उपनिषद् · Kaṭha 5.5
॥
देवनागरी
न प्राणेन नापानेन मर्त्यो जीवति कश्चन ।
इतरेण तु जीवन्ति यस्मिन्न् एताव् उपाश्रितौ
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
na prāṇena nāpānena martyo jīvati kaścana /
itareṇa tu jīvanti yasminn etāv upāśritau
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
नnanot; no
प्राणेनprāṇenawith the breath; by the vital breath
नnanot; no
अपानेनapānenawith the apāna; with the downward breath
मर्त्यःmartyaḥthe mortal (martya); man; subject to death
जीवतिjīvatidwells; exists
कश्चनkaścanaanyone; whichever
इतरेणitareṇaby the Other (itara — 'the other'); by Another; by Him who is not they
तुtusurely; however
जीवन्तिjīvantilive; exist
यस्मिन्yasminin which; on whom
एतौetauthese two; the prāṇa and the apāna
उपाश्रितौupāśritauare supported (upa-ā-√śri, dual); both lean [on Him]; have found refuge [in Him]
अनुवाद
Not by the prāṇa nor by the apāna does any mortal live, whoever he may be. By Another do [all] live — by Him upon whom both these lean.
संस्करण
db26df625dc1 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 9:13:03 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
na prāṇena nāpānena martyo jīvati kaścana — "not by prāṇa nor by apāna does a mortal live": a blow at the last materialist rampart. Breathing, so obviously "life-giving", is not itself alive: the bellows do not breathe of themselves (verse 89 has already shown the One who works them). itareṇa tu jīvanti — "by Another they live": yasminn etāv upāśritau — "by Him upon whom these two lean".
The logic is simple and irresistible: you may inflate a corpse's lungs — life will not return; therefore life is not in the air. All physiology — currents, warmth, impulses — is only the machine of life and not its source; the source is He, itara, "the Other", on whom the whole assembly hangs. To a modern ear the verse says no less than to an ancient one: having described the mechanisms of the living down to the molecule, science describes prāṇa and apāna — "the Other" does not occur in the descriptions, for He is not a part of the machine but its Owner.
For Naciketas this is the last prop of the answer: if life even during life was held not by breath, then the stopping of the breath is not the stopping of life. They lived by Another — the Other remains. Now Yama is ready to fulfil the third boon literally — the next verse begins the direct account of the road beyond death.