prāṇas tathānugamāt: The enigmatic passage by Indra
Indra speaks enigmatically in the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad. Looks like he is out of his mind, but his speech reveals a very deep truth.
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Sutra 1.1.28 - prāṇas tathānugamāt
prāṇas tathānugamāt
prāṇaḥ: the word prāṇa; tathā: similarly, in that manner; anugamāt: because of the context.
In the same way, the word prāna [in the Kauṣītaki Upanisad] also refers to Brahman [and not to the jīva]. This is understood by the context.
Commentary: The sutras from 1.1.28 to 1.1.31 offer the conclusion for a discussion from the Kauṣītaki Upanisad, Chapter three. In this passage, Patardana, the son of Divodāsa, meets Lord Indra after showing his prowess on the battlefield. Indra is satisfied with him and wants to offer him a benediction, but Patardana asks him to choose it himself. This results in Indra giving him a series of instructions, centered around the passage:
prāṇo 'smi prajñātmā taṁ mām āyur-amṛtam upasasva
"I am prāṇa, I'm intelligence, and I'm the Self. Meditate on me as life and immortality." (Kauṣītaki Upanisad 3.2)
In the previous sutras, it was already concluded that prāna is ultimately Brahman. However, this passage appears to suggest something else. Here, Indra appears to refer to himself as prāna, and instructs Patardana to meditate on him, giving the idea that prāna is the jīva inside the body of the demigod, contradicting the previous conclusion. If accepted, this interpretation will ultimately lead to the conclusion that Indra is God, or that we are all God.
To this, Vyāsadeva answers: prāṇas tathānugamāt: The word prāna should be understood as referring to the Supreme Brahman — and not to the jīva — because of the context, just as the words gāyatrī and jyoti in the previous discussion.
What is the context? Later, in the same passage of the Kauṣītaki Upanisad, Indra mentions:
sa esa prāna eva prajñātmānando 'jaro 'mrtah
eșa lokādhipatir esa sarveśvarah"This prāna alone is the Self, He is consciousness, knowledge, transcendence, and transcendental bliss. He is undecaying, free from old age and death, He is immortal and the Lord of all living entities and all planets. Prāna is the Supreme Controller." (Kauṣītaki Upanisad 3.8)
Indra defines prāna as immortal, as the source of intelligence, the Self (ātma), and transcendental bliss. As a demigod, Indra is part of this material world, and thus he can't be immortal, much less the source of transcendental bliss. On the contrary, we can see in many descriptions that Indra fears death, fears losing his temporary position as the king of heaven, and even performs questionable activities, such as stealing the horse from the sacrifice of Pṛthu Maharaja and killing his spiritual master, Viśvarūpa. We can also understand that Indra is not the Supreme Controller, being often defeated by demons and having to pray to Lord Viṣnu for protection.
Even when we take Indra as the soul, and not as the demigod, the description still doesn't fit, because Indra is just a conditioned soul, with very minute qualities. It must be concluded thus that prāna is not the demigod, and not the jīva in the body of the demigod. Prāna is the Supreme Lord, present inside the heart of Indra as the Supersoul.
One could insist, arguing that in the first sentences of the passage, Indra boasts of his glories by saying:
tri-śirṣāṇaṁ tvaṣṭram ahanam aruṇmukhān
ṛṣīn śalavṛkebhyaḥ prayacchan
samyag atikramya divi prahlādīyān tudāham
antarīkṣe paulomān kālakāñjān
tasya me tatra na loma canāmīyata
"I killed the three-headed son of Tvaṣṭṛ (Viśvarūpa). I delivered the barhis sacrificial grass to the Aruṇmukhā Ṛṣis in the Śalavṛka forest. I defeated the asuras, descendants of Prahlāda (led by Bali Maharaja) in the heavens, the Paulomas, and the Kālakāñjas in the sky. In that battle, not even a single hair of mine was harmed.”
Here, Indra describes a few of his prominent activities, including assisting sages and defeating the demons without being harmed. He also killed Viśvarūpa, who was acting as his priest (because he was secretly favoring the demons), and then avoided the sinful reaction of killing a brāhmana by dividing it amongst the earth, the water, the trees, and women in exchange for blessings. The killing of Viśvarūpa led to the appearance of the gigantic demon Vṛtrāsura, whom Indra also killed.
