sleep, that god experiences greatness. What- ever object has been seen, he sees again ; whatever has been heard, he hears again. That which has been severally experi- enced in different places and regions, he severally experiences again and again. Both what has been seen and what has not been seen, both what has been heard and what has not been heard, both what has been experienced and what has not been experienced, both the real (sat) and the unieal (a-sat) — he sees all. He sees it, himself being all.

When he is overcome with brilliance (tejas\ then that god sees no dreams ; then here in this body arises this happiness (sukha).

As birds resort to a tree for a_resting-place, even so, O friend, it is to the supreme Soul (Atman) that everything here resorts * : —

Earth and the elements (matra] of earth, water and the elements of water, heat (tejas) and the elements of heat, wind and the elements of wind, space and the elements of space, sight and what can be seen, hearing and what can be heard, smell and what can be smelled, taste and what can be tasted, the skin and what can be touched, speech and what can be spoken, the hands and what can be taken, the organ of genera-

Truly, this seer, toucher, hearer, smeller, taster, thinker (mantf), conceiver (boddhr\ doer, the conscious self (mjnan- atman}^ the person— his resort is in the supreme imperishable Soul (Atman, Self).

Verily, O friend ! he who recognizes that shadowless, bodiless, bloodless, pure Imperishable, arrives at the Imperish- able itself. He, knowing all, becomes the All. On this there is the verse (sloka) : —

Then Saibya Satyakama asked him [i.e. Pippalada]: ' Verily, Sir, if some one among men here should meditate on the syllable Om until the end of his life, which world, verily, does he win thereby?3

To him then he said : * Verily, O Satyakama, that which is the syllable Om is both the higher and the lower Brahma 1

If he meditates on one element [namely a\, having been instructed by that alone he quickly comes into the earth [after death]. The Rig verses lead him to the world of men. There, united with austerity, chastity, and faith, he experiences greatness.

Now, if he is united in mind with two elements [namely a + */], he is led by the Yajus formulas to the intermediate space, to the world of the moon. Having experienced greatness in the world of the moon, he returns hither again.

Again, he who meditates on the highest Person (Purusha) with the three elements of the syllable Om [namely a + u + m], is united with brilliance (tejas] in the sun. As a snake is freed from its skin, even so, verily, is he freed from sin (papman). He is led by the Saman chants to the world of Brahma. He beholds the Person that dwells in the body and that is higher than the highest living complex. As to this there are these two verses (sloka) : —

The three elements are deadly when employed One after the other, separately.

With the Rig verses, to this \vorld ; with the Saman chants,

In VS. 8. 36 Prajapati, cLord of Creation,1 is addressed as soQalin, £with six- teen parts.' In Brih. i. 5. 14 the year is identified with Prajapati and explained

To him he then said : ' Even here within the body, O friend, is that Person in whom they say the sixteen parts arise.

He [ie. the Person] thought to himself: "In whose departure shall I be departing? In whose resting firm, verily, shall I be resting firm ? "

He created life (prdna) ; from life, faith (sraddhd], space (kha), wind, light, water, earth, sense-faculty (indnyd), mind, food ; from food,, virility, austerity, sacred sayings (mantra)^ sacrifice, the worlds ; and in the worlds, name [i, e. the individual].

As these flowing rivers that tend toward the ocean, on reaching the ocean, disappear, their name and form (ndma-rupa) are destroyed, and it is called simply " the ocean '*' — even so of this spectator these sixteen parts that tend toward the Person, on reaching the Person^ disappear, their name and form are destroyed, and it is called simply ''the Person." That one continues without parts, immortal ! As to that there is this verse : —

Whereon the parts rest firm

To them then he [i.e. Pippalada] said: ' Thus far, in tiuth, I know that supreme Brahma. There is naught higher than It.'