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The Upanishads, Part 1

By Max Müller

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Adhyâya III

THIRD ADHYÂYA 1.
1. Pratardana, forsooth, the son of Divodâsa (king of Kâsî), came by means of fighting and strength to the beloved abode of Indra. Indra said to him 'Pratardana, let me give you a boon to choose.' And Pratardana answered: 'Do you yourself choose that boon for me which you deem most beneficial for a man.' Indra said to him: 'No one who chooses, chooses for another; choose thyself,' Then Pratardana replied: 'Then that boon to choose is no boon for me.'

Then, however, Indra did not swerve from the truth, for Indra is truth. Indra said to him: 'Know me only; that is what I deem most beneficial for man, that he should know me. I slew the three-headed son of Tvashtri; I delivered the Arunmukhas, the devotees, to the wolves (sâlâvrika); breaking many treaties, I killed the people of Prahlâda in heaven, the people of Puloma in the sky, the people of Kâlakañga on earth 2. And not one hair of me was harmed there. And he who knows me thus, by no deed of his is his life harmed, not by the murder of his mother, not by the murder of his father, not by theft, not by the killing of a Brahman. If he is going to commit a sin, the bloom 1 does not depart from his face.'

2. Indra said: 'I am prâna, meditate on me as the conscious self (pragñâtman), as life, as immortality. Life is prâna, prâna is life. Immortality is prâna, prâna is immortality. As long as prâna dwells in this body, so long surely there is life. By prâna he obtains immortality in the other world, by knowledge true conception. He who meditates on me as life and immortality, gains his full life in this world, and obtains in the Svarga world immortality and indestructibility.'

(Pratardana said): 'Some maintain here, that the prânas become one, for (otherwise) no one could at the same time make known a name by speech, see a form with the eye, hear a sound with the car, think a thought with the mind. After having become one, the prânas perceive all these together, one by one. While speech speaks, all prânas speak after it. While the eye sees, all prânas see after it. While the car hears, all prânas hear after it. While the mind thinks, all prânas think after it. While the prâna breathes, all prânas breathe after it.'

'Thus it is indeed,' said Indra, 'but nevertheless there is a pre-eminence among the prânas 2.

3. Man lives deprived of speech, for we see dumb people. Man lives deprived of sight, for we see blind people. Man lives deprived of hearing, for we see deaf people. Man lives deprived of mind, for we see infants. Man lives deprived of his arms, deprived of his legs, for we see it thus. But prâna alone is the conscious self (pragñâtman), and having laid hold of this body, it makes it rise up. Therefore it is said, Let man worship it alone as uktha 1. What is prâna, that is pragñâ (self-consciousness); what is pragñâ (self-consciousness), that is prâna, for together they (pragñâ and prâna) live in this body, and together they go out of it. Of that, this is the evidence, this is the understanding. When a man, being thus asleep, sees no dream whatever, he becomes one with that prâna alone 2. Then speech goes to him (when he is absorbed in prâna) with all names, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts. And when he awakes, then, as from a burning fire sparks proceed in all directions, thus from that self the prânâs (speech, &c.) proceed, each towards its place; from the prânas the gods (Agni, &c.), from the gods the worlds.

Of this, this is the proof, this is the understanding. When a man is thus sick, going to die, falling into weakness and faintness, they say: 'His thought has departed, he hears not, he sees not, he speaks not, he thinks not.' Then he becomes one with that prâna alone. Then speech goes to him (who is absorbed in prâna) with all names, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts. And when he departs from this body, he departs together with all these 1.

4. Speech gives up to him (who is absorbed in prâna) all names, so that by speech he obtains all names. The nose gives up to him all odours, so that by scent he obtains all odours. The eye gives up to him all forms, so that by the eye he obtains all forms. The ear gives up to him all sounds, so that by the ear he obtains all sounds. The mind gives up to him all thoughts, so that by the mind he obtains all thoughts. This is the complete absorption in prâna. And what is prâna is pragñâ (self-consciousness), what is pragñâ (self-consciousness) is prâna. For together do these two live in the body, and together do they depart.

Now we shall explain how all things become one in that pragñâ (self-consciousness).

5. Speech is one portion taken out 2 of pragñâ (self-conscious knowledge), the word is its object, placed outside. The nose is one portion taken out of it, the odour is its object, placed outside. The eye is one portion taken out of it, the form is its object, placed outside. The ear is one portion taken out of it, the sound is its object, placed outside. The tongue is one portion taken out of it, the taste of food is its object, placed outside. The two hands are one portion taken out of it, their action is their object, placed outside. The body is one portion taken out of it, its pleasure and pain are its object, placed outside. The organ is one portion taken out of it, happiness, joy, and offspring are its object, placed outside. The two feet are one portion taken out of it, movements are their object, placed outside. Mind is one portion taken out of it, thoughts and desires are its object, placed outside.

6. Having by pragñâ (self-conscious knowledge) taken possession of speech, he obtains by speech all words. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the nose, he obtains all odours. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the eye, he obtains all forms. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the ear, he obtains all sounds. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the tongue, he obtains all tastes of food. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the two hands, he obtains all actions. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the body, he obtains pleasure and pain. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the organ, he obtains happiness, joy, and offspring. Having by pragñâ taken possession of the two feet, he obtains all movements. Having by pragñâ taken possession of mind, he obtains all thoughts.

