III-1: Then Kausalya, son of Asvala, asked him, “O venerable sir, from where is this Prana born ? How does He come into this body ? How again does He dwell by dividing Himself ? How does he depart ? How does He support the external things and how the physical ?”
III-2: To him he said: You are putting super-normal questions, since you are pre-eminently a knower of Brahman. Hence I speak to you.
III-3: From the Self is born this Prana. Just as there can be shadow when a man is there, so this Prana is fixed on the self. He comes to this body owing to the actions of the mind.
III-4: As it is the king alone who employs the officers saying, “Rule over these villages, and those ones”, just so Prana engages the other organs separately.
III-5: He places Apana in the two lower apertures. Prana Himself, issuing out of the mouth and nostrils, resides in the eyes and ears. In the middle, however, is Samana, for this one distributes equally all this food that is eaten. From that issue out these seven flames.
III-6: This self (i.e. the subtle body) is surely in the heart. There are a hundred and one of the (chief) nerves. Each of them has a hundred (division). Each branch is divided into seventy-two thousand sub-branches. Among them moves Vyana.
III-7: Now then Udana, when it is in its upward trend, leads to a virtuous world as a result of virtue, to a sinful world as a result of sin and to the human world as a result of both.
III-8: The sun is indeed the external Prana. It rises up favouring this Prana in the eye. That deity, that is in the earth, favours by attracting Apana in a human being. The space (i.e. air), that is within, is Samana. The (common) air is Vyana.
III-9: That which if well known as luminosity, is Udana. Therefore, one who gets his light extinguished, attains rebirth together with the organs that enter into (his) mind.
III-10: Together with whatever thought he had (at the time of death), he enters into Prana. Prana, in combination with Udana and in association with the soul, leads him to the world desired by him.
III-11: The line of progeny of any man of knowledge who knows Prana thus sustains no break. He becomes immortal. Pertaining to this there occurs this mantra.
III-12: Having known the origin, coming, lodgement and fivefold overlordship and the physical existence of Prana, one achieves immortality. Having known, one achieves immortality.
IV-1: Then the grandson of Surya, born of the family of Garga, asked him, “O adorable sir, which are the organs that go to sleep in this person ? Which keep awake in him ? Which is the deity who experiences dream ? To whom occurs this happiness ? In whom do all get merged?
IV-2: To him he said, O Gargya, just as all the rays of the setting sun become unified in this orb of light, and they disperse from the sun as it rises up again, similarly all that becomes unified in the high deity, the mind. Hence this person does not then hear, does not see, does not smell, does not taste, does not touch, does not speak, does not grasp, does not enjoy, does not eject, does not move. People say, “He is sleeping.”
IV-3: It is the fires (i.e. the functions resembling fire) of Prana that really keep awake in this city of the body. That which is this Apana really resembles the Garhapatya fire, Vyana resembles the fire, Anvaharyapacana. Since the Ahavaniya fire is obtained from Garhapatya, which is the former’s source of extraction, therefore Prana conforms to Ahavaniya (because of its issuing out of Apana).
IV-4: Samana is the priest called Hota, because it strikes a balance between exhalation and inhalation which are but (comparable to) two oblations. The mind is verily the sacrificer. The desired fruit Udana, which leads this sacrificer every day to Brahman.
IV-5: In this dream state this deity (i.e. the mind) experiences greatness. Whatever was seen, it sees again; whatever was heard, it hears again; whatever was perceived in the different places and directions, it experiences again and again; it perceives all by becoming all that was seen or not seen, heard or not heard, perceived or not perceived, and whatever is real or unreal.
IV-6: When that deity, (the mind), becomes overwhelmed by (solar) rays (called bile), then in this state the deity does not see dreams. Then, all that time, there occurs this kind of happiness in this body.
IV-7: To illustrate the point: As the birds, O good looking one, proceed towards the tree that provides lodging, just so all these proceed to the supreme Self.
IV-8: Earth and the rudiment of earth, water and the rudiment of water, fire and the rudiment of fire, space and the rudiment of space, the organ and object of vision, the organ and object of hearing, the organ and object of smell, the organ and object of taste, the organ and object of touch, the organ and content of speech, the hands and the object grasped, sex and enjoyment, the organ of excretion and the excreta, the feet and the space trodden, the mind and the content of thought, understanding and the content of understanding, egoism and the content of egoism, awareness and the content of awareness, the shining skin and the object revealed by that, Prana and all that has to be held by Prana.
IV-9: And this one is the seer, feeler, hearer, smeller, taster, thinker, ascertainer, doer – the Purusha (pervading the body and senses), that is a knower by nature. This becomes wholly established in the supreme, immutable Self.
