The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c6.s7.t3.4

c6.s7.t3.4

Sanatkumâra, in his teaching, takes the following course. All, he says, that thou hast learnt, is name, greater (bhûyas) than name is speech, than speech, understanding, than this, resolve, than this, thought, than this, knowledge, than this, force, than this, food, than this, water, than this, fire, than this, space, than this, memory, than this, hope, than this the life (or the breath, *prâṇa*). "As the spokes are fastened in the nave, so all this is fastened in the life. The life prospers through the life (breath), the life (breath) gives life, gives it to life. The life is father and mother, the life is brother and sister, the life is teacher and Brahman. Therefore, when anyone roughly uses a father or mother or brother or sister or teacher or Brahman, it is said: Fie on thee! thou art a parricide, matricide, fratricide, slayer of thy sister, slayer of thy teacher, slayer of a Brahman [cf. I John III, 15 πᾶς ὁ μισῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὑτοῦ ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἐστίν]; but if, after the life has fled, he pokes the same persons with the pike [on the funeral pile] and burns them up, it is not said: thou art a parricide, matricide, fratricide, slayer of thy sister, slayer of thy teacher, slayer of a Brahman: for the life only is this all.--Verily, he who thus sees and thinks and knows, he is a conqueror in speech (*ativâdin*); and if anyone should say to him: thou art a conqueror in speech! he shall avow, and not deny it."