सः ह उवाच वायुः वै गौतम तत् सूत्रम् वायुना वै गौतम सूत्रेण अयम् च लोकः परः च लोकः सर्वाणि च भूतानि संदृब्धानि भवन्ति तस्माद् वै गौतम पुरुषम् प्रेतम् आहुः व्यस्रंसिषत अस्य अङ्गानि इति वायुना हि गौतम सूत्रेण सम्दृब्धानि भवन्ति इति एवम् एव एतत् याज्ञवल्क्य अन्तर्यामिणम् ब्रूहि इति
saḥ ha uvāca vāyuḥ vai gautama tat sūtram vāyunā vai gautama sūtreṇa ayam ca lokaḥ paraḥ ca lokaḥ sarvāṇi ca bhūtāni saṃdṛbdhāni bhavanti tasmād vai gautama puruṣam pretam āhuḥ vyasraṃsiṣata asya aṅgāni iti vāyunā hi gautama sūtreṇa samdṛbdhāni bhavanti iti evam eva etat yājñavalkya antaryāmiṇam brūhi iti
He said: "Vāyu, Gautama, is that thread: by the wind as by a thread this world and the other world and all beings are bound together. That is why it is said of a dead man: 'his limbs have fallen apart' — they had been strung upon the thread of the wind." — "Just so, Yājñavalkya. Now tell of the Inner Ruler."
ffc5a03b4767 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:01:54 AM UTC
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The first secret is disclosed: the thread is Vāyu, the wind-prāṇa: the life-breath that strings the worlds and the bodies like beads. The proof comes from common speech: of a dead man people say "his limbs have fallen apart" — the thread has been drawn out and the necklace has scattered; the wholeness of a living body is not a property of flesh but the tension of a breath.
Uddālaka accepts the answer without dispute: "just so" — and demands the second secret. The order of the two secrets matters: the thread binds — but the thread does not rule; the sūtra is tackle, and there is One who holds the tackle. From the prāṇic unity of the world the conversation ascends to its Sovereign — and the next twenty verses will be one great titling.