IV-10: He who realises that shadowless, bodiless, colourless, pure, Immutable attains the supreme Immutable Itself. O amiable one, he, again, who realises, becomes omniscient and all. Illustrative of this there occurs this verse:
IV-11: O amiable one, he becomes all-knowing and enters into all, who knows that Immutable wherein merges the cognising Self – (the Purusha who is naturally a knower) – as also do the organs and the elements together with all the deities.
V-1: Next, Satyakama, son of Sibi, asked him, “O venerable sir, which world does he really win thereby, who among men, intently meditates on Om in that wonderful way till death ?” To him he said:
V-2: O Satyakama, this very Brahman, that is (known as) the inferior and superior, is but this Om. Therefore the illumined soul attains either of the two through this one means alone.
V-3: Should he meditate on Om as consisting of one letter he becomes enlightened even by that and attains a human birth on the earth. The Rik mantras lead him to the human birth. Being endued there with self-control, continence, and faith he experiences greatness.
V-4: Now gain, if he meditates on Om with the help of the second letter, he becomes identified with the mind. By the Yajur mantras he is lifted to the intermediate space, the world of the Moon. Having experienced greatness in the lunar world, he turns round again.
V-5: Again, any one who meditates on the supreme Purusha with the help of this very syllable Om, as possessed of three letters, becomes unified in the Sun, consisting of light. As a snake becomes freed from its Slough, exactly in a similar way, he becomes freed from sin, and he is lifted up to the world of Brahma (Hiranyagarbha) by the Sama mantras. From this total mass of creatures (that Hiranyagarbha is) he sees the supreme Purusha that penetrates every being and is higher than the higher One (viz. Hiranyagarbha). Bearing on this, there occur two verses:
V-6: The three letters (by themselves) are within the range of death. But if they are closely joined, one to another, are not divergently applied to different objects, and are applied to the three courses of action – external, internal and intermediate – that are properly resorted to, then the man of enlightenment does not shake (i.e. remains undisturbed).
V-7: The intelligent know this world that is attainable by the Rik mantras, the intermediate space achievable by the Yajur mantras, and that which is reached by the Sama mantras. The enlightened man attains that (threefold) world through Om alone; and through Om as an aid, he reaches that also which is the supreme Reality that is quiet and beyond old age, death and fear.
VI-1: Then Sukesa, son of Bharadvaja, asked him, “Venerable sir, Hiranyanabha, a prince of Kosala, approached me and put this question, ‘Bharadvaja, do you know the Purusha possessed of sixteen limbs ?’ To that prince I said, ‘I do not know him. Had I known him why should I not have told you ? Anyone who utters a falsehood dries up root and all. Therefore I cannot afford to utter a falsehood. Silently he went away riding on the chariot. Of that Purusha I ask you, ‘Where does He exist ?’”
VI-2: To him he (Pippalada) said: O amiable one, here itself inside the body is that Purusha in whom originate these sixteen digits (or limbs).
VI-3: He deliberated: “As a result of whose departure shall I rise up ? And as a result of whose continuance shall I remain established ?”
VI-4: He created Prana; from Prana (He created) faith, space, air, fire, water, earth, organs, mind, food; from food (He created) vigour, self-control, mantras, rites, worlds and name in the worlds.
VI-5: The illustration is this: Just as these flowing rivers that have the sea as their goal, get absorbed after reaching the sea, and their names and forms are destroyed, and they are called merely the sea, so also these sixteen parts (i.e. constituents) of the all-seeing Purusha, that have Purusha as their goal, disappear on reaching Purusha, when their names and forms are destroyed and they are simply called Purusha. Such a man of realisation becomes free from the parts and is immortal. On this point there occurs this verse:
VI-6: You should know that Purusha who is worthy to be known and in whom are transfixed the parts like spokes in the nave of a chariot wheel, so that death may not afflict you anywhere.
VI-7: To them he said, “I know this supreme Brahman thus far only. Beyond this there is nothing.”
VI-8: While worshipping him they said, “You indeed are our father who have ferried us across nescience to the other shore. Salutation to the great seers. Salutation to the great seers.”
Om ! O gods, may we hear auspicious words with the ears;
While engaged in sacrifices,
May we see auspicious things with the eyes;
While praising the gods with steady limbs,
May we enjoy a life that is beneficial to the gods.
May Indra of ancient fame be auspicious to us;
May the supremely rich (or all-knowing) Pusa (god of the earth)
Be propitious to us;
May Garuda, the destroyer of evil,
Be well disposed towards us;
May Brihaspati ensure our welfare.
Om ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !
Here ends the Prasnopanishad, included in the Atharva-Veda.
