Prasna Upanishad – 7

Sukesa’s question

Sukesa, son of Bharadwaja started the question with an anecdote. Hiranyabha, the prince of Kosala, once came to Sukesa and asked him about the Cosmic Person, Purusha, with sixteen kalas (parts). Sukesa replied that he does not know and Hiranyabha went away.  Now Sukesa wanted to know about this Purusha with sixteen kalas from Pippalada rishi.  Pippalada started his answer in Mantra 2 as follows:

ihaiivaantahsariire somya sa purusho yasminnetaah shodashakalah prabhavantiiti ||

That Person - He from whom these sixteen kalas arise - is verily here within the body. (6-2)

Pippalada rishi answered that that Purusha is the inner Self, the pratyagatma, of the living being.  Athma dwells in the space, akasa, within the heart, which is shaped like a lotus bud. It is to be sought as the first principle within the man himself and not elsewhere. The sixteen kalas called  ‘Shodasa kala’ stand for the world and shodasa kala purusha for Viswarupa Iswara as we can see in the later Mantras.

Purusha, though without any parts, appears to have parts, which are called upadhis, adjuncts, when conditioned through avidya. Through ignorance alone the kalas are seen to arise from, exist in and disappear into the Purusha, the undifferentiated, pure, non-dual, formless, partless Brahman who is in this body also as Athma. The parts are described in Mantra 4 quoted below.

sa pranamasrijata pranaat shraddhaam kham vaayurjyotiraapah prithiviindriyam manah | annamannadviiryam tapo mantrah karma loka lokeshu cha nama cha || 

He created Prana; from Prana faith, space, air, fire, water, earth, the organs, mind, food; from food virility, austerity, the Vedic hymns, sacrifice, the worlds; and in the worlds He created names. (6-4)

This Mantra gives the sixteen kalas, They are:  

1. Prana, representing the Total Mind or Hiranyagarbha. This represents the Life-force without which nothing can exist in the world.

2. Shraddha, the faith in Brahman, the Asthikya Buddhi

3 to 7. The Five Elements: Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth

8.Indriyas: Karmendriyas and Jnanendriyas

9. Mind: the antahkaranas of manas, buddhi, ahamkara and chiththa

10. Food: to sustain life in the body

11.Veerya or vigour: vitality or power to act effectively

12. Tapas or austerity: self-control or the laws of self-discipline

13. Mantras; all the four Vedas

14. Karma; all the rites and rituals

15. Worlds: the rewards of the rites and rituals

16. Names: for the different things in creation

These sixteen parts are unreal, like the objects seen in a dream and are created through avidya.  When avidya is destroyed they again merge in the Purusha losing their names and forms.  This is illustrated in the next Mantra 5.

sa yathema nadhyah syandamaanaah samudraayanaah samudram praapyaastam gachchanti bhidhyete taasaam naamarupe samudra ityevam prochyate | evamevaasya paridrashhturimaah shhodashakalaah purushaayanaah purusham praapyaastam gachchhanti bhidhyete chaasaam naamarupe purusha ityevam prochyate sa eshho.akalo.amrito bhavati tadeshha slokah ||

As these flowing rivers, bound for the ocean, disappear into the ocean after having reached it, their names and forms being destroyed and are called simply the ocean - even so, these sixteen parts of the seeker, whose goal is the Purusha, disappear into the Purusha after having reached Him, their names and forms get merged and are called simply the Purusha. He becomes free of parts and immortal. On this there is the following verse: (6-5)

The sixteen kalas originate from the Unmanifest Absolute i.e. Brahman and eventually they all dissolve into the Unmanifest Absolute.  This is illustrated in the Mantra with the analogy of rivers reaching their destination in the ocean and losing their individual identity of names and forms. The import of this Mantra is that the universe and all the beings are projected, through avidya, from Brahman. Through avidya again, names and forms are superimposed upon them and when the names and forms are destroyed by Jnanam, everything is realized to be Brahman alone. The one who attains this knowledge of Brahman goes beyond the pale of death. For such an illumined person there is no more birth after the present one. Pippalada rishi then quotes a Vedic hymn to support this statement that appears as Mantra 6.

araa iva rathanaabhau kalaa yasminpratishhtitaah | tam vedhyam purusham veda yatha maa vo mrityuh parivyathaa iti ||

Know Him, the Purusha, who alone is to be known and in whom the parts rest firm, like the spokes in the nave of a wheel, that death may not affect you. (6-6)

The simile of the spokes and the hub is appropriate as:

i) Every kala is linked to the Purusha directly like every spoke of the wheel to the hub.

ii) Like the hub in the wheel that carries all the weight, Purusha bears all the responsibility for all creation.

iii) In a wheel, if a person clutches the rim he will get crushed at each turn.  But if he gets hold of the hub he is safe. So also, one should seek refuge in the Purusha and not in objects of creation.

iv) Further Purusha is the support of all His manifestations just as the spokes are being supported by the hub of a wheel.

When a person knows the Purusha as his innermost Self, he does not face death any longer or he has crossed over the cycle of births and deaths.

In the next Mantra 7 Pippalada concludes in humility with the words “This is the limit of my knowledge; I do not know anything more. I have told you all that I know.” after emphasising again that there is nothing superior to Brahman. Concluding Mantra 8 states that the grateful disciples organized a puja and glorified the guru by declaring that through his teaching he has helped them to cross the ocean of samsara. The Upanishad ends with the disciples’ salutations to the entire Acharya parampara including their own Acharya.

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