Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad 3.3
The Upanishads, Part I (SBE 1) 3.3
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3.3
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. 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. 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.
3.3.n1
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.
3.3.n2
He is absorbed in prâna. Or should it be prânah as nominative?
3.3.n3
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.'
Other recensions (1)
- Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇopaniṣad (complete text) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇopaniṣad — Sanskrit