प्राणः ब्रह्म इति व्यजानात् प्राणात् हि एव खलु इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते प्राणेन जातानि जीवन्ति प्राणम् प्रयन्ति अभिसंविशन्ति इति तत् विज्ञाय पुनः एव वरुणम् पितरम् उपससार अधीहि भगवः ब्रह्म इति तम् होवाच तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व तपस् ब्रह्म इति सः तपस् अतप्यत सः तपस् तप्त्वा
prāṇaḥ brahma iti vyajānāt prāṇāt hi eva khalu imāni bhūtāni jāyante prāṇena jātāni jīvanti prāṇam prayanti abhisaṃviśanti iti tat vijñāya punaḥ eva varuṇam pitaram upasasāra adhīhi bhagavaḥ brahma iti tam hovāca tapasā brahma vijijñāsasva tapas brahma iti saḥ tapas atapyata saḥ tapas taptvā
He discerned: "Breath is Brahman: for out of breath these beings are born, by breath, being born, they live, into breath they pass and enter." Having discerned this, he came again to his father Varuṇa: "Venerable one, teach me Brahman." He said to him: "By austerity seek to discern Brahman: austerity is Brahman." He kindled austerity; having kindled austerity…
15144470472f · publicado 26 jul 2026, 19:50:25 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The second step: prāṇo brahmeti — "breath is Brahman". The test fits again: beings are born of the vital force (dead matter will not give birth), live by it, and depart when it departs: life is deeper than substance — Bhṛgu has outgrown the materialism of his first answer and discovered vitalism: behind food stands that which feeds upon food and animates it.
Note the construction of the tale: every step is won not by reasoning but by a new tapas: Bhṛgu did not "change his mind" — he burnt down to the next layer. Between the storeys of truth there is no ladder of inferences — there is a ladder of burning: as much of the superficial as has burnt away, so much of the deep has opened (the Upaniṣad says it in a refrain: "he kindled austerity" — five times!).
And again the father returns him to the fire without praise or blame. The prāṇa is a great answer (the second vallī built a whole "self" out of it; the Kena and the Praśna sang hymns to it) — and yet: by what does breath breathe? Who is the breather in the breather? Three steps remain.