A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.99

c11.99

The *Praçna Upanishad*, written in prose and apparently belonging to the Pippalāda recension of the *Atharva-veda*, is so called because it treats, in the form of questions (*praçna*) addressed by six students of Brahma to the sage PIPPALĀDA, six main points of the Vedānta doctrine. These questions concern the origin of matter and life (*prāṇa*) from Prajāpati; the superiority of life (*prāṇa*) above the other vital powers; the nature and divisions of the vital powers; dreaming and dreamless sleep; meditation on the syllable *om*; and the sixteen parts of man.