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Prashna Upanishad

The Origin of Creation • Verse 1

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Verse 1.1
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सुकेशा च भारद्वाजः शैब्यश्च सत्यकामः सौर्यायणी च गार्ग्यः कौसल्यश्चाश्वलायनो भार्गवो वैदर्भिः कबन्धी कात्यायनस्ते हैते ब्रह्मपरा ब्रह्मनिष्ठाः परं ब्रह्मान्वेषमाणा एष ह वै तत्सर्वं वक्ष्यतीति ते ह समित्पाणयो भगवन्तं पिप्पलादमुपसन्नाः॥

sukeśā ca bhāradvājaḥ śaibyaśca satyakāmaḥ sauryāyaṇī ca gārgyaḥ kausalyaścāśvalāyano bhārgavo vaidarbhiḥ kabandhī kātyāyanaste haite brahmaparā brahmaniṣṭhāḥ paraṃ brahmānveṣamāṇā eṣa ha vai tatsarvaṃ vakṣyatīti te ha samitpāṇayo bhagavantaṃ pippalādamupasannāḥ ||

"Sukesha Bharadvaja, Satyakama Shibi, Sauryayani Gargya, Kausalya Ashvalayana, Bhargava Vaidarbhi, and Kabandhi Katyayana - these six seekers, devoted to Brahman and seeking the supreme, approached the venerable sage Pippalada with firewood in hand."

What This Means:

Six sincere seekers approach the great sage Pippalada. Coming with firewood in hand shows their humility and readiness to serve the teacher.

Going Deeper:

The tradition of approaching a guru with samit (sacred firewood) signifies the readiness to kindle the fire of knowledge through disciplined study.

How To Apply This:

Approach learning with humility and readiness to serve. True knowledge comes to those who are sincerely prepared.

#guru-shishya#seeking#humility

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62 verses of the Prashna Upanishad

The Origin of Creation

  1. 1.1Sukesha Bharadvaja, Satyakama Shibi, Sauryayani Gargya, Kausalya Ashvalayana, Bhargava Vaidarbhi, and...
  2. 1.2The sage said to them: "Stay with me for one more year, practicing austerity, celibacy, and faith. Then...
  3. 1.3Then Kabandhi Katyayana approached and asked: "Lord, from where are these creatures born?"
  4. 1.4The sage replied: "Prajapati, desiring offspring, performed austerity. Having performed austerity, he...
  5. 1.5The sun indeed is Prana (life-energy), and the moon is Rayi (matter). Matter is all this - whatever has...
  6. 1.6When the sun rises in the east, it gathers the eastern life-energies in its rays. When it illuminates the...
  7. 1.7This Prana rises as the universal fire, Vaishvanara, taking all forms. This is declared in the Rig Veda:
  8. 1.8"All-formed, golden, all-knowing, the supreme goal, the one light, the heating one - with thousand rays...
  9. 1.9The year is Prajapati; it has two paths - southern and northern. Those who worship through ritual and...
  10. 1.10But by the northern path, through austerity, celibacy, faith, and knowledge, seeking the Self, they attain...
  11. 1.11Some say the father (sun/time) has five feet, twelve forms, and is full of rain in the upper half of...

The Primacy of Prana

  1. 2.1Then Bhargava Vaidarbhi asked: "Lord, how many gods support the creature? Which of them illumine this...
  2. 2.2The sage replied: "Space, air, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, eye, and ear - these gods, shining forth...
  3. 2.3Prana, the greatest among them, said: "Do not be deluded. I alone, dividing myself fivefold, hold up and...
  4. 2.4Out of pride, Prana seemed to rise upward to leave the body. When it started to leave, all the others also...
  5. 2.5"This Prana is the fire that heats, the sun, the rain-god, Indra, the wind. It is the earth, matter, the...
  6. 2.6"Like spokes in the hub of a wheel, everything is established in Prana - the Rig, Yajur, and Sama Vedas...
  7. 2.7"As Prajapati, you move in the womb; you yourself are born again. To you, O Prana, these creatures bring...
  8. 2.8"You are the chief carrier to the gods, the first offering to the ancestors. You are the true practice of...
  9. 2.9"You are Indra through your power; you are Rudra as the protector. You move in the atmosphere; you are the...
  10. 2.10"When you send down rain, O Prana, these creatures of yours stand in bliss, thinking: There will be food...
  11. 2.11"You are the wandering ascetic, O Prana, the one seer, the consumer, the true lord of the world. We are...
  12. 2.12"That form of yours which is established in speech, in hearing, in seeing, and which pervades the mind...
  13. 2.13"All this is in the power of Prana, as well as what is established in the three heavens. Protect us as a...

