Prasna Upanishad - 4

Kaushalya’s question 

The third chapter opens with the question asked by Kaushalya, son of Asvalaya. In fact it is five questions strung into one and this question also relates to Prana thathvam. The question in Mantra 1 runs as:

Bhagavan, kutah eshah praanah jaayate katham aayaati asmin shareere aatmaanam vaa pravibhajya, katham pratishhate kena utkramate katham baahyam abhidhatte katham adhyatmam Iti II

O Bhagavan, i) From whom does this Prana take its birth? ii) How does it come to abide in this body? iii) After dividing itself how does it abide? iv) How does it go out (of its body, at death)? v) How does it support what is outside and what is within?  (3-1) 

Here we have the third question with its five segments which relate to origin of Prana, its entry into the body, stay in the body, how it sustains the body, and how it leaves the body i.e. origin, entry, stay, sustenance and departure. Pippalada rishi first compliments Kaushalya for his genuine interest and seriousness in learning Brahma Vidya as the nature of questions is such that they transcend the comprehension of ordinary persons. He then starts answering the questions from Mantra 3.

Athmana eshah pranah jaayate I Yatha esha purushe chaya, etasmin etat aatatam. Manah kritenaa aayati asmin sareere II

This Prana is born of the Athma (Self). As a man’s shadow is born of him only, so is this (Prana) born of that (the Self).  By the action of the mind, it enters into this body. (3-3)

The first two questions are answered in this verse namely origin of Prana and its entry into the body.   The answer to the first question is that Prana is projected from the Self, Athma. Prana is perceived to exist because of Athma which is its substratum. So Prana is described as a shadow of Self, Athma.  A shadow is totally dependent on the person and has no independent existence.  In the same way Prana is entirely dependent on the Self and it is unreal. It appears to be real because it rests on the reality, the Self. 

One’s present birth and body is the result of one’s thoughts and actions in the previous existence. And mind is responsible for thoughts and consequent actions.  As punya papa karma determines Prana’s entry into the body, Pippalada rishi says that the Prana comes  into the body due to the action of mind as answer to the second question.

The third question relates to the subdivisions of Prana and how they stay in the body.  This is explained in next four verses.  Prana subdivides itself into five Upa-Pranas. They are Apana, Prana, Samana, Vyana and Udhana. They function as follows:

1)   Apana – Excretion is its main function.  It resides in the anus and genitals

2)   Prana – It operates in the eyes, ears mouth and nostrils

3)   Samana – Digestion and distribution of nutrients is its main function.  It resides in the stomach and abdominal region

4)   Vyana – It governs the circulatory system and is centred in the heart.

5)   Udana – It takes away the subtle body or linga sareera with it at the time of death. 

Thus Prana abides in the body as five Upa-Pranas and sustains the body through the five fold systems of excretion, respiration, digestion, circulation and exit of life system from the body.  Incidentally in Mantra 5, while discussing the function of the Upa-Prana Samana, Pippalada rishi points out that through the Vaisvanara fire in the stomach seven flames shoot upwards and light up the seven organs of perception in the head i.e. two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and one mouth and enables the person to have the experience of forms, sounds, smells and flavors. In Mantra 7 Pippalada rishi explains the working of the Upa-Prana Udana at the time of death of the person. It leaves with the linga sareera through the sushumna nadi that goes up to the top of head and moves to higher worlds or the lower worlds or in the human world itself depending on the next bunch of maturing prarabhdha karma.

 

The working of Upa-Pranas answers one part of the question as to how Prana sustains the body from within. Pippalada answers the other part of the question in Mantras 8 and 9. The operation of the Upa-Pranas within the body is repeated on a larger scale outside and throughout the universe. Upa-Pranas and their counterparts in the external universe are as given below:

1)   Prana has its counterpart in the Sun, who is the source of energy to the world

2)   Apana has its counterpart in earth with its gravitational pull downwards

3)   Samana has its counterpart in space, as space or atmospheric air upholds life in all creatures

4)   Vyana has its counterpart as Air in the macrocosm

5)   Udana’s counterpart in macrocosm is Fire

Prana in the form of Surya sakthi. Prithvi sakthi, Akasa sakthi, Vayu sakthi and Agni sakthi sustains the external world also.  So the Prana at the cosmic level expresses in the form of 5 natural forces, and through that sustain the entire creation.

 

The Mantra10 explains who determines the field of next activity when the udana leaves the body along with the linga sareera.

Yat chittah tena eshah pranam aayaati  praanah tejasaa yuktah I  saha aatmanaa yathaa sankalpitam lokam nayati II

Together with whatever thought one had (at the time of death) he enters into the Prana. Prana, in its aspect as Udana, carries away the Jivathma to whatever world has been conceived (in the last thoughts) (3-10)

It says that the last thoughts at the time of death determine the future field for the Prana with jivatma (which is the performer of action and the experiencer of the result) to live out in its next birth because the most prominent thought of one’s life occupies the mind at the time of death. The after-death experience of the Jivathma depends upon the desires it cherishes and thoughts at the time of death as Lord Krishna also points out in Gita 8-6.

Yam yam vaapi smaran bhaavam tyajatyante kalevaram;

Tam tamevaiti kaunteya sadaa tadbhaavabhaavitah..

O son of Kunti, thinking of whatever entity one leaves the body at the time of death that alone one attains being ever absorbed in its thought. (Gita 8-6)

This explanation along with the earlier one in Mantra 7 completes the answer to the remaining question; How does Prana depart?  After Kaushalya’s question is answered fully we have  phala stuthi in Mantra 11 where  Pippalada rishi states that he who meditates on the truth that one’s own microcosmic form with its activity centres is nothing but a miniature universe with its cosmic forces in the macrocosm will find his relationship with others in the world always congenial and he attains relative immortality by merging into Hiranyagarbha thathvam after death. In support of this a Mantra from Rig veda is quoted which while giving a summary of this chapter also confirms the immortality status after death by stating twice the words “vijnaaya amritam ashnute (Knowing (meditating) one achieves immortality)”.  The chapter concludes with this Mantra 12.

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