Prasna Upanishad – 3

 Bhargava’s question

The second chapter opens with the question put by Bhargava of Vidharba and it forms part of the first Mantra and runs as:

Bhagavan, kati eva devaah prajaah vidhaayante?I katara etat prakaashayante?I kah punah eshaam varishtha? Iti II

“O Venerable Sir, how many Devas support the living being? Which of them gives life to this (living being)? Again, who among them is the greatest? (2-1)

The second question and answer carry us from the universal to the individual. Here the word Deva refers to the faculty or organ.  So we can interpret the question as “How many faculties or organs sustain the living being? And which of them is most glorious being essentially important".

Guru starts his reply in Mantra 2:

Tasmai sa ha uvaacha: aakaashah ha vaa eshah devah, vaayu agnih aapah prithivee, Vaang manas, chakshuh,shrotram cha I  Te prakaashya abhivadanti, vayam etat baanam avashtabhya vidhaarayaamah II

To him the Master now replied: Indeed Space is the foremost Deva; then come Air, Fire, Water and Earth; then come Speech, Mind, Eye and Ear, too.  Wanting to show their glory, they quarrelled among themselves:   “We hold this body together, and give it the support needed by it.” (2-2)

In this Mantra, the guru lists the five elements which go into the making of body and the various organs that govern the different functions of the body.  They are:

1)   Pancha Bhuthas - Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth

2)   Five karmendriyas, here represented by speech

3)   Five jnanendiyas, here represented by eye and ear

4)   Anthakarana, the four inner faculties, Manas, Buddhi, Ahamkara and Chitta, here represented by mind.

Each one of them laid claim to being the one who is mainly responsible for making the whole body work well and tried to take the credit for itself as the most glorious among them all. This resulted in a quarrel among them, and they could not reach an agreement.

The significant thing about this verse is that no mention is made in this about the important organ of the body, Prana with its five divisions. Guru leaves it for the next Mantra 3, where he makes a special mention of it, and the reason for the special treatment can be seen in Mantra 4.  Let us see the Mantra 3 now. 

Taan varishthah, praana uvaacha I  Maa moham aapadyatha, aham eva

etat , panchadhaa aatmaanam pravibhajya etat baanam

avashtabhya vidhaarayaamiti I   Te ashraddhaanaa babhoovah. II

Prana, the greatest of them, said:  “Be not lost in delusion, it is I alone, dividing myself fivefold, who keeps this body going, and gives the support needed by it.”  They had no faith in Prana’s words. (2-3)

 

Prana the life-force that functions like a “back-room boy” in the background behind all the work that is going-on now asserted itself and pointed out that It is the one mainly responsible for the maintenance of the body as with its five divisions it keeps the body going.  The five divisions of Prana and their function are as below:

Name	Function	Location
Prana	Respiration-inhaling and exhaling	Nose
Apana	Evacuation/Excretion of waste	Anus and Genitals
Vyana	Circulation – pervades the nerves of the body	Entire body
Udana	Pushing upwards-maintains heat in the body	Throat
Samana	Assimilation or digestion of food	Central Region of body.

 

But the other organs did not concede that it is Prana that plays the main role in maintenance of life in the body. Mantra 4 gives Prana’s reaction and its effect.

Sah abhimaanaad, oordhvam utkramata iva, tasmin utkraamati atha itare, sarva eva utkraamante tasmin cha pratishtamaane, sarve eva pratishtante I   Tad yathaa makshikaa madhukara raajaanam utkraamantam, sarvaa eva utkraamante;  tasmin cha pratishtamaane, sarvaa eva praatishtanta;  evam vaang-manas-chakshuh shrotram cha, te preetaa praanam stunvanti II

Prana, from a sense of indignation, got up and made as if it was going to leave. When it got up to go, then the others, all of them, also had to get up to go; and when it (Prana) remained in its place, all of them also remained!  This is just what happens in the case of bees;  when the queen-bee gets up to leave the hive, all of them also have to get up to go; and when she returns to it, all of them also return!   In the same way, the speech, mind, eye and the ear, too, had to (get up and return). They praised Prana being satisfied (that it is the greatest). (2-4)

Prana got offended by the disbelief shown to its words by the other sense organs. In order to teach them a lesson it pretended to leave the body. As soon as Prana made a gesture of leaving the body, all the organs followed it and when Prana settled back they also did the same. The Upanishad compares this incident to that of a queen bee and other bees. When the queen bee leaves the bee-hive, all the other bees follow her. She is their leader and without her they cannot function being dependent on her. In the same way, all other organs are dependent on Prana without whose presence they cannot function. So the organs were humbled and realized Prana’s superiority and began to praise it.  The next six Mantras of this chapter describe the glory of Prana, both vyeshti and samashti, as sung by the organs, and the last two Mantras spell out the prayer of the organs to Prana thathvam.  We shall see these Mantras briefly as ‘The praise of Prana’ and ‘Prayer to Prana’

The praise of Prana 

Prana is behind everything in Nature. all that have “form” like fire, water and earth as well as that which are “formless” like space and air. (Mantra 5) 

All the Vedas are knowledge and the supporter of this knowledge is Prana, the life energy. Whether one is kshatriya or a brahmana, everybody is sustained by Prana.  As spokes attached to the hub of a wheel, everything is fixed in Prana. (Mantra 6) 

Prana is Prajapathi, the universal life.  As a finite principle of life It enters the body and is re-born as child.  This is the play of life of Prana. The senses in the body gather the perceptions of their respective objects and offer them as oblations to Prana that converts them into the resultant action through mind and intellect. (Mantra 7) 

Prana is the carrier and also the deity to whom the offering is carried. Prana is the life working through the organs. Prana makes the organs work correctly and realize the Truth that it is only God we see before us in different forms.  (Mantra 8)

 Prana is praised as Indra, the Supreme Lord, as Rudra, the destroyer and Vishnu, the protector. He is the Sun and Lord of all lights. (Mantra 9)

 Prana is the giver of rain that provides food to all (Mantra 10)

Prana is the first-born for whom no sacramental rites were performed and being pure by nature it was also not necessary.  (Mantra 11) 

Prayer to Prana

The senses appeal to Prana not to depart from them and to be always with them and make them work for the benefit of others (Mantra 12)

The senses pray that Prana protect them just as a mother protects her children. They also pray that Prana may grant them prosperity and wisdom. (Mantra 13)

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