57. PrANas Are Manifested

Adhyaya 3 Pada 4 AdhikaraNa 1

The PrANas Are Manifested From the Supreme Personality of
Godhead


Introduction by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa

In the Third Pada contradictory scriptural passages describing
the elements were harmonized. In the Fourth Pada contradictory
passages describing the prANas (life-force and senses) will be harmonized.
The prANas are of two kinds: primary and secondary. The secondary
prANas are the eleven senses, beginning with the eyes. The
primary prANas are the five life-airs, beginning with apAna.
First the secondary prANas will be examined. In the MuNDaka
UpaniShad (2.1.3) it is said:


etasmAj jAyate prANo manaH sarvendriyANi ca


"From this are born prANa, mind, and all the
senses."

SaMshaya (doubt): Is this description of the creation of the
senses metaphorical, like the description of the creation of the individual
souls, or literal, like the description of the creation of ether
and the other elements?

PUrvapakSha (the opponent speaks): This is explained in the
following words of the shruti-shAstra:


asad vA idam agra AsIt tad AhuH kiM tad AsId iti R^iShayo
vAva te asad AsIt tad AhuH ke te R^iShaya iti prANA vAva
R^iShayaH.


"He said: In the beginning was non-being. They said:
What was that non-being? He said: The non-being was many sages.
They said: Who were those sages? He said: Those sages were the
prANas."

This passage from the shruti-shAstra clearly shows that the
the senses, which are here called prANas or sages, existed before
the creation of the material world. Therefore the senses are like
the individual spirit souls (and the scriptures.a descriptions of
the creation of the senses are only allegories.)

SiddhAnta (conclusion): In the following words the author of
the sUtras gives His conclusion.


SUtra 1


tathA prANAH

tathA - so; prANAH - the prANAs.

The praNas are like that.

Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa


As ether and the other elements were manifested from the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, so the prANas and the senses were
also manifested from Him. That is the meaning here. In the
beginning of creation the ingredients of the material world were
merged together into one. Then the different ingredients were
manifested. This is described in MuNDaka UpaniShad (2.1.3):


etasmAj jAyate prANo manaH sarvendriyANi ca


"From this are born prANa, mind, and all the
senses."

The creation of the material senses is not like the creation
of the conscious individual spirit souls, because the souls are
free from the six transformations that are always present in
matter. When they describe the creation of the individual spirit
souls, the words of the scriptures are all allegories, but when
they describe the creation of the senses, the words of the
scriptures are literal descriptions. This is so because the
senses are by nature material. This being so, the words prANa and
R^iShi (sages) in this passage refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This is so because both these words are names of the all-knowing
Supreme Person.

Here someone may object: Is it not so that because the words
"prANAH" and "R^iShayaH" (sages) are both in the
plural it is not possible that they can here be names of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead?

In the following words the author of the sUtras answers this
objection.


SUtra 2


gauNy asambhavAt

gauNI - secondary meaning; asambhavAt - because of
impossibility.


This must be a secondary use of the word, because the
primary use is impossible.

Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa


The use of the plural in this passage from the shruti-shAstra
must be a secondary usage of the plural. Why is that? Because
there are not many Gods, there is only one God, the plural cannot
be used to describe Him. Still, the plural may be applied to Him
to refer to His many different manifestations. Although the
Supreme Lord is one, He appears in His many incarnations like an
actor assuming different roles or a vaidUrya jewel displaying differentcolors. In this secondary sense the plural is
appropriate in relation to Him. This is confirmed by the
following words of the shruti-shAstra:


ekaM santaM bahudhA dR^ishyamAnam


"Although He is one, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead is seen to be many."

The SmR^iti-shAstra also explains:


ekAneka-svarUpAya


"Although He is one, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead appears in many forms."


SUtra 3


tat prAk shrutesh ca

tat - that; prAk - before; shruteH - from the shrutishAstra; ca - and.


Because the shruti-shAstra declares that He existed before the
creation.

Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa


Because in the beginning of creation the varieties of
material nature were not yet manifested, and thus the material
world was all one, it is also not proper to accept the use of the
plural here in a literal sense. This is so because the shruti-
shAstras declare that in the beginning of material creation only
the Supreme Personality of Godhead existed. Therefore the plural
here must be used in a secondary sense.

In the following words the author of the sUtras gives
another reason why the word "prANa" should be interpreted
as a name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.


SUtra 4


tat-pUrvakatvAd vAcaH

tat - that; pUrvakatvAt - because of being before;
vAcaH - speech.


Because speech existed before the material creation.

Purport by shrIla Baladeva VidyAbhUShaNa


The word "vAcaH" (speech) here means "the
names of things other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
the master of many spiritual potencies". This speech existed
before the pradhAna, the mahat-tattva, and the other features of
the material world were created. Because the names and forms of the variousmaterial features were not yet created, and because
the material senses also were not yet created at that time in the
beginning of creation, the word "prANa" here must be used
as a name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The BR^ihad-
AraNyaka UpaniShad (1.4.7) explains:


tad dhedaM tarhi


"In the beginning they were not manifested. Only
later were the material forms and names manifested."

This explains that in the beginning of the material
creation the material names and forms were not yet manifested.
Thus at that time the material senses as well as the elements
beginning with ether, were not yet manifested.