स होवाच प्राणोऽस्मि प्रज्ञात्मा तं मामायुरमृतमित्युपास्व । आयुः प्राणः प्राणो वा आयुः प्राण एवाचामृतम् । यावद्ध्यस्मिञ्छरीरे प्राणो वसति तावदायुः । प्राणेन ह्येवामुष्मिंल्लोकेऽमृतत्वमाप्नोति । प्रज्ञया सत्यसङ्कल्पं स यो ममायुरमृतमित्युपास्ते सर्वमायुरस्मिंल्लोक एति । आप्नोत्यमृतत्वमक्षितिं स्वर्गे लोके । तद्धैक आहुरेकभूयं वै प्राणा गच्छन्तीति । न हि कश्चन शक्नुयात्सकृद्वाचा नाम प्रज्ञापयितुं चक्षुषा रूपं श्रोत्रेण शब्दं मनसा ध्यानमित्येकभूयं वै प्राणाः । एकैकमेतानि सर्वाण्येव प्रज्ञापयन्ति । वाचं वदन्ती सर्वे प्राणा अनुवदन्ति । चक्षुः पश्यत्सर्वे प्राणा अनुपश्यन्ति श्रोत्रं शृण्वत्सर्वे प्राणा अनुशृण्वन्ति मनो ध्यायत्सर्वे प्राणा अनुध्यायन्ति प्राणं प्राणन्तं सर्वे प्राणा अनुप्राणन्तीति । एवमुहैवैतदिति हेन्द्र उवाच । अस्तीत्येव प्राणानां निःश्रेयसादानमिति
sa hovāca prāṇo'smi prajñātmā taṃ māmāyuramṛtamityupāsva | āyuḥ prāṇaḥ prāṇo vā āyuḥ prāṇa evācāmṛtam | yāvaddhyasmiñcharīre prāṇo vasati tāvadāyuḥ | prāṇena hyevāmuṣmiṃlloke'mṛtatvamāpnoti | prajñayā satyasaṅkalpaṃ sa yo mamāyuramṛtamityupāste sarvamāyurasmiṃlloka eti | āpnotyamṛtatvamakṣitiṃ svarge loke | taddhaika āhurekabhūyaṃ vai prāṇā gacchantīti | na hi kaścana śaknuyātsakṛdvācā nāma prajñāpayituṃ cakṣuṣā rūpaṃ śrotreṇa śabdaṃ manasā dhyānamityekabhūyaṃ vai prāṇāḥ | ekaikametāni sarvāṇyeva prajñāpayanti | vācaṃ vadantī sarve prāṇā anuvadanti | cakṣuḥ paśyatsarve prāṇā anupaśyanti śrotraṃ śṛṇvatsarve prāṇā anuśṛṇvanti mano dhyāyatsarve prāṇā anudhyāyanti prāṇaṃ prāṇantaṃ sarve prāṇā anuprāṇantīti | evamuhaivaitaditi hendra uvāca | astītyeva prāṇānāṃ niḥśreyasādānamiti
And he said: “I am the breath, the self of insight; revere me as life and immortality. Life is breath, and breath is life; breath is immortality itself. For while the breath dwells in this body, so long there is life; for by the breath one obtains immortality in yonder world, and by insight — true resolve. And who reveres me as life and immortality attains a full span in this world and obtains immortality and indestructibility in the heavenly world.” Of this some say: “the breaths go into oneness” — for no one can at once make known a name by speech, a form by the eye, a sound by the ear and a thought by the mind; going into oneness, the breaths make all these known one by one. When speech speaks, all the breaths speak after it; when the eye sees, all the breaths see after it; when the ear hears, all the breaths hear after it; when the mind thinks, all the breaths think after it; when the breath breathes, all the breaths breathe after it. “Even so it is”, said Indra. “There is, however, among the breaths a taking of the highest.”
fff9f080ac0c · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:43:45 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Indra names himself, and what is named is not a god's name but two words: prāṇa and prajñātman — “breath” and “the self of insight”.
This is the key to the previous mantra. He who recounted his victories turns out to be not a warrior in the heavens but life itself in the living. “Know me” now means: know the life by which you live.
The first proof is simple: “while the breath dwells in this body, so long there is life”. Prāṇa is the very term of life; therefore it is revered “as life and immortality”. And two workings are at once distinguished: by breath one obtains immortality, by insight — satya-saṅkalpa, “true resolve”, the will that comes to pass. Life gives duration; insight gives true direction.
The mantra's second half takes up an objection, and the handling is fine. “The breaths go into oneness”, some say. Their argument: try at one moment to name a name, see a form, hear a sound and think a thought. It cannot be done: attention is one. Our powers, then, do not act severally — they alternate, stepping forth in turn out of a common store.
And then it is said how exactly they hold together: when speech speaks, “all the breaths speak after it”. Not that the eye utters words; but that in every act of one power the rest take part, though they do not step forward. This is an exact description of attention: always one, yet gathered out of all.
Indra agrees: “even so it is”. But he adds the proviso to which the whole next mantra is given: “there is, however, among the breaths a taking of the highest” — that is, among them there is a first. Oneness does not cancel precedence, and that precedence will now be proved by trial.