Sharir – Tattvas Part III (contd.):
Pran – the story, with Sanskrit reference
The Sanskrit Text for the previous story of Chhandogya (Chandogya) Upanishad (Ch. Up: 5.1, Shlok: 1-15) goes as below:
“yo ha vai jyeṣṭhaṃ ca śreṣṭhaṃ ca veda jyeṣṭhaś ca ha vai śreṣṭhaś ca bhavati | prāṇo vāva jyeṣṭhaś ca śreṣṭhaś ca” || ChUp_5,1.1 ||
“yo ha vai vasiṣṭhaṃ veda vasiṣṭho ha svānāṃ bhavati | vāg vāva vasiṣṭhaḥ” || ChUp_5,1.2 ||
“yo ha vai pratiṣṭhāṃ veda prati ha tiṣṭhaty asmiṃś ca loke ‘muṣmiṃś ca |
cakṣur vāva pratiṣṭhā” || ChUp_5,1.3 ||
“yo ha vai saṃpadaṃ veda saṃ hāsmai kāmāḥ padyante daivāś ca mānuṣāś ca | śrotraṃ vāva saṃpat” || ChUp_5,1.4 ||
“yo ha vā āyatanaṃ vedāyatanaṃ ha svānāṃ bhavati |
mano ha vā āyatanam” || ChUp_5,1.5 ||
“atha ha prāṇā ahaṃśreyasi vyūdire |
ahaṃ śreyān asmy ahaṃ śreyān asmīti” || ChUp_5,1.6 ||
“te ha prāṇāḥ prajāpatiṃ pitaram etyocuḥ bhagavan ko naḥ śreṣṭha iti |
tān hovāca |
“yasmin va utkrānte śarīraṃ pāpiṣṭhataram iva dṛśyeta sa vaḥ śreṣṭha iti” || ChUp_5,1.7 ||
“sā ha vāg uccakrāma | sā saṃvatsaraṃ proṣya paryetyovāca |
katham aśakatarte maj jīvitum iti |
yathā kalā avadantaḥ prāṇantaḥ prāṇena paśyantaś cakṣuṣā śṛṇvantaḥ śrotreṇa dhyāyanto manasaivam iti |
praviveśa ha vāk” || ChUp_5,1.8 ||
“cakṣur hoccakrāma | tat saṃvatsaraṃ proṣya paryetyovāca |
katham aśakatarte maj jīvitum iti |
yathāndhā apaśyantaḥ prāṇantaḥ prāṇena vadanto vācā śṛṇvantaḥ śrotreṇa dhyāyanto manasaivam iti |
praviveśa ha cakṣuḥ” || ChUp_5,1.9 ||
“śrotraṃ hoccakrāma | tat saṃvatsaraṃ proṣya paryetyovāca katham aśakatarte maj jīvitum iti | yathā badhirā aśṛṇvantaḥ prāṇantaḥ prāṇena vadanto vācā paśyantaś cakṣuṣā dhyāyanto manasaivam iti |
praviveśa ha śrotram” || ChUp_5,1.10 ||
“mano hoccakrāma | tat saṃvatsaraṃ proṣya paryetyovāca |
katham aśakatarte maj jīvitum iti |
yathā bālā amanasaḥ prāṇantaḥ prāṇena vadanto vācā paśyantaś cakṣuṣā śṛṇvantaḥ śrotreṇaivam iti |
praviveśa ha manaḥ” || ChUp_5,1.11 ||
“atha ha prāṇa uccikramiṣan sa yathā suhayaḥ paḍvīśaśaṅkūn saṃkhided evam itarān prāṇān samakhidat |taṃ hābhisametyocuḥ |
bhagavann edhi |tvaṃ naḥ śreṣṭho ‘si |
motkramīr iti” || ChUp_5,1.12 ||
“atha hainaṃ vāg uvāca |
yad ahaṃ vasiṣṭho ‘smi tvaṃ tadvasiṣṭho ‘sīti |
atha hainaṃ cakṣur uvāca |
yad ahaṃ pratiṣṭhāsmi tvaṃ tatpratiṣṭhāsīti” || ChUp_5,1.13 ||
“atha hainaṃ śrotram uvāca |
yad ahaṃ saṃpad asmi tvaṃ tatsaṃpad asīti |
atha hainaṃ mana uvāca |
yad aham āyatanam asmi tvaṃ tadāyatanam asīti” || ChUp_5,1.14 ||
“na vai vāco na cakṣūṃṣi na śrotrāṇi na manāṃsīty ācakṣate |
prāṇā ity evācakṣate |
prāṇo hy evaitāni sarvāṇi bhavati” || ChUp_5,1.15 ||)
“The meaning, in short, is as follows:
Once, five main faculties of our body – the mind (antahkaran), breath (pran), speech (tongue), hearing (ear) and vision or sight (eye) – were arguing with each other as to which one of them was the best and most important. To resolve their dispute they decided that each one would leave the body and see whose absence was most missed. First speech left the body but the body, though mute, continued to live. Next the eyes left but the body, though blind, continued to live. Next the ears left but the body, though deaf, continued