Since in this passage Indra speaks about himself, one could argue that when he says "I am prāṇa", this should also be understood as Indra speaking about himself. This argument is answered by Vyāsadeva in the next sutra.
Sutra 1.1.29 - na vaktur ātmopadeśād iti ced adhyātma-sambandha-bhūmā hy asmin
na vaktur ātmopadeśād iti ced adhyātma-sambandha-bhūmā hy asmin
na: not; vaktuḥ: of the speaker; ātma: the self; upadeśāt: because of the instruction; iti: thus; cet: if; adhyātma: the Supreme Self; sambandha: connection; bhūma: abundance; hi: indeed; asmin: in this (Upaniṣad).
If one argues that the speaker refers to himself, I say no. There is an abundance of passages connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this section of the text.
Commentary: The adhyātma in the sutra means the Supreme Self, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present in the hearts of all as Paramātmā. Sambandha means connection, and bhūmā means abundance. Thus, adhyātma-sambandha-bhūmā means that there is an abundance of passages connected with the Supreme Lord in this passage of the Upaniṣad (asmin). Being so, it is not reasonable to try to sustain that Indra is prāna, and much less that he is the Supreme Lord based on just one line.
As Srila Jīva Goswami emphasizes in his Sat-Sandarbhas, passages must always be understood according to the context. When taken in isolation, they can be easily misinterpreted, leading to all kinds of incorrect assumptions. Each book should be studied as a whole unit, as a set of arguments and counterarguments that lead to an ultimate conclusion. Thus, all the passages need to be taken in the context of this conclusion, and not as isolated units. The Upaniṣads ultimately speak about the Supreme Lord, who is clearly defined as personal and transcendental. It's a mistake to use any isolated passage to try to sustain that there is no God, we are all God, Indra is God, or anything else. We can see that these passages of the Vedanta-sutra deconstruct these mistaken ideas, helping the reader to stick to the correct conclusions and learn the process of finding the truth while studying other books.
In this chapter of the Kauṣītaki Upanisad, the word prāna appears repeatedly in different contexts where it must unavoidably be interpreted as meaning the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as in the passage sa esa prāna eva prajñātmānando (3.8) we already studied. This is, however, not the only one.
At the beginning of the passage, when Indra offers a boon, Pratardana asks him to choose what is the most beneficial gift for a human being, which means he asked Indra how to achieve liberation. Indra then answered, "Worship me as prana."
It's clear that as a demigod, Indra can't give liberation. He himself is not liberated. This means that despite the choice of words, the meaning of the instruction is that Pratardana should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the only one who can give him liberation.
Apart from that, there are many other statements in the same passage of the Kauṣītaki Upanisad concerning prāna:
eṣaḥ ha eva sādhu karma kārayati, taṃ yam ebhyaḥ lokeṣu agniḥ nīyate
"Prāna alone makes a person perform pious acts, and due to such pious acts one is brought upwards."
Indra is not the cause of action; only the Lord is. Therefore, prāna in this passage is clearly the Supreme Lord.
tadyathā rathyāreṣu nemir arpītā nāmāvarā arpītā
evam evaitā bhūtamātrāḥ prajñāmātrāsv arpitāḥ
prajñāmātrāḥ prāṇeṣv arpitāḥ
"Just as in a chariot wheel the outer ring rests on the rods, which are in turn connected to the central hub, in the same way, the different objects of the senses depend on prajñā (our cognitive faculties) to be known, and cognition depends on prāna to operate."
Prāna is here described as the support for material intelligence and the senses, not only in one particular body, but in all bodies. Only the Lord is the support for all.
Finally, there is the passage prāṇo 'smi prajñātmā we already studied, which is even clearer: sa esa prāna eva prajñātmānando 'jaro 'mrtah, eșa lokādhipatir esa sarveśvarah. "This prāna alone is the Self, He is consciousness, knowledge, transcendence, and transcendental bliss. He is undecaying, free from old age and death, He is immortal and the Lord of all living entities and all planets. Prāna is the Supreme Controller."
Due to all qualities mentioned here, prāna in this context can refer only to the Supreme Personality of Godhead present in the heart of all living beings as the Supersoul. No one else can manifest these characteristics.
However, the original question remains: why then does Indra declare himself as prāna at the beginning of the passage, if he himself later describes prāna as the Supreme Lord? This is answered by Vyāsadeva in the next sutra.
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