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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 2 Mantra 3

Mantra

ū̱rdhva̍m prāṇa̍m unnayaty apā̱nam pratya̍g asyati |
madhye̍ vā̱mana̍m, āsī̱na̱ṁ vi̱śve de̍vā u̱pāsate̍ ||

unnayati = he leads higher up; ūrdhvam = upward [from the heart chakra]; prāṇam = the expiration; apānam = the inspiration; pratyak asyati = thrusts forward; vāmanam = the adorable one or the Dwarf; madhye āsīnaṁ = seated in the middle; viśve = all; devāḥ = the gods; upāsate = worship.

He (Atman) sends the Prana up and throws the Apana down. That Adorable One, seated in the Center, all Devas Worship.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

If the Life-Center, the Atman, were not within a body it is obvious that that body will not continue to breath. Naturally, the Mantra becomes clear when it says that He, the Atman or Purusha, is the one who maintains the flow of the different vital airs through our body and maintains it alive and active till its death.

There are five principal kinds of vital energy, because of which the physical body functions. They are known by different names according to the function they perform, although they altogether constitute the One and the same Principle of Existence. The five principal kinds of Pranas are called (x) Prana, when the cosmic power manifests through the work of the lungs and the respiratory organs; (2) Apana, when it works in the colon and bladders; (3) Samana, when it works through the digestive system; (4) Udana, when it works through the larynx and produces voice and (5) Vyana, when it expresses itself through the blood circulation in the body. Thus, it is carefully to be noted that Prana is not merely breath. Prana is the vital Energy, and breath is only one of its various manifestations.

Devah (Gods)— We have already explained this term in a previous Mantra where we clearly concluded that the word Gods does not represent the inhabitants of the heavenly regions, but the Five Great Elements which are the deities of the five organs-of-knowledge in man. Here it only shows that the sense organs can function only in the blessings of the Purusha and so, naturally, the Upanishad in its language says that all the Devas meaning the sense organs worship the one seated in the “Centre”.

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