याज्ञवल्क्येति ह उवाच कति अयम् अद्य उद्गाता अस्मिन् यज्ञे स्तोत्रियाः स्तोष्यति इति तिस्रः इति कतमाः तास् तिस्रः इति पुरोनुवाक्या च याज्या च शस्या एव तृतीया कतमाः ताः याः अध्यात्मम् इति प्राणः एव पुरोनुवाक्या अपानः याज्या व्यानः शस्या किं ताभिः जयति इति पृथिवीलोकम् एव पुरोनुवाक्यया जयति अन्तरिक्षलोकं याज्यया द्युलोकं शस्यया ततः ह होताश्वलः उपरराम
yājñavalkyeti ha uvāca kati ayam adya udgātā asmin yajñe stotriyāḥ stoṣyati iti tisraḥ iti katamāḥ tās tisraḥ iti puronuvākyā ca yājyā ca śasyā eva tṛtīyā katamāḥ tāḥ yāḥ adhyātmam iti prāṇaḥ eva puronuvākyā apānaḥ yājyā vyānaḥ śasyā kiṃ tābhiḥ jayati iti pṛthivīlokam eva puronuvākyayā jayati antarikṣalokaṃ yājyayā dyulokaṃ śasyayā tataḥ ha hotāśvalaḥ upararāma
"Yājñavalkya," he said, "how many hymns of praise will the udgātṛ sing today in this sacrifice?" — "Three." — "Which three?" — "The introductory, the sacrificial, and the laudatory as the third." — "And which are they with reference to the body?" — "Prāṇa is the introductory, apāna the sacrificial, vyāna the laudatory." — "What does he win by them?" — "By the introductory he wins the world of earth, by the sacrificial the world of the mid-region, by the laudatory the world of heaven." And Aśvala the hotṛ fell silent.
195e006b08bd · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:59:58 AM UTC
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Aśvala's last question is about the udgātṛ's chants, and for the first time in the examination the answer turns inward: "and with reference to the body?" — prāṇa, apāna, vyāna: the three breaths are the three songs. A singer always sings with his breath; by its three currents the three worlds are taken — earth, mid-region, heaven.
Tato ha hotāśvala upararāma — "and Aśvala fell silent". The first examiner, who questioned strictly within his own priestly science, has received that science back — but widened to the size of the universe and breathed into the body. He has nothing left to ask: his subject is exhausted downward. So it will be with each of them: Yājñavalkya evades no question — he drops the questioners through their own questions to the next floor down.