त्वचमेवाप्येति यस्त्वचमेवास्तमेति स्पर्शयितव्यमेवाप्येति यः स्पर्शैतव्यमेवास्तमेति वायुमेवाप्येति यो वायुमेवास्तमेति मोधामेवाप्येति यो मोधामेवास्तमेति समानमेवाप्येति यः समानमेवास्तमेति विज्ञानमेवाप्येति तदमृतमभयमशोकमनन्तनिर्बीजमेवाप्येतीति होवाच
tvacamevāpyeti yastvacamevāstameti sparśayitavyamevāpyeti yaḥ sparśaitavyamevāstameti vāyumevāpyeti yo vāyumevāstameti modhāmevāpyeti yo modhāmevāstameti samānamevāpyeti yaḥ samānamevāstameti vijñānamevāpyeti tadamṛtamabhayamaśokamanantanirbījamevāpyetīti hovāca
Into the skin enters that which sets in the skin; into the touched enters that which sets in the touched; into the wind enters that which sets in the wind; into Moghā enters that which sets in Moghā; into the equalising breath enters that which sets in it; into knowledge it enters; and into that immortal, fearless, sorrowless, endless, seedless — into it it enters. So he said.
b02a3cee98b1 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:12:03 AM UTC
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The fifth step: the skin, the touched, the wind, the channel Moghā, the equalising breath.
The channel's name here is the only one in the list that sounds reproachful: moghā means “vain, empty, futile”. The Upaniṣad does not explain it, and the interpreters diverge; but the very presence of such a name in the list of the “divine” ones is remarkable. Even the futile is named among the ways along which He moves.
Samāna, “the equalising”, is the breath that distributes what is eaten through the body and keeps the balance between the rising and the descending. It is set fifth and last of the chief prāṇas; further in this khaṇḍa will come breaths less known.
With five steps the senses of perception are finished — eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin. From here the khaṇḍa will not go in the order of the fifth: there, after the senses came mind and reason; here — speech, hands and feet. The folding-up does not exactly reverse the unfolding; the book is not pedantic.