प्राणो ब्रह्मेति ह स्माह पैङ्ग्यस्तस्य ह वा एतस्य प्राणस्य ब्रह्मणो वाक्परस्ताच्चक्षुरारुन्धे चक्षुः परस्ताच्छ्रोत्रमारुन्धे श्रोत्रं परस्तान्मन आरुन्धे मनः परस्तात्प्राण आरुन्धे तस्मै वा एतस्मै वा प्राणाय ब्रह्मण एताः सर्वा देवता अयाचमानाय बलिं हरन्ति एवास्मै सर्वाणि भूतान्ययाचमानायैव बलिं हरन्ति य एवं वेद तस्योपनिषन्न याचेदिति तद्यथा ग्रामं भिक्षित्वाऽलब्धोपविशेन्नाहमतो दत्तमश्नीयामिति य एवैनं पुरस्तात्प्रत्याचक्षीरंस्त एवैनमुपमन्त्रयन्ते ददाम त इत्येष धर्मो याचतो भवत्यन्यतस्त्वेवैनमुपमन्त्रयन्ते ददाम त इति
prāṇo brahmeti ha smāha paiṅgyastasya ha vā etasya prāṇasya brahmaṇo vākparastāccakṣurārundhe cakṣuḥ parastācchrotramārundhe śrotraṃ parastānmana ārundhe manaḥ parastātprāṇa ārundhe tasmai vā etasmai vā prāṇāya brahmaṇa etāḥ sarvā devatā ayācamānāya baliṃ haranti evāsmai sarvāṇi bhūtānyayācamānāyaiva baliṃ haranti ya evaṃ veda tasyopaniṣanna yācediti tadyathā grāmaṃ bhikṣitvā'labdhopaviśennāhamato dattamaśnīyāmiti ya evainaṃ purastātpratyācakṣīraṃsta evainamupamantrayante dadāma ta ityeṣa dharmo yācato bhavatyanyatastvevainamupamantrayante dadāma ta iti
“The breath is Brahman” — so said Paiṅgya. And of this breath-Brahman speech from beyond encloses the eye, the eye from beyond encloses the ear, the ear from beyond encloses the mind, the mind from beyond encloses the breath. To this breath-Brahman all the deities bring tribute, though he asks not; and so too all beings bring tribute, though he asks not, to the one who knows thus. His rule is: “let him not beg.” It is as if a man, having begged in a village and got nothing, should sit down and say: “I will not eat what is given from here” — and then the very people who refused him call him: “we will give to you.” Such is the lot of the one who begged. But him they call from elsewhere too: “we will give to you.”
2fd8226eb75b · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:43:45 AM UTC
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The same truth, but from another teacher and with another argument. The Upaniṣad deliberately sets two expositions side by side: Kauṣītaki explained through a court and its service; Paiṅgya explains through nesting.
His line of thought runs: speech encloses the eye, the eye the ear, the ear the mind, the mind the breath. The word ārundhe means “embraces, encompasses, holds around”. A series results in which each next member lies within the previous, and at the very core is prāṇa.
The order seems odd at first: why does speech enclose the eye? The explanation is this: the named is wider than the seen — what is seen can be named, but the named covers also what no one has ever seen. And so further inward: the heard is wider than the thought, and the thought is upheld by life. The nearer the centre, the less outward compass — and the more foundation.
The point of this construction is that it seeks not the most extensive but the innermost. Brahman here is not what encompasses everything from without, but that to which everything reduces from within. The third adhyāya will develop the same thought, where Indra says that without prāṇa no organ works, and the fourth, where the sleeper is described as one in whom all the powers have gathered into one.
The rest is repeated word for word: the same tribute without asking, the same rule “let him not beg”, the same example of the beggar. Repetition in śruti is no negligence but a means of fastening: two teachers, two arguments, one conclusion.
Note too that Paiṅgya is named alongside Kauṣītaki, whose name the whole Upaniṣad bears. The book does not ascribe the knowledge to a single master; it shows it as the common property of a school.