to live. Then, the mind left but the body, though unconscious, continued to live. Finally the Pran (vital functions), one by one, began to leave and the body began to die and all the other faculties began to lose their energy and functions. They all rushed to Pran and told it to stay, accepting its supremacy. Clearly Pran won the argument. Pran gives energy or vitality to all our faculties of the body, without which they cannot function. Control of the pran is very important to sustain our lives.
The importance of Pran is also described in Question (Prashna) II of Prashna Upanishad.
Shlok 3: “Tānvarishthaha prana uvacha mā mohamāpadhyathāhamevaitatpanchadhāmātmanam pravibhajyaaitadbanamavashtabhya vidharayāmiti teashradhhānā bavabhuvuhu ||”
(Pr. Up: Q 2, Shlok: 3)
To them pran, the chief, said: “Do not fall into delusion. I alone, dividing myself into five parts, support this body and uphold it.” Meaning, five prans are in fact five different types of just one pran.
In Hinduism, whatever is described for the body is also described for the universe (Brahmand), because, Brahmand is also considered the body – the body of Ishwar. In Hinduism, similarity is described between the individual body and the universe. It is believed that whatever exists in the body also exists in the universe; only at different scale and in the different form. Shlok 4 – 11 of Question II of Prashna Upanishad describes the importance of the universal Pran in detail.
Shlok 12: That form of your which abides in speech, which abides in the ear, which abides in the eye and which pervades the mind, is very important so do not go away!
Shlok 13: All that exists here (in the body) is under the control of pran (bodily pran) and also what exists in heaven is controlled by the pran (universal pran).
Pran is also described in Question III of the same Prashna Upanishad.
Shlok 1: Then Kaushalya, the son of Ashval, asked Pippalād Rishi: Sir, whence is this pran born? How does it come into this body? How does it abide in the body after it has divided itself? How does it depart? How does it support the external and how the internal?
Shlok 3: This pran is born of Atman or ātmā (meaning, pran and ātmā – soul are two different things). As a shadow is cast by a person, so this pran is, by Atman. Through the activity of the mind it comes into this body.
Shlok 4: As an emperor commands his officials, saying; “Rule these villages or those,” so this pran employs the other prans, each in its separate place.
Shlok 11: The wise man who thus knows pran does not lose his offspring and becomes immortal. As to this there is the following verse:
Shlok 12: He who knows the origin of pran, its entry, its place, its fivefold distribution, its internal aspect and also its external, obtains immortality; yes, he obtains immortality.
Tags: Ashval, ātmā, Atman, body, breath (pran), Chandogya, Chhandogya, faculties, hearing (ear), Hinduism, Ishwar, Kaushalya, Pippalād, Pran (vital functions), Prashna Upanishad, Question (Prashna), rishi, Sanskrit, sharir, Shlok, soul, speech (tongue), tattvas, the mind (antahkaran), universe (Brahmand), Upanishad, vision or sight (eye)