जीवति वागपेतो मूकान्हि पश्यामो जीवति चक्षुरपेतोऽन्धान्हि पश्यामो जीवति श्रोत्रापेतो बधिरान्हि पश्यामो जीवति मनोपेतो बालान्हि पश्यामो जीवति बाहुच्छिन्नो जीवत्यूरुच्छिन्न इति । एवं हि पश्याम इति । अथ खलु प्राण एव प्रज्ञात्मेदं शरीरं परिगृह्योतथापयति । तस्मादेतदेवोऽथमुपासीत । यो वै प्राणः सा प्रज्ञा या वा प्रज्ञा स प्राणः । सह ह्येतावस्मिञ्छरीरे वसतः सहोत्क्रामतस्तस्यैषैव दृष्टिः । एतद्विज्ञानम् । यत्रैतत्पुरुषः सुप्तः स्वप्नं न कञ्चन पश्यत्यथास्मिन्प्राण एवैकधा भवति । तदैनं वाक्सर्वैर्नामभिः सहाप्येति चक्षुः सर्वै रूपैः सहाप्येति श्रोत्रं सर्वैः शब्दैः सहाप्येति मनः सर्वैर्ध्यातैः सहाप्येति । स यदा प्रतिबुध्यते यथाग्नेर्ज्वलतो सर्वा दिशो विस्फुलिङ्गा विप्रतिष्ठेरन्नेवमेवैतस्मादात्मनः प्राणा यथायतनं विप्रतिष्ठन्ते प्राणेभ्यो देवा देवेभ्यो लोकाः । तस्यैषैव सिद्धिरेतद्विज्ञानम् । यत्रैतत्पुरुष आर्तो मरिष्यन्नाबल्यं न्येत्य मोहं नैति तदाहुः । उदक्रमीच्चित्तम् । न शृणोति न पश्यति वाचा वदति न ध्यायत्यथास्मिन्प्राण एवैकधा भवति तदैनं वाक्सर्वैर्नामभिः सहाप्येति चक्षुः सर्वै रूपैः सहाप्येति श्रोत्रं सर्वैः शब्दैः सहाप्येति मनः सर्वैर्ध्यातैः सहाप्येति स यदा प्रतिबुध्यते यथाग्नेर्ज्वलतो विस्फुलिङ्गा विप्रतिष्ठेरन्नेवमेवैतस्मादात्मनः प्राणा यथायतनं विप्रतिष्ठन्ते प्राणेभ्यो देवा देवेभ्यो लोकाः
jīvati vāgapeto mūkānhi paśyāmo jīvati cakṣurapeto'ndhānhi paśyāmo jīvati śrotrāpeto badhirānhi paśyāmo jīvati manopeto bālānhi paśyāmo jīvati bāhucchinno jīvatyūrucchinna iti | evaṃ hi paśyāma iti | atha khalu prāṇa eva prajñātmedaṃ śarīraṃ parigṛhyotathāpayati | tasmādetadevo'thamupāsīta | yo vai prāṇaḥ sā prajñā yā vā prajñā sa prāṇaḥ | saha hyetāvasmiñcharīre vasataḥ sahotkrāmatastasyaiṣaiva dṛṣṭiḥ | etadvijñānam | yatraitatpuruṣaḥ suptaḥ svapnaṃ na kañcana paśyatyathāsminprāṇa evaikadhā bhavati | tadainaṃ vāksarvairnāmabhiḥ sahāpyeti cakṣuḥ sarvai rūpaiḥ sahāpyeti śrotraṃ sarvaiḥ śabdaiḥ sahāpyeti manaḥ sarvairdhyātaiḥ sahāpyeti | sa yadā pratibudhyate yathāgnerjvalato sarvā diśo visphuliṅgā vipratiṣṭherannevamevaitasmādātmanaḥ prāṇā yathāyatanaṃ vipratiṣṭhante prāṇebhyo devā devebhyo lokāḥ | tasyaiṣaiva siddhiretadvijñānam | yatraitatpuruṣa ārto mariṣyannābalyaṃ nyetya mohaṃ naiti tadāhuḥ | udakramīccittam | na śṛṇoti na paśyati vācā vadati na dhyāyatyathāsminprāṇa evaikadhā bhavati tadainaṃ vāksarvairnāmabhiḥ sahāpyeti cakṣuḥ sarvai rūpaiḥ sahāpyeti śrotraṃ sarvaiḥ śabdaiḥ sahāpyeti manaḥ sarvairdhyātaiḥ sahāpyeti sa yadā pratibudhyate yathāgnerjvalato visphuliṅgā vipratiṣṭherannevamevaitasmādātmanaḥ prāṇā yathāyatanaṃ vipratiṣṭhante prāṇebhyo devā devebhyo lokāḥ
One lives deprived of speech — for we see the dumb; one lives deprived of the eye — for we see the blind; one lives deprived of hearing — for we see the deaf; one lives deprived of mind — for we see infants; one lives with arms cut off, one lives with thighs cut off: so indeed we see. But the breath — the self of insight — having taken hold of this body, raises it up. Therefore it alone should be revered as the uktha. What is breath, that is insight; what is insight, that is breath — for together they dwell in this body and together they depart. And this is the perception of it, this the understanding: when a man, asleep, sees no dream whatever, then in him the breath alone becomes one; then speech with all names enters into it, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts. And when he awakes — as sparks fly apart in all directions from a blazing fire, so from this self the breaths go each to its station, from the breaths the gods, from the gods the worlds. And this is the proof of it, this the understanding: when a man, sick, dying, falling into weakness, sinks into a swoon, then they say: “the mind has departed; he hears not, he sees not, he speaks not, he thinks not.” Then in him the breath alone becomes one; then speech with all names enters into it, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts. And when he comes to — as sparks fly apart from a blazing fire, so from this self the breaths go each to its station, from the breaths the gods, from the gods the worlds.
0b57b70119b1 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:43:45 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Indra proves the primacy of prāṇa, and proves it not by reasoning but by a list of what everyone has seen with his own eyes.
Men live without speech — behold the dumb. Without sight — the blind. Without hearing — the deaf. Without mind — infants. Without arms and legs — the maimed. Every faculty can be taken away, and the man remains. The argument is built on losses, and is therefore irresistible.
And then is said what cannot be taken away: the breath, “having taken hold of this body, raises it up”. The verb is bodily — parigṛhya, “having grasped”: life takes the body as one takes a load, and sets it on its feet.
Here too stands the formula for which the book was written: “what is prāṇa, that is prajñā; what is prajñā, that is prāṇa”. Life and consciousness are not two things fastened together: the living is alive precisely in that it is aware. The proof — “together they dwell in this body and together they depart”: there is no life without consciousness and no consciousness without life.
Then come two demonstrations, both taken from experience open to everyone.
The first is deep, dreamless sleep. Speech with all names, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts — everything goes into prāṇa and becomes one with it. Note: not vanishes, but enters; the man does not lose his world — he folds it into himself.
The second is the swoon of the dying. And it is described with a physician's precision: “the mind has departed; he hears not, sees not, speaks not, thinks not”. Sleep gives the same picture; the only difference is whether he returns.
And the waking is described by an image that will become famous: as sparks fly apart from a blazing fire, so from this self the breaths disperse to their stations, from them the gods, from the gods the worlds. The world does not meet the waking man ready-made; it unfolds out of him, as sparks out of the fire. The fourth adhyāya will repeat this image, and the Muṇḍaka uses it for the origin of all things from the Imperishable.