A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c5.12

Language: English

c5.12.1

11. There are, however, one or two classical passages in the Upanishads which tell us in the language of myth the supremacy of Prāṇa. It was once resolved, we are told in the Chhāndogyopanishad, by the senses of man to decide which of them was supreme, and for that reason they went to Prajāpati, their Creator. The Creator replied that that sense might be regarded as the sovereign of them all, which after departing leaves the body powerless and in a pitiable condition, upon which the senses resolved to run the race for supremacy. Speech was the first to go out of the body, and having lived outside for a year, came back and wondered how the body could exist in spite of its absence. It was told that the body lived like a dumb man not speaking, but breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, and thinking with the mind, upon which speech returned. Then the organ of vision departed, and having lived outside for a year, came back and wondered how the body could live in spite of its absence. It was told that the body lived like a blind man not seeing, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the mouth, hearing with the ear, and thinking with the mind, upon which the eye re-entered. Then the organ of audition departed, and having lived outside for a year, came back and wondered how the body could still exist in spite of its absence.

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It was told that the body lived like a deaf man not hearing, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the mouth, seeing with the eye, and thinking with the mind, upon which the ear returned. Then the mind went out, and having lived outside for a year, returned and wondered how the body could still exist in spite of its absence. It was told that the body lived like a child without mind, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the mouth, seeing with the eye, and hearing with the ear, upon which the mind re-entered. Then, finally, when the breath was on the point of departing, it tore up the other senses as a well-bred horse might tear up the pegs to which it is tethered. Then the organs of sense assembled together and said to: Prāṇa, ‘Sir, thou art our lord; depart not from us’; and the tongue said to the Prāṇa, ‘if I am richest, it is really thou that art richest’; and the eye said, ‘if I am the support, it is really thou that art the support’; and the ear said, ‘if I am wealth, it is really thou that art wealth’; and the mind said, ‘if I am the final abode, it is really thou that art the final abode’. It is for this reason that people have declared the primacy not of the organs of sense, of the speech, or the eye, or the ear, or the mind, but of breath. ‘For the breath is verily all these’ (S. 13. a).

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This passage in the Chhāndogyopanishad is probably the earliest and the most classical as illustrating the controversy between the organs of sense and Prāṇa, and the resulting supremacy of Prāṇa over the organs. With a little variation, the same story occurs in the Kaushītaki Upanishad (II. 14), which, being so much the later, we are not much concerned as merely repeating for us the story of the Chhāndogyopanishad. But there are one or two points in the story of the controversy of the Senses and Prāṇa in the Praśnopanishad which we cannot leave unnoticed. There, in the first place, the elements namely space, wind, fire, water, and earth join hands with the organs of sense, namely, speech, mind, eye and ear in the controversy with Prāṇa. In the second place, we must note the two similies employed in the Praśnopanishad. The body is there called Bāṇa, which, as Max Müller suggests, may well be taken to mean a harp, and the elements as well as the organs of sense contend that they have the power to uphold this harp and to modulate it. Incidentally, it is interesting to notice the description of the body in the Praśnopanishad as a harp, which is almost Pythagorean or Platonic. Then again when Prāṇa wants to go out, it is compared to the queen-bee, which, when it goes out, is accompanied by all the bees that move after it, and which, when it is back, is likewise followed by the bees that re-forthwith.

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Thirdly, there is an almost henotheistic worship of Prāṇa by the organs of sense in the Praśnopanishad where it is regarded not merely as the sovereign of the organs of sense, but also as the sovereign of the deities of the universe. It is thus that Prāṇa comes to be identified with Agni, with Sūrya, with Parjanya, with Vāyu, with Being, as well as Not-Being; and in the spirit of the prayer offered in the Chhāndogyopanishad, here also the Prāṇa is requested not to move out, as it is the Prāṇa which informs, and is immanent in, the organs of sense, such as speech and hearing and vision, as well as mind (S. 13. b).