The Source and Functions of Prana

  1. 3.1Then Kausalya Ashvalayana asked: "Lord, from where is this Prana born? How does it come into this body...
  2. 3.2The sage replied: "You ask very profound questions. Since you are most devoted to Brahman, I will answer you."
  3. 3.3"Prana is born from the Self. Just as a shadow follows a person, so does Prana extend into the body by the...
  4. 3.4"Just as an emperor appoints officers, saying 'Govern these villages, govern those villages,' so does...
  5. 3.5"Apana dwells in the organs of excretion and generation. Prana itself abides in the eye, ear, mouth, and...
  6. 3.6"The Self resides in the heart. From here arise 101 nadis (channels). Each of these has 100 branches, and...
  7. 3.7"Through one of these (the central channel), Udana rises upward. By virtuous deeds, it leads to the...
  8. 3.8"The sun indeed is the external Prana; rising, it supports the prana in the eye. The deity in the earth...
  9. 3.9"Fire indeed is Udana. Therefore, when one's fire (heat) is extinguished, one is reborn, with the senses...
  10. 3.10"Whatever is one's thought at death, with that one enters Prana. Prana, united with fire and the Self...
  11. 3.11"One who knows Prana thus - his offspring do not perish and he becomes immortal. On this, there is a verse:"
  12. 3.12"Knowing the origin, arrival, abode, fivefold distribution, and the inner nature of Prana - one attains...

Dream, Deep Sleep, and the Self

  1. 4.1Then Gargya Sauryayani asked: "Lord, what powers sleep in this person? What stay awake? Which god sees...
  2. 4.2The sage replied: "Just as, O Gargya, the rays of the setting sun all merge into that circle of light, and...
  3. 4.3"The fires of Prana alone remain awake in this city (body). Apana is the Garhapatya (household) fire...
  4. 4.4"Because Samana leads these two offerings - inhalation and exhalation - equally, it is called Samana (the...
  5. 4.5"Here this god (the Self) experiences its greatness in dream. What was seen, it sees again; what was...
  6. 4.6"When one is overcome by light (deep sleep), then this god does not see dreams. Then in this body arises...
  7. 4.7"Dear one, just as birds go to a tree for rest, so does everything find rest in the supreme Self."
  8. 4.8"Earth and earth-elements, water and water-elements, fire and fire-elements, air and air-elements, space...
  9. 4.9"For this is the seer, toucher, hearer, smeller, taster, thinker, knower, doer - the conscious person...
  10. 4.10"One who knows that imperishable - shadowless, bodiless, bloodless, pure, imperishable - O dear one...
  11. 4.11"Where the conscious self, together with all the gods, pranas, and elements, is established - one who...

Meditation on OM

  1. 5.1Then Satyakama Shibi asked: "Lord, if someone among humans meditates on OM until death, which world does...
  2. 5.2The sage replied: "O Satyakama, OM is both the higher (para) and lower (apara) Brahman. Therefore, the...
  3. 5.3"If one meditates on OM with only one syllable (matra), thus informed, one quickly returns to the earth...
  4. 5.4"If one meditates with two syllables (matras), one attains the mind (mental realm). One is led by the...
  5. 5.5"But one who meditates on the supreme Person with all three matras of OM becomes united with the light in...
  6. 5.6"The three matras, when used subject to death, are connected to each other and not separated. In external...
  7. 5.7"Through the Rig Veda (one attains) this world, through the Yajur Veda the intermediate realm, through the...

The Sixteen-Parted Person

  1. 6.1Then Sukesha Bharadvaja asked: "Lord, prince Hiranyabha Kausalya once came to me and asked: Do you know...
  2. 6.2The sage replied: "Here within this very body, dear one, is that Person in whom these sixteen parts arise."
  3. 6.3"He (the Person) thought: In whose departure will I depart? In whose staying will I stay?"
  4. 6.4"He created Prana; from Prana: faith, space, air, fire, water, earth, senses, mind; from mind: food; from...
  5. 6.5"Just as these rivers, flowing toward the ocean, upon reaching the ocean disappear, their name and form...
  6. 6.6"The parts are established in Him as spokes in a wheel's hub. Know that Person who is to be known, so that...
  7. 6.7The sage said to them: "This much indeed I know of the supreme Brahman. There is nothing higher than this."
  8. 6.8They praised him: "You indeed are our father, who ferry us to the far shore beyond ignorance. Salutations...
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