奥义书 · Jābāladarśana 4.25
॥
天城文
तेषु प्राणादयः पञ्च मुख्याः पञ्चसु सुव्रत । प्राणसंज्ञस्तथापानः पूज्यः प्राणस्तयोर्मुने
转写 (IAST)
teṣu prāṇādayaḥ pañca mukhyāḥ pañcasu suvrata | prāṇasaṃjñastathāpānaḥ pūjyaḥ prāṇastayormune
逐字释义
梵语IAST释义
तेषु प्राण-आदयः पञ्चteṣu prāṇa-ādayaḥ pañcaamong them, prana and the rest, five
मुख्याः पञ्चसु सु-व्रतmukhyāḥ pañcasu su-vrataare chief among the five, O one true to his vow
प्राण-संज्ञः तथा अपानःprāṇa-saṃjñaḥ tathā apānaḥnamed prana, and likewise apana
पूज्यः प्राणः तयोः मुनेpūjyaḥ prāṇaḥ tayoḥ muneprana is the more honored of the two, O sage
译文
"Among them, prana and the rest — five — are chief, O one true to his vow; named prana, and likewise apana — of the two, prana is the more honored, O sage."
版本
ae0600b156e3 · 发布于 2026年8月12日 05:00:00 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
Of the ten, five are singled out; of the five, two; of the two, one: prana. This is the same narrowing that occurred with the passages, and its structure has already been discussed. Worth examining is the word prana itself. It is from pra-an, "to breathe forward"; and means both "breath," "life," and "vital force." In the plural, pranah simply means "life": "gave up the pranas" means "died."
The primacy of prana in the Upanishads is the subject of a famous examination, worth citing, for it is a model of their manner of reasoning. In the Chandogya (5.1) and the Brihadaranyaka (6.1) it is told how the senses quarreled over which of them was chief. It was settled thus: let each leave the body for a year, and let us see how it fares. Speech left — they lived mute; sight left — they lived blind; hearing left, mind left — they lived so too. But when breath prepared to leave, it began to pull the others out, as a strong horse pulls up the pegs of its tether; and all begged it to stay and acknowledged it the eldest.
This story is, in substance, proof from experience: the chief is that without which one cannot. The Vaishnava side uses the same argument and carries it one step further. Breath is chief among the senses; but it too leaves, and the body remains. So there is something without which even breath cannot; and the Katha says, as already cited, that one lives not by breath, but by "something else, in which these two rest" (2.2.5).
The argument, then, is the same one — "the chief is that without which one cannot" — but applied consistently, it does not stop at breath.