Upaniṣads · Praśna 3.6
॥
Devanāgarī
हृदि ह्य् एष आत्मा ।
अत्रैतद् एकशतं नाडीनाम् ।
तासां शतं शतम् एकैकस्याः ।
द्वासप्ततिर् द्वासप्ततिः प्रतिशाखानाडीसहस्राणि भवन्ति ।
आसु व्यानश्चरति
Transliteración (IAST)
hṛdi hy eṣa ātmā |
atraitad ekaśataṃ nāḍīnām |
tāsāṃ śataṃ śatam ekaikasyāḥ |
dvāsaptatir dvāsaptatiḥ pratiśākhānāḍīsahasrāṇi bhavanti |
āsu vyānaścarati
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
हृदि हिhṛdi hiin the heart indeed; precisely in the heart
एषः आत्माeṣaḥ ātmāthis Ātman; this self
अत्रatrahere; in It
एतत् एकशतम्etat ekaśatamthese hundred and one; the said hundred and one
नाडीनाम्nāḍīnāmof the channels (nāḍī — the beds of the vital currents); the nāḍīs; of the veins of the subtle body
तासाम्tāsāmfor them; among them
शतम् शतम्śatam śatama hundred to each; a hundred apiece
एकैकस्याःekaikasyāḥof every one; of each single one
द्वासप्ततिः द्वासप्ततिःdvāsaptatiḥ dvāsaptatiḥseventy-two to each seventy-two; seventy-two apiece
प्रतिशाखा-नाडी-सहस्राणिpratiśākhā-nāḍī-sahasrāṇithousands of branching nāḍīs; thousands of side channels
भवन्तिbhavantiare; exist
आसुāsuinto them; along them
व्यानःvyānaḥvyāna ('the through-breath' — the power of circulation); the diffusing current; the all-pervading breath
चरतिcaratimoves (from √car); goes; circulates
Traducción
"In the heart is this Ātman. Here are the hundred and one [chief] channels; each of them has a hundred [branches], and each branch seventy-two thousand ramifications. In them moves vyāna."
Versión
5d533f46719b · publicado 26 jul 2026, 20:35:21 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
hṛdi hy eṣa ātmā — "in the heart is this Ātman": in the middle of a treatise on the currents of life, a reminder of the Tenant: the heart is first of all the throne of the Ātman, and only therefore the knot of the channels. The order of mention is itself the hierarchy: first the Master of the house, then the wiring.
The network is reckoned on a grand scale: a hundred and one chief channels (that very hundred-and-one out of which the Kaṭha, verse 117, singled out the one leading upward), a hundred branches to each, seventy-two thousand ramifications to a branch — seven million two hundred thousand currents of the subtle body: this ancient anatomy yields to no modern one in awe before the complexity of the living. āsu vyānaś carati — "in them moves vyāna" — the "through-breath", the fifth governor: the power of connection and circulation, carrying life through the whole crown of channels to the last leaf.
The point of these numbers is not arithmetic but amazement: the body we carry without noticing is a realm of unimaginable ramification, and in each of its millions of beds there is the rule of one life from one Ātman. Whoever has once seen this will no longer say of the body "mere flesh" — nor confuse the flesh with Him who is enthroned in its heart.