अत्सि अन्नम् पश्यसि प्रियम् अत्त्य् अन्नम् पश्यति प्रियम् भवति अस्य ब्रह्मवर्चसम् कुले यः एतम् एवम् आत्मानम् वैश्वानरम् उपास्ते प्राणः तु एषः आत्मनः इति ह उवाच प्राणः ते उदक्रमिष्यत् यत् माम् न अगमिष्यः इति
atsi annam paśyasi priyam atty annam paśyati priyam bhavati asya brahmavarcasam kule yaḥ etam evam ātmānam vaiśvānaram upāste prāṇaḥ tu eṣaḥ ātmanaḥ iti ha uvāca prāṇaḥ te udakramiṣyat yat mām na agamiṣyaḥ iti
You eat food and see what is dear; he eats food and sees what is dear, and the lustre of Brahman is in the family of one who venerates this Vaiśvānara-ātman thus. But this is only the breath of the ātman," he said. "Your breath would have gone out had you not come to me."
66fc28447edd · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:32:08 PM UTC
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The wind is the prāṇa, the breath of the Vaiśvānara: the same correspondence that bound Vāyu and the prāṇa in the saṁvarga-vidyā (4.3): the wind is the gatherer among the gods, the breath among the vital powers. The venerator of the wind was, without knowing it, holding on to the breath of the All-human One — and it "would have gone out" of him had he not come to a knower.
The threat here comes closest to the body: without a head or an eye one lives at least a moment — without breath not at all. The more vital the venerated part, the more ruinous its absolutising: the most dangerous idols are made of the most necessary things. And the mercy of this scene is the clearer: by their mere coming to the teacher the impending blows have been lifted from all six — the road to a knower is itself curative, before any word is heard.