The Online Library of Liberty

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• Preface
• Remarks Concerning the Translation Its Method and Arrangement
• List of Abbreviations
• Errata
• An Outline of the Philosophy of the Upanishads
• Chapter I: The Place of the Upanishads In the History of Philosophy
• Chapter II: The Upanishads and Their Place In Indian Philosophy
• Chapter III: First Attempts At the Conception of a Unitary World-ground
• Chapter IV: The Development of the Conception of Brahma
• Chapter V: The Development of the Conception of the Atman and Its Union With Brahma
• Chapter VI: The Realistic Conception of the Ultimate Unity, and the Doctrine of Illusion
• Chapter VII: Idealism and the Conception of Pure Unity
• Chapter VIII: The Outcome On Religion and On the Doctrine of Karma
• Chapter IX: The Outcome On Practical Life and On Morals
• Chapter X: The Artificial Method of Unity In Renunciation and In Yoga
• Chapter XI: Concluding Estimate
• BṚihad-ĀraṆyaka Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• ChĀndogya Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka a Glorification of the Chanting of the Sāma-veda 1
• Second PrapĀṬhaka the Significance of the Chant In Various Forms
• Third PrapĀṬhaka Brahma As the Sun of the World-all
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka Conversational Instructions
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning Breath, the Soul, and the Universal Soul
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Śvetaketu By Uddālaka Concerning the Key to All Knowledge
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Nārada By Sanatkumāra
• Eighth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning the Nature of the Soul
• TaittirĪya Upanishad
• First VallĪ (Śikshā Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Instruction’)
• Second VallĪ (brahmānanda Vallī, ‘bliss-of-brahma Chapter’)
• Third VallĪ (bhṛigu Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Bhṛigu’)
• Aitareya Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• KaushĪtaki Upanishad 1
• First AdhyĀya the Course of Reincarnation, and Its Termination Through Metaphysical Knowledge 2
• Second AdhyĀya the Doctrine of Prāṇa, Together With Certain Ceremonies
• Third AdhyĀya Doctrine of Prāṇa (the Breathing Spirit)
• Fourth AdhyĀya a Progressive Definition of Brahma 2
• Kena Upanishad 1
• (first KhaṆḌa)
• (second KhaṆḌa)
• (third KhaṆḌa) 3
• (fourth KhaṆḌa)
• KaṬha Upanishad
• First VallĪ 1
• Second VallĪ
• Third VallĪ
• Fourth VallĪ
• Fifth VallĪ
• Sixth VallĪ
• ĪŚĀ Upanishad 1
• MuṆḌaka Upanishad
• First MuṆḌaka Preparation For the Knowledge of Brahma
• Second MuṆḌaka the Doctrine of Brahma-Ātman
• Third MuṆḌaka the Way to Brahma
• PraŚna Upanishad 1
• First PraŚna
• Second PraŚna
• Third PraŚna
• Fourth PraŚna
• Fifth PraŚna
• Sixth PraŚna
• MĀṆḌŪkya Upanishad
• ŚvetĀŚvatara Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• Maitri Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka
• Second PrapĀṬhaka
• Third PrapĀṬhaka
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka
• A Bibliography of the Upanishads Selected, Classified, and Annotated

SECOND PRAŚNA

Concerning the several personal powers and their chiefest

1. Then Bhārgava Vaidarbhi asked him [i. e. Pippalāda]:

[a] ‘Sir, how many powers (deva) support a creature?

[b] How many illumine this [body]?

[c] Which one again is the chiefest of them?’

[a] and [b] The supporting and illumining powers

2. To him then he said: ‘Space (ākāśa), verily, is such a power (deva)—wind, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, sight, and hearing, too.1 These, having illumined it, declare: “We uphold and support this trunk (bāṇa)!”

[c] Life, the essential and chiefest

3. To them Life (prāṇa, the life-breath), the chiefest, said: “Fall not into delusion! I indeed, dividing myself (ātmānam) fivefold, support and sustain this body!”

4. They were incredulous. He, from pride, as it were, rises up aloft. Now when he rises up, then all the others also rise up; and when he settles down, they all settle down with him.

Now, as all the bees rise up after the king bee when he rises up, and all settle down when he settles down, even so speech, mind, sight, and hearing. They, being satisfied, praise Life (prāṇa, the life-breath).

The universal Life

5. As fire (Agni), he warms. He is the sun (Sūrya).

He is the bountiful2 rain (Parjanya). He is the wind (Vāyu).

• He is the earth, matter (rayi), God (deva),
• Being (sat) and Non-being (asat), and what is immortal.

6. Like the spokes on the hub of a wheel,

Everything is established on Life (prāṇa):—

The Rig verses, the Yajus formulas, the Sāman chants,

The sacrifice, the nobility (ksatra) and the priesthood (brahman)!

7. As the Lord of Creation (Prajāpati), thou movest in the womb.

’Tis thou thyself that art born again.

To thee, O Life, creatures here bring tribute—1

Thou, who dwellest with living beings!

8. Thou art the chief bearer [of oblations] to the gods!

Thou art the first offering to the fathers!

Thou art the true practice of the seers,

Descendants of Atharvan and Aṅgiras!

9. Indra art thou, O Life, with thy brilliance!

Rudra art thou as a protector!

Thou movest in the atmosphere

As the sun (Sūrya), thou Lord of lights!

10. When thou rainest upon them,

Then these creatures of thine, O Life,

Are blissful, thinking:

“There will be food for all desire!”

11. A Vrātya2 art thou, O Life, the only seer,

An eater, the real lord of all!

We are the givers of thy food!

Thou art the father of the wind (Mātariśvan).

12. That form of thine which abides in speech,

Which abides in hearing, which abides in sight,

And which is extended in the mind,

Make propitious! Go not away!

13. This whole world is in the control of Life—

E’en what is established in the third heaven!

As a mother her son, do thou protect [us]!

Grant to us prosperity (śrī) and wisdom (prajñā)!’

[1 ]That is, the five cosmic elements, and with prāṇa (life-breath) the five personal functions.

[2 ]The reference may be to ‘Indra,’ for whom maghavan is a very common Vedic epithet.

[1 ]This line is a reminiscence of AV. 11. 4. 19 a, b, a hymn to Prāṇa, of which there are other reminiscences in this Praśna Upanishad.

[2 ]Śaṅkara explains this word as meaning ‘uninitiated’ because of his being the first born, and there being no one else to initiate him; therefore ‘pure by nature.’ This is a noteworthy characterization; for, later a Vrātya is either a despised, non-Brahmanical low-caste man, or else a man who has lost caste through the non-observance of proper ceremonies! Yet compare the glorification of the Vrātya in AV. 15.