अथातो निःश्रेयसादानं सर्वा ह वै देवता अहं श्रेयसे विवदमानाः । अस्माच्छरीरादुच्चक्रमुस्तद्दारुभूतं शिष्येथैतद्वाक्प्रविवेश तद्वाचा वदच्छिष्य एव । अथैतच्चक्षुः प्रविवेश तद्वाचा वदच्चक्षुषा पश्यच्छिष्य एवाथैनच्छ्रोत्रं प्रविवेश तद्वाचा वदच्चक्षुषा पश्यच्छ्रोत्रेण शृण्वच्छिष्य एवाथैनन्मनः प्रविवेश तद्वाचा वदच्चक्षुषा पश्यच्छ्रोत्रेण शृण्वन्मनसा ध्यायच्छिष्य एवाथैतत्प्राणः प्रविवेश तत्तत एव समुत्तस्थौ ते देवाः प्राणे निःश्रेयसं विचिन्त्य प्राणमेव प्रज्ञात्मानमभिसम्भूय सहैतैः सर्वैरस्माल्लोकादुच्चक्रमुः । ते वायु-प्रतिष्ठाकाशात्मानः स्वर्ययुस्तथो एवैवं विद्वान्सर्वेषां भूतानां प्राणमेव प्रज्ञात्मानमभिसम्भूय सहैतैः सर्वैरस्माच्छरीरादुत्क्रामति स वायुप्रतिष्ठाकाशात्मा न स्वरेति तद्भवति यत्रैतद्देवास्तत्प्राप्य तदमृतो भवतियदमृता देवाः
athāto niḥśreyasādānaṃ sarvā ha vai devatā ahaṃ śreyase vivadamānāḥ | asmāccharīrāduccakramustaddārubhūtaṃ śiṣyethaitadvākpraviveśa tadvācā vadacchiṣya eva | athaitaccakṣuḥ praviveśa tadvācā vadaccakṣuṣā paśyacchiṣya evāthainacchrotraṃ praviveśa tadvācā vadaccakṣuṣā paśyacchrotreṇa śṛṇvacchiṣya evāthainanmanaḥ praviveśa tadvācā vadaccakṣuṣā paśyacchrotreṇa śṛṇvanmanasā dhyāyacchiṣya evāthaitatprāṇaḥ praviveśa tattata eva samuttasthau te devāḥ prāṇe niḥśreyasaṃ vicintya prāṇameva prajñātmānamabhisambhūya sahaitaiḥ sarvairasmāllokāduccakramuḥ | te vāyu-pratiṣṭhākāśātmānaḥ svaryayustatho evaivaṃ vidvānsarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ prāṇameva prajñātmānamabhisambhūya sahaitaiḥ sarvairasmāccharīrādutkrāmati sa vāyupratiṣṭhākāśātmā na svareti tadbhavati yatraitaddevāstatprāpya tadamṛto bhavatiyadamṛtā devāḥ
Now — the obtaining of the highest good. All the deities, disputing who among them was best, went out of this body, and it lay like a log. Then speech entered it — and it lay, speaking. Then the eye entered — and it spoke, saw, and still lay. Then the ear entered — it spoke, saw, heard, and still lay. Then the mind entered — it spoke, saw, heard, thought, and still lay. Then the breath entered — and it rose up at once. And the deities, discerning in the breath the highest good, and embracing the breath as the self of insight, went out of this world together with them all; and, having the wind for support and space for their self, they went to heaven. So likewise the knower of this, embracing the breath of all beings as the self of insight, goes out of this body together with them all; and, having the wind for support and space for his self, he goes to heaven and comes to where the gods are; and, reaching that, he becomes immortal as the gods are immortal.
e4a2d46d6f43 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:43:45 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The famous quarrel of the organs over precedence; the Chāndogya, the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and the Praśna all know this parable, but here it is told more briefly and more convincingly than anywhere.
The dispute is settled not by words but by trial. The god-organs leave the body, and it lies “like a log”. Then they return one by one. Speech enters — the body speaks and lies. The eye enters — it speaks, sees and lies. The ear, the mind — and still it lies. The repeated “and still it lay” sounds almost mocking: the faculties come back one after another, and there is no living thing.
And the breath enters — “and it rose up at once”. In this is the whole argument: speech, sight, hearing and thought are what a man does; life is what he is. One can speak and not live; one cannot live and not breathe.
Hence the conclusion for which the parable is told, and in it stands the word that will be the book's chief one: prajñātman, “the self of insight”. Prāṇa is known not as an unconscious wind in the body, but as that in which life and consciousness are one. The third adhyāya will unfold this outright: “what is prāṇa, that is prajñā; what is prajñā, that is prāṇa”.
Remarkable too is how the gods depart: not severally, but “together with them all”, gathered around the breath. So also departs the knower: not abandoning his powers but taking them with him. Of this the fourth adhyāya will speak, describing the sleeper in whom all the powers have converged into one.
And the promise is not unbounded: “he becomes immortal, as the gods are immortal”. The measure is honestly stated — the immortality of the gods; and the gods in this book are not the highest: in the first adhyāya the traveller passed clean through their worlds. Fullness is promised further on; here exactly as much is promised as the knowledge of prāṇa yields.