For the following reason also the word 'prâna,' in the text quoted, can
denote Brahman only. Speech, i.e. the names which have for their object
all things apart from Brahman, presupposes the existence of the entire
universe of things--ether, and so on--which is the object of speech. But,
as according to the text 'this was then non-differentiated; it was
thereupon differentiated by names and forms,' then (i.e. before the
differentiation of individual things), no things having name and form
existed, there existed also no effects of speech and the other organs of
action and sensation, and hence it cannot be inferred that those organs
themselves existed.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'the origination
of the prânas.'
4. (They are seven) on account of the going of the seven and of
specification.
The question here arises whether those organs are seven only, or eleven--
the doubt on this point being due to the conflicting nature of
scriptural texts.--The Pûrvapakshin maintains the former alternative.--
On what grounds?--'On account of going, and of specification.' For the
text refers to the 'going,' i.e. to the moving about in the different
worlds, together with the soul when being born or dying, of seven prânas
only, 'seven are these worlds in which the prânas move which rest in the
cave, being placed there as seven and seven' (Mu. Up. II, 1, 8)--where
the repetition 'seven and seven' intimates the plurality of souls to
which the prânas are attached. Moreover those moving prânas are
distinctly specified in the following text, 'when the five instruments
of knowledge stand still, together with the mind (manas), and when the
buddhi does not move, that they call the highest "going"' (gati--Ka. Up.
II, 6, 10). The 'highest going' here means the moving towards Release,
all movement within the body having come to an end. As thus the text
declares that at the time of birth and death seven prânas only accompany
the soul, and as, with regard to the condition of final concentration,
those prânas are distinctly specified as forms of knowledge (jñânâni),
we conclude that the prânas are the seven following instruments of the
soul--the organs of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, the
buddhi and the manas. In various other passages indeed, which refer to
the prânas, higher numbers are mentioned, viz. up to fourteen, speech,
the hands, the feet, the anus, the organ of generation, the ahankâra and
the kitta being added to those mentioned above; cp. e.g. 'there are
eight grahas' (Bri. Up. III, 2, i); 'Seven are the prânas of the head,
two the lower ones '(Taitt. Samh. V, 3, 2, 5). But as the text says
nothing about those additional organs accompanying the soul, we assume
that they are called prânas in a metaphorical sense only, since they all,
more or less, assist the soul.--This view the next Sûtra sets aside.
5. But the hands and so on also; (since they assist the soul) abiding
(in the body). Hence (it is) not so.
The organs are not seven only, but eleven, since the hands and the rest
also contribute towards the experience and fruition of that which abides
in the body, i.e. the soul, and have their separate offices, such as
seizing, and so on. Hence it is not so, i.e. it must not be thought that
the hands and the rest are not organs. Buddhi, ahankâra and kitta, on
the other hand, are (not independent organs but) mere designations of the
manas, according as the latter is engaged in the functions of deciding
(adhyavasâya), or misconception (abhimâna), or thinking (kintâ). The
organs therefore are eleven. From this it follows that in the passage
'Ten are these prânas in man, and Âtman is the eleventh' (Bri. Up. II, 4,
ii), the word Âtman denotes the manas. The number _eleven_ is confirmed
by scriptural and Smriti passages, cp. 'the ten organs and the one' (Bha.
Gî. XIII, 5); 'ten are the vaikârika beings, the manas is the eleventh,'
and others. Where more organs are mentioned, the different functions of
the manas are meant; and references to smaller numbers are connected
with special effects of the organs, such as accompanying the soul, and
the like.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'the going of the seven.'