7. For without pragñâ (self-consciousness) speech does not make known (to the self) any word 1. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that word.' Without pragñâ the nose does not make known any odour. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that odour.' Without pragñâ the eye does not make known any form. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that form.' Without pragñâ the ear does not make known any sound. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that sound.' Without pragñâ the tongue does not make known any taste. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that taste.' Without pragñâ the two hands do not make known any act. 'Our mind was absent,' they say, 'we did not perceive any act.' Without pragñâ the body does not make known pleasure or pain. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that pleasure or pain.' Without pragñâ the organ does not make known happiness, joy, or offspring. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that happiness, joy, or offspring.' Without pragñâ, the two feet do not make known any movement. 'Our mind was absent,' they say, 'we did not perceive that movement.' Without pragñâ no thought succeeds, nothing can be known that is to be known.

8. Let no man try to find out what speech is, let him know the speaker. Let no man try to find out what odour is, let him know him who smells. Let no man try to find out what form is, let him know the seer. Let no man try to find out what sound is, let him know the hearer. Let no man try to find out the tastes of food, let him know the knower of tastes. Let no man try to find out what action is, let him know the agent. Let no man try to find out what pleasure and pain are, let him know the knower of pleasure and pain. Let no man try to find out what happiness, joy, and offspring are, let him know the knower of happiness, joy, and offspring. Let no man try to find out what movement is, let him know the mover. Let no man try to find out what mind is, let him know the thinker. These ten objects (what is spoken, smelled, seen, &c.) have reference to pragñâ (self-consciousness), the ten subjects (speech, the senses, mind) have reference to objects. If there were no objects, there would be no subjects; and if there were no subjects, there would be no objects. For on either side alone nothing could be achieved. But that (the self of pragñâ, consciousness, and prâna, life) is not many, (but one.) For as in a car the circumference of a wheel is placed on the spokes, and the spokes on the nave, thus are these objects (circumference) placed on the subjects (spokes), and the subjects on the prâna. And that prâna (breath, the living and breathing power) indeed is the self of pragñâ (the self-conscious self), blessed, imperishable, immortal. He does not increase by a good action, nor decrease by a bad action. For he (the self of prâna and pragñâ) makes him, whom he wishes to lead up from these worlds, do a good deed; and the same makes him, whom he wishes to lead down from these worlds, do a bad deed 1. And he is the guardian of the world, he is the king of the world, he is the lord of the universe,--and he is my (Indra's) self, thus let it be known, yea, thus let it be known!

Footnotes
293:1 The object now is to explain the true Brahma-vidyâ, while the first and second chapters are only introductory, treating of the worship of the couch (parya?kopâsanâ) and of the worship of prâna.

293:2 This refers to heroic deeds performed by Indra, as represented in the hymns of the Rig-veda. See Rig-veda V, 34, 4, and Sâyana's commentary; Ait. Brâhm. VII, 28. Weber, Indische Studien I, 410-418, has tried to discover an original physical meaning in the heroic deeds ascribed to Indra. A curious remark is made by the commentator, who says that the skulls of the Arunmukhas were turned into the thorns of the desert (karîra) which remain to this day,--a very common phase in popular tradition.

294:1 Professor Cowell compares Taittirîya-Samhitâ III, 1, 1, nâsya nîtam na haro vyeti.

294:2 Prânâs, in the plural, is supposed to stand for the five senses as modifications of breath. It would be better if we could read prânasya nihsreyasam. See before, II, 14.

295:1 Uktha, hymn, is artificially derived from ut-thâpayati, to raise up, and hence uktha, hymn, is to be meditated on as prâna, breath, which likewise raises up the body. See Ait. Âr. II, 1, 15.

295:2 He is absorbed in prâna. Or should it be prânah as nominative?

296:1 According to another reading we might translate, 'Speech takes away all names from that body; and prâna, in which speech is absorbed, thus obtains all names.'

296:2 I read udûlham or udûdham, instead of adûdham, explained by the commentator as adûduhat. Professor Cowell translates, 'Speech verily milked one portion thereof,' which may have been the original purport of the writer.

297:1 Professor Cowell has translated a passage from the commentary which is interesting as showing that its author and the author of the Upanishad too had a clear conception of the correlative nature of knowledge. 'The organ of sense,' he says, 'cannot exist without pragñâ (self-consciousness), nor the objects of sense be obtained without the organ, therefore--on the principle, that when one thing cannot exist without another, that thing is said to be identical with the other--as the cloth, for instance, being p. 298 never perceived without the threads, is identical with them, or the (false perception of) silver being never found without the mother of pearl is identical with it, so the objects of sense being never found without the organs are identical with them, and the organs being never found without pragñâ (self-consciousness) are identical with it.

299:1 The other text says, 'whom he wishes to draw after him; and whom he wishes to draw away from these worlds.' Râmatîrtha, in p. 300 his commentary on the Mait. Up. 3, 2, quotes the text as translated above.