सः ह उवाच उवाच वै सः अगच्छन् वै ते तद् यत्र अश्वमेधयाजिनः गच्छन्ति इति क्व नु अश्वमेधयाजिनः गच्छन्ति इति द्वात्रिंशतम् वै देवरथाह्न्यानि अयम् लोकः तं समन्तम् पृथिवी द्विस्तावत् पर्येति तां समन्तम् पृथिवीम् द्विस्तावत् समुद्रः पर्येति तद् यावती क्षुरस्य धारा यावत् वा मक्षिकायाः पत्त्रम् तावान् अन्तरेण आकाशः तान् ऐन्द्रः सुपर्णः भूत्वा वायवे प्रायच्छत् तान् वायुः आत्मनि धित्वा तत्र अगामयत् यत्र अश्वमेधयाजिनः अभवन्न् इति एवम् इव वै सः वायुम् एव प्रशशंस तस्माद् वायुः एव व्यष्टिः वायुः समष्टिः अप पुनर्मृत्युम् जयति यः एवम् वेद ततः ह भुज्युः लाह्यायनिः उपरराम
saḥ ha uvāca uvāca vai saḥ agacchan vai te tad yatra aśvamedhayājinaḥ gacchanti iti kva nu aśvamedhayājinaḥ gacchanti iti dvātriṃśatam vai devarathāhnyāni ayam lokaḥ taṃ samantam pṛthivī dvistāvat paryeti tāṃ samantam pṛthivīm dvistāvat samudraḥ paryeti tad yāvatī kṣurasya dhārā yāvat vā makṣikāyāḥ pattram tāvān antareṇa ākāśaḥ tān aindraḥ suparṇaḥ bhūtvā vāyave prāyacchat tān vāyuḥ ātmani dhitvā tatra agāmayat yatra aśvamedhayājinaḥ abhavann iti evam iva vai saḥ vāyum eva praśaśaṃsa tasmād vāyuḥ eva vyaṣṭiḥ vāyuḥ samaṣṭiḥ apa punarmṛtyum jayati yaḥ evam veda tataḥ ha bhujyuḥ lāhyāyaniḥ upararāma
He said: "He told you: they went where the performers of the horse-sacrifice go." — "And where do the performers of the horse-sacrifice go?" — "Thirty-two days' journey of the divine chariot is this world; twice as much is the earth around it; twice as much the ocean around the earth. And there is a gap the width of a razor's edge, of a fly's wing. Indra, becoming the bird Suparṇa, handed them over to Vāyu; and Vāyu, placing them within himself, carried them to where the performers of the horse-sacrifice were." Thus he as it were praised the wind. Therefore Vāyu is the individual and Vāyu is the aggregate. He who knows thus wards off repeated death. And Bhujyu Lāhyāyani fell silent.
db2006dde55a · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:01:54 AM UTC
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The answer unrolls a cosmic map with exact scales: the world is thirty-two day-stages of the divine chariot, the earth around it twice as much, the ocean twice as much again; and at the very edge a chink "the width of a razor's edge, of a fly's wing": the passage into the beyond is narrow to the limit (the same razor as in the Kaṭha: "the path is the edge of a razor", KaU 1.3.14). Through that chink one is carried not by one's own strength: Indra the bird hands the departed to Vāyu, and the wind, "placing them within himself", delivers them to their goal.
The conclusion returns to a familiar truth: Vāyu is both "the individual" (vyaṣṭi: the wind in each is the breath) and "the aggregate" (samaṣṭi: the single wind of the world) — prāṇa as the universal ferryman (cf. the saṁvarga-vidyā, ChU 4.3). He who knows this "wards off repeated death": whoever has entrusted himself to the Carrier of all is not lost at the crossing. Bhujyu falls silent: his otherworldly source has been confirmed — and surpassed in clarity.