Adhikarana XI — The chief Prana is not an Indriya

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Adhikarana XI — The chief Prana is not an Indriya

The author now raises another doubt with regard to this subject.

Doubt: Are all the Pranas senses or only the lower Pranas and not the chief Prana? In other words, is the chief Prana also an Indriya or a sense organ?

Purvapaksha: The chief Prana is also an indriya because it is implied by the term Prana or sense, and because it assists the Jiva. Hence all the Pranas are Indriyas.

Siddhanta: The chief Prana is not an Indriya as is shown in the next Sutra.

SUTRA II. 4. 17.

त इन्द्रियाणि तद्व्यपदेशादन्यत्र श्रेष्ठात्॥२.४.१७॥

ta indriyāṇi tadvyapadeśādanyatra śreṣṭhāt ..2.4.17..

.. To, they, namely the Pranas… Indriyani, sense organs. … …Tat-vyapadeshat, because designated as such. … Anyatra, elsewhere, except … Shreshthat, than the best or the chief Prana.

17. All Pranas are sense organs, because of their being so designated, with the exception of the chief Prana. — 280.

COMMENTARY

All these Pranas, with the exception of the chief Prana, are certainly sense organs, because in the Mundaka Upanishad (II., 3), they are so designated. While in the case of the chief Prana, the mention is separately made from the Indriyas. In fact, the word Indriya or sense organ is applied to the organs like sight, hearing, etc., and never to the chief Prana. The Smriti also says that the Indriyas are eleven. Had the chief Prana been one of Indriyas then the number of organs would have been twelve and not eleven. (See Bhagavat Gita, XIII., 5.). There is a Shruti text also to the effect that the chief Prana is not an Indriya.

An objection is raised to this view. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, I., 5. 21., it is said that all the sense organs are but modifications of Prana and are different forms of it. The chief Prana must also, therefore, be an Indriya, since every Indriya is but a form of it. The text of the Brihadaranyaka is given below:

Then the others tried to know him, and said: ‘Verily, he is the best of us, he who whether moving or not, does not tire and does not perish. Well, let all of us assume his form’. Thereupon they all assumed his form, and therefore they are called after him ‘breaths’ (Pranas).

How do you reconcile this statement with your view that the chief Prana is not an organ? To this the next Sutra gives the reply.

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