A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.s8.15

Language: English

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Professor Macdonell, writing on *prāṇa* in the *Vedic Index*, vol. II, says, "*prāṇa*, properly denoting 'breath,' is a term of wide and vague significance in Vedic literature." In the narrow sense *prāṇa* denotes one of the vital airs, of which five are usually enumerated, viz. *prāṇa*, *apāna*, *vyāna*, *udāna* and *samāna*. The exact sense of each of these breaths, when all are mentioned, cannot be determined. The word *prāṇa* has sometimes merely the general sense of breath, even when opposed to *apāna*. But its proper sense is beyond question "breathing forth," "expiration." But, though in a few cases the word may have been used for "breath" in its remote sense, the general meaning of the word in the Upaniṣads is not air current, but some sort of biomotor force, energy or vitality often causing these air currents³. It would be tedious to refer to the large number of relevant Upaniṣad texts and to try to ascertain after suitable discussion their exact significance in each case. The best way to proceed therefore is to refer to the earliest traditional meaning of the word, as accepted by the highest Hindu authorities. I refer to the *Vedānta-sūtra* of Bādarāyaṇa, which may be supposed to be the earliest research into the doctrines discussed in the Upaniṣads. Thus the *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4.

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9 (*na vāyu-kriye pṛthag upadeśāt*), speaking of what may be the nature of *prāṇa*, says that it is neither air current (*vāyu*) nor action (*kriyā*), since *prāṇa* has been considered as different from air and action (in the Upaniṣads). Śaṅkara, commenting on this, says that from such passages as *yaḥ prāṇaḥ sa eṣa vāyuḥ pañca 'vidhaḥ prāṇo pāno vyāna udānaḥ samānaḥ* (what is *prāṇa* is *vāyu* and it is fivefold, *prāṇa*, *apāna*, *vyāna*, *udāna*, *samāna*), it may be supposed that *vāyu* (air) is *prāṇa*, but it is not so, since in *Chāndogya*, III. 18. 4, it is stated that they are different. Again, it is not the action of the senses, as the Sāṃkhya supposes; for it is regarded as different from the senses in *Muṇḍaka*, II. 1. 3. The passage which identifies *vāyu* with *prāṇa* is intended to prove that it is the nature of *vāyu* that has transformed itself into the entity known as *prāṇa* (just as the human body itself may be regarded as a modification or transformation of *kṣiti*, earth). It is not *vāyu*, but, as Vācaspati says, "*vāyu-bheda*," which Amalānanda explains in his *Vedānta-kalpataru* as *vāyoḥ pariṇāma-rūpa-kārya-viśeṣaḥ*, i.e. it is a particular evolutionary product of the category of *vāyu*. Śaṅkara's own statement is equally explicit on the point. He says, "*vāyur evāyam adhyātmam āpannaḥ pañca-vyūho viśeṣātmanāvatīṣṭhamānaḥ prāṇo nāma bhaṇyate na tattvāntaram nāpi vāyu-mātram*," i.e.

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it is *vāyu* which, having transformed itself into the body, differentiates itself into a group of five that is called *vāyu*; *prāṇa* is not altogether a different category, nor simply air. In explaining the nature of *prāṇa* in II. 4. 10–12, Śaṅkara says that *prāṇa* is not as independent as *jīva* (soul), but performs everything on its behalf, like a prime minister (*rāja-mantrivaj jīvasya sarvārtha-karaṇatvena upakaraṇa-bhūto na svatantraḥ*). *Prāṇa* is not an instrument like the senses, which operate only in relation to particular objects; for, as is said in *Chāndogya*, V. 1. 6, 7, *Bṛhad-āraṇyaka*, IV. 3. 12 and *Bṛhad-āraṇyaka*, I. 3. 19, when all the senses leave the body the *prāṇa* continues to operate. It is that by the functioning of which the existence of the soul in the body, or life (*jīva-sthiti*), and the passage of the *jīva* out of the body, or death (*jīvotkrānti*), are possible. The five *vāyus* are the five functionings of this vital principle, just as the fivefold mental states of right knowledge, illusion, imagination (*vikalpa*), sleep and memory are the different states of the mind. Vācaspati, in commenting on *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4. 11, says that it is the cause which upholds the body and the senses (*dehendriya-vidhāraṇa-kāraṇam prāṇaḥ*), though it must be remembered that it has still other functions over and above the upholding of the body and the senses (*na kevalam śarīrendriya-dhāraṇam asya kāryam*, Vācaspati, *ibid.*). In *Vedānta-sūtra*, II.

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4. 13, it is described as being atomic (*aṇu*), which is explained by Śaṅkara as "subtle" (*sūkṣma*), on account of its pervading the whole body by its fivefold functionings. Vācaspati in explaining it says that it is called "atomic" only in a derivative figurative sense (*upacaryate*) and only on account of its inaccessible or indefinable character (*duradhigamatā*), though pervading the whole body. Govindānanda, in commenting upon *Vedānta-sūtra*, II. 4. 9, says that *prāṇa* is a vibratory activity which upholds the process of life and it has no other direct operation than that (*parispanda-rupa-prāṇanānukūlatvād avāntara-vyāpārābhāvāt*). This seems to be something like biomotor or life force. With reference to the relation of *prāṇa* to the motor organs or faculties of speech, etc., Śaṅkara says that their vibratory activity is derived from *prāṇa* (*vāg-ādiṣu parispanda-lābhasya prāṇāyattatvam*, II. 4. 19). There are some passages in the *Vedānta-sūtra* which may lead us to think that the five *vāyus* may mean air currents, but that it is not so is evident from the fact that the substance of the *prāṇa* is not air (*etat prāṇādi-pañcakam ākāśādi-gata-rajo-’mśebhyo militebhya utpadyate*), and the *rajas* element is said to be produced from the five *bhūtas*, and the *prāṇas* are called *kriyātmaka*, or consisting of activity.

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Rāma Tīrtha, commenting on the above passage of the *Vedānta-sāra*, says that it is an evolutionary product of the essence of *vāyu* and the other *bhūtas*, but it is not in any sense the external air which performs certain physiological functions in the body (*tathā mukhya-prāṇo ’pi vāyor bāhyasya sūtrātmakasya vikāro na śārīra-madhye nabhovad vṛtti-lābha-mātreṇa avasthito bāhya-vāyur eva*)¹. Having proved that in Vedānta *prāṇa* or any of the five *vāyus* means biomotor force and not air current, I propose now to turn to the Sāṃkhya-Yoga.