Prashna Upanishad
Prashna Upanishad is the Upanishad of the Atharva-Veda, one of the 12 major upanishad.
The upanishad is appeared as a teaching lavished by the Rishi Pippalada in answer to the questions which six admirers of Brahma ask him.
First question
With the first question, “from which are born (them) creatures? ”, the wise one answers:Prajâpati (the Master of the creatures) produced a couple: rayi and prana. the sun is prana. The moon is rayi. Those which are satisfied with the action méritoire and of the sacrifice (Védisme) obtain the world of the moon. From there, they return. It is the Way of the South. Those which seek the Atman by the asceticism, the abstinence, the faith, knowledge, arrive at the sun, the receptacle of the creatures, immortality, the higher way. “From there, one does not return”. It is the Way of North.
Comment
Prana is similar to the sun, with energies Yáng.Rayi is similar to the moon, energies Yin.
The Way of the south represents lower knowledge. It is expressed by the Véda. Its means is the sacrifice; its goal, pleasure of the wordly goods (Bhukti).
The Way of North represents higher knowledge. It is expressed by the upanishad Védanta. Its means: asceticism, abstinence, faith, knowledge. Its goal: renouncement of the world and the délivrence (Mukti).
This first answer expresses perfectly the change of time which separates the vedic ideology, ritualistic and sacrificial of the vedantic ideology, based on the renouncement of the wordly goods.
Second question
With are the question “how much there Déva S, which support the creature? ”, the wise one said:The Akasha (space, ether), is this déva. But also wind, fire, water, ground, the voice, the mental one, sight, hearing. Superior with the elements, the external directions and to intern (the mental one) is the Prana. All depend on it. It is him which supports body, vital, mental activities. It is Agni (fire), Surya (sun), the cloud, the wind, but also ground, the moon, beverage of immortality.
“Like the rays of a wheel in their hub, all is established in prana”.
Third question
With the question “from which is born this prana”, the wise one said:“The prana is born from the Atman”. “It comes in this body by the action from the Karma”. Dividing itself in five breaths, apana (the subtle breath) goes in the bodies of excretion and from generation, prana (itself) goes in the eyes, the ears, the mouth and the nose. Samana supports the digestive activities. The atman resides in the heart. “There, there are hundred and one channels. Each one has hundred branches which have each one 72.000 ramifications. In them the vyana circulates” (6). By the channel top, the Sushumna, “udana leads the pure man in a pure world, the impure man in an impure world and with one and other quality in the world of the man” (7). “The sun is the external prana. ” Apana governs the ground. The akasha is samana and the wind is vyana. Luminous heat (Téjas) is udana. “Those at which her place weakens forward to another birth with their direction reabsorbed in the mental one. ”
Fourth question
Fifth question
Sixth question
Conclusion