Adhikarana 3: The Life-Breath Enters the Individual Soul

Adhyāya 4: The Results of Transcendental Knowledge;
Pāda 2: How a Person with Transcendental Knowledge Leaves his Material Body;

Viṣaya [thesis or statement]: Now will be considered the following words of Chāndogya Upaniṣad [6.6.1]:

प्राणस् तेजसि

prāṇas tejasi

“The life-breath enters fire.”

Saṃśaya [doubt]: Does the life-breath, which is by then accompanied by the mind and the senses, enter the element fire, or does it enter the individual spirit soul [jīva]?

Pūrvapakṣa [the opponent speaks]: Chāndogya Upaniṣad [6.6.1] says that the life breath enters the element fire, therefore the life-breath enters the element fire.

Siddhānta [conclusion]: In the following words the author of the sūtras gives His conclusion.

Sūtra 4.2.4

सो ‘ध्यक्षे तद्-उपगमादिभ्यः

so ‘dhyakṣe tad-upagamādibhyaḥ

saḥ – it; adhyakṣe – to the master; tat – that; upagama – approaching; ādibhyaḥ – beginning with.

That in the master because of the scriptural statements that begin with the descriptions of approaching it.

The word saḥ [that] here means “the life-breath,” and the word adhyakṣe [in the master] here means, “In the individual spirit soul, who is the master of the body and senses.” Thus the life-breath enters the individual spirit soul. Why is that? The sūtra explains, tad-upagamādibhyaḥ: “Because of the scriptural statements that begin with the descriptions of approaching it.”

In the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad [4.3.38] it is said:

तद् यथा राजानं प्रयियासन्तम् उग्राः प्रत्य् एनसः सूता ग्रामण्य उपसमीयन्त्य् एवं हैवं विदं सर्वे प्राणा उपसमीयन्ति. यत्रैतद् ऊर्ध्वोच्छ्वासी भवति.

tad yathā rājānaṃ prayiyāsantam ugrāḥ praty enasaḥ sūtā grāmaṇya upasamīyanty evaṃ haivaṃ vidaṃ sarve prāṇā upasamīyanti. yatraitad ūrdhvocchvāsī bhavati.

“As bodyguards, warriors, charioteers, and generals gather around a king who is about to depart on a great march, so do all the senses and life-breaths gather around the soul who is about to leave its material body.”

In this way the Śruti-śāstra explains that the life-breath and the senses enter the individual spirit soul. This statement does not contradict the other statement of the Śruti-śāstra that the life-breath enters the element fire, for it may be said that after the life-breath enters the soul the two of them proceed to enter the element fire. This is like saying that the Yamunā, joining with the Ganges, proceeds to enter the ocean.

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