{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe08/sbe0835.htm","path":"hin/sbe08/sbe0835.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe08/sbe0835.htm","text":"The Br\u00e2hmana said:\nOn this, too, they relate an ancient story, O beautiful one! (showing) of what description is the institution of the five sacrificial priests. The learned know this to be a great principle, that the Pr\u00e2na and the Ap\u00e2na, and the Ud\u00e2na, and also the Sam\u00e2na and the Vy\u00e2na, are the five sacrificial priests.\nThe Br\u00e2hmana's wife said:\nMy former belief was that the sacrificial priests were seven. by (their) nature 4. State how the great principle is that there are verily five sacrificial priests 5.\nThe wind prepared by the Pr\u00e2na afterwards becomes the Ap\u00e2na. The wind prepared in the Ap\u00e2na then works as the Vy\u00e2na. The wind prepared by the Vy\u00e2na works as the Ud\u00e2na. And the wind prepared in the Ud\u00e2na is produced as Sam\u00e2na 1. They formerly went to the grandsire, who was born first, and said to him, 'Tell us which is greatest among us. He shall be the greatest among us 2.'\nBrahman said:\nHe, verily, is the greatest, who being extinct, all the life-winds in the body of living creatures become extinct; and on whose moving about, they again move about. (Now) go where (you) like.\nThe Pr\u00e2na said:\nWhen I am extinct, all the life-winds in the body\nof living creatures become extinct; and on my moving about, they again move about. I am the greatest. See I am extinct!\nThen the Pr\u00e2na became extinct, and again moved about. Then the Sam\u00e2na and Ud\u00e2na also 1, O beautiful one! spoke these words, 'You do not pervade all this here as we do. You are not the greatest among us, O Pr\u00e2na, because the Ap\u00e2na is subject to you 2.' The Pr\u00e2na again moved about 3, and the Ap\u00e2na 4 said to him.\nThe Ap\u00e2na said:\nWhen I am extinct, all the life-winds in the body of living creatures become extinct; and on my moving about, they again move about. I am the. greatest. See I am extinct!\nThen the Vy\u00e2na and the Ud\u00e2na addressed him who was speaking (thus): 'You are not the greatest, O Ap\u00e2na! because the Pr\u00e2na is subject to you.' Then the Ap\u00e2na moved about, and the Vy\u00e2na spoke to him: 'I am the greatest among (you) all. Hear the reason why. When I am extinct, all the life-winds in the body of living creatures become extinct.\nAnd on my moving about, they again move about. I am the greatest. See I am extinct!'\nThen the Vy\u00e2na became extinct, and again moved about. And the Pr\u00e2na and Ap\u00e2na, and the Ud\u00e2na, and the Sam\u00e2na, spoke to him, 'You are not the greatest among us, O Vy\u00e2na! because the Sam\u00e2na 1 is subject to you.' The Vy\u00e2na moved about again, and the Sam\u00e2na spoke again. 'I am the greatest among (you) all. Hear the reason why. When I am extinct, all the life-winds in the body of living creatures become extinct; and on my moving about, they again move about. I am the greatest. See I am extinct!' Then the Sam\u00e2na moved about, and the Ud\u00e2na said to him: 'I am the greatest among (you) all. Hear the reason why. When I am extinct, all the life-winds in the body of living creatures become extinct; and on my moving about, they again move about. I am the greatest. See I am extinct!' Then the Ud\u00e2na became extinct, and again moved about. And the Pr\u00e2na and Ap\u00e2na, and the Sam\u00e2na, and the Vy\u00e2na also, spoke to him: 'O Ud\u00e2na! you are not the greatest. The Vy\u00e2na 2 only is subject to you.'\nThen Brahman, the lord of (all) creatures, said. to them who were assembled together: You are all greatest, and not greatest 3. You are all possessed\nof one another's qualities 1. All are greatest in their own spheres, and all support one another. There is one unmoving 2 (life-wind). There are others moving about, (which are) five, owing to (their) specific qualities. My own self is one only 3, (but) accumulated in numerous (forms). Being friendly with one another, and pleasing one another, go away happily. Welfare be to you! Support one another.'\n270:1 The senses are the doors of the house here, as they are among the doors of the city at G\u00eet\u00e2, p. 65.\n270:2 Owing to the want of food, &c. Cf. Maitr\u00ee, p. 112, and Kh\u00e2ndogya. p. 422.\n270:3 Perception of pleasure, says Arguna Misra; but he takes the subsequent clause to mean this, 'and without you no pleasure accrues to us either.' The text is here in an unsatisfactory state.\n270:4 As stated in the last chapter; some MSS. read 'your' for 'my' at the beginning of the sentence.\n270:5 Arguna Misra says that in this Pa\u00f1kahotri-vidh\u00e2na the five chief Hotris only are stated for briefly explaining the Pr\u00e2n\u00e2y\u00e2ma.\n271:1 Arguna Misra says, 'The wind going to the Pr\u00e2na, and being obstructed in upward progress by the Pr\u00e2na, goes to the Ap\u00e2na, and then unable to go upwards or downwards, enters the passages or n\u00e2d\u00ees of the body and becomes Vy\u00e2na. In the same way Ud\u00e2na, by the collision of the two, produces sound in the throat, and depends on Pr\u00e2na and Ap\u00e2na; so, too, the Sam\u00e2na dwelling in the navel and kindling the gastric fire is also dependent on those two.' The meaning seems to be that one life-wind is distributed in the different places, and gets different names, as stated, in the order mentioned. See Maitr\u00ee, p. 28.\n271:2 A similar visit on the part of the Pr\u00e2nas (who, however, are not there the life-winds only, but the Pr\u00e2na life-wind and the active organs) to Prag\u00e2pati is mentioned at Brihad\u00e2ranyaka-upanishad, p. 1016, and Kh\u00e2ndogya, p. 297. Cf. also Prasna, p. 178; Brihad\u00e2ranyaka, p. 317; and Kaush\u00eetaki, p. 63. See also, generally, as to the life-winds and their functions, Brihad\u00e2ranyaka, p. 280, and Sankara's comment there; Yoga-s\u00fbtras III, 38, and comment; Cowell's note at Maitr\u00ee, p. 247; S\u00e2nti Parvan (Moksha Dharma), chap. 184, st. 24-25; chap. 185, st. 1 seq.; and p. 258 supra.\n272:1 Arguna Misra says, Vy\u00e2na and Ap\u00e2na also by force of the two 'ands' which occur in the original; and so in other places too.\n272:2 Arguna Misra says on this, 'The Pr\u00e2na moves upwards through the help of the Ap\u00e2na. If it moved downwards, it would be simply absorbed into the Ap\u00e2na.'\n272:3 I. e. recommenced its, proper operation in its proper place.\n272:4 And the other life-winds also, Arguna Misra says, the name Pr\u00e2na being merely 'indicative,' as the phrase is, of the class to which it belongs.\n273:1 Because the Sam\u00e2na helps in the digestion of the food which afterwards goes to the Vy\u00e2na for distribution through the n\u00e2d\u00ees.\n273:2 Because the Ud\u00e2na is able to generate sound after the n\u00e2d\u00ees are filled up by the Vy\u00e2na.\n273:3 'Not greatest' because none of them is independent of the other. 'Greatest' Arguna Misra renders by 'superior to objects.'","title":"Sacred Books of the East Vol. 8: The Bhagavad-G\u00eet\u00e2: Anug\u00eet\u00e2: Chapter VIII","type":"page"}