Prashna Upanishad

Prashna = question. This Upanishad consists of six questions put to a spiritual teacher called Pippalada. Like the Mundaka and Mandukya, the Prashna Upanishad puts special importance on the sacred syllable Om.

Question 1: Origins

Who created the universe?

Prajapati (Lord of Procreation) created prana (energy, linked with the sun) and rayi (matter).

§§9-10 The southern path is for those who enjoy life; the northern path is for the spiritual aspirant.

So the answer to the first question describes the two-fold creation of Prajapati: matter enlivened by the presence of energy.

 

Question 2: The Supremacy of Prana

i. What deities/powers support the body?

ii. Which among them are manifested in it?

iii. Which is chief among them?

These "deities" are the sense organs. Because the sense organs are themselves inert, they must be animated by something; this is symbolised by the deities, or powers.

Pippalada’s reply is in the form of a story. Prana demonstrates to the other powers (the five elements and the senses) that without prana the senses can do nothing. Then the other powers sing in praise of prana: it is all-pervading, supreme, sustains the body, makes the difference between life and death; it is essential to the fire sacrifice; it even forms the basis of the gods.

 

Question 3: How Prana Works in the Body

i. Where does prana come from?

ii. How does it enter the body?

iii. How does it function in the body?

iv. How does it leave?

v. How does it support what is outside the body as well as what is inside?

i. Prana is born from atman.

ii. It enters the body by the activity of the mind – i.e. the mental activities in the previous existence determine the choice of a new body for the next life.

iii. Prana divides itself into secondary pranas, which operate in different parts of the body:

Divisions of Prana  

prana = life force  nose and respiration  

apana = breathing out  functioning of organs of excretion and reproduction  

samana = equal, uniform  digestion and assimilation of food  

vyana = diffused breath  circulatory and nervous systems  

udana = breathing upwards  vital force rising upward, helps conduct the jiva out of the body at time of death  

 

iv. Udana propels the jiva from the body at time of death.

v. The pranas of the body have cosmic counterparts:

 prana = sun

 apana = earth

 samana = space between sun and earth

 vyana = air

 udana = fire

At death the senses are absorbed into the mind, then mind and Self leave the body to be born in another body. The kind of body chosen depends on the state of mind at the time of death. This state of mind will reflect the general state of mind developed during one’s lifetime.

 

 Question 4: About Sleep and Dreams

i. What is it that goes to sleep in a person?

ii. What stays awake?

iii. What is it that experiences dreams?

iv. What is it that experiences deep, dreamless sleep?

v. Which is the one in which all these are established?

i. In sleep the senses are absorbed in the mind.

ii. Pràõa is always awake.

iii. It’s the mind. Some dreams are memories of individual experience; others are drawn from the collective consciousness that we share with all humans.

iv. In the state of deep, dreamless sleep the mind has stopped working and everything rests in the Self. This is a state close to Brahman-realisation.

v. It’s the supreme, changeless Self. Those who understand this become omniscient.

 

Question 5: About the symbol Om

What happens after death to those who have meditated on Om until death?

Om consists of three sounds: A, U, M.

Those who meditate on A return to earth to live a pure life.

Those who meditate on AU go to the world of the moon (a dreamlike state) then return to earth.

Those who meditate on AUM become one with the sun; i.e. experience Brahman.

 

 Question 6: About "the Person with Sixteen Parts"

Where is the Person with sixteen parts?

Inside the body. The sixteen parts are the primordial elements from which the material world evolves. They are listed in verse 4, beginning with prana. Each element develops from a subtler element and in turn produces a grosser element. Everything evolves ultimately from Brahman, and everything evolves back into Brahman.