**THE ANUGÎTÂ - Chapter IX

[Anne Terri]

CHAPTER IX.

The Brâhmana said:

On this, too, they relate this ancient story, a dialogue between Nârada and the sage Devamata.

Devamata said:

When a creature is about to be born, what comes into existence first, his Prâna, or Apâna, or Samâna, or Vyâna, or else Udâna?

Nârada said:

By whichever the creature is produced, that which is other than this first comes to him. And the pairs of the life-winds should be understood, which (move) upwards, or downwards, or transversely.

p. 275

Devamata said:

By which (of the life-winds) is a creature produced? and which (of them) first comes to him? Explain to me also the pairs of the life-winds, which (move) upwards, or downwards, or transversely.

Nârada said:

Pleasure is produced from a mental operation 1, and (it) is also produced from a sound, (it) is also produced from taste, and (it) is also produced from colour, and (it) is also produced from touch, and (it) is also produced from smell. This is the effect 2 of the Udâna; the pleasure is produced from union 3. From desire the semen is produced; and from the semen is produced menstrual excretion. The semen and the blood are produced by the Samâna and the Vyâna in common 4. From the combination of the semen and the blood, the Prâna comes first into operation; and the semen being developed by the Prâna, the Apâna then comes into operation. The pair Prâna and Apâna go upwards and downwards, and the Samâna and Vyâna are called the pair (moving) transversely. It is the teaching of the

p. 276

[paragraph continues] Veda, that the fire verily is all the deities 1, and knowledge (of it) arises among Brâhmanas, being accompanied by intelligence 2. The smoke of that (fire), which is of excellent glory, (appears) in the shape of (the quality of) darkness; (its) ashes, (the quality of) passion; and (the quality of) goodness is that in connexion with it 3, in which the offering is thrown. Those who understand the sacrifice understand the Samâna and the Vyâna as the principal (offering). The Prâna and Apâna are portions 4 of the offering of clarified butter, and between them is the fire. That is the excellent seat of the Udâna as understood by Brâhmanas 5 As to that which is distinct from these pairs 6, hear me speak about

p. 277

that. Day and night are a pair, between them is the fire. That is the excellent seat of the Udâna as understood by Brâhmanas. That which exists and that which does not exist are a pair, between them is the fire. That is the excellent seat of the Udâna as understood by Brâhmanas. The two--good and evil--:are a pair, between them is the fire. That is the excellent seat of the Udâna as understood by Brâhmanas. First 1, the Samâna and Vyâna, their function 2 is performed: then, secondly, the Samâna comes into operation again. Then the Vâmadevya 3 for tranquillity, and tranquillity is the eternal Brahman. This is the excellent seat of the Udâna as understood by Brâhmanas.

Footnotes

274:1 This is not quite clear. I presume it means that each one has the generic qualities which make the others great in their own spheres; but the specific qualities are different.

274:2 The one life-wind is supposed, here to be generally unmoving, but its distribution among the different parts of the body as specified, for instance, in the commentary on the Yoga-sûtra III, 38, gives it the different names. The expression does not seem to be quite accurate for this, which nevertheless seems to be the true, sense.

274:3 Another reading is, 'That one is my own self.' Cf. Maitrî, pp. 28 seq., 105, and Brihadâranyaka p. 169.

275:1 I. e. desire. 'Sound' = recollection of a woman's voice; taste,' scil. of chastity; 'colour' = the beauty of a woman, Arguna Misra Cf. Âpastamba I, 2, 7, 8, and Lalita Vistara, p. 19.

275:2 Literally, 'form,' which Arguna Misra interprets to mean effect, and adds, 'The Udâna causes mental activity, and by mental activity sound &c. are apprehended.'

275:3 I. e. of Udâna and mind, Arguna Misra; adding, 'the result is that a creature is produced by the Udâna.'

275:4 Or, perhaps, generally, that is to say, the store of them, the specific semen being produced from desire, as before stated. The Samâna's function is the digestion of food, and that of the Vyâna is the distribution of the digested food to the whole body through the nâdîs, hence the proposition in the text.

276:1 Cf. inter alia, Aitareya-brâhmana (Haug's ed.), p. 1.

276:2 Arguna Misra says intelligence means 'discussion, or argument.' The connexion of this with what has gone before, according to Arguna Misra, is this, that the author having first stated the five Hotris fully, now explains in what the Prâna and Apâna are to be offered up for acquiring the Prânâyâma. The fire he takes to mean the self. Cf. what has been said about Vaisvânara above, p. 259.

276:3 That is to say, the flame, 'take it. 'He is drawing out here the figure of the fire.

276:4 These are only a subordinate part of the offering, called Âgyabhâga. They are called subordinate, I suppose, as the operations of the Samâna and Vyâna are more practically important for vitality. The fire is the self. The place of the principal offering is between the Âgyabhâgas, as stated by Arguna Misra.

276:5 The Udâna is here treated as the life-wind into which the others are to be offered up. See p. 258, and note 8 there.

276:6 The next three sentences seem to indicate what is to be destroyed in common with the life-winds. One has to get rid of all notions about day and night, good and evil, existence and non-existence, and then final emancipation is reached. The fire, which is common to all the passages, stands for the self; into that apparently all the ideas of time, and good and evil, and so forth, are to be offered as the life-winds are; and that fire stands in the place of p. 277 the Udâna, for this purpose, as into the last all the other life-winds have to be offered. As to that which exists, &c., cf. Gîtâ, p. 103, and p. 370, note 9 infra. As to good and evil and generally, cf. Khândogya, p. 60; Kaushîtaki, p. 19. They are nothing to one who knows the Brahman. Day and night Arguna Misra takes to mean the Idâ and Pingalâ nâdîs, between which is the Sushumnâ, as they are connected with the sun and moon. But the sense of the whole passage is far from clear.

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THE ANUGÎTÂ - Chapter X

THE BHAGAVADGÎTÂ - WITH THE SANATSUGÂTÎYA AND
THE ANUGÎTÂ

TRANSLATED BY - KÂSHINÂTH TRIMBAK TELANG, M. A.

Volume 8, The Sacred Books of the East Oxford, The Clarendon Press
[1882]

This version of The Bhagavadgita is in the public domain.
All here may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this cover page giving credit is used intact.

Dictionary for The Anugita
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