Yagnavalkya said: 'In the Prana (breath).'

Sakalya said: 'In what does the Prana abide?'

Yagnavalkya said: In the Apana (down-breathing) .'

Sakalya said: 'In what does the Apana abide?'

Yagnavalkya said: 'In the Vyana (back-breathing ) .'

Sakalya said: 'In what does the Vyana-abide?'

Yagnavalkya said: 'In the Udana (the out-breathing) .'

Sakalya said: 'In what does the Udana abide?'

Yagnavalkya said: 'In the Samana . That Self

[paragraph continues] (atman) is to be described by No, no ! He is incomprehensible, for he cannot be (is not) comprehended; he is imperishable, for he cannot perish; he is unattached, for he does not attach himself; unfettered, he does not suffer, he does not fail.'

'These are the eight abodes (the earth, &c.), the eight worlds (fire, &c.), the eight gods (the immortal food, &c.), the eight persons (the corporeal, &c.) He who after dividing and uniting these persons , went beyond (the Samana), that person, taught in the Upanishads, I now ask thee (to teach me). If thou shalt not explain him to me, thy head will fall.'

Sakalya did not know him, and his head fell, nay, thieves took away his bones, mistaking them for something else.

27. Then Yagnavalkya said: 'Reverend Brahmanas, whosoever among you desires to do so, may now question me. Or question me, all of you. Or whosoever among you desires it, I shall question him, or I shall question all of you.

But those Brahmanas durst not (say anything).

28. Then Yagnavalkya questioned them with these Slokas:

1. 'As a mighty tree in the forest, so in truth is man, his hairs are the leaves, his outer skin is the bark.

2. 'From his skin flows forth blood, sap from the skin (of the tree); and thus from the wounded

man comes forth blood, as from a tree that is struck.

3. 'The lumps of his flesh are (in the tree) the layers of wood, the fibre is strong like the tendons . The bones are the (hard) wood within, the marrow is made like the marrow of the tree.

4. 'But, while the tree, when felled, grows up again more young from the root, from what root, tell me, does a mortal grow up, after he has been felled by death?

5. 'Do not say, "from seed," for seed is produced from the living ; but a tree, springing from a grain, clearly rises again after death .

6. 'If a tree is pulled up with the root, it will not grow again; from what root then, tell me, does a mortal grow up, after he has been felled by death?

7. 'Once born, he is not born (again); for who should create him again ?'

'Brahman, who is knowledge and bliss, he is the principle, both to him who gives gifts , and also to him who stands firm, and knows.'

Footnotes