अथ अतः व्रतमीमांसा प्रजापतिः ह कर्माणि ससृजे तानि सृष्टानि अन्यत् अन्येन अस्पर्धन्त वदिष्यामि एव अहम् इति वाक् दध्रे द्रक्ष्यामि अहम् इति चक्षुः श्रोष्यामि अहम् इति श्रोत्रम् एवम् अन्यानि कर्माणि यथाकर्मम् तानि मृत्युः श्रमः भूत्वा उपयेमे तानि आप्नोत् तानि आप्त्वा मृत्युः अवारुन्ध तस्मात् श्राम्यति एव वाक् श्राम्यति चक्षुः श्राम्यति श्रोत्रम् अथ इमम् एव न आप्नोत् यः अयम् मध्यमः प्राणः तानि ज्ञातुम् दध्रिरे अयम् वै नः श्रेष्ठः यः संचरन् च असंचरन् च न व्यथते अथो न रिष्यति हन्त अस्य एव सर्वे रूपम् भवाम इति ते एतस्य एव सर्वे रूपम् अभवन् तस्मात् एते एतेन आख्यायन्ते प्राणाः इति तेन ह वाव तत् कुलम् आचक्षते यस्मिन् कुले भवति यः एवम् वेद यः उ ह एवंविदा स्पर्धते अनुशुष्यति अनुशुष्य ह एव अन्ततः म्रियते इति अध्यात्मम्
atha ataḥ vratamīmāṃsā prajāpatiḥ ha karmāṇi sasṛje tāni sṛṣṭāni anyat anyena aspardhanta vadiṣyāmi eva aham iti vāk dadhre drakṣyāmi aham iti cakṣuḥ śroṣyāmi aham iti śrotram evam anyāni karmāṇi yathākarmam tāni mṛtyuḥ śramaḥ bhūtvā upayeme tāni āpnot tāni āptvā mṛtyuḥ avārundha tasmāt śrāmyati eva vāk śrāmyati cakṣuḥ śrāmyati śrotram atha imam eva na āpnot yaḥ ayam madhyamaḥ prāṇaḥ tāni jñātum dadhrire ayam vai naḥ śreṣṭhaḥ yaḥ saṃcaran ca asaṃcaran ca na vyathate atho na riṣyati hanta asya eva sarve rūpam bhavāma iti te etasya eva sarve rūpam abhavan tasmāt ete etena ākhyāyante prāṇāḥ iti tena ha vāva tat kulam ācakṣate yasmin kule bhavati yaḥ evam veda yaḥ u ha evaṃvidā spardhate anuśuṣyati anuśuṣya ha eva antataḥ mriyate iti adhyātmam
Now, the inquiry into the vow. Prajāpati created the works [of the faculties]; being created, they contended with one another. "I shall speak," undertook speech; "I shall see," the eye; "I shall hear," the ear; and so the others, each by its own work. Death, becoming weariness, took possession of them: it overtook and held them. Therefore speech grows weary, the eye grows weary, the ear grows weary. Only the middle breath it did not overtake. And they resolved to know: "This truly is the best of us: moving and not moving, it is neither troubled nor destroyed. Come — let us all become its form." And they all became only its form; therefore after it they are called "breaths". And the family in which such a knower is born is called by his name. He who contends with one who knows thus withers away and, having withered, dies in the end. So much with reference to the body.
7ba8740862de · publicado 27 jul 2026, 0:49:47 UTC
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The "inquiry into the vow" opens with the familiar contest of the faculties — but with a new and pitiless judge: Death, "becoming weariness" (śramo bhūtvā), caught them all. Not by battle nor by poison but by tiring: speech wearies of speaking, the eye of looking, the ear of hearing. Weariness is the everyday name of death, its daily tribute levied on every faculty; we do not age all at once, we age by growing tired.
One alone weariness did not overtake — the middle breath: it labours from birth to death without a single holiday and knows no fatigue. And the senses do the wisest of things: "let us take on its form" — they become forms of the breath, and therefore they are all called "breaths". The dispute over primacy ends not in a deposition but in a likening: one can be saved from weariness-death only by taking on the form of the Unwearying.
Here is the whole secret of the vow (vrata) named in the heading: only that service is durable which has become breathing — even, holiday-less, expecting neither reward nor day off. A practice done "by mood" dies of weariness like speech and eye; a practice that has become prāṇa — a japa that is breathed, a remembrance that is not broken off — does not tire, for it has taken the form of the Untiring. And "with reference to the body" is said because the same will next be shown with reference to the gods.