अथ एतस्य प्राणस्य अपाः शरीरम् ज्योतीरूपम् असौ चन्द्रः तद् यावान् एव प्राणः तावत्यः आपस् तावान् असौ चन्द्रः ते एते सर्वे एव समाः सर्वे अनन्ताः सः यः हैतान् अन्तवतः उपास्ते अन्तवन्तम् सः लोकम् जयति अथ यः हैतान् अनन्तान् उपास्ते अनन्तम् सः लोकम् जयति
atha etasya prāṇasya apāḥ śarīram jyotīrūpam asau candraḥ tad yāvān eva prāṇaḥ tāvatyaḥ āpas tāvān asau candraḥ te ete sarve eva samāḥ sarve anantāḥ saḥ yaḥ haitān antavataḥ upāste antavantam saḥ lokam jayati atha yaḥ haitān anantān upāste anantam saḥ lokam jayati
Of this breath the body is the waters, and its luminous form is yonder moon: as far as the breath extends, so far extend the waters, so far yonder moon. All these are equal, all are infinite. He who venerates them as finite wins a finite world; he who venerates them as infinite wins an infinite world.
e75552fcc92b · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:48:21 AM UTC
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The close of the series: the breath has the waters for its body and the moon for its light (prāṇa is watery, as we know from the Chāndogya: "the breath is from the waters", 6.5.2). And the general conclusion: "all these are equal, all are infinite" — speech, mind and breath yield nothing to one another and have no edge.
And then a rule that weighs as much as a whole chapter: as men venerate, so they become — he who venerates them as finite receives the finite; as infinite, the infinite. The measure of what is venerated becomes the measure of the venerator: he who prays to a small god is made small by his prayer; he who sees the infinite in his own speech, thought and breath inherits infinity. This is the Vedic law of faith, which the Gītā will state briefly: "a man is what his faith is" (BG 17.3). Our ceiling lies not in things but in what we have agreed to see in them.