PRASHNA UPANISHAD - 18. - Rishi Pippalada.

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#6 Questions, 67 Mantras : “Questions from Disciples Answered”

##BHARGAVA’S QUESTION : 

Query No 2:

“The Supremacy of Power”

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Saturday, January 28,  2023. 07:30. 

Mantram - 2.3  : Each Deva (God) Claims Leadership

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Mantram - 2.3 :
Each Deva (God) Claims Leadership

1 Tasmai sa ha uvaacha :   =  To him the Master now replied:

2 aakaashah ha vaa eshah devah,   =  Indeed Space is the foremost Deva;

3 vaayu agnih aapah prithivee,  =  then come Air, Fire, Water and Earth;

4 Vaang manas, chakshuh, shrotram cha;  =  then come Speech, Mind, Eye and Ear, too. (the others are implied as included)

5 Te prakaashya abhivadanti,  =  to show their glory, they quarrelled among themselves:

6 vayam etat baanam avashtabhya  vidhaarayaamah.  =  “We hold this body together, and give it the support needed by it.”

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Bhashyam (Vyakyanam) :

1 The most significant thing about the previous verse is that no mention is made at 

all of the Prana or the Life-force! Without Life what can all the ‘dead’ senses and the mind 

do? Clearly the omission is a means used by the Rishi to highlight Prana’s special place.

2-3 In the midst of the quarrel amongst the other Devas, Prana, who had to silently 

suffer the indignity of not even being mentioned above, walked in and said, “Don’t be so 

foolish. It is I who keeps everything going on here.”

Prana is someone whom we may call, in colloquial English, a “back-room boy”. He 

does not come out into the limelight. He says very little. But he is the one behind all the 

work that goes on. When it comes to credits, a hundred others are there ready to claim it, 

but they are not in the picture where the work has to be done.

Prana is, indeed, truly saintly when it comes to selflessness. He does not go for name 

and fame – they come running to him!…

4 The others in their immense pride did not accept Prana’s claim. The Devas 

grumbled to themselves: “That Prana has his own pride; let us all leave him. We’ll have 

nothing to do with his words.” Thus did the rest of the Devas think.

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Next
Mantram - 2.4 Prana Goes on ‘Strike’
To be continued

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