Prasna Upanishad – 2

Kabandhi’s Question 

The first question was put by the disciple Kabandhi Kathyayana and it related to the origin of all created beings. As an answer to that question, guru Pippaladha Rishi presents a summary of the entire creation process.  The entire creation process comes from Prajapathi, which is the other name for Brahma.  Prajapathi is created by Iswara or Saguna Brahman who creates Prajapathi and delegates the work of creation to him. So Iswara creates Prajapathi and from Prajapathi the entire creation comes. This is stated briefly in the opening verse of Mundaka upanishad also as “Brahma, the first among the Devas, was the creator of the Universe”.  And here in this Upanishad the creation is presented by sage Pippaladha as coming from Prajapathi in four stages which is unique to this Upanishad.  First he talks about mithuna srishti the creation in the form of complementary pairs, the first pair being energy and matter, called here prana and rayi.  Second is the Kaala srishti, the creation of Time principle.  The third one is Anna srishti, meaning creation of food and fourth is praja srishti meaning creation of living beings.

Let us first see the pair, prana and rayi.  These two words have three different meanings.  The first meaning is at the macro level, prana referring to invisible sukshma prapancha or amurtha prapancha, the invisible world. All the sukshma sareerams and all the subtle elements will come under amurtha prapancha. Rayi refers to visible tangible universe, murtha prapancha.  The second meaning is at the micro level; prana and rayi referring to bhoktha, consumer of food and bhojyam, consumed food i.e. prana corresponding to bhoktha and rayi to bhojyam. The third meaning is sun and the moon corresponding to prana and rayi; prana corresponding to sun and rayi to moon. The third meaning is also explained as follows – The digestive energy and health comes from sun and so it corresponds to prana. Nourishment in the food is drawn from moon as the nutrient power in plant comes from moon according to sastras.

Sun and moon also represent Kaala tatvam, Time principle. Without Time principle creation cannot exist.  Sun indicating day, month, year etc., and moon indicating amavasya, pournami, thithi etc. represent the two principles of Kaala tatvam, the solar calendar and the lunar calendar.  And thereafter the Kaala Tatvam is represented in 3 ways. Samvatsra, maasa, and divasa. Samvatsra means the year; maasa means month; divasa means day. And each one of them has got a complimentary pair- Uttarayana and Dakshinayana for year; Sukla paksha and Krishna paksha for month and Day and Night for the day.  Thus all mithunani, pairs, are born.

The next important stage is anna srishti or food for living beings, because creating the living beings without food is useless. Once food is there then all living beings are created, i.e. praja srishti, the final stage. Both these srishties are described in one Sloka, 1-14.

Annam vai prajaapatih; tatah ha vai tad retas I

Tasmaat imaah prajaah prajaayanta iti.II1-14II

Food is indeed Prajapati. From which proceeds the semen in man. From semen all these creatures are born.

Sage Pippalada had been describing every pair as a manifestation of Prajapathi Himself as they had been created by Prajapathi out of Himself at creation and withdrawn into Himself at pralaya. This description can help one to recognize the presence of the Lord in food and the important part food plays in the quality of one’s life.  One is Satvic, Rajasic or Tamasic depending on the food one takes.  Further the essence of food goes into the make-up of semen produced in the body. Now we can see the stages of manifestation of Prajapathi as follows:

Prajapathi -> Energy and Matter -> Time -> Food ->Semen (Seed) -> Living Beings 

Living beings here refers to all types of physical bodies; manushya sareeram, pasu sareeram, and pakshi sareeram and all of them.  Pippalada while discussing about the origin of all created beings also talks about two important sadhanas for human beings for attaining their goals.  The two important sadhanas are in the form of karma and upasana.  Karma means physical and verbal activities and upasana means meditation or dhyanam.  These two types of sadhanas prescribed in the scriptures, can be practiced in two ways.  One way is performing the sadhanas seeking material results,and being devoted to the legitimate pursuit of material pleasures pursuing two types of work, ishta and purthi – ishta referring to daily obligatory duties and purthi referring to social services for public welfare such as digging of wells. The other way is performing sadhanas for internal and spiritual growth only devoting oneself to spiritual pursuits without seeking worldly gains. Guru says that former sadhakas will go the Swarga loka through Krishna gathi and have rebirth.  The latter sadhakas will go to Brahma loka through sukla gathi, with the possibility of krama mukthi from there. While discussing the ones going to Brahmaloka, guru stresses the importance of moral values and Jnanam namely penance, celibacy, faith and knowledge to get Liberation.  In the final verse of this chapter the value of honesty and transparency in transactions and avoidance of the negative values of deceit, falsehood, pretence and dissimulation is emphasized. 

Teshaam asau virajah brahmalokah I

Na yeshu jihmam-anritam na maayaa cha iti.II1-16II

Belonging only to the pure at heart is the world of Brahma Loka; in whom there is no pretence or falsehood, nor any deception.

This verse read together with the earlier verse no.10 can be seen as giving the  eligibility criterion for the E pass for travel by sukla gathi as the practice of the positive virtues of Sathyam, Tapas, and Brahmacharyam, eschewing the negative qualities of falsehood, deception and dishonesty. Further guru Pippalada by emphasising that Prajapathi has manifested as everything in srishti while describing each srishti was only preparing the disciple, Kabandhi, for acquiring abedha buddhi in creation and for cultivating Sarvathma bhava.

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