Prashnopanishad by Pippalda.
The process of Prana purification is likened to oblations to the Everlasting One. Prana healing happens at the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level.
Gargya the grandson of the sun god, Surya, asked Pippalda:
“What is the nature of sleep and dreams, why does one need sleep and why does one dream?”
What part of one sleeps?
What organ is awake in one, when one sleeps?
What organ sees dreams?
What part of man experiences happiness?
What is the basis of this process?
Pippalda’s answer covers the seeking of self-purification and self-realization through physical and ritual offerings.
Just as the rays of the setting sun are absorbed back into the Sun, one experiences sleep. The sleep one has is when all the senses are withdrawn in the mind. The sleeper does not hear, see, touch, taste, smell and none of the organs are interactive. Then one awakens when the sun rises.
The fires of Apana and Vyana prana remain awake. The Apana is the garhapatya prana, which is the downward moving, vital air responsible for excretion and other bodily functions. It is considered the Garhapatya fire because it is like the garhapatya hearth from which other rituals are kindled, all other pranas are established and depend on the fundamental existence that apana helps maintain.
The Vyana prana is the anvaryapachan (Dakshin Agni fire, southern). It is the pervasive air that circulates throughout the body. The Ahavaniya Agni is Prana, Prana in the specific sense of upward moving breath. It is the vital energy and inhalation. It is called the Ahavaniya fire because it is taken out or proceeds from the Garhapatya (Apana) fire.
Balance of a ritual
Samana is described as one of the five vital breaths within the body and is equated with the priest called Hota. The function of samana in the body is responsible for carrying and distributing equally the two oblations of life, inhalation and exhalation. This function helps maintain the balance in the body, similar to how the priest maintains the balance of a ritual.
The mind is the sacrificer. Manas is identified as the Yajamana or the sacrificer, the entity for whom the ritual is performed.
Udana is the fruit of the sacrifice. It is the result of fruit (istaphalam) of this sacrifice. Its function is to lead the sacrifice into deep sleep (sushupti), a state where the individual merges temporarily with Brahman (the supreme reality).
The other pranas, prana prana, Apana and Vyana act as doorkeepers (sun, earth and air) that sustain the individual at a physical level.
The deity mind enjoys the greatness in dreams. The mind revels in the seen and unseen, real and unreal. Then the mind is overpowered by light and is dreamless, whereupon the body is full of bliss. Then as the birds fly to trees for shelter, so do the senses proceed to the Self (atman).
The five elements, the senses, the mind and its thoughts, the intellect, the ego, chitta, the consciousness of light and what it illuminates, and the five pranas are all absorbed in the supreme self in deep sleep.
The supreme self is all in all. He is the seer, in control of all the elements, senses, the doer, the consciousness and the Purusha.
The Everlasting One
The Everlasting One is without shadow, without form, without color, pure and immortal. When one attains realization of the Everlasting One, then one attains the supreme self. Lastly one who realizes the immortal self in which the individual soul with all its deities, faculties and elements become merged, becomes omniscient and enters into all.
Dear ones, we are made aware of the five pranas in this question and how they sustain the body and the cosmos. What is important to understand is that the physiological processes continue and they are a part of the spiritual act that enables the soul to journey to the ultimate reality.
Extracted from Swami Satyananda’s teachings in the Nine Principal Upanishads.
Aim Hrim Klim
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