Śāṅkhāyana (Kauṣītaki) Āraṇyaka 5.2

5.2

ŚĀ 5.2 = KU 3.2
He said: 'I am breath, the conscious self. Meditate upon me as life, as immortality. Life is breath; breath indeed is life. For as long as breath remains in this body, so long is there life. For by breath alone one attains immortality in this world, and by consciousness true intention. He who meditates upon me as life, as immortality, reaches full life in this world and attains immortality and imperishability in the heavenly world.' On this point some say: 'The vital breaths indeed go into unity, for no one would be able at the same time to make known a name by speech, form by the eye, sound by the ear, and to think by the mind. Becoming a unity indeed, the vital breaths make known all these one by one: when speech speaks, all the vital breaths speak after it; when the eye sees, all the vital breaths see after it; when the ear hears, all the vital breaths hear after it; when the mind thinks, all the vital breaths think after it; when the breath breathes, all the vital breaths breathe after it.' 'Even so it is,' Indra said, 'yet there is a pre-eminence among the vital